Do your ears hang low? Dove’s new commercials

In 2004, Dove launched the very successful Campaign for Real Beauty which features real women, not models, advertising Dove’s firming cream. The advertisements focus on promoting real, natural beauty, in an effort to offset the unrealistically thin and unhealthy images associated with modeling.

In 2004, Dove released a study that they used as a spring board to launch their Campaign for Real Beauty. They found that:

• Only 2% of women describe themselves as beautiful.

• 63% agree that society expects women to enhance their physical attractiveness.

• 45% of women feel women who are more beautiful have greater opportunities in life.

• More than 68% of women strongly agree that the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that more women can’t ever achieve.

• 76% wish female beauty was portrayed in the media as being made up of more than just physical attractiveness.

• 75% went on to say that they wish the media did a better job of portraying women of diverse physical attractiveness, including age, shape and size.

Some advertising and PR

Dove used mobile billboards in major cities.  A featured interactive billboard, located in New York’s Times Square highlighted and kept a running tally of the votes submitted for a “Wrinkled? Wonderful?” ad. The Campaign for Real Beauty launched in New York City with a panel discussion about beauty. The kick-off was co-hosted by American Women in Radio and Television®, and featured Dr. Nancy Etcoff of Harvard University; Mindy Herman, former CEO, E! Entertainment Television; Andi Bernstein, Vice President, Special Projects, Oxygen Media and other media and beauty leaders

Dove established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to raise awareness among young girls of the link between beauty and body-related self-esteem. Dove funds programs that raise self-esteem in girls and young women.

In many of the articles written about Campaign For Real Beauty, information and statistics on the campaign came directly from Dove, including the Dove Global Study. According to a blog written by PSU students, the publicity for Campaign For Real Beauty generated more than 650 million imprints during the summer of 2005 alone.Of the 22 articles collected for this project:

• 18 directly discussed some aspect of an ad made by Dove for the Campaign For Real Beauty.

• 10 had a direct quote from someone representing Dove or Unilever.

• 17 used some element of a press release to add to their story.

• 7 mentioned the Campaign For Real Beauty website

• 6 mentioned the Dove Global Study and/or used statistics from the study.

• 17 articles covered Campaign For Real Beauty positively, praising the campaign.

• Only 5 articles criticized the campaign.

The Newest Advertising Campaign

The newest advertising campaign features several women singing “Do your ears hang low?”. I think this commercial is very clever and grabs the audience’s attention. This campaign is a collaborative effort with Walmart for the Dove pro-age product. The ending tag is “Find real beauty, for less.” Here is the commercial.

Another initiative Dove has taken in the same light is to collaborate with Girls Inc., Girl Scouts and Boys & Girls Club of America. Dove is promoting the same values of beauty to the young girls in these groups. The hope is to create a new image for women and I think this is a great initiative that needs to continue.

 

Back to the whiteboard

After a six-month search, UPS selected Ogilvy as its global communications agency, advertising, relationship marketing and digital duties. Ogilvy’s will advertise direct mail and online communications initiatives. UPS hired the agency based on its ability execute across global communications channels and strong business-to-business experience, among other reasons. UPS will spend about $35 million to launch a new advertising campaign in what the shipping company is calling its biggest marketing push in at least the last half decade.

The Martin Agency delivered UPS’s newest TV campaign.  Simplicity seems to be going around these days. This campaign is part of a campaign to move UPS from ground shipping to more of a supply chain management company. One of the objectives of the campaign was to show that UPS is not just for domestic ground shipping.

Advertising

The relaxed guy doing the pitching in these advertisements is Andy Azula. Azula is actually the creative director on the campaign. Azula wanted to design ads with a change from typical shipping spots, which show trucks and package handlers and businesspeople meeting deadlines.

To give UPS an idea of what he planned, he filmed sample spots with himself as the whiteboard guy and with co-workers from his ad agency behind the camera. He didn’t think he’d appear in the final versions, but focus groups consistently picked him as their favorite. Azula’s guess is that while the other actors had more charisma and energy, his low-key, unpolished delivery made him seem less like an annoying pitchman. As an art director who’d made countless storyboards, he also had a knack for fast, fun sketching.

