Sweet new Hunger Games give away!
The trilogy or soundtrack!
Go here: http://www.readdearprudence.com/2012/03/hunger-games-giveaway-i-repeat-hunger.html
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, June 27, 2011
Another Earth...coming soon?
What would you do if you had the opportunity to go back and see what would have happened if you had made a different choice at a key turning point in your life? Would you have still ended up in the same situation as you currently reside in? How would you know. All I know is that this movie explores that point. It looks amazing, visually stunning, and has a phenomenal soundtrack from the sounds of it. I know one of the movie's I'm going to see this summer. Its going to be, "Another Earth." Below is the trailer for it, and I highly recommend it. The second video is the song played in the trailer. It took me awhile to decipher the lyrics from it, but its from the band, The Cinematic Orchestra, titled, "That Home."
Monday, March 28, 2011
Stereotyping isn't Advertising...
Apparently down in the wonderful state of Georgia, there is a car credit company that is trying to advertise to their local communities, but the theme of their commercials is portrayed as both racial and social class stereotyping. Here are their commercials where the car credit protagonist is the, "Credit MacDaddy."
and here is their follow-up commercial to the original.
This advertising campaign where they use the "Credit MacDaddy," is not effective because of its racial stereotyping, where they try to appeal to "gangstas", "mac-daddies" and "gurls" (as the commercial says). The problem is that they are trying to appeal to their target market in an inappropriate manner. They are also trying to appeal to the lower social class, those people who spend their money on ridiculously flashy items like those in the commercials. I believe that the advertiser signed off on these commercials, because they are trying to show that they have an increase in wealth and other monetary items for using their car credit company. Although the goal behind all companies is to make money, there is a fine line between effective advertising, and just plain stereotyping. I was amazed when I found this campaign, and I feel that the advertiser's either didn't care enough about this company in order to give them a campaign idea that was a sound idea, or they had no idea of what to do, and that is why they signed off on this campaign.
Instead of putting forth this "MacDaddy"/ Retro 70's campaign, I would have taken the one piece of commonality between the two commercials, which I believe is a possible slogan of theirs, and would have capitalized on it. Their slogan: "It's as easy as pie!" Because of their current commercials, their slogan seems almost thrown in there as an afterthought, or as if its not nearly as important as showing themselves as "MacDaddies" who want to "pimp your life/ride." I would instead create the following types of commercials and print ads for them.
Print ad: In their print ads, I would have it be all about simplicity. I would have it as a full page advertisement, split into two parts horizontally. On the top half, would be the ingredients for a pie: the crust, the filling, and the crust for the top cover. On the bottom half, I would have a picture of a person smiling and walking out of The Georgia Car Credit store towards a brand new car, with a big smile and tossing the keys up and down in his hands. Then below him it would read, "Georgia Car Credit: With no credit checks, its as easy as pie!" I feel that this print ad would act as a teaser, but would still get the idea across to the public that by using Georgia Car Credit, that its easy to get a car there than any other car company.
Commercial: It opens on an old "grandmotherly" person in a kitchen, putting together a pie. She's rolling out the dough, and then pressing the dough in the pan, filling it, and then putting the crust on top and putting it in the oven. While she's doing all this there's a voice over saying, "Grandma's famous recipe for making pies has always turned out the most amazing pies, but has always with the same 4 ingredients: Dough, fresh fruit, sugar, and love." Then the commercial fades to a family standing in front of Georgia Car Credit, with the father shaking the dealer's hand, and then the family driving off in a new van (for an alternate commercial, you could have two men shaking hands, and then the younger man driving off in new sports-car). The voice over would then say, "Here at Georgia Car Credit we follow grandma's recipe of simplicity, but still take time to care about our customers needs. Georgia Car Credit: Its as easy as pie."
I really feel that these ads would provide more of a soft sell approach, but it would help pull in a different demographic of consumers. It would help appeal to families as well as younger people, and in turn would hopefully drive up sales, by using these commercials that would draw in people, instead of pushing them away with their abrasive "MacDaddy" commercials.
and here is their follow-up commercial to the original.
This advertising campaign where they use the "Credit MacDaddy," is not effective because of its racial stereotyping, where they try to appeal to "gangstas", "mac-daddies" and "gurls" (as the commercial says). The problem is that they are trying to appeal to their target market in an inappropriate manner. They are also trying to appeal to the lower social class, those people who spend their money on ridiculously flashy items like those in the commercials. I believe that the advertiser signed off on these commercials, because they are trying to show that they have an increase in wealth and other monetary items for using their car credit company. Although the goal behind all companies is to make money, there is a fine line between effective advertising, and just plain stereotyping. I was amazed when I found this campaign, and I feel that the advertiser's either didn't care enough about this company in order to give them a campaign idea that was a sound idea, or they had no idea of what to do, and that is why they signed off on this campaign.
Instead of putting forth this "MacDaddy"/ Retro 70's campaign, I would have taken the one piece of commonality between the two commercials, which I believe is a possible slogan of theirs, and would have capitalized on it. Their slogan: "It's as easy as pie!" Because of their current commercials, their slogan seems almost thrown in there as an afterthought, or as if its not nearly as important as showing themselves as "MacDaddies" who want to "pimp your life/ride." I would instead create the following types of commercials and print ads for them.
Print ad: In their print ads, I would have it be all about simplicity. I would have it as a full page advertisement, split into two parts horizontally. On the top half, would be the ingredients for a pie: the crust, the filling, and the crust for the top cover. On the bottom half, I would have a picture of a person smiling and walking out of The Georgia Car Credit store towards a brand new car, with a big smile and tossing the keys up and down in his hands. Then below him it would read, "Georgia Car Credit: With no credit checks, its as easy as pie!" I feel that this print ad would act as a teaser, but would still get the idea across to the public that by using Georgia Car Credit, that its easy to get a car there than any other car company.
