Category: Uncategorized

After A few mindless hours stumbling around my fellow classmates blog’s on the intrawebs, I came across something very interesting on Alicia’s Blog . A website called Uncrate. This blog features anything, and everything, that a man could want. Everything from Clothes, Music, Cars, Games and Gadgets are available for purchase on this site.  It has recently become my mourning medication and one stop shop for all my masculine needs.

Every week day five new and equally awesome items are added to the blog. With full descriptions and reviews on each. This is a great tool with brings awareness to numerous items, and generate great publicity around items which would never normally make it into many consumers hands.
By linking the Posts to numerous shopping websites like ebay or amazon people are actually able to purchase the items they read about directly through the website.

The newest installment in the Call of Duty video game franchise “Black-Ops” was released just recently on November 9th.  Whenever a blockbuster video game comes out the gaming world goes nuts.  This is mostly encouraged by the commercials and media and overall hype surrounding the game. Black-Ops has managed to take this one step further.

There newest commercial, which features talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel and NBA star Kobe Bryant depicts these two, as well as many other random everyday people in a live action, all out, epic military battle. The commercial concludes with the tag-line “There’s a soldier in all of us.”(There’s a soldier in all of us.)

Not only have the commercial’s been superb but Activision (The company responsible for the Call of Duty franchise) has gone one step further.  They have partnered with Jeep.  Not only will this vehicle that represents toughness and all round badass-ery be featured numerous times in the game   but Jeep will also produce a limited edition Black-Ops Jeep Wrangler, Jeeps most popular vehicle.

Activision has managed to outdo itself ounce again as publicity, as well as sales of its new game skyrocket. If the imaginary stories and worlds  in video games can now create their real-world vehicle equivalents, I can only Imagine what will come next

What is the most powerful influencer of our time? Some say God, but I simply remind them that God doesn’t twitter. Perez Hilton does. Am I saying that Perez Hilton is more powerful than God? No, but he is better dressed. And the last time a checked the Facebook he had more friends.
Is It just me or has the world become a little ridiculous with this social media craze. I think we can official say that there is something wrong in the world when we have almost 6 million people following the insignificant, life updates of a 16 year old man-boy.  And I don’t care how good his hair looks!
People are actually starting to measure “klout” the standard for someones online influence (http://klout.com/blog/) By analyzing “how conversations and content generate interest and engagement.” they can determine someones influence on social networking sites such as facebook. Pretty much a good measure of your influence on the internet community.
I’m not sure if I want to learn my “klout” I’ll probably just end up learning how insignificant I am in the word of the intranets. How unimportant anything I say actually is. How much nothing i say matters… But then again, even God doesn’t have any friends

McDonalds has changed. It is straying away from the young toddler generation of play forts and chairs shaped like french fries and into a more hip,  trendy local that appeals to an older more mature group of aging teens. It’s safe to say that McDonald’s (at least in western culture) has grown up. With the restaurants new trendy image it has ditched a long time company face, Ronald McDonald. A always happy clown that was uncomfortably friendly to little children.
My question is: Why did he have to go?
Is there no room in this trendy world for a simple clown? Why couldn’t they just have him wear  baller cap, give him some prescription-less glasses and have him cruise around the streets on a fixie-bike? And what happened to all his pals? I say give the hamburgler a tight fitting V-neck and we have ourselves a party.
I guess we can never go back to the way things were. Mostly because I heard that they renamed The French Fry Goblins “McChicken”.
It seems that McDonalds no-longer wants to see it’s costomers “Put a smile on”, Instead they’ll just remind us how much we love to eat their food. The more I hear the new slogan, the more it sounds like  “Cut the bullshit and buy yourself a Big Mac… Fatty”.

Its hard to be funny when talking about something funny. Especially something as funny as old spice. C’mon soap that comes in a red bottle! HILARIOUS. So i’ll do this post serious, as serious as body odor.  I guess it’s a good thing we have Old Spice.

But enough about me and my hygiene problems, lets talk about Old Spice’s glorious marketing strategy.  So far I’ve deduced that the Old Spice marketing team must consist of young bodacious caucasian women. Not because they only choose ripped black guys to star in their commercials but because they only choose ripped black guys to star in their commercials without their shirts on. Not that I’m complaining, It’s pure marketing genius. We all know that skinny middle-class suburban teenagers (the target demographic)  all want to grow up and be muscular african american men. So why not feature them in the commercials? And if they can crack a few jokes while they stand their flexing the muscles then it’s all the better.

This marketing scheme has actually done very well to boost brand image and as most videos(commercials) are aired on the internet and rather the TV it appeals more to the younger male demographic, who have begun to stray away from the television as their primary source of time wasting and gone to the internet. Plus cable porn has gone really down hill.

Terry Crews

Here is Terry Crews, by far the greatest, and the kick-starter of Old Spice’s african american marketing campaign.  I’m not sure whether it’s his rippling Pecs and matching sound effects or the senseless violence against his white oppressor but I feel like lathering up with some Old Spice. Then again it’s probably just because of my odor.

This summer I took a road trip. Good yes? NO.  I had forgotten the all great and knowing Ipod. Second option: local radio. After bumping back and forth between The Fox and The Peak, then cycling through the many other stations i realized that radio advertising is not what it used to be. And by “not what it used to be” i mean the most ridiculously aggravating  and dim-witted media in existence. I had trouble finding one add that didn’t bring a little vomit into that back of my mouth. Which is why i never get intimate while listening to the radio.  So, lets talk about marketing strategies shall we? About 50% of these companies marketing strategies involved fake Mexican or South American accents. Maybe it was cheaper to do their consumer research in Columbia. Because I’m still struggling to find the correlation between South American accents and increased sales. My guess is they probably had a little to much of the “local produce” while down there too. Not to mention that the voice actors hired to play these roles were horribly miscast as… well… voice actors.

The other 50% were so aggravating that in order to relieve my frustrations I just HAD to punch something adorable. On an unrelated note, Me and  my Aunt/new mother are no longer on speaking terms.

Through my first few marketing classes I have learned that commercials are meant to make you feel, and raise emotions within a person.  NOTHING was raised in this guy (double thumbs pointing towards chest), well, except my suicidal tendencies.
The only add that i found slightly tolerable was for “Quest” (a tele-dating company) in which a lady with an attractive voice described to me the wonders of truly meeting people through fiber optic cables. She ends the add by making me aware of how she is “very, VERY bendy.” As a male, and thus being ruled by two heads, I am forced to enjoy this commercial. None the less, I shouldn’t have to wade through hours of nausea to get the trouser tightening experience I expect from advertisers.

As most of these adds are directed at the youth, I have become increasingly ashamed of my generation. Do adults really think we enjoy, or emotionally respond to these types of adds? Or are they doing this on purpose to get back at us for all the times they had to change our diapers as infants? Whichever the case I’ve become to humiliated to continue being apart of this generation. So long Y’s and Z’s, have fun with your Facebooks, microwaves, and reality televisions. I’m just gunna wait a few generations and team up with the next guys.