Month: November 2010

So today in class we talked about product placement: products or brands that appear in movies, TV shows, music videos, etc. But what product placement lecture could be complete without talking about the king of all product placements music videos? Mmmhmmm Honey B, I’m talking about Lady Gaga’s video for Telephone. You have probably already seen this video, but let’s watch it again and together count all the brands that appear on it just for fun kay?

Alright, so in order of appearance:

– Lady Gaga’s Heartbeats (earphones worn by raunchy looking immate at 1:33)

– Virgin Mobile (during the err… groping part) (and then again at 4:15 displaying a text that reads “Thanks for bailing me out Sista!”)

– Diet Coke (cans on her head! ON HER HEAD!!!)

– Hp laptop (used by the security guard)

– Plentyoffish.com (Brent Carpenter’s favorite)

– Honey Bun!!!!!!!

– Chevrolet (the Pussy Wagon!)

– Polaroid (Oh snap! Get it? Snap? God I’m lame!)

– Wonderbread (Let’s make a sandwich!)

– Miracle Whip (hhmmm… saucy!) 

Yes, so many shameless, obvious and blatant product placements. This annoys a lot of people, I don’t know if they are bothered by the obscene amount of distractions so that they feel that they are watching a commercial rather than a music video or maybe it’s the fact that they disagree with how easy it is for Lady Gaga’s record label to get money and then overdoing it. But enough about other people, I want to know what YOU think of the video:

Were you distracted by all the different product placements in the video?

a. Yes

b. No, this answer is brought to you by new Double Baconator available only at Wendy’s. It’s waaaay better than fast food, it’s Wendy’s.

Anywho, personally I think this video is fantastic because (a) it is a GOOD-quality video (nothing like what your favorite teenage popstar is doing), it is very entertaining, clever enough, and it has just the right amount of offesiveness for people to start making fuss about it; and (b) how else are you going to pay for these music videos? Sure, if Lady Gaga decided to start selling live elephants, they could probably make a few millions, but if you think about it, part of the charm in “Telephone” video is how everything is so ridiculous: cheesy script, overdone acting, silly scenes (“let’s make a sandwich”), so the obvious product placements go really well with the whole feel of the video.

Also, I did my homework and I found out that only some of the product placements were actually paid for. Virgin Mobile, Miracle Whip and plentyoffish.com (Brent Carpenter’s favorite) paid to appear in the music video, while the other ones were supposed to appear anyways (If Gaga wants Diet Coke cans on her head, Gaga GETS diet Coke cans on her head) and the compnies only agreed.

Well lastly, I don’t know if, overall, these product placements were actually effective or not, but what I do know is that it’s time for me to finish this post because I’m craving a sandwich like never before… wait a minute!!!

Here’s some music to set the mood while you read:

So today i want to write about a post that Tiff-O aka Tiffany Rennick recently shared on her blog.  That’s right! It’s Harry Potter! You know a new HP is about to come out when you notice that people start acting a bit differently: everyone reads the book on the bus, you see more and more people wearing big nerdy glasses and you hear conversations about Horcruxes and Hallows. Yes, you may not be a huge fan; you may even think that lining up at 4pm for a movie that starts at midnight is beyond ridiculous, but it’s a good thing I don’t really care about what Muggles like you have to say.

Anyway, my point is Harry Potter franchise = More money than all the vaults in Gringotts (and that’s a lot).

Everything started with the books, and it eventually grew into a world-wide craze. Books, clothes, backpacks, candy, toys…. yup, all of that and that was just BEFORE the first movie came out. J.K. Rowling started a phenomenom that has been with us for over 10 years. Pretty much anyone born in the late 80’s or early 90’s grew up with The Harry Potter franchise, but as our generation ages the franchise needs to (a) adjust their marketing strategy for their grown-up fans; and (b) introduce new young children to the world of HP. For the first one, we have seen how the movies have evolved from an innocent and fun world of magic to a darker more complex plot. And in order to appeal to younger fans, as Tiffany mentioned in her blog, a new Harry Potter theme park was opened last year. I think this is a great idea to keep the Harry Potter world alive, especially now that the last movie will soon be released.

Thank you Tiffany for posting such an awesome blog.

Harry Potter lingo for dummies Muggles:

Horcruxes: Artifacts where Lord Voldermort hid parts of his soul in order to become immortal.

Hallows: Refers to the Deathly Hallows, thw three objects that will make anyone who has them a Master of Death.

Gringotts: Magical bank. Sort of like RBC or TD, but run by goblins, now that’s cool!

J.K. Rowling: Author of the Harry Potter series. Most awesome woman ever, besides Lady Gaga.

Did any of you see The Break-Up? It is about this couple that, after being in a happy relationship for years,  realized that they were not meant to be. The only catch is that, for one reason or another, they are forced to still live together.

No, not the one with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn! I’m talking about the REAL break-up of Consumer and Advertiser!

 

 This is a campaign for Microsoft Advertising Solutions. The “trailer” features a very funny conversation between a consumer and an advertiser explaining how the realtionship between the two has changed over time. This is not only hilarious, but it is completely true. Marketers and advertisers have been bombarding us with ads and commercials for every single product in the market. Because of them is why society has turned into a weapon of massive consumption. We live in a world where all of our “wants” are turned into “needs” and yet, we can’t seem to be satisfied. All of our consumption attempts to fill a bottomless pit of desire created by marketers. We are constantly attacked by marketing on a daily basis that is impossible to avoid it even if we tried. Maybe if these people actually knew us better, and actually LISTENED to us, they would take a different approach. So, do these people just want our money? Or are they actually trying to satisfy a genuine need? 

Dear Marketing:

I’m leaving you.

It’s not you, it’s me. Who am I kidding? It’s totally you.

Stop tormeting me everywhere I go.

-Diego

PS: Please don’t call, I hate telemarketers.

Ok, so I was looking for a cool ad to share with you guys, but I didn’t find one or two or three… I found a series of nine 10-second ads for Orangina that are absolutely amazing.  I don’t know what it is about them that makes me so happy inside; maybe it’s the right amount of irony that they have or maybe just the sex-appeal of the ridiculously hot animals. Anyway, I’ll let you enjoy the awesomeness of the Orangina ads.

(LOL @ the gay puma) Well what did you think? Who knew Orangina was so versatile! I have never seen or heard about Orangina commercials before I came across them tonight, so I can’t say whether they were successful or not. I’m guessing that this was more like an European campaign, since Orangina is french and all that.  So yeah, I love that these ads are short parodies of stereotypical ads for common products. That alone makes them enjoyable, but then there’s the fact that they all use Orangina (a carbonated beverage) as if it was a completely unrelated product. The beauty of it is that Orangina has established its brand in the global marketplace so well that almost anyone can see the logo and know exactly what Orangina is (pop) and isn’t (deodorant, floor cleaner, shampoo, etc…) So they can get away with it without terribly confusing consumers.

And then there is the thing about the animals. Oh if only at least half of the people in the world were as attractive as these animals are…. Their sexualized appearance raises an important question though. Who are these ads targeting? Orangina, being a pop beverage, is consumed mostly by kids and young people, but I really hope TV channels don’t show these ads between Dora, The Explorer and The Fairly OddParents (<– Best TV show ever, by the way). So, is Orangina trying to expand its target market, or are they trying to create controversy (controversy = free publicity)? Or perhaps they really like the sexy animals? (And who doesn’t really?) Anyway… quoting another famous advertising campaign… no wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.

Oh, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably want more Orangina commercials, more irreverent content and of course very sensual (and dancing!) animals.