More Advertising Uncut

(Nice after effects opening titles :)

Another day off from college and I mannaged to catch another Episode of Adverting Uncut on Channel Four

The was the last episode in the series and looked at what tactics advertisers use to make an advert successful, and it seems making people laugh is the best way to get them to like your product

They showed a whole host of clips on the show



Budweiser - Wazzzz up;
Was a very successful ad campaign, it even appealed to people (teenagers) who were not legal allowed to buy the product. The term "Wazzzz Up" even out lived the advert it self with people still using Waaaaz Up even when the advert was no longer running



Virgin Media - Wyclef
Another successful (and funny) ad campaign this time highlighting that Virgin Mobile do not tie you to a contract.



Virgin Media - Kate Moss
Virgin ran this ad at the time Kate Moss had been dropped from some of her high profile contracts. The advert was only ran for a very short amount of time, but it brought Virgin a lot of press.



Sony Bravia - Paint
The Sony Bravia ad was a another very popular and thus successful advert. This advert was produced using no special effects or post production. All the exploding paint you see actually happened. Some one who worked creating the advert commented that it used more semtex than the film Saving Private Ryan



The Honda Hate advert took a complete new approach to advertising a car. While most car advert used shots of beautiful cars cruising down wide open roads, this advert appeals more to the Internet savvy consumer who is looking to see something new and fresh. While most advertiser are wanting you to love their product this advert dares to use the word hate! Something very rarely seen in the advertising world

This advert aims to make the diesel engine seem as though it is fluffy and cuddle, almost something you would be happy to give to your family

A "Brand Vampire" was something I had never heard of till watching this program. I learnt that a brand vampire is something that becomes bigger than the brand its self. A great example of this is Monkey from the ITV Digital Campaign. The monkey became more popular than the ITV Digital brand. A brand vampire is damaging to a brand!



Also featured was the banned Xbox - Cradle to Grave advert



Some one on the program commented they were surprised this advert made it passed the advertising board. People had complained about it as the thought the baby crashing out of the window and the man crashing in to the grave was to violent, however these type of adverts gain cult status and once band people will go out of there way to see them, which in this day and age with video sharing website it is easy to view them if you so wish

Some further research has led me to believe that maybe getting adverts is just a tactic Xbox use to gain them further press. This is another of Xbox's banned adverts



I hope at some point I get to see the rest of this series.

Advertising and Viral Marketing

This morning I woke up and flicked on the TV only to be greeted by a program called "Advertising Uncut"



Advertising and marketing has always interested me (it's another reason why i am studying digital media, I would love to be part of a high profile successful advert campaign)

"A revealing, informative and entertaining anatomy of the world of marketing and advertising. This episode goes behind the scenes to reveal the astonishing attention to detail that lies behind the glamour of an advertising shoot. The programme also discovers the tricks of the trade from computer technology to photoshopping."

http://uk-tv-guide.com/programme-details/Channel+4/2+October+2008/09%3A00/Advertising+Uncut/Documentary/

The episode I watched was episode 3

PROGRAMME 3: THE CAMPAIGN

"This programme focuses on the techniques used by advertisers when developing a campaign. We learn tricks for getting the media and the public interested in a new product, and we see new and exciting ways of advertising, both on the streets and via the computer.

PROGRAMME AIMS

This programme aims to give an overview of advertising campaigns including:

the money involved in buying advertising space
Public Relations (PR)
product placement
the future of advertising (including viral and buzz advertising)"

http://www.4learning.co.uk/support/programmenotes/micro/advertisinguncut/prog3.html

I found the program to be interesting and engaging. I learnt

1. how advertise pay more money for an advert on the right hand page of a magazine as that is where peoples eyes tend to fall first
   
   
2. Advertisers pay more money to feature a advert next to a article that may relate to its product i.e a skin care product advert next to a skin care article
   
   
3. How advertisers use the allure of "celebrity" to give the products an image and "cool" factor
   
   
4. How advertisers can use product placement with in a TV program. The example they used was Hyunda had give one of their cars to the character of a wealthy business man in the TV program Emmerdale in the hope that people would associate that car with success and luxury living (a very clever technique i thought!)
   

I also learnt about some non orthodox methods of advertising.

Student brand managers are something I had never heard of until watching this program. In Advertising Uncut the example they showed involved a Sheffield student getting local bands to come and play gigs outside the Three Mobile Phone Store, then he had to invite as many people down to the gig as he could. Three hoped that this would link them to being promoters of new music and would therefore attract the young trendy crowd of people who like to listen to new music to buy there products

CLICK HERE for more on studnet brand managers

I would really like to have a go at being a student brand manager and with the giant list of social networks I belong to i'm sure I could generate quite a big crowd or reach a vast number of people world wide, electronically via the internet. (If you read this and have any openings as a student brand manager or know some one who does please leave me a comment or click my e-mail link at the top of this blog)

The program also covered buzz marketing. This is the kind of thing that creates a buzz and makes the advertisers message get passed on via word of mouth.

Examples included

1. Sending out actors into the street dressed as 118 charecters.
   
   
2. Locking two graffiti artist in a glass box with a Nissan car for 48 hours while they decorated the box.
   

But my personal favourite was a viral video created for a swivel mobile phone that was released on youtube. The people who made the advert discussed the video saying that the video looks as though it could have been crearted by a genuine youtube user which is part of what makes it so successful.

Word of mouth success for this video can been seen in this forum HERE where people are discussing the video as a piece of user generated content rather than an advert

They also commented that you need to be careful with this kind of thing as much as they are using youtube to there advantage, if the users of youtube did not like it they have exactly the same power (of using the internet) to express that view and it could be very damaging to the brand or product!

Just to prove that buzz marketing does work and is successful I have embed the clip below for you. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think to it



As I am at college for the rest of the week I don't think I will be able to catch any more episodes in this series, but if any one knows where I can find them online, or if it is possible to order them from Channel 4 as an education piece let me know I would really really like to see the rest of them!