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Spongebob over Bieber

Source: http://thedailyzombies.blogspot.com/2011/01/massive-manic-hysteria-induced-by.html

I took a look at two other classmate’s blog posts: Benson’s followup post on his Superbowl Bieber Ad and Ansley’s post on a McDonald’s commercial featuring Spongebob toys.

The Best Buy one definitely did not live up to expectations. Like Benson mentioned, it was a “failed attempt at trying to be funny.” They tried to link Osbourne with the ‘old’ and Bieber with the ‘new’ but the script wasn’t very natural. I would add on that while Bieber is an aspirational social reference group for some, he is also a dissociative social reference group for many as well. I agree with Benson, overall, it didn’t communicate what value I would receive from Best Buy’s products and Buy Back program.

Source: http://celebrities.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=780340&showcomments=true

On the other hand, the McDonald’s commercial appealed very much to me even though I’m no longer a child, the target segment that Ansley pointed out. In fact, the children’s apparent and like Ansley said, exaggerated enthusiasm is infectious. This commercial rather made me like Spongebob a bit more, just from the sheer happiness, fun, and ingenuity.

I agree with Ansley’s points about the demographics variables for the segmentation. I’m sure parents would also be interested in buying these toys for their children for they seem both very affordable and very fun. I would also add that there are psychographic variables as well from the happy, fun, and potentially cool image that both kids and parents have as part of their self-concepts.  I also agree with Ansley that by bringing in technological improvements into the design of the toy, they’ve definitely appealed to the trend towards more techy gadgets. Beanie babies just aren’t enough anymore.

To add on to the commercial, McDonald’s also used aspirational reference group IMALU, a singer in Japan, according to the article, “IMALU announces a ‘special’ collaboration.”

IMALU, Spongebob Squarepants, and McDonald’s (Source: http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/01/imalu-announces-a-special-collaboration/)

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