According to Slate Magazine and an article by Seth Stevenson:

“This isn’t the first time someone from an ad agency has managed to wind up in his own commercial. Azula says he had to join the Screen Actors Guild and was paid scale wages. His life hasn’t changed much, though he now gets recognized in airports, where people will point at him and then draw things in the air with their fingers.”

UPS intelligently uses background music from the band, The Postal Service. Here are a few of the UPS commercials.

Public Relations

Along with the new advertising campaign, UPS has launched a new website based around the whiteboard campaign. The blog User Experience and Design, hits my feelings about the website right on the head.

“I hate the UPS site they set up for the ad. It’s slow and really does not capture the simplicity and energy of the ads. Most of the time I was at the site, I was waiting for the Flash components to load. The site closely replicates the ads, down to the long-haired guy squeaking his marker on a whiteboard…People don’t come to the site because they have a crush on this guy, or likes the way he talks or doodles. They are there to find out more – information. Okay. We’ve seen the ad. We love it. Now give us information. In a usable way. In a way that gives us control to seek out information we need. Instead users are forced into a linear user-experience and endure an interface that looks like the ad and talks like the ad.”

This last week we discussed websites in my PR Online Tactics class. This website is slow and has minimal information. There is no way to contact the company and no started dialogue. UPS should find a way to be in constant touch with its customers and the small businesses that are targeted.

 

Come to think of it, eBay?

Monday, November 1 marks the beginning of eBay’s first advertising campaign in 18 months. The goal is to boost its holiday sales in comparison to other online shopping destinations.

The new campaign is in print, television, and online. It is based around the new slogan “Come to think of it, eBay”. The ads are based around eBay as a cheaper version of Amazon, not a more expensive version of Craigslist.

There will be focus on new products for sale on eBay like designer dresses, and handbags, as well as overstocked items available for sale on the site. eBay will send a “pop up” store around the country to show off all the new items that are available at the site.

eBay’s hope is that consumers will realize that it sells new items and old. This push is conveniently placed near the holiday season so consumers realize they can save a few dollars from eBay.

“Come to think of it, eBay” makes it sound like they want eBay to be an after thought. I do not think they would want to promote the idea of looking at several other online shopping outlets before eBay.

For a little more insight into this campaign, as it is just beginning, I turned to the Seeking Alpha blog and author Scott Wingo.

“There are lots of great stories that I think eBay could be telling as they come through this turnaround like:: “We should be your first destination”, or “we are the source for the best deals” or “we had trust problems and we’ve solved them”, or “Hey you know us for auctions, now we have some great fixed-price deals!”, they are saying – “, but instead, eBay is saying: “hey please don’t forget us” or even worse, “You probably have already forgotten us.”

No official announcement has been made yet on this campaign. eBay has not necessarily had a successful past in advertising.

The campaign in 2004 was “The Power of All of Us” and did not include any information about selling. In 2006 they did the “Do it eBay” campaign. This campaign was made to include the fun of eBay. “Shop Victoriously” in 2007 was focused more on the auction aspect of eBay. In 2008 there were no advertisements.

The Power of All of Us

Do it eBay

Shop Victoriously

Here is the first commercial from the new eBay campaign. (Sorry, the video is not on youtube yet.)

From a PR stand point eBay has not been as successful as they could be. They are doing well with their social media outlets. They have a Twitter and Facebook. They do have a blog as well. There is nothing on their website yet about the new advertising initiative, and it has already been leaked in the Wall Street Journal.

 

Kodak and the 5 year haitus

Kodak started its first brand campaign since 2005 on October 31. The imaging giant will tell consumers “It’s time to smile” through a series of TV and Web ads. The campaign is targeting consumers who value the special moments in their lives.

According to AdWeek,

“the effort is a direct result of the “Future of Reconnectivity” report commissioned by the Eastman Kodak Co. The study looked at the role digital imaging played across five countries. It found that amid the tough times many have experienced, people have a common desire to reconnect with loved ones, in part by sharing photos.”

Kodak has created applications, the Konga Line photo album and Smile Meter, on Facebook, as well as an application for the iPhone. The first TV ad, “Little Moments”, focuses on its personalized Kodak Gallery photo books.

