Blog Post #5

An article found on www.mashable.com discusses what the future holds in the advertising industry, specifically with digital displays. I was drawn to it because we just discussed this topic in class the other day and learned about the array of possibilities that could be available to the industry. Hockenson starts off the article with, “When you think ‘display of the future,’ what pops into your head? Is it the hyper-neon displays of Blade Runner or the holograms from Star Wars? …(2012)” It is interesting that these ideas from films are actually in the process of entering the industry and our daily lives. 

An example the article gives is called a Virtual Assistant, which would be located in airports to help passengers know the protocols and warnings of the airlines. The screen, which is similar to a hologram, is cut into the shape of a person, and the display shows a woman speaking, moving her arms and moving her mouth while giving instructions to viewers. Virtual Assistants have already been placed at airports in Frankfurt, Dubai, and Washington D.C. (Hockenson, 2012). This is especially helpful for a digital display to be programed to speak multiple languages as incoming flights land at the airports from all over the world. Below is a video of the Virtual Assistant in action. 

Moving onto the retail side of advertisement, Hockenson introduces readers to “MicroTiles,” which are small screens that display images to make a larger image and can be arranged into any order (2012). This allows images to be very large and make a greater impact on shoppers to engage and attract them into stores. Going even bolder, there is now a flexible screen called Flexible Organic LED, which can shape around objects to create a visual. Even putting digital information on lampposts is now possible. “Intellistreets” are lampposts that digitally display information and have been placed in small towns of California and Michigan. The lampposts have cameras in them as well to help keep people safe in the neighborhood (Hockenson, 2012). The art of digital displays is constantly evolving.

In conclusion, digital displays are an up and coming way to get people’s attention and help them engage in what you are selling or what your business is trying to convey. They are taking many forms and sizes, but digital displays are definitely going to be a large part of the future advertising industry and a large part of our daily lives.

References

Hbaskas. (2012, June 25). Boston Logan Airport's Virtual Assistant - Carla [Video file].

          Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D5Go_XtY30

Hockenson, Lauren. (2012, June 13). Bright Lights, Big City: The Future of Digital Display is 

            Stunning. Mashable. Retrieved from: http://mashable.com/2012/06/13/future-digital-    

            display/#69415UCD-Flexible-Display

Blog Post 4

Time and place is everything and even more important in the advertising industry is innovative ideas at the right time in the right place. Duracell, of Procter & Gamble, did just this in the wake of tragedy from Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast. Duracell provided charging battery stations in Lower Manhattan via charging trucks, to aid people who lost electricity at home and needed a place to juice up their electronics. (Neff, 2012) This act not only was great advertising and publicity, but also an act of service to those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

(Neff, 2012)
http://adage.com/article/news/duracell-brings-charging-stations-battery-park/238078/

This act of service is a follow up of strong advertising the company did in areas that were predicted to be hit by Hurricane Sandy, so people could stock up on Duracell products. If people came did not stock up on Duracell products before the storm, people in need could come to the station and grab batteries to take home to put in flashlights and other such items.

Duracell also has brought publicity to its new product that was launched earlier this year called “Duracell Powermats” which charge devices wirelessly. At the moment, the product has only been used in Starbucks locations. During the disaster of Hurricane Sandy, people are flocking outside of Starbucks in Boston and New York to recharge their devices via the Powermats. (Strange, 2012) Below is the ad campaign for the Powermat featuring Jay-Z. 

Mr. Sakdinan, a spokesman for Duracell, said from a marketing perspective, “That this is what the brand is about—empowering people through devices; connecting their families.” (Neff, 2012) The brand has positioned itself to be more than a product and show how love and concern for loved ones has a connection with the brand. Through the disaster of Hurricane Sandy, Procter & Gamble and Duracell have taken advantage greatly of not only promoting their new Powermats, but also creating awareness of the brand through helping people during a time of need. 

References: 

Duracell Powermat (2012, July 25). The NEW Duracell Powermat Featuring Jay-Z [Video file].

          Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80OkY3HFrMM

Neff, Jack. (2012, October 31). Duracell Brings Charging Stations to Battery Park after Hurricane 

         Sandy. Ad Age. Retrieved from: http://adage.com/article/news/duracell-brings-charging-
         stations battery-park/238078/

Strange, Adario. (2012, October 31) Duracell and Starbucks test wireless charging stations in
         Boston. DVice. Retrieved from: http://dvice.com/archives/2012/10/duracell-and-st.php

Blog Post 3

In class, we have been discussing advertising in video gaming as well as getting the consumer as engaged with the advertisement as possible. In a video game, the consumer is transformed into the player, so when exposed to an advertisement, he or she is engaging with the ad via the game. In a video I found on YouTube, the hassle of finding a parking spot comes to life with a popular classic arcade game, pinball. Through Ogilvy Paris, Ford advertised in the city by creating a pinball game out of parking a car into a parking space. Ogilvy attached a pinball score board above an available parking spot with the two cars as the bumpers, which light up and replicate a pinball machine, noises and all!

After many attempts by people to fit into the spot, one man is rewarded with his "new record" as worst driver and wins a brand new Ford Focus. The Ford Focus has special features of active park assist technology, therefore the interactive advertisement is perfect for those people who struggle with parallel parking every day. (Nudd, 2012)

Not only does the game exemplify the park assist technology features of the Ford Focus perfectly as an advertisement, the ad also makes parking fun. Any engaging advertisement that is fun for viewers to participate in are for the most part very successful.

