Talk about seamless integration...

My roommate sent me a link to this song, Patron Tequila by the Paradiso Girls. At first I was annoyed by the youtube ad that prerolled before the song came on but to my surprise, it wasn't a commercial! It was the video itself. Now I've heard of commercials becoming less like ads and more like featured entertainment, but never have I seen a music video aim to appear so much like a commercial. The dr. dre headphones (which are entirely WAY to expensive and can easily be defined as excessive) are the focal point of the entire song and drive the video's storyline. Regardless of my own opinion about the new dre headphone fad, the advertiser did a phenomenal job of grabbing the attention of the consumer (me!) and plugging the headphone brand as well as Best Buy.

Young People Down for a Change

With an estimated spending of $1.2 trillion a year, 14-34 year old consumers are a huge focus for advertisers. These consumers are cause-conscious shoppers and are nearly two-thirds more likely to respond to marketing campaigns that tie in a social cause or movement. Companies like Coca-Cola, HP, and GE are taking note and have switched their campaigns to more cause-related initiatives like the environment or education. Social media has also played a huge role in this as well. Most companies have a twitter and/or Facebook account. Since 14-34 year olds are some of the most active uses of SNS, it only makes sense to use this cost-effective medium to reach them about social cause and initiaitves. With many brands emersing themselves within the digital communities and capitalizing off of these social causes, it begs the questions: will consumers buy in to their new socially responsible efforts? Or will they just see it as another marketing tactic? Well, regardless if companies are motivated solely by potential profit or not, market growth has shown that campaigns like HP’s Power to Change (targeted towards college students) has indeed increase revenue for the company.

Facebook: Legislation Puts Limitations on SNS

Facebook recently made it possible for third-part sites to automatically access user data from the Facebook network. The company also just created a way for displaying user activites on those third-party sites in the Facebook environment. Days after these new features, legistlators and Washington stepped in to regulate this use of consumer data. These leaps in marketing research and tactics have government officials worried about the implications on consumer privacy online.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter are currently or already set the groundwork for a highly targetable approach to consumer advertising. The trend in research now is not what sites you’re coming from or where you are located, but who are you connected to. If this sort of trend continues without some sort of guidelines or restrictions put in place, the fall out for SNS could be huge. Consumers could eventually see SNS as an imposition or marketing threat to their friends and family. There must be some line drawn that says here, this is how far it is okay to go before you are oversaturating and abusing consumer rights.

Kobe--What Were You Thinking?

Though this is not entirely media-related, this issue has more than moved me to blog and definitely caused quite a stir in the ad industry. Kobe, Kobe, Kobe, modeling? I don’t know what Barney’s was thinking in hiring a professional, national championship-winning, NBA player to model their new summer line, but they should’ve thought twice. The photos portray Kobe in all white against a blaringly white background. The photos have sparked much criticism around the artistic license of the ads themselves. Kobe, as well as others, has made claims that his skin was darken during the post-shoot editing process. Kobe is more often than not in the public light. Darkening his skin was a horrible choice on the part of the creative team making that ad and would only lead to negative publicity. Though the photos have garnered quite a bit of attention, much of it has not been positive.

Maybe Big Media Companies are the Way to Go

Maybe agency-side isn’t the way to go. In an article by NewYorkTimes.com, the media industry is still not out in the clear. Though the economic situation of the country has gotten significantly better, many agencies are still struggling. However, at the top of some of the biggest media corporations like CBS, NBC, Comcast or Viacom, top executives are getting paid at least 8-figures! This is virtually unheard of in the agency-world, where starting salaries are averaging a bleak $30-40,000 a year. What was most striking in this report was CBS’ Leslie Moonves, whose salaries doubled from last year to $43 million.

Though most clients were pulling back their media spending, it seems as if the job security during the economic downfall could, ironically, be found at media companies. These companies have become surprisingly more lucrative, especially in comparison to the financial industry that usually averages much higher salaries across the board. In my opinion, though these large media companies have been reaping unimaginable profits, I question how long it will last. Many, many studies have shown that during economic depressions, companies look to advertising are a quick fix to maintain profits. With the economy slowly recovering, I question how long will this financial growth last?

PETA Buys Ad Space on Dead Man's Urn

Media is everywhere!

In order to help his wife pay for the cost of his funeral and creamation, an Oregon comedian sold the space on his urn as ad space to PETA. The animal rights group paid $200 for the space.

Their copy will read:

"I've Kicked the Bucket -- Have you? Boycott KFC." And another: "People who Buy Purebred Dogs Really Burn Me Up. Always Adopt."

Though I’m not sure the exact ROI of this, I highly doubt PETA will get very much reach on a dead man’s urn sitting on his wife’s mantle. PETA is known for their radical publicity-generating efforts, so this stunt definitely falls in line with their usually tactics. However, I’m not sure the context fits very well with their cause or the ethical implications that result from buying ad space from a dying man to put on his urn. Either way, may he R.I.P.

iPhone on the Look Out for Alien Invaders

The iPhone has been the number one mobile phone sold in the US for quite some time now. Those who use the iPhone have grown to have the same sort of affection as the love between a MAC-user and his Macbook. However, since its launch in Dec. 2009, the Android has significantly taken the lead in gaining the most shares in sales as well as ad requests. Prior to its launch, most mobile phone apps were created based on the iPhone OS, leaving out all other mobile consumers. However, now with the success of the Droid, I believe it is only a matter of time before we start to see the advent of mobile apps spread to all phones. Perhaps there will be a universalization of mobile OS one day—one can only imagine. Until then, advertisers can work with the majority and provide even more exposure and reach to their consumers.