That is Maria Bumford, the comedian and actress who has played the role of the Target 2-Day Sale Lady for the past two years. She owns the roll, and that positioning for that matter. Why would Wal-Mart want to compete with her?
Now, Wal-Mart’s entire holiday campaign doesn’t revolve around this lady, but it seems obvious to me that they were going for the Maria Bumford quirkiness. Why not do something different, Wal-Mart?
Filed under Advertising
Sonic branding is a great way to reinforce a brand’s identity and make viewers or listeners aware of whose ad is on the air. It speaks a universal language, and it can serve as a brand’s signature on its sound and motion advertising.
Essentially, it’s a logo you can listen to.
Sonic branding can be awesome, but what happens when one brand’s melody sounds like another brand’s melody?
Here’s a spot from Nationwide Insurance’s World’s Greatest Spokesperson in the World campaign. Turn the volume up, and be sure to listen to their sonic branding in action at the start of the spot.
Now, watch and listen to a spot from the new V8 campaign featuring Jackie Chan, and listen to the sonic branding at the start of the spot. Does it sound distinct, or is it pretty close?
Personally, I think it’s a pretty close match. Now, it might not be that big of a deal since these two brands are in completely different product categories, but it does raise a couple bigger questions: How distinct is distinct enough, and is it only important to be distinct within your product category, or is it vital to be so different that you’re not like any other brand in the world?
Filed under Advertising
So we’re halfway through the month of Movember, and my ‘stache is starting to make its presence known.
After a couple weeks of growth, I’m kind-of getting sick of calling it a moustache. That’s why I came up with a couple of general nicknames to describe everybody’s fantastic Movember facial hair growth. Which one do you prefer?
If you’d like to make a donation to my Movember page, you can do so at http://mobro.co/corymccollum Our team is in the Top 100 nationally, but I haven’t had the success that my teammates have had. That’s why I’m willing to do ridiculous things in exchange for donations. Check out my Movember page and see what I’m willing to do for a good cause!
Filed under Life
The below commercial for Lowe’s has been out for over a month now, and I’ve seen it upwards of 30 times due to how much football I consume this time of year. Yet, I haven’t gotten tired of it in the slightest bit, and part of the reason for that is how vastly different it is from anything I’ve ever seen from them or The Home Depot. The music, the choreography and the talent completely buck the norm for the category, and I love it.
Agency: BBDO
Choreography: Hi-Hat
Filed under Advertising
The average word length in the English language is 5.1 letters. The average sentence length is 14.3 words. After adding in 13 spaces to place in-between those words, and throwing in two more characters for a comma and a period, you’re looking at an average of 85 characters for every sentence that comes out of your mouth or fingertips. Throw in some book smarts and a well-educated audience, and those averages go up. Twitter allotts you with 160 characters to describe yourself to the online world, and that is what makes the Twitter bio oh so interesting.
Can you imagine what English class would have been like with a pro-Twitter professor? “I want you to write me a two sentence autobiographical paper about yourself, and it better be good” he or she would say.
It’s a little bit ridiculous to believe that day will ever come, but that’s what users are already asked to do on Twitter, so who knows. How would you describe and introduce yourself to the online universe when only allotted the amount of characters in the sentence that you are reading right now?
Twitter is the mullet of social media platforms, part business and part party, and the Twitter bio is essentially a mash of business card, eHarmony.com profile and Midnight at The Apollo. The formula for my Twitter bio can best be described as job title and education, followed by a small tidbit about myself and ending with an attempt at a clever comment or observation in the hopes of leaving readers with a smile on their face by character 160. It’s far from scientific, but I dig it. I also dig the way these celebrities I follow describe themselves on Twitter.
For some guys who found instant-stardom by way of their YouTube videos, they seem like pretty cool and humble guys from their bio.
If you know who Brian Wilson is, then you know how awesome this bio is because of how un-Brian Wilson it sounds. Then you realize that nothing is un-Brian Wilson.
Aziz sounds like just another dude in his Twitter bio. It works.
You knew it was going to be ridiculous, but you have to love the bio of the brand that has more quirky charm than previously thought to exist in the entire universe.
This is a shout-out to future celebrity, Sam Leon. They say one way to become something is to act like that's what you already are. You're well on your way to a verified account, good sir.
Do you know anybody else with an awesome Twitter bio? Share!
Filed under Advertising, Life
*If a brand offers a service, I’m assuming you call it a service placement instead of a product placement.
Travelers Insurance found its way into the season premier of The Office last Thursday by way of a pregnant Pam Beasley watching the Fallon-made ad telling the story of a cool pooch protecting his bone (Click here to watch). Did it work? I’d say so, considering that the two top comments for the commercial on YouTube each refer to its appearance on the show.
What I like about this service placement is that Jim and Pam never once mention Travelers Insurance. Instead, it’s referred to as “that dog commercial.” Good stuff – and much more believable than VW’s product placement in Horrible Bosses.
Here’s the original ad in case you missed it.
Filed under Advertising
