Category: Advertising & Marketing

Buick’s all about creating impressions

Posted on by Taylor Kennedy

If a car company gave you the opportunity to test drive a car overnight and included a company-themed yoga workout, mix-at-home company fragrances and a “company meditation map,” would that make you more likely to buy one of their vehicles?

That’s what Buick hopes, as its “24 Hours of Happiness Test Drive” marketing campaign was released last week. The company hopes this idea not only shows their interest in their consumers but creates an impression that Buick trusts their shoppers.

Typically a brand for an older demographic, Buick is now targeting a new generation of buyers and combined that with the trending topic of wellness.

This campaign notion reminded me of the quotation, “if you’re not innovating, you’re going backward.”

So ask yourself, how are you/your company innovating and constantly improving to the ever changing demands of today’s society?

Don Draper’s revelation

Posted on by Brian Lee

“A new day. New ideas. A new you.”

Those words were spoken to Don Draper as he began to meditate during the closing minutes of the series finale of “Mad Men.” From there, he had an a-ha moment–or as we like to say here, a “revelation”–and subsequently created the famous “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” commercial.

I know that feeling. Although I don’t meditate, I’ve come up with ideas (although none of that scale) while on the elliptical, while reading and while watching “Mad Men” (honest!).

You don’t need to be in an office brainstorming session to come up with the next big idea. In my experience, inspiration can come from anywhere and anytime. Just don’t forget to write it down!

Slogans: Good, Bad and the Ugly

Posted on by Brian Lee

Slogans can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. In this case, the latter: As part of Budweiser’s #UpforWhatever campaign, Bud Light recently released the following slogan on their bottle: “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.”

It didn’t take long before others began pointing out how the slogan could lead to endorsing a rape culture.

Even though Anheuser-Busch apologized for the slogan, discontinued the bottle and stated it would never condone such behavior, it begs the question as to how the slogan even got approved in the first place.

Although the #UpforWhatever campaign is intended to encourage spontaneous fun, this isn’t the first time the #UpforWhatever campaign has come under fire. The company sent a controversial St. Patrick’s Day tweet that some felt played down sexual consent.

It doesn’t matter the size of your company–put serious thought into your slogan. Think outside the box and put yourself in the outsider’s point-of-view. How will your slogan come across?