Business

Kodak spent $15 million in media for the first eight months of the year, per Nielsen. Last year, it spent $19.1 million. Comparatively, in 2005 it doled out $90.4 million. They are focused more focused on spending on research and development.

According to Seeking Alpha, sales worldwide totaled $1.8 billion, a decrease of 26% from $2.4 billion in the prior-year period, including 2% of unfavorable foreign exchange impact. For the full year, Kodak expects its total revenues to decline by 12% to 18% year over year. However, expects an improvement in the fourth quarter results compared to the year-ago quarter.

The Campaign

The tagline for the company’s new year-long, fully integrated marketing initiative, “It’s Time to Smile”, is at the center of the brand’s new initiative to strengthen relationships through sharing images. The campaign began with social media activities in summer 2009 and will be completed with an advertising campaign. Kodak is responding to a trend stating relationships are decreasing by reminding consumers that “It’s Time to Smile”. The campaign was developed to reach consumers at a national and local level through both online and offline tactics.

To support its relationship initiative and help people reconnect, Kodak has started a trend of “BrightSiding” (creating moments that bring people together and make them smile), as well as existing “BrightSiders” who were already practicing the trend. In July 2009 Kodak teamed with the “Compliment Guys,” two Purdue University students who had built a following by sharing free compliments and generally brightening the days of fellow students. The Kodak BrightSide Tour was supported with a blog, as well as traditional and social media tactics.

Kodak has come back more powerful than ever, in my opinion. With the technology of digital cameras, the film industry is no longer needed. Kodak has repositioned its company to adjust to new trends. The use of advertising as well as public relations is going to further the key messages and objectives in new and creative ways. The use of street teams is new in this industry and the “Compliment Guys” are a full representation of what Kodak wants to do with their brand.

 

Wonderful Nuts……..

Wonderful Pistachios has relied on word of mouth and great advertising to generate sales and popularity. The pistachios now have a Twitter, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Where did Wonderful Pistachios come from?

Wonderful Pistachios is a segment of Paramount Farms. Paramount Farms is the largest grower and processor of almonds and pistachios in the world. The orchards thrive in California’s San Joaquin Valley – the ideal growing location for almonds and pistachios. The vast processing and storage facilities span more than 1.3 million square feet.

Paramount Farms also produces California Pistachios, Everybody’s Nuts Pistachios, Sunkist Pistachios and Almond Accents. Wonderful Pistachios’ main goal is to stress that the snack is healthy, low calorie and has several benefits.

“Get Crackin’ ” ?

Wonderful Pistachios’ website has very little information, but a lot of leisure appeal. The website includes a scrolling feature which allows customers to watch all of the commercials. It includes four widgets including a Twitter widget, news widget, health widget and events widget. Each widget allows customers to learn more about the product and what they stand for. To further engage customers it includes more links at the bottom of the page. It includes games but also links to more information about the benefits of eating these pistachios.

What is with those commercials?

Wonderful Pistachios has started a new campaign featuring Levi Johnson, Vincent Pastore and several other stars. The commercials use humor to pull in customers. They also use celebrities to draw attention to the commercials.These are a few of my favorite.

The blog, Creative Ramblings, makes a good point by stating:

“A simple way to do commercials an communicate one message. Simple, Humorous and Fun. Nothing too fancy but still very relevant to today’s youth and current trend topics. Even old fuddy-duddys who watch TV can understand it.”

Why social media?

Wonderful Pistachios uses Twitter and Facebook to promote the brand. While it is typical for brands to use these social networking sites, it can be ineffective. It seems that it is using Twitter to give out free pistachios. The free pistachios are a good incentive to follow them on Twitter. The Facebook also promotes free samples.

This does not seem to be too effective of a PR tactic, but they may be able to make it work.

How do you “Get Crackin’ “?

The “Get Crackin’ ” campaign also includes a video contest. The contest encourages customers to make their own creative video about how they eat Wonderful Pistachios.

According to the Wonderful Pistachios’ Facebook:

“There are hundreds – if not thousands – of original ways to crack open a pistachio. We’re challenging Americans to get creative and submit your own innovative take on our Get Crackin’ campaign. How do YOU Get Crackin’? Visit our Wonderful Pistachios YouTube page to submit your video to win $25,000 and an airing on national television.Video submissions will be aired on the Get Crackin’ YouTube channel beginning on October 5 and accepted until November 29, 2009. Complete rules and guidelines are available. A winning video will be announced on December 14, 2009.”

