Yay Brands!

Apple has become the ultimate in new technology branding. Hell, they invented half of it! Here is an abbreviated list of some of the cool ways they have developed to communicated to the masses.

• Keynote presentations that later appear on Youtube to demonstrate the latest in gadgetry
  
• The iPhone, on which they can develop any app they so choose. Effectively creating a new media from which you can browse and shop.
  
• iPods, which also allow you to browse and buy.
  
• iTunes - with the new Genius tool
• Offer photo services
• Apple TV
• iStore

Apple is by far the most firmly integrated brand I know. They develop new media and continually raise the bar by leaps and bounds. The new media development has turned them from a simple computer company into the trend setting leader of the universe. The apps developed for the iPhone have turned simple cell phones into a cultural phenomenon that has made a method of communication evolve into a way of life and an image make or breaker. Apple has never settled for being #1 for now, and I doubt they ever will. They are creative, and they spend good money on showing that off. Even the in-store displays highlight the Apple brand, with mounted screens that show you all just how easy it is to become one of the hoard.

Apple has made me into a believer, I tip my hat to them.

As for this class, it has opened my eyes to the beautiful world of new media and branding. It has shown me how essential new media can be in any fledgling campaign. Best of all, it got my thinking about advertising, and we all know how much I love to do that!

Phone ads, the whole truth

The whole truth is that I'd be happier in a world without Cell phone and home phone advertising. I don't care if it is perfectly tailored to your needs while you ride around in the back of a London taxi, I don't want advertising hitting my cell phone anywhere I go. I think it's a huge invasion of privacy and offers very little reward in return.

I can get free internet connections no matter where I go in the world now, so I don't see any secret or hidden advantage into buying whatever guilty-pleasure product that is available.

Oh sure, it's all really cool and tailored now. Get in the back of a cab on a London street and the taxi cab can talk to YOU but who wants that? Whatever happened to a little anonymity on the streets I like to frequent and to jump into cabs on? Do I really want my cell phone transmitting my whereabouts everywhere I go? Telling everyone where I've been? I think not!

The man can't tell me what to do! Where to go, or who to go with. So what if I enjoy library time in the afternoons followed by a stroll down bank street on my way home. A brief but productive stop at the Silver Snail? Is it anyones business but my own? Can an advertiser really communicate with me THAT directly and still be considered outside my comfort zone?

Personally, if I was walking past a sex shop and received one of their ads via Bluetooth or whatever, I'd feel more than a little watched. Because you pass by something doesn't mean your interested, and it CERTAINLY doesn't mean you need everyone and their dog looking at you while you scramble for your phone to get it to stop making that horrible buzzing sound. I say, keep Advertising and my personal life separate, just like Church and State in politics and we will all rest easier for it!

Third Screen?

Third WHAT? I only just got a cell phone, and I will tell you that it does not have NEARLY enough bells and whistles to allow for mobile advertising. I do however get the odd text from Virgin Mobile... but that's it, and it's usually to remind me that they are going to take money from my credit card. Yesterday my roommate was offered 100 free minutes, an appreciation offer from Bell. I understand their are companies popping up who specialize in ads for mobile phones, like Ad2phones. Then there is the blackberry that can do anything, marketing to it is an easy as creating a program like Fine Tune.

Branded Utility - Wii Fit Part II

A valuable part of the console game industry right now, and that I failed to explain correctly, is the street cred. Gamers want to be able to brag to all their friends when they have the most gamer points, or when they make it to the top of the leaderboard. That kind of motivation could be harvested for the Wii. I mean, if DDR has leaderboards, surely Wii Fit can't be far behind.

Everything is now responsible for providing added value, by searching my own gamer tag, you can see how often I play, what sort of games I like, and how much time I devote to each one. Think how useful this would be for Christmas shopping? The age where video games were private and you sat in your basement obsessively forcing a tiny plumber to hop, hop, hop, are over. These leaderboards and gamertags force gamers to get better and to be proud of their achievements. You'll have to be good, if you want to keep your street cred. It's time to put your money where your achievements are! You can't just say your an excellent gamer anymore, you have to prove it on the boards!

The Broadband Revolution

For my entire life, I never had cable or high speed internet. I understood the concept, but there were other things to do. If it were possible at my old house, I probably would've gotten high speed, but it wasn't, so I chugged on.

When I moved out and went to University, I didn't have anything better to do. I'd sit around on the high speed internet for days, checking out content, watching videos and generally consuming as much of the "internet" as I could get. When I left school for the summer, I went back to dial up, and let me tell you ... it wasn't pretty.

In our apartment right now we have Rogers Cable and internet. Aside from being completely anti-social I could easily spend the entire night on the internet, viewing content. My computer is isolated from the rest of the world, so if I never want to see my roomate, watching tv in my room as it streams over the internet would be fine.

The shows that I watch regularly are all available online, with all this crazy added content. If you check out the network site they are all pushing their own secret agenda... trying to get me started on other shows like the New 90210. Yeah.... right.

All this added content is nice, I guess. When I was a teenager I would have LOVED to read about the lives of celebrities as they pretend to be people they aren't. As I grow older, that stuff seems not to matter. With some movies it's nice to know how it was done, like the Dark Knight? Always interested in extra content.

