Category: Advertising & Marketing

Mapping Out Clear Communication

Posted on by Allison Wallner

mapout

A friend of mine recently asked me to review a mapping project to be displayed at his house. He’s a GIS mapping specialist, and looking at Google Maps is the extent of my experience, but I gladly reviewed the project.

When I looked at this map, I was confused with the markings that appeared. My friend was surprised at my apparently obvious question. The map was not conveying a clear meaning to someone with no advanced mapping knowledge.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Well-established communication is mandatory from the sender to receiver to establish a shared meaning. A shared meaning occurs when people understand each other’s perspective and meaning. This is crucial within any presentation, sales pitch, form of writing and simple conversation. Making sure your audience, no matter how big or small, is on the same page as you when doing business is a must.

Evaluating your audience when developing your marketing message can help with this objective. Becoming familiar with the realm of knowledge, goals and needs of your audience will make building your marketing message easier to communicate and understand.

Back to my example, my friend now understands that the symbols placed throughout the map are not clearly communicated to his audience. The map now has an easy-to-read map key displayed in the bottom corner.

Clear communication will lead you to a shared meaning, which avoids confusion and creates success.

Why are you buying furniture on Presidents’ Day?

Posted on by Jessica Hamilton

Presidents DayAccording to Wikipedia, until the 1970s most businesses were closed on Presidents’ Day. The holiday was originally created under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which observes certain holidays throughout the year on predetermined Mondays.

It was not until the mid-1980s that advertisers began to use the phrase “Presidents’ Day” to encourage sales during the three day weekend. According to the Nevada Daily Mail, advertisers began to play a role in the changing of the name in 1986 after Congress enacted Martin Luther King Jr. day to be the third Monday in January. Since neither George Washington nor Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays fell on the third Monday of February,  advertisers began using the time between Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays as a “Presidents’ Day” sale period.

Today, companies use the holiday to get rid of old merchandise to make room for spring items. Most commonly advertised are mattress and furniture sales. Real Simple said new furniture designs hit the market in spring, causing furniture stores to mark down many of last season’s items.

Meanwhile, Payoff.com said that spring brings an increase in home sales, therefore increasing the demand for new mattresses and furniture. Mattress models turn over in May, so deals begin in the new year during times when marketers know that shoppers have extended time off of work (like Presidents’ Day weekend).

Super Bowl ads 2016: staff opinions

Posted on by Brian Lee

BRIAN:

Once upon a time, Super Bowl commercials generated buzz by being funny, eliciting emotions or creating a “wow” factor. Nowadays, creativity is rarer to find, and 2016 was no different (see Persil laundry detergent ad for an example of zero creativity). This year, I’ll pick the Toyota Prius car chase as my favorite. Although the first spot was a bit long (1:30), I liked the montage of clips (e.g. news programs, game shows, fans, etc.), which help to drive home (no pun intended) the messages of new features, safety, quiet and fuel-efficient. The follow-up commercial in which the police get a Prius was a nice touch.

TAYLOR:

I had seen most of the advertisements posted throughout the week leading up to the Super Bowl, so I was interested in seeing the ads that weren’t released early. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed in the Super bowl ads this year; however, the one that did make me laugh the most was Hyundai’s “First Date.” It was clear that laughter was the theme of the advertisements this year, and this ad hit the nail on the head. Every dad with a daughter could relate to this video as the hilarious Kevin Hart played the over-protective father who strategically lets his daughter’s date take his new Genesis car for their night out. Using the car’s new technology, Kevin could spy on his daughter throughout the night. Hyundai also produced other clever commercials during the Super Bowl, including the Elantra ad “Ryanville,” which starred Ryan Reynolds.

ALLISON:

Super Bowl commercials are hyped up to be the most comical, witty and creative commercials of the year; however, this year I was once again disappointed. Overall the commercials were nothing special in my eyes, but there were a few that stood out. I mostly enjoyed Taco Bell’s “Bigger Than” commercial. It was funny and relatable by incorporating, and almost poking fun at, today’s pop culture and trends. Taco Bell described its new Quesalupa as being bigger than drones, man buns, Tinder, hoverboard scooters, and so on. Taco Bell is targeting the late-night, grab-and-go millennials. It is a creative and relatable way to portray the Quesalupa as the next big thing.

JESSICA:

I really enjoyed the Doritos Dog commercial. Three dogs attempt to enter a grocery store to get Doritos through various methods (like riding on the bottom of a grocery cart) as the stingy store manager clearly points to the “No Dogs Allowed” sign in the store window. Finally, the dogs stack on top of one another underneath a trench coat to achieve a human-like appearance, managing to enter the store and purchase Doritos. Interestingly, this commercial was created by Jacob Chase, a participant in the PepsiCo Frito-Lay’s Crash the Super Bowl campaign.