Nelson's Insightful and Interactive Blogs

This final week of term 1 I want to talk about the power effects of advertisement. Because the first thing that comes to my mind when it comes to marketing is the glamorous advertisements. In this post I borrow from stylecrave.com again.

Here is the link: http://stylecrave.com/2010-11-28/hitman-editorial-in-hit-mag/

Anyways, I want to talk about how the models in the photos always look so chic, so uncaring, but yet looking so cool. They never seem to smile, and the lighting and their clothes make them so unique, and can make your eyes stare at the picture for over a minute. Just fascinating, just glaring and dissecting every piece of information sent from your eyes to your brain and trying to understand what is it about this picture that is making you feel like that. Cool picture right? Makes you want to buy those clothes right?

Maybe it’s the hair?

This week’s blog I want to talk about how companies or organizations are being or staying competitive by getting caught up with technology.
NBA for example, have been advertising not only season-fee broadband HD streaming on your computer, but now recently, now offers it also on your cellphone. NBA looks to offer value-added to consumers by offering lower price for the season viewing, and even offers different prices for consumers favorite teams. And now looks to tap into the new cellphone market. If your cellphone can connect to the internet, you can then stream NBA live games and watch them on your cellphone — effectively bringing the NBA everywhere with you. With unique features only available on broadband streaming such as favorite player camera, real time cameraman shots, live huddles and speeches that may be not available to the TNT or ESPN versions available on TV.

This new feature shows how up-to-date and competitive NBA is, doing everything possible to update NBA fanatics on games and to enjoy the game in new ways now only available due to recent advances in technology.

I love the NBA

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On a side note to add:

I recently went on this person’s blog post. The link is:

Let’s get started

And I want to comment on how a lot of starting out companies will copy name brands and sell them at affordable prices. In fact in Asia I’ve seen so many different brands of shoes that look exactly like Converse-All Star that I’m not sure if they are ‘fake’ brands or simply just a brand that is not very original. The only indicator or hint as a consumer can have though, is the relatively much lower price than the original. That is usually an indicator it is a much inferior branding and product, and thus most likely is fake. Eg. I’ve seen ‘fake’ converses selling for less than $10 CAD.

If ya’ll didn’t know I have sort of an obsession with sneakers, now ya’ll know.

Ya’ll also know I like to talk ebonics from time to time.

I want to talk about today bout shoes.

These shoes are bout a month old news, but they are nevertheless spectacular.

You ever wanted to fly? How bout having wings on your shoes, maybe that’ll do it. Kinda like the mythical Hermes’ winged sandals, Jeremy Scott introduces the Adidas winged shoes V2 (sidenote: V1s are ugly and childish).

OH MAN. Winged on your shoes will definitely have all your friends going crazy about them, and the fact that you can pull them off looking hip is the epitome of cool.

Check these out:

Jeremy Scott NYC guy, Adidas. Fly.

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I want to show you the blog that I got the information of these shoes from:

http://stylecrave.com/

It is a site I frequent from time to time when I am bored. It is a blog that writes about many things, but one thing that sticks out is that the editor is probably a middle-aged male that travels a lot and is interested in technology and fashion. Because a lot of his post are about technology and male fashion. And a blog dedicated to male fashion is quite uncommon, because as we all know, fashion is largely dominated by female. And understandable, because females have a lot more accessories and choice of different types of clothing to choose from. Why do I say he’s middle-aged? Because I do not understand what he is talking about some of the time, he gets very technical but clearly has the income and knowledge as he talks about the past and the expensive name brand clothes that he has bought before, that most likely a person of my age cannot afford (unless somebody pays for it ie. parents).

Hennessy ad. The drink is cool, laid-back and smooooove. Drink it, enjoy yourself. Have a good time.

The ad displays a bunch of African American recording artists drink hennessy and having a wonderful time. This ad denotes that by drinking Hennessey, you too can party like a recording artist or in a greater sense, be able to identify with a recording artist’s life. The background of the ad is entirely in black to convey a sense of sophistication. Also, on the bottom left side of the ad, is the bottle of Hennessy, allowing consumers to identify with the product. Overall, i think i love this ad. Why? Because it makes me want to drink Hennessy and become a recording artist. Just that alone, shows that this ad is just so powerful, so moving, and so influential.

I love Hennessy’s ad and I’d think you definitely want to start downing Hennessy too.
Party at my place! =)

Ye’ is so BOSS

I recently saw an old advertisement with my idol Michael Jordan, and the famous New York director Spike Lee. In this commercial, Spike tries to figure out why Michael is such a good player. He ends up saying SHOES around ten times, and I find it funny, because it pokes fun at how much people overexagerate shoes and how it affects a player’s game. In reality, a normal athletic basketball shoe would be sufficient, but advertisements tries to hype it all up and say Jordan uses these shoes and he plays that well, so you should wear them too.