While this advertisement is a rare kind of interactive advertising, I believe that this is the way advertising will move into the future. Agencies will be striving for this on every single product that is applicable to this kind of advertising. People remember the experience they have while playing a virtual pinball game and it will stick in their minds as an advertisement over any other traditional media advertisement.

References 

Nudd, Tim. (2012, April 30). Ad of the Day: Ford. Ad Week. Retrieved from

          http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-ford-139942

Ogilvy Paris. (2012, April 18). The Parisian Pinball Park. Retrieved on October 3, 2012 from  
       
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAM_HLj1QOo

Blog Post 2

Now, after attending more than a week's worth of media planning classes and having preformed research for last week's blog, I feel I am learning a lot about the future of digital advertising. For this week's blog entry, that I will look at my own personal experience with digital advertising. I love living in Chicago because of the hustle and bustle of city life. This busy city life comes with a constant feed of new and innovative ways to do everything, including grocery shopping.

CTA Red Line Lake station featuring Peapod's virtual grocery store

Over the summer, Peapod introduced a new advertisement and way to shop to the commuters of Chicago. Peapod is a company, which caters to city dwellers by providing online grocery shopping and delivery services. The photo above shows the Red Line Lake CTA stop that Peapod transformed into a virtual grocery store isle for commutes to do a little shopping. I remember learning about virtual grocery shopping in South Korea last summer from my marketing and the Internet class. (Oh, 2012) For some reason, I believed that this type of shopping would not come to the States for many years later. I was so excited when I saw this idea in my own city! I thought that the concept was genius and convenient!

Peapod was smart about this advertisement because it was an engagement tool as well. Interested consumers had to first download the Peapod mobile app, then scan the grocery items they wanted, sign up for an account, and lastly have the items delivered to your home. (Oh, 2012) Along with this process, the Red Line Lake stop is one of the busiest in the city with an average of 17,640 commuters each weekday. (Blackwell, 2012) These commuters are Peapod's perfect target audience because they live fast paced lives and know how precious their time is each day. These commuters would be the ideal consumers of Peapod. Northwestern's News Network took a video of the shopping process, and conducted an interview with Peapod's Elana Margolis to talk about the thoughts behind this virtual shopping idea. (Oh, 2012)

This concept was not only an attention-getting advertisement and promotional campaign, but also a research experiment. Once the 12-week test is over and the research is completed, the company will determine whether they will open more Chicago locations. (Blackwell, 2012) As a college student, I do not have the financial resources to invest in Peapod. However, I would definitely sign up once I am more financially stable, therefore I hope that there is a commute location for me to conveniently order my groceries so I can cook and enjoy a meal that same evening.

References 

Blackwell, Kelsey. (2012, May 10). New virtual grocery store Peapod lets consumers shop while they 

           commute. NewHope 360. Retrieved September 10, 2012 from http://newhope360.com/retailing/

Oh, Gloria. (2012, May 16). Peapod brings virtual grocery store to CTA. Medill Reports. Retrieved 

           September 10, 2012 from http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/ 

Blog Post 1

From the research done in and out of the class, it seems that digital advertising is the way to go if you want to get your audience's attention. It is the next "it" thing in the media industry. Two interesting articles about investing in digital advertising support this claim. 

In the first article by Andre Bourque (2012), he gives the following statistics: 

A study released by Martini Media today reports agency executives estimate that 37 percent of mass marketers’ branding dollars are spent in digital marketing (online display, video, mobile), whereas only 31 percent of luxury marketers’ budgets are spent in that space. (Bourque)           

The article focused on the new trend that luxury brands such as Jaguar, Mercier, Aston Martin, and others, are starting to move towards digital advertising. This image below is a diagram of information found by Martini Media during their research on luxury brands and digital advertising. (Bourque)

Along with this new information, Martini Media found that it was a smart move for luxury brands to transfer to digital advertising over traditional media. The loyal consumers who invests their money in luxury brands are tech-savvy individuals who are now using their technological devices to seek information and consume goods. Therefore, these luxury brands should plan to advertise via technological devices on websites, social media, and other digital outlets. (Bourque)  

Luxury brands are not the only ones looking towards digital advertising. The political campaigns of Romney and Obama have chosen to invest money this year into advertising digitally. The Obama campaign has dropped $31 million on digital ads, which is almost 4 times the amount of money Romney spent on them. (Kay) The fact that Obama's campaign is spending a significant amount of time advertising digitally is a great idea in terms of reaching a younger audience that is up to date on technology.

Kay (2012) highlights this comment from Pew Research Center:

Earlier this week, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism unveiled a study that claimed, “Barack Obama holds a distinct advantage over Mitt Romney in the way his campaign is using digital technology to communicate directly with voters."

No matter industry a person is in, whether it be technology, clothing, or even politics, investing in digital advertising is a new trend that will continue to grow in the coming years.

References 

Brouque, Andre. (2012, August 23). Luxury Brands Migrating to Digital Advertising. Business 2 

         

         Community. Retrieved September 3, 2012, from

         http://www.business2community.com/consumer -marketing

Kay, Kate. (2012, August 23). #VoiceYourVote: $19 Million, Obama Outspends Romney on

         Digital Ads 4:1. Politic 365. Retrieved September 3, 2012, from http://politic365.com/2012/