Boy.... over saturation or obnoxiousness... in advertising? I don't know if there exists such a thing! Sorry to be posting so late, but it took me the entire day to recognize the advertisements and brands that I've conditioned myself to ignore. Thank goodness for the invention of Tivo....but some brands that find themselves on the irritable side of things are McDonald's, Capital One, Old Navy, Walmart, U.S Cellular, Verizon, any of the car makers in Ford, GM, Mazda... take your pick. The reasons all vary as well.
My problem with those mentioned brands or on the positive side, the reason I applaud the other brands for their minimalist approach is that I think with brands like Adidas or Apple, credit is given to the consumer for being either individualist or just plain intelligent that gimmicks aren't the mainstay of the commercial message. With Walmart and Old Navy, their campaign is just too juvenile, I'd be afraid of aliens coming and those commercials being the first they saw to deduce human life. U.S. Cellular, at least locally in Chicago, has made possible what I previously thought was impossible... in hating a local Chicago actress/icon and her portrayal of a typical Chicagoan. That actress being Joan Cusack the lesser known of the family, the popular being John Cusack. While I remember the name of the company and credit their commercials for at least brand recognition, the commerical's ability to stir hatred and the subsequent promise I've made to myself to never even contemplate using their service had to have been labeled a failure in their marketing meetings... With the car companies, sheer volume proves to be the issue. It's the Chinese water torture method of branding. Oh, you missed what the vehicles city/highway gas mileage was... just wait another 25 seconds til.... ohopp, there it is again!
We've grown up in a generation where we've been marketed to since we've been old enough to remember. How else could you explain the segment of sesame street children's viewing where portions of the program were "brought to us by the letter....Z." Of course, that's an extreme but a commercial nonetheless. I still won't buy Z's today!
In thinking about it more, to elaborate... it's not necessarily that Adidas and Apple have won me over solely because they strip down their message... but more the belief in their product that reinvention is not vital for their product to be adored by whatever market they're aiming towards just the general goodness and awesomeness of their product. Brands that do that have a better chance of outlasting acid wash, flannel, white baseball hats or those snazzy Lance Armstrong Live Strong bracelets. There's also a ton of "noise" in television, radio and now the Internet.
It's the calm in in the flurry of cool and fad.
Oh... By the way, Let me know what caffeine habits you people prescribe to.... having to listen to folks off the street wax nostalgic for hours on a day in a dark room albeit with tasty snacks eerily reminds me of struggling to stay awake in my 3 hour literature class in undergrad, truly amazing...
Bona Note!
No comments:
Post a Comment