It’ll make you look good, give you confidence and the psychological edge. If your game is garbage but your kicks are nice, hey at least your kicks are NICE! and you look good playing in them even if your game IS garbage :S

This week I want to write about why sometimes I am skeptical of ads, and rightfully so.

Advertisements are here to sell you a product, even if it is a product you do not need, they are here to convince you as hard as they can that you have a need, a want, and that product will satisfy that need and want.

And example of what I mean by this is that at least every year, a star athlete will release a new shoe under his signature brand.

Every year it is the same thing: this shoe will make you HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER.

Kobe 08′ Hyper dunks — lightest basketball shoe, yet strongest shoe ever
Kobe 10′ Nike Zoom V — lightest shoe ever made by Nike

Every year I hear the same old thing, even in interviews Kobe say the same thing, oh these shoes are really good, they give me support when I cut and are light, but are strong enough to give me the strength to jump and to land safely.

So this is why I am skeptical of advertisements, because in these ads, the products they sell seem like magic, but when you use them, they’re a totally different experience.

Kobe Zoom V by Nike

Kobe Hyperdunks by Nike

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Another example of contradicting advertisement I saw on a classmate’s blog, here is the link:

McDonald’s

I can see how McDonalds is trying to capture more consumers by introducing new ‘burgers’ and marketing them. And even offering value menu burgers such as the Junior Chicken for low price. However, to be honest here, the picture they show in the blog, yes, the one about food quality and career opportunity is kind of bull. Especially the first one. The food quality is not great, it is unhealthy, we all know that. And at least in Canada, some burgers are premade and just sits there and cools down. The fries are mixed with old and new, so some are fresh and crunchy, while some are cold and soggy. And we all know the ‘kitchen’ environment in McDonalds is not the cleanest. And it is definitely not the most efficient, the amount of time people wait at McDonalds is outrageous and pathetic. Career opportunities…. I don’t know what opportunities there are really except maybe you work for the company for 3 years and maybe you get to be manager if you do well. Or it is just another stepping stone, to get some first job experience. I personally have never worked at McDonalds before, but from what I hear from friends who have, it sucks. Thank-you and this is my rant.

David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, NBA instilled a strict rule of dress codes that athletes have to follow. He cites that NBA players are professional players that are broadcasted on TV in 215 countries. Children all over the world watch these players perform, as they inspire them, these kids admire them, and want to be like them. And that is why Stern wants the players to present a professional image. A lot of African-Americans or blacks argue that rule is instilled to conform black players to dress ‘white’, and that players should be allowed to wear whatever they want.

I disagree, but before I tell you why, I will show you some pictures.

Before:

Allen Iverson

Tim Duncan

After:

Carmelo Anthony

Dwayne Wade

Honestly, I think this new image is such a positive influence, it makes all the people watching these players want to dress better and present themselves better. As we know, the image of how we present ourselves is our ‘marketing’ of ourselves. Even if we may be good potential employees, if we dress like Allen Iverson, with his bling, revealed tattoos, cornrows, baggy clothes, others natural reaction will be that this employee will not takes his job seriously, and that his ‘personality’ is not suitable for the job.

Besides, it teaches people some sense of fashion. Some of these NBA players are really ballin’.

Redeem Team 08′, Team USA 08′, Beijing, Gold Medal
All proudly wearing USA’s Polo Ralph Lauren

My view on marketing, in its practical aspect, informs people/consumers of the products available to us. It allows us to know about the product, what it does and familiarize with it. In the 21st century, if that product catches our attention and interest, we can go and research and compare that product to its direct and indirect competition. Thinking about the car example in class, I did the same thing before deciding to buying a new car. I had to make sure the car I wanted was suitable for me, that it had good gas mileage, that it was safe, and that I enjoy the driving it. I wanted a taller car so I decided to look at the different types of crossover SUVs that were available, I checked the Toyota RV4, Nissan Rogue, Subaru Forester, etc. All three of these cars cost about the same.

I did a lot of comparing and asked around for a lot of feedback from other drivers (word of mouth marketing) to decide whether or not that car is a good buy.

Marketing can also be very fun. I think it is very creative and it can sell a strong image. Even when I see a product being advertised that I will not buy, I will stop by to look at the image of the advertisement. I will stop and see how and why it caught my attention, and think about how it is effective to me and to other consumers as well.

I want to end on something interesting, instead of all this dry talk on my opinion on marketing. Because I am a huge basketball fan, I want to show this to everyone, a strong image and a great example of advertising. Keep in mind in real life, this would be a huge banner over a 40 feet building. Dimensions probably 80 feet by 35 feet. Imagine looking at this and walking into a basketball game.