Jim Beam Commercial

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

This is a commercial about the burbon Jim Beam, and it caught my attention because it didn't make sense to me. There is a girl with an accent who talks about the traits of a "perfect" girlfriend, she rambles on for about a minute and at the end it flashes "The Girlfriend", "Jim Beam", "The Bourbon". In my opinion I did not feel like the girl had anything to do with the alcohol and it felt very out of place. I did not see how "the girlfriend" have anything to do with Jim Beam.

The only relationship between the commercial and the branding that I see is that it uses sex to sell. The girl is wearing a tank top with her clevage showing, and actually this is a very effective way to sell. The burbon is a beverage more for males therefore using women in the ads is a good way to sell. This commerical was also played in between shows that males would watch such as the NBA All-star game, hence this was a very strategic thing to do.

I think that the way Jim Beam strategically placed the commerical was very wise but at the same time I was unable to relate "The girlfriend" with Jim Beam. They seem like they did a good job in capturing the viewer's attention like they did mine, but they weren't able to sell the brand and what the core belief the brand is composed of.

Facebook Ads

Believe it or not, facebook has a lot of ads that are around profile pages and various areas on the website. They are generally located on the right side of the web page and come in a series of three different ads every time the page is refreshed. The first three ads that popped up are about dating, IQ and making money and after I refreshed it, the three ads were about internships in NYC, NYU campus cash and threadless T-shirts. These ads seem to be relate to the people of my age range and their interests, young trendy clothes, job findings as well as NYU related activity. After looking through these ads it made me wonder if other students get the same type of ads, hence I asked a couple of my friends of what ads pop up when they're on facebook.

I asked two friends, one from seattle going to U of washington and the other from Hong Kong attending Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. My first friend reported that there were ads such as IQ testings as well, along with UW ads, anime, free macbooks, korean celebrities and order subway online. This search was facinating because my friend is a korean girl who is interested in anime. I was amazed that facebook would put ads up according to people's interest, and I was more facinated that facebook even knew what each person is interested in.

My second friend from Hong Kong told me the first three ads were in chinese and they were related to news in Hong Kong, dating in Hong Kong as well as IQ tests. Then there were ads about jobs, games and valentines.

Finding out about all these different ads and the difference between all of them really made me understand the concept of target market and that facebook incorporated that concept into it. From what I've seen, my hypothesis is that facebook puts ads targeting the overall age group and the typical topics of dating, IQ tests, finding out how smart you are etc... but then it also uses ads that would appeal more directly through understanding interests. My friend who was interested in anime, and the chinese ads that my friend saw as well. Sports ads and many other various ads are used and I believe it is not at a random that they were put on, but very strategic to attract the consumers.

Superbowl ad - Bud light

The Bud light drawing board skier commercial is a very interesting and catchy commercial that was played during the super bowl. It talked about the "Drinkability" of the beer and that was one of its main selling point as opposed to the other beers that are available in the market. The commercial was also filmed with a "snow" and "skiing" theme which enhances the idea of a nice cool drink that looks very appealing.
One of the main things that was set in my memory was the integration of a semi-animated interaction that was going on, the main guy that was explaining drinkability drew imaginary smooth imaginary lines propelling him up gracefully signifying the drinkability of bud light while drawing trees as obstacles on another signifying other beers. This commercial was very attractive yet very simple and straight forward, I feel like the audience got the message of the commercial and that bud light really marketed their product very directly.