The Polls are In and it's Internet Baner Ads by a Landslide

In an era where individualized advertising is the preferred technique, Facebook is one of the most popular forums.  Many of us can recall banner ads on our profile page that are tailored to our interests by tracking our movement on the internet.  You might think that this is the most effective technique to grab our attention but you'd be wrong.

AdweekMedia/Harris Poll conducted a survey to find out what kind of advertising people were most likely to ignore.  And a majority of the vote goes to Internet banner ads.  43% of those surveyed stated that Internet banner ads were the advertising type they ignored the most.  Internet search-engine ads also did poorly- 20% claiming they ignored them the most.  So why is it that these types of ads are most likely to be skipped over and disregarded when they show a great amount of individual connection.

As far as Facebook goes, it seems to me that people have no desire to follow a banner ad because that is not what they're on Facebook for.  They are looking for a connection to their peers and family and not for an advertisement that they are bombarded with constantly.  In addition, these banner ads have become almost ubiquitous across the Internet; so much so that I can't recall the last one I noticed simply because I ignore them all.  It could be that the amount of these ads is overwhelming and the actual importance of them is minimal.  They have simply become background, part of the landscaping that comprises the Internet.  They are just a piece of the structure that, more or less, has very little importance or influence over our daily lives.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3iff352c323b9a2c10626c155c7736411a

The Rise of Communist China; The Fall of Traditional Advertising

Upon reading about the history of advertising in China I found  the development and extreme shifts in the role of advertising fascinating.  It seems that China has seen advertising bloom, have it completely taken away, and then have it reemerge in contemporary society.  One aspect of advertising in China that I found particularly fascinating occurred as the Communist regime rose to power in 1949.

With the advent of Communism in China came the complete removal of traditional Chinese advertising up until that point.  Traditional advertising was replaced with propaganda media with the ultimate goal of serving the Communist party.  This extreme and sudden repeal of advertising is hard to imagine.  This made me wonder how life in the United States would change if modern advertising as we know it was suddenly taken away?

So much of what we fill our time with throughout the day are supplemented by advertisements.  The TV we watch, the flyers and billboards in the city, the internet ads, etc.  Our whole environment would be transformed and seem boring compared to our normal visuals.  The numerous opportunities we are presented with on a daily basis would disappear and our knowledge of so many products would vanish.  Some might find this change pleasing and a refreshing change of pace, but I would think a majority of the population would begin to miss the normalcy it has come to claim in our lives.  It is a staple of the environment and is just part of our world in the United States.  This all is not to mention the economic benefits advertising has and the many forums it sustains merely with its presence.  All in all, the thought of having a world without advertising is like taking a piece out of a puzzle.  It would be incomplete and the picture that is our daily lives would become skewed and ambiguous.

Consumer Segmentation Research Paper

Just recently I finished my research paper on the systems and concepts that are used to categorize consumers into distinct groups to be marketed to.  I'd like to reflect on several points that peaked my interest in my research and development of my paper.

One method used to segment consumers that was discussed in class was the VALS system, which seemed to be a very popular and modern choice for marketers and advertisers.  However, during my research I uncovered another method, the LOV (List of Values) that involves providing subjects with a list of values and having them rank them or having them choose their two most important values.  What was interesting is that in one research paper I uncovered, which was slightly dated (1978) it compared the two systems and found that the LOV system was more effective in segmenting consumers.  But in our class readings the only method given was the VALS system and other methods were left out completely.

And later during research I found that the method described in class readings was actually a revised version of the VALS system; termed VALS 2.  However, this distinction was not brought up in the reading and the new version was misleadingly labeled VALS.  The updated version of VALS has slightly different consumer categories and contains only eight categories and not the original nine.  I wonder if the new version of VALS, VALS 2, is now more effective than the LOV system.  I would like to find more research on the comparison of the updated VALS 2 version and the LOV method and see which ones are used more commonly by marketers and advertisers.

Wal-Mart: Beauty and the Beast!

Wal-mart, possibly the most dominant and profitable retailer of recent, has come to wear two masks.  One the one hand they are this profit-driven evil that crushes small town Mom & Pop shops without remorse.  They drive labor costs down to a bare minimum forcing other stores to change their policies.  By the way, as of 2006, the Wal-Mart full-time employee earned & 9.76 an hour.  They also import a majority of their products from China, destroying U.S. manufacturing jobs, some who's business' previous major client was Wal-Mart itself.  

However, on the other hand they provide an efficient and convenient service to Americans at the lowest price possible.  This benefits many working and middle class Americans who don't have the money to shop at other local businesses where the prices are higher.  

The polarization of Wal-Mart is extreme and continues to grow as the store does.  While there are major benefits there are major detrimental effects.  One Fortune 500 article by Jerry Useem stated that, "If you're a consumer, Wal-Mart is good for you. If you're a wage earner, there's a good chance it's bad. If you're a Wal-Mart shareholder, you want the company to grow. If you're a citizen, you probably don't want it growing in your backyard. So, which one are you?" 

As time goes on and criticisms and boastings about Wal-Mart increase I do believe that one image will prevail for Wal-Mart-- a negative one.  While the low prices are desirable the cost of "low cost" is too great.  In an economy where the source of big business is becoming a heated and studied aspect, the image of Wal-Mart will deteriorate.  However I don't expect Wal-Mart to quit expanding and dominating the market but I do expect public criticism to catch up with Wal-Mart and hopefully it will instigate a sel-examination of Wal-Mart and its practices.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/03/08/363689/index.htm

O.M.G.I.G.P: Pulled for Good Reason.

Bradley and Montgomery, an Indiana based advertising firm created a series of Internet Explorer 8 commercials, featuring Dean Cain, that received several mixed reviews from the public. One commercial in particular, "O.M.G.I.G.P," had to be pulled due to public backlash against its offensive and graphic nature. And these commercials overall have been met with harsh criticism as to their overall quality and general effectiveness.

The O.M.G.I.G.P commercial depicts a women puking multiple times after viewing porn on her husbands computer. Not only does her husband slip on her puke but she then pukes on him several times after he's slipped in it. My question is why does this commercial fail to successfully transmit a clear and accepted message to the viewer about Internet Explorer Eight?

First of all, and maybe most obviously is the graphic nature of the commercial. The vomiting of the women completely smothers any humor or message that Microsoft was attempting to send. I was immediately given a nauseous feeling and lost all interest in what the commercial had to say after the vomit sequence. I am assuming that this commercial is attempting to find a "shock" factor, in which the pure value of something unexpected is appealing and marketable to consumers. Unfortunately, this "shock" factor is smothered by the nature of the ad. One final possibility as to the failure of this ad is the overall feeling of a lack of quality. The atmosphere of the commercial, from the clothing, to the color, and the acting just appear to be substandard when compared to other successful commercial campaigns. The ingredients for a successful commercial are just not present in the Microsoft ad and the public distaste for the commercial seems appropriate.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167779/microsoft_pulls_grossout_ad_for_ie8.html