I was listening to the radio the other day about Black Friday branding. I didn’t get to hear the full story so I went online to search it out. While I was looking for the story about Black Friday, I found this article about product placement. I mean, I always knew that brands wanted placement in movies and TV shows, but I never realized that sometimes it could lead to a negative impact on the brand. I also didn’t realize how little control big companies have when it comes to unwanted product placement.
Out of home and out of the box… Yeah, that was pretty bad. But these billboards are awesome! The razor one is definitely my favorite. I wish I saw more of these kinds of out of home ads.
Hey Deb, check out #3!
First of all, I would just like to point out that as I’m reading this chapter I’m also sitting on my computer, Safari opened, logged on to Facebook, Tumblr (obviously), and Buzzfeed. I have my phone next to me so I can respond to any text messages or read an email I receive at any given moment. Oh yeah, and my TV is on.
BOOM. The first point made in the book; writers aren’t just making ads and they aren’t just competing with similar brands. They are competing against any other media that is filling up it’s plate with more than one piece of your attention pie.
So, the idea is not create an ad, but to create a connection with a human being because that’s to whom you want to communicate. To create a connection, Iezzi says you have “to create something so compelling that it will, first, warrant attention and stand out… Once it attracts attention, it has to deliver something relevant to the consumer’s life.” Many, if not all, of these ideas come from insights. We’ve had this conversation before in other classes (cough, cough, research) so seeing it in the book just solidifies it even more. They can come from anywhere. Where would I go? Online. Everyone and their brother is online and the accessibility to human thoughts is unreal. It’s probably the easiest way for a brand to figure out how to be apart of the consumer conversation.
Another tip Iezzi offers is to write. Write everything that comes to mind. The more you write, the more you may be able to develop an idea. She tells us to collaborate. She also touches on originality. She says, “We live in a remix culture”, and I could not agree with her more. I think that taking someone else’s idea and using it as inspiration is fine, but you have to make the idea your own. Nothing is new, its all just reinvented for different contexts.
I found this chapter pretty interesting and relevant considering the age of advertising that we are in currently.
The first thought that caught my eye was the comparison of technology to magic.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
This new platform of advertising - the digital space - really was magic.
People had to start thinking not about creating ads that fit in a pre-packaged vehicle, but creating entertainment that was interactive. I like the idea the author points out that when it came to TV, print or outdoor campaigns, “the line between creation and execution was visible”, but in regards to digital it wasn’t so clear.
It gave writers a little more room to be creative, I think. They could really come up with these crazy, out there ideas because digital had to capacity to actually make it happen. It was magic.
I also like how the digital space brought agencies together and turned the traditional structure on its head. These new creative teams weren’t full of creatives. They included someone from each aspect; a media person, a creative, a producer, and a designer. I think that that is probably the best way to get the job done.
