I still need to narrow down my focus for the project (and I guess that's what this blog post is supposed to help me do), but I want to do my project on advertising - specifically, how companies/advertising agencies are using new media in campaigns. Looking at one example of a web advertising campaign could potentially be a good way of demonstrating the potential of new media for product promotion. I don't have a specific site in mind to look at, but I'm thinking of maybe analyzing something like the aerie blog, a blog about American Eagle's Aerie clothing line. That's one possibility, but I'd really like to find an example that uses not only a blog but also things like viral videos (like that whole pepsi mentos thing) in their campaign. Any suggestions? (Or am I actually going to have to do my own research...)
Proposal: Advertising
By allnighter - Posted on 21 February 2007 - 2:21pm.
Tagged:
Check out the doritos super bowl commercial contest. There were also a number of other advertisements for the super bowl that could be brought to fruition, or continued, on a website.
I also read in "The Tipping Point", a book by someone (I'm sorry I'm to lazy to get it out of my closet), that man commercials that require interaction with a computer end up working better than normal commercials.
One last thing, the text messaging that occurs on TV shows and commercials could be another avenue to explorer. "Remember, normal text messaging rates apply."
Have you seen Carlton Draught's "Big Ad"? If not, just google "Big Ad." It's amazing and, well, big. While it's in the TV ad format, the Wikipedia entry about the ad explains how they used New Media techniques to popularize the ad. Namely, they released it virally before airing it on TV, then limited the TV release so as not to overplay it. All in all, it was brilliant marketing, millions have seen it, but nobody is sick of it. This might be an interesting paper topic because it is a great example of viral marketing, which is becoming more popular all the time and is certainly a New Media topic.
Here's a link to an article which discusses Chevrolet's attempt to use new media to promote one of their products.
Basically, Chevrolet held a contest to see who could create the best television ad for the new Tahoe. The article states how marketing is usually a very cleverly controlled process, taking into account audience and aesthetics, down to small painstaking details. Chevrolet, in opening this practice up to the public, relinquished a lot of control, for better or worse.
I think both of these companies also opened their marketing departments to the public at one point.
Ugh, I really hated the whole aerie tuesdays thing they had going on with The CW for awhile. I'm a big fan of both The CW's Tuesday shows (Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars), and it was so freaking annoying to see the "aerie girls" trying to discuss the shows during commercial breaks. Total airheads, not to mention the annoying and obvious commercial tie-in they were going for. Luckily they seem to have discontinued the aerie girls as I haven't seen them since before the midseason hiatus...
Here’s a link to an interesting NYT article about advertisers finding venues for their on gaming websites . . . a slick/aggressive move that targets people who don’t watch TV, but rather spend their leisure time online.
I find this bizarre in that an online gamer can actually select which sponsors they want to see ads from (while the games load) . . . talk about consumers having the upper hand! (Still though, advertisers do seem to be fully manipulating new media forms as they crop up).
I'm fascinated by this whole viral media phenomenon, as I commented on BenManTheEvil's proposal -- and particularly by the attempted interface between the viral and the commercial. How participatory are forms like YouTube, really, if what they're increasingly doing is bringing us more ads? To what extent are producers of commercial media attempting to constrain the revolutionary potential of new media by channeling our creativity into the production of advertising?
You might also want to read up on some viral marketing stuff and see if that's relevant to your thesis at all. If you haven't already, you might research the whole moonite terrorist fiasco and give the Graffitti Research Lab a quick runthrough as well as the Anti-Advertising Agency . The last two are great examples of people trying to use guerilla marketing techniques to subvert commercial ends, so it might be cool to consider the relationship between that and the advertising world, since they do influence each other. New/Hyper media is all about reader empowerment after all. I know Studio47 keeps trying to start a projection bombing campaign to promote events but we never seem to have the time to go out and do it.