the thought

Katie Bastian

Wow! That is one angry woman. What a great idea – after finding out her husband has been unfaithful, Emily rents billboard space and gets revenge! I bet there are a lot of women out there who wish they had done the same thing.

Check out Emily’s blog. Emily shares other ways she got back at her “soon-to-be-ex-husband.”

Now, take a look at this video. There she is again, publicly humiliating her unfaithful spouse, destroying his things and getting back at her husband in the process. View video.

Seems pretty real – doesn’t it?

It’s not!

Don’t worry, there are a lot of people who fell for this viral marketing campaign. Here’s how it happened to me.

My friend from high school forwarded me an email with the subject line that said, “Can you believe this???” The email had an attachment of the billboard above that was placed in Chicago. I then passed her email on to a co-worker displaying my shock at such a spiteful revenge.

My co-worker directed me to an article that exposed the truth in the New York Times. Similar billboards were placed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Los Angeles. People were quite confused between the billboards and the media attention. The billboards were actually advertisements to promote “Parco P.I.” – a reality court TV show.

Parco P.I., is a new hybrid reality/docu-drama series from Court TV that follows the Parcos, a family of New York City private eyes, as they crack cases and expose secrets at their family-run private investigation firm. The show features everything from cheating spouses to corrupt business partners.

Very entertaining! And a great way to introduce the show – turn it around on the viewers who become the private eyes as they attempt to figure out just what is going on with this Emily character.

09:11 AM | Permalink

Kathleen Destino

In an earlier blog, I wrote about the negative perceptions surrounding television advertising. Essentially, according to a Mintel International study, people are just not “fans” of the medium. It got me thinking about commercials in general, and I had to ask myself (as well as the office) - is it really that bad? Aren't there some commercials that we really like and look forward to seeing?

So I asked myself first, and concluded that I happen to really like plenty of television ads - especially the ones that make me laugh. My better half gets a kick out of watching me laugh out loud - even at the “bad” funny TV commercials.

Below is a list of some of my favorite funny (to me) commercials:

Sonic
Two guys talk about pretty much nothing while waiting in the drive-thru.

Capital One “NO” commercials
The commercials with David Spade – I especially crack up at the red-head guy who gets the brunt of the beatings. (I know what you are thinking -- why are you admitting to this?)

Budweiser
The Magical Beer Fridge. View it on You Tube.

Geico
Newlyweds live in a tiny house for a reality television show. This is “NOT AWESOME.” View it on You Tube.

I then asked around the office, intrigued by what TV advertising stuck in other people’s brains. Here is a short list:

Volkswagen
Passat - Low Ego Emissions – People with megaphones announce their egos. View.
GTI - German Scientists trying to speak hip hop. View.

I received an email that said the following:
“I love the commercial where the business owner is trying to make a presentation and he's really small and the old-fashioned bankers are looking at him through a magnifying glass and accidentally set him on fire. Of course, I can't remember the name of the bank.” (Capital One again) View.

Ameriquest
“I’m Her Daddy” - Part of Ameriquest's "Don't judge too quickly" campaign. View.

I had a lot of laughs taking another look at all of these commercials on You Tube . It’s amazing how many videos you can find there!

Besides giggling at my desk, this exercise reinforced my notion that not all advertising is created equal and certainly not all television commercials produce negative feelings or thoughts. If a commercial has an emotional purpose (such as making someone laugh, cry, or think) and is perceived as being produced with that purpose and quality in mind, viewers will be less likely to harbor negative feelings toward the advertisement.

01:41 PM | Permalink

Stacie Bogan

I always thought of myself as a level-headed person…until last Saturday.

I like to think that I am not the type of person who sprints out to the store to purchase the next great product just because I see it on TV or hear about it on the radio. Maybe I would if I didn’t have a husband that jumped online everyday to see what purchases I have made (tight purse strings).

Last Saturday, I was watching the Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com, which is my new favorite channel (again I’m behind the trend). What’s interesting about this fact is that I do not cook. I hate it. But I do love to eat. So I’m watching the Food Network and there is a segment featuring Haagen-Dazs and the search for the next fantastic flavor.

Who doesn’t love ice cream? I was immediately sucked into the two hour show.

Haagen-Dazs http://www.haagen-dazs.com asked consumers to send in their unique ice cream recipes in hopes of finding the next flavor sensation. Behind the scenes they narrowed it down to five people. Each person created their flavor in the Haagen-Dazs labs and went through various rounds of judging before a winner was chosen. It came down to these three flavors:

 Toasted Sesame Coconut something
 Canolli
 Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Of course I was rooting for Sticky Toffee Pudding… the name alone had me salivating like my two dogs. Finally, after two hours of torture, the VP of Marketing at Haagen-Dazs announced (drum role) the winner is… Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Yes! (I actually shouted at the TV) What a delicious choice! As soon as I heard those words announced I immediately forced my husband into a trip to Safeway to see if they had the “limited edition” for sale.

So there I was, sprinting out of my door to purchase the next great product. Wait, this isn’t me! What am I thinking? I’d like to chalk it up to a few key factors:

 It was triple digit heat
 We don’t have air conditioning
 I have a sweet tooth (it’s medically impossible to eliminate)

I would like to point out that if the factors above were not in play I would NEVER have fallen victim to the media. So let me ask you this… have you ever fallen victim to the media? Was it worth it?

I’d have to say congratulations to Haagen Daz – their marketing efforts through the Food Network had me not only buying their ice cream, but changed my whole predictable persona to do so.

11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)