What about “Get Stackin’ “?

Wonderful Pistachios has had plenty of free coverage from the media about their commercials, but their newest endeavor is called “Get Stackin’ “.  According to a news release on PR Newswire:

“From domestic regional tournaments and the world championships to the annual global stacking Guinness World Record WSSA STACK UP! event, Wonderful Pistachios now will rally consumers to also “Get Stackin’.” Sport Stacking is an exciting individual and team sport that’s crackin’ the surface of mainstream America. It originated in the early 1980s in Southern California and was originally known as “cup stacking.” Today, it is a full-fledged sport governed by the World Sport Stacking Association.”

Wonderful Pistachios is making a splash by using innovative ideas and sports to further the brand. What other bizarre ideas can they come up with? Only time will tell.

 

Gillette: Champion of Integration

Football Campaign

Proctor & Gamble’s Gillette has ads for their new razors — Gillette Fusion MVP and Gillette Fusion Power MVP — and has commercials running on network and cable TV.

The new razors are under the Gillette Fusion line and they are using Atlanta Falcon’s quarterback Matt Ryan.

They use Ryan as a spokesperson for their razors, a great public relations tactic. They use a face that many guys around the nation see as a role model and trust as well. Ryan was the 2008 rookie of the year in the NFL.

In the commercial, Ryan explains why he uses the product:

“My face takes enough abuse. That’s why I use Gillette Fusion for my sensitive skin, he says. Fusion: Proven performance on sensitive skin.”

The campaign is part of Proctor & Gamble’s ongoing, multi-year partnership with the NFL, which allows them to print the logo, “Official Locker Room Product of the NFL” on select products, including Head & Shoulders shampoo and Old Spice deodorants.

Proctor & Gamble also has a fact sheet online. It goes through the basics of the razors including the technology and comfort. It says that this brand has generated more than “one billion dollars in sales by providing Gillette’s most comfortable shave ever”. The fact sheet goes through the features and benefits including smooth micro-pulses and a razor that moves more effortlessly.

The fact sheet explains all these features and benefits that the commercial may not be able to convey in one 30 second spot.

On their website, they also have a video interview with Matt Ryan. This online video can also bring the audience closer to their product.

Gillette

Gillette has successfully used integrated advertising and public relations several times.

They currently have another campaign that is called Gillette Champions. It features several athletes including Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Thierry Henry and international athletes. On their website, customers can click on each star and see a biography of the champion, news about the champion, rituals the champion does and the champion’s favorites. This page is interactive and helps the customer to relate to these stars. This page pulls customers to their product because they use these champions as spokespersons.

Gillette also has a neat social media addition for this campaign. They have a widget that you can add to your desktop or to your own website. This is a portal for all the champions. It gives any subscribers minute to minute updates on each champion.

This is the commercial that goes with this campaign.

Young Guns

Gillette’s other campaign, Young Guns, has to do with NASCAR drivers. This campaign incorporates the same idea as the champions campaign, but they have a giveaway sweepstakes to engage their customers. Their website has biographies of the drivers, information about the pit crews and information about race day.

The sweepstakes they have is the Young Guns Gamer Challenge. The sweepstakes is an interactive game. If customers score the fastest time they can win a day at the races.

They also used commercials to advertise their online games and campaigns.

 

Duel forces: Best Buy uses public relations and advertising in new Twelpforce campaign.

A little history

Best Buy started in 1966 as a small audio, video and car audio store. By 1970 their annual revenues reached the $1 million amount. In 1983, the board of directors changed the name to Best Buy Co., Inc. In 2002, the Geek Squad and Best Buy joined forces. Best Buy now sells everything from iPods to laptops in their stores across the United States.

Now

In the past, Best Buy has used clever advertisements to help its sales. Recently, they have joined the masses on Twitter to promote customer service.

Twelpforce

Best Buy's Twelpforce

Best Buy’s new strategy, Twitter, is essentially making any customer service easier for the customer. The customer can go to their Twitter website, post a comment and get a response back. Best Buy employees can put in their responses to any customer questions from their own Twitter account. They just have to put in the #Twelpforce and their response will show up on the Twelpforce Twitter site.

