Monthly Archives: April 2014

Viral Videos – April 2014

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Every week Advertising Age, in conjunction with company Visible Measures, publishes a list of the week’s top performing videos. The weekly chart highlights viral video ads that appear on online video sites. Each ad measures viewership of brand-syndicated video clips as well as social video placements that are driven by viewers around the world. True Reach™ quantifies the total audience that has been exposed to a viral video campaign.
There are three key factors for viral video success:
1. Reaching the tastemakers.
2. Building a community of participation.
3. Creating unexpectedness in the video.
Regardless of the type of product or service, the country of origin, or the type of message, what matters most to companies is reaching the audience in a way the both entertains and informs. Check out this week’s top videos and discuss how they address the factors for viral success.
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
1. Bring up Ad Age’s weekly Viral Video chart: http://www.visiblemeasures.com/adage
2. Have students examine how the ads are measured by Visible Measures.
3. Divide students into teams. Have each team select an ad on the top video chart and analyze the ad.
4. Discuss: What is unusual? Who will it interest? What is the key message? How effective is the ad at getting the company’s brand and message across to viewers?
5. In teams, have students design a viral video for a product of their choosing. What are the elements that are needed to go viral?

Source: Advertising Age, Visible Measures – weekly update

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Is the Price Right?

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Determining the right price for a product or service is not always easy. Organizations need to determine the strategy that is best for meeting its objectives. Does the organization want to establish a beach-head and gain market share, or reach the elite purchasers? Pricing options include demand-oriented, cost-oriented, profit-oriented, and competition-oriented approaches. Within these various approaches are price models that include skimming, penetration, luxury, bundling, price-lining, return-on-investment, and more. And finally, do not discount the appeal used with psychological pricing.

All these strategies are interesting, but how does one apply them to a unique product such as a rare Stradivari viola made in the 1700s? Or a unique dog breed such as the Tibetan Mastiff? In the case of the Stradivari, the auction price starts at $45 million. The Tibetan Mastiff dog, while not rare, was sold for nearly $2 million at a recent Chinese luxury pet fair.

It is interesting to review these purchases and determine what strategies are being used to drive the prices to these dizzying heights.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
1. Discuss pricing strategies (e.g., demand-oriented, cost-oriented, profit-oriented, competition-oriented, etc.).
2. View stories about the Tibetan Mastiff and Stradivari viola:
http://nydn.us/1gGIrho
http://nyti.ms/1l1Qkis
3. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a different price approach and determine a SMART objective for the approach.
4. Next, have students use their selected price model to determine prices for the ordinary products (e.g., milk, gas, eggs, etc.), shopping products (e.g., shoes, jackets, etc.), and luxury items (e.g., Tiffany, Louis Vitton), and rare (e.g., Tibetan Mastiff, Stradivari viola).

Source: Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times, other news sources, March 2014

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The Latest for Bus Stops – Augmented Reality Advertising

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The best way to start this article is by watching the video clip. Go ahead, this can wait…..

In this clever advertising at a London bus shelter, Pepsi Max once again lives up to its latest tag line, “Unbelievable,” giving commuters and unbelievable start to their day. People waiting for the local bus were surprised by alien invasions, giant robots, charging tigers, and sneaky octopus tentacles!

The promotion incorporated sophisticated, augmented reality filming and technology to create unbelievable situations on the local street, amazing and mystifying the people waiting for their daily bus. View this ad and additional eye-catching “unbelievable” ads developed to promote Pepsi Max.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
1. Discuss the importance of developing a clear, compelling message for advertising campaigns.
2. Show the Pepsi Max “unbelievable bus shelter” ad:

3. Additional “unbelievable” videos are also available on YouTube.
4. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop a key message for Pepsi Max competitor.
5. How could the competitor also use new technology to promote the product?
6. When debriefing the exercise, make sure to emphasize to students the difference between what a company wants to tell the market, and what a customer wants to hear about the product.

Source: YouTube

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