In Response to Melissa's Post about April Fools Advertisements

In her post Melissa talks about a number of April fools ads that several companies are running that feature products that would never make it otherwise, such as bacon flavored mouthwash. I think these advertisements, although they are not advertising a real product, are beneficial to the companies. The products are so ridiculous that they bring attention to the commercials, where as otherwise consumers might not pay attention to the advertisement as much. In my opinion this is a good technique to bring attention to the overall brand even if they are not advertising a real product.

What is your opinion? DO you think these advertisements are a waste of time and resources? Or is the brand recognition worth the money spent?

Desensitization and Advertising

We are constantly barraged by advertisements whether it's from television, the internet, or radio advertisements are everywhere. Of these advertisements how many do we actually remember? From a consumer's prospective these ads are just annoying. Consumers are exposed to so many advertisements on a daily basis that they are becoming desensitized to advertising. This is especially true with internet advertisements. This over saturation of adds in the online marketplace means that each additional ad diminishes the value of the collective whole. Despite this companies still pile money into online ads, when they could be just reducing the impact of the ads by desensitizing consumers to them in the first place.

What do you think? Are consumers beginning to becoming desensitized to advertisements? what could be done to combat this?

Marketing Yourself

In today's struggling job market it is more important than ever to market yourself as a valuable asset to companies that you are looking to work for. This can be done in many different ways but one approach is to market yourself as a product or service that you are selling to a company. Define your mission and the benefits you offer. Set your objective, what exactly you want to achieve. Construct observable measurable goals that have indicators that show you are accomplishing or have accomplished your goal. Be realistic in evaluating yourself, what are your strengths and weakness. What opportunities can you take advantage of? What threats are there to you accomplishing your goal? Develop a strategy for how you plan to market yourself, periodically evaluate your efforts to market yourself and make changes if needed.The steps are traditionally applied to marketing a product or service but I believe that marketing yourself is just as, or even more important especially when looking for a job in today's economy.

What is your opinion on this topic? Can traditional marketing techniques be applied to finding a career?

Marketing and No Logo Article

Naomi Klein claims in an article that there is a new trend emerging in marketing. This trend has brands abandoning flashy logos on their products, or abandoning logos altogether, for a more plain looking product. Companies such as Absolut vodka and Starbucks have already tried this technique with positive results. I think this technique could work for other companies as well. Many people don't care about flashy logo's or brands, some are even against them. This technique of straying away from logos or brands would put emphasis back on the quality of the product.

Do you think this technique of dialing back on logo's or branding could work for other companies? Why or why not?

Article URL:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/16/naomi-klein-branding-obama-america

In Response to Jon's Annoying Ads Post

In his post Jon talks about several advertisements on television which he finds annoying, then poses the question, are these advertisements effective? I think that is some ways they are but in others they are not. For brand awareness and recognition, I think they can be effective. If a brand has a commercial that  is annoying to a viewer, chances are they will remember what the commercial is advertising, not just the annoying part. In this sense it could be an effective way elevating awareness of the brand. In another sense if the commercial is so annoying that the viewer develops a negative correlation between the advertisement and the brand, the advertisement could drive the customer away. Although advertisements like these can get stuck in your head and create brand awareness, I don't think it is worth it marketing wise to deliberately annoy your audience and possibly drive away viewers.

What do you think? Could these advertisements work? What are some examples of this concept working? Or not working?