The New Age

Twitter may be typical in the life any public relations or communications student, but corporations and businesses are just learning how to use it. This new initiate has taken over Best Buy’s new advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns. This has caused an integration of the three. This merge on Twitter is also aimed to help Best Buy in rough economic times.

The new initiatives come in addition to traditional marketing efforts. Because of the economy, Best Buy has a smaller holiday advertising budget. Best Buy will be airing six or seven TV commercials that state they are, “a place for great gift ideas.” The spots will feature Best Buy’s “Twelpforce”, but will also highlight gaming, home theater and computer bundles.

Customers will not only be able to ask about problems or issues. They will also be able to ask about decisions the company is making. An interesting tactic has been used as to how employees will know the answers to these questions. Best Buy posted a document for its employees where even the customers can see it.

Here is a small part of the document posted:

“That means that customers will be able to ask us about the decisions they’re trying to make, the products they’re using, and look for the customer support that only we can give. And with Twitter, we can do that fast, with lots of opinions so they can make a decision after weighing all the input. It also lets others learn from it as they see our conversations unfold.

When you start, remember that the tone is important Above all, the tone of the conversation has to be authentic and honest. Be conversational. Be yourself. Show respect. Expect respect. The goal is to help. If you don’t know the answer tell them you’ll find out. Then find out and let them know.”

This shows that Best Buy is trying to be open and fair to their customers. This signifies what Best Buy expects from its employees and how it expects them to act.

This campaign just started in July 2009, so it is four months old. The industry is always looking towards the holiday season. We will all see how this campaign works and if we hear anything about the Twelpforce!

 

Back to the basics-public relations vs. advertising

As a new college student in Fall of 2007, I had declared my major as public relations without really knowing what it was all about. There are differences between the two that some people do not know about. They often confuse public relations and advertising to be the same thing. After searching through several websites and blogs, including about.com, I have come up with five major differences between public relations and advertising.

Advertising tells people why they should buy their product, or why they need it. Public relations tells the target audience why a company, business or cause is important to them.

1.) Paid vs. Free

The easiest way to differentiate between public relations and advertising is to tell how they are funded. Advertising is the paid promotions that are seen on billboards, television, newspapers and magazines. Public relations is based around press releases and press conferences. These are then reported on and made into feature stories or articles.

2.) Control vs.  Surprise

Advertising is created by the advertising practitioner, so they control what they are showing the world.  Advertising can be viewed as biased promoting because the advertiser creates the ad. In public relations, the public relations practitioner creates the press release, but cannot create or control the newspaper articles that reporters may write. Also, if there is a problem within a company the reporter can write about the crisis in any way they want to. Public relations can be viewed as un-biased because a reporter that is not from the company creates the article.

3.) Today vs. Tomorrow

Public relations can be considered to have a shorter life than advertising. During an advertising campaign, the ads can run multiple times (at least until the money runs out). During a PR campaign, a news release can only be used once. A newspaper will not run a story more than once, so public relations practitioners need to maintain a good relationship with the reporters so their stories can expand.

4.) Assurance vs. Panic

Advertising pays to have a guaranteed time and place in which the ad will be run. Public relations has no guarantee as to if or when an article will run. Public relations practitioners have to be sure that they are monitoring the news for good and bad news about their company.

5.) Creativity vs. Placement

Advertisements need to be creative to grab the audience’s attention. Public relations practitioners have to learn how to properly place news so they can get the most coverage for a company.

Public relations practitioner’s responsibilities can also include public speaking, interviews, attending conferences, arranging press launches, organizing opening days and acting as the client’s spokesperson. An advertiser’s responsibility is to create the advertisements and creative strategies.

This image below, from Mark Smiciklas, perfectly and simply explains the difference between public relations and advertising.

Copyright Mark Smiciklas IntersectionConsulting.com/Blog

These are just the basics and obviously all these differences can be broken down differently with each company. Some companies merge the two together to create synchronized promotion efforts. In the future, I will be breaking down the strategies of a few companies to better show this idea of integrated promotions.