Commercial: It opens on an old "grandmotherly" person in a kitchen, putting together a pie. She's rolling out the dough, and then pressing the dough in the pan, filling it, and then putting the crust on top and putting it in the oven. While she's doing all this there's a voice over saying, "Grandma's famous recipe for making pies has always turned out the most amazing pies, but has always with the same 4 ingredients: Dough, fresh fruit, sugar, and love." Then the commercial fades to a family standing in front of Georgia Car Credit, with the father shaking the dealer's hand, and then the family driving off in a new van (for an alternate commercial, you could have two men shaking hands, and then the younger man driving off in new sports-car). The voice over would then say, "Here at Georgia Car Credit we follow grandma's recipe of simplicity, but still take time to care about our customers needs. Georgia Car Credit: Its as easy as pie."
I really feel that these ads would provide more of a soft sell approach, but it would help pull in a different demographic of consumers. It would help appeal to families as well as younger people, and in turn would hopefully drive up sales, by using these commercials that would draw in people, instead of pushing them away with their abrasive "MacDaddy" commercials.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Cobalt and Calcium: a combined element
To the average person the words "cobalt and calcium" are recognized as simple elements from the periodic table of elements. To fans of the music group, "Coheed and Cambria," the Cobalt and Calcium is the completely fan-based and run website for the music group. In addition to the band's official website, Cobalt and Calcium have worked hand in hand with band leader Claudio Sanchez (recognized by his enormous hair below), to keep the story of The Amory Wars, correct and up to date. Instead of merely making great music, all of the band's records make up an intricate tale of deception, intrigue, and how a group of individuals are trying to save the universe. Cobalt and Calcium is an excellent medium through which the band is able to announce tour dates, upcoming events, and announce new record work for the fans. It allows the fans to voice their opinions and to interact in a community of other similar fans of Coheed and Cambria's music. The band's success can largely be traced back to the Cobalt and Calcium website, and even helped the group to go on and win the 2010 MTV March Music Madness competition. This style of advertising has proven very effective, and has helped to launch the previously no-name group of "Shabutie" into the musical giants of "Coheed and Cambria" that they are now.
Below is the group's trophy from the Music Madness competition, with the group's logo painted on.
Below is the group's trophy from the Music Madness competition, with the group's logo painted on.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Empire Ants Live!
So, I just recently happened across this little gem. Its from the Gorillaz latest album, "Plastic Beach," and its altogether an amazing song, but this live version is pretty stellar as well. Enjoy!
Damon Albarn's use of "Gorilla" Advertising
To many people the name "Damon Albarn" doesn't bear a bunch of significance. Even if someone were to name the band, "Blur" they wouldn't be able to pin much behind it with the exception of that catchy song, "Song 2." However It is a fair estimate that many people would be able to say that they have heard of the band, "Gorillaz." The Gorillaz are a cartoon band comprised of 4 cartoon characters named; 2D, Noodle, Murdoc, and Russel. The real band is comprised of Damon Albarn and multiple artists. After Damon had found success as an artist, he felt that the music industry had become too commercialized and sold out. Therefore, he created the Gorillaz as a means to bring out and advertise those lesser known artists who are trying to get their music out there. Instead of playing the same style and genre, they incorporate the different styles of the artists they feature to make their album completely unique. They cannot be simply categorized into a single genre due to this fact. However, this is wonderful for the up and coming artists such as Daley, or the older artists who are trying to make a comeback such as Shaun Ryder. In some instances, they simply wish to make instrumental music, calling on the help of both the London Symphony Orchestra or the Lebanese National Orchestra. Their goal is to simply help advertise those musicians and give them a chance to be heard not just by some big label or recording company, but to be heard by the people, and to let them decide if they want to hear more of them. This is a very unique style of guerrilla advertising as it isn't just cut and dry, or even a big example in a public square. It is a subtle use of guerrilla advertising, letting the public hear these artists, and then letting them determine if they want to hear more and search them out. In a time where there is so much clutter and overly used gimmicks, Damon Albarn's "Gorillaz" change the mold by using this unique approach to advertise those who would otherwise be uncapable of advertising themselves.
An example of an up and coming artist:
Excerpt from a live performance including London Symphonic Orchestra:
An example of an up and coming artist:
Excerpt from a live performance including London Symphonic Orchestra:
Friday, February 4, 2011
V-Dub, Representing Deutschland...
I have always been a huge fan of interesting and funny commercials. I still remember several years ago when the "V-Dub" campaign came out from Volkswagen. I find these commercials very interesting as well as refreshing. The majority of the advertising dealing with the automobile industry is about how you can "pimp" your car and all the features you can add to it. It seems rather ridiculous at times all of the little things that people will do to cars, when in the end the car ends up looking closer to a toy instead of a means of transportation. Volkswagen's approach to keeping cars simple, clean, and organized, helps to build their reputation as such in a continually cluttered automobile industry. When "V-Dub's in the house," you can tell who they are, their cars speak for themselves, and their automobiles differentiate themselves from others in the automobile industry.
These commercials are able to appeal to all different age groups; using "hip" lingo to appeal to the younger generation, and "un-pimping the auto" to appeal to the older generation by having a simple car. Below are two of my favorite examples of their commercial campaign.
These commercials are able to appeal to all different age groups; using "hip" lingo to appeal to the younger generation, and "un-pimping the auto" to appeal to the older generation by having a simple car. Below are two of my favorite examples of their commercial campaign.
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