Thursday, June 25, 2009

Can advertising persuade people to eat healthier?

6/25/09

If as critics believe, advertising leads people to buy things they don’t need, then is the reverse also true? Can advertising help people to make smarter choices and eat better?

Here comes Tropicana to take a shot at it. Since their orange juice is 100% non-reconstituted juice, and contains no additives, it is uniquely positioned to tout the health properties of its product. They intend to start by focusing on the fact that 7 out of 10 adults, as well as most children, are not consuming the USDA-recommended 4 fruit servings per day.

Interestingly, according to the CMO, “We’ve learned a majority of orange juice drinkers are unaware that 100% orange juice contributes to their daily fruit intake”. (Lukovitz, 2009)

Hmm. What does this say about non-drinkers? Are they equally ignorant, or perhaps more so? Will this campaign help educate a public that just doesn’t want to know? Will it sell more Tropicana orange juice?

Lukovitz, K. (2009, June 16). Tropicana Promotes OJ As Daily Fruit Serving. mediapost.com. Retrived June 22, 2009 from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=108063

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Does a free download do it for you?

6/18/09

As advertisers seek new wow factors to attract their target audiences, one idea that has emerged and seems to be gaining momentum is free music downloads. Given that 50% of us now pay for our music downloads the timing may be right.

On Friday, Toblerone announced the offer of a free exclusive track from Alesha Dixon with purchase. The UK promotion, which is sponsored by Kraft, also features a contest to win VIP tickets to a concert and meeting with Alesha, signed merchandise and free candy bars. (Paine, 2009)

Would this motivate you? Does the exclusivity matter when anybody can buy a candy bar?

Do you know who she is? Given the ever increasing fragmentation of the music industry is it possible to find an artist who would have mass appeal?


Paine, A. (2009, June 12). Alesha Dixon Fronts Toblerone Campaign. adage.com. Retrived, June 15, 2009 from
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i45a4bf33efc17917e66f43213e5d636c

Monday, June 8, 2009

Is walking away from a winning strategy a good idea?

6/8/09

The Effie award winners for 2008 have been named and the grand Effie was awarded to Burger King for its “Freakout” campaign. In case you’ve forgotten it, it makes use of a hidden camera to show the reaction of real people when they are told that the whopper has been discontinued. You can check it out again here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa8fHfo4uEI

I knew the campaign was a winner when my nephew, who was 14 at the time showed me clips of it on YouTube. According the Effie application, Burger King’s sales went up by double digits when it ran. (“Burger King Wins”, 2009)

Now comes the news that in the face of an unimpressive +1% increase in sales during 1st Quarter 2009, BK has decided to focus future advertising on items from its value menu, despite the fact that it has traditionally focused its advertising on its premium products. (“Burger King Promotes Value”, 2009)

Is this a wise decision given the current state of the economy? Or are they foolish to stop promoting their signature item?


(2009, June 4). Burger King Wins Effie Grand Prize For ‘Freakout’. mediapost.com. Retrived, June 7, 2009 from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.printFriendly&art_aid=107275

(2009, May 29). Burger King Promotes Value. mediabuyerplanner.com. Retrived, June 7, 2009 from
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/41524/burger-king-promotes-value/

Monday, June 1, 2009

Would you enter this contest; forward the video to a friend?

6/1/09

As we have discussed in class, traditional advertising has not performed well on social networking sites, so advertisers are experimenting with a variety of different formats to increase effectiveness.

Here’s an interesting integrated effort from the Bahamas to consider.

Phearcreative helped them to create a viral effort involving a video, contest, and pass along element. The campaign also included a live event and the video was posted on a variety of social networking sites.

The easiest way to check out the video/contest is to go to:

http://www.bahamafridays.com/

I’m interested in knowing what you think about the approach. Did you watch the entire video? Enter the contest? Pass it along to a friend? Why or why not? Any suggestions for improvement?