Having intermittent access to a PVR is fun. After awhile, I become saturated by commercials, and I just can't take it anymore, so I fast forward through all the clutter and watch what I want. What's funny about the PVR lifestyle though is that you start to miss it. Whenever my significant other comes around he will specifically watch for commercials because he literally hasn't seen ANY of them. Normally he'd skip right over them, but at my place, he has no choice. I've never seen a more devoted viewer when it comes to commercials. So that's the question isn't it? Are PVR's making it impossible to reach people? Or are they just REALLY attentive when they are watching.

I would take 1 ounce of attention over 1 pound of saturation. I don't want annoyed consumers, I want them to want me.

Branded Utility - Wii Fit

Wii Fit is an excellent example of a branded utility. It's a completely integrated video game that allows you to work out, save your progress and provides progress reports. The game allows you to set goals and achievements. It teaches you new ways to work out, and can even provide you with a seven day work out plan.

The game provides encouragement while you work out. It can motivate people to stay on their work out routine. The best part is that anyone can use it.

Fun Features:
One fun feature is the ability to add activities that don't take place in the game, like guitar, stretching, running, hockey and so on.

Branded Utilities are becoming a necessary part of any campaign. A recent trend in platform video games use gamer encouragement to keep gamers playing well past completing the game. The Xbox360 gives games achievements for completing random and sometimes impossible tasks. The PS3 followed their lead by introducing "Trophies" that are a carbon copy of the Xbox360 achievements.

People expect more for their money. They want the added value from their video games, and they will buy the platform that provides it to them. That is why the Wii has incorporated the multiplayer online content and why I believe Wii Fit will include Leaderboards in the very near future.

FineTune... can't find a tune.

FineTune is pretty good, but it's no Pandora. I was playing around with FineTune and I am sort of an indie music fan, so I search one of my fave bands and found to my surprise it was not available. So I began searching some more and they didn't have quite a few bands I really love, like Susanna and the Magical Orchestra.

Before Pandora became ilegal in Canada*, I had an awesome time creating my little profile of music on it! It made wonderful suggestions, introduced me to many new bands and versions of songs I didn't even know existed! I could literally type in ANY band and it would compile a huge list of similar bands using the music genome project, a mathematic system for determining musical similarities.

The case of Pandora really shows off how the internet can bring us all together, but also tear us apart.

*Because of licensing restrictions, Pandora is available only to users whose location is reported to be in the USA by Pandora's geolocation software.

Social Media for the Win?

Apparently! Barack Obama has changed the way people win elections in the United States. Using social media to expand his campaign into new and untested media strategies. At the end of the campaign, using Facebook he was able to out perform John McCain as follows:
Traffic to his own website: 2x
Total # of YouTube viewers: 4x
Facebook Friends: 5x
Online Staff: 10x

It turns out that social media is a useful tool! Who could have guessed?

Kit Kat Guerilla

The Kit Kat Bench is pretty awesome! I would try to eat it. Or at least attempt to lick it. This isn't the only example of guerrilla marketing, but it is one of the most interesting I've seen. Kit Kat developed more than one bench. They don't usually have a whole lot of outrageous advertising, but lately they have begun branching out. Who doesn't like Billboard Extensions? The simple addition of a snowboarder has turned this simple billboard from ordinary into guerrilla advertising.

This new Kit Kat campaign is the first in an all new and unexplored advertising campaign that they are trying out. In Australia it seems they have invented a new game complete with mascot. It will help promote the launch of their brand extension "cookies and creme kit kat" and the game is Jenga with CANDY! You can play it online with Hans Fagerlund. The new game is called Chunga!

The agency has developed a completely integrated campaign including TV spots, facebook apps and online content. They have created an entire backstory for the lead character and made him into a celebrity for the campaign.

The campaign doesn't really seem to incorporate the guerilla advertising benches that were created, but it's all an example of the new direction that Kit Kat is trying to get into. For years kit kat ads have been a little "out there" and now they have ventured into beyong their comfort zone. Kudos to you Kit Kat... now all you have to do is sit back and wait for more.

Note: The Whopper Sacrifice has been shut down.

The Angry Whopper?

What is Burger King doing to itself?

First the Angry Whopper and now the Whopper Sacrafice (What others have to say)? It's too bizarre to handle. Burger King has taken many strange turns over the last few years, with the introduction of the actual Burger King, who makes appearances at drive through windows, pool parties and sporting events. Now they have created an "Angry Whopper" a spicy variation of the old favorite that has brought with it an interesting if not misguided campaign. The thing that interested me most was the variations they chose to display among the different cultures. The British and Canadian ads are nearly identical, save a few british accents. The ads that were featured in the US were selling the Angry Onions. The German campaign on the other hand is filled with leather and bondage, not something I associate with my fast food restaurants.

I understand the need to tailor the message to each cultural audience, but what is with the deal with German fetish ads? It seems out of character for Burger King who are usually a little quirky and silly.

What is it about Germany that keeps Advertisers on the toes of their spike heels? Is Germany a cultural mystery for us or is more research necessary? Have we possibly found their Kryptonite and are exploiting it for our own sick devices?

I wish I knew which Agency produced these ads and which research techniques they employed to discover the fetish culture of the German people.

It turns out that after a little digging it was a Miami based Ad Agency known as Crispin, Porter + Bogusky that came up with the Return of the King... the Burger King that is, they also created a viral campaign devoted to the "Subservient Chicken". They were also the clever masterminds behind the new Angry Whopper campaign and the mysterious variations therein. Many blooger have declared the ads a triumph, but it still begs the question: What's with all the leather?