Monthly Archives: November 2014

by | Tuesday, November 18, 2014 · 3:52 am

Viral Videos in November, 2014

Videos

Every week Advertising Age, in conjunction with company Visible Measures, publishes a list of the 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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by | Friday, November 7, 2014 · 7:04 pm

China’s 11.11 Singles Day Goes Global

Single

Quick – what is THE biggest shopping day of the year? If you answered Black Friday or Cyber Monday, you are close, but too late in November. The biggest shopping day of the year is actually China’s “Singles Day” on November 11. The holiday is a celebration for people who are single, chosen because of the connection between singles and the number ‘1’. It serves as an occasion for single people to party – and shop.

Last year, the holiday recorded a staggering single-day sales of approximately $5.75 billion in online sales. This year – be prepared for it to get even bigger. Estimates are that 26,000 vendors, including leading Chinese ecommerce companies Alibaba and Tmall, will participate for a projected sales total of $8 billion.

It’s not just online companies competing for sales; brick-and-mortar retailers are also looking to gain sales by offering steep discounts, special events in stores, and even extending the holiday for a few days past Nov. 11. The event is not just limited to China – vendors and shoppers in New York, Paris, Japan, Korea, Australia, and other countries are getting in on the action. The purchases all have to be shipped also – an estimated 500 million packages are expected to be delivered this year as part of the sales.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Most students will not have previously heard of China’s Single Day. Discuss the shopping holiday and its importance in China.
  2. Show the videos about Singles Day:

http://youtu.be/LHj3oXjRZkw

http://youtu.be/uXE6HZXTBmQ

http://youtu.be/yjYV14rKpu4

  1. Discuss how this holiday compares to the U.S. shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
  2. What products do students expect to be big sellers on Singles Day? Why these products?

Source: Bloomberg News, Brandchannel.com

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by | Friday, November 7, 2014 · 6:59 pm

Flying Car Takes to the Skies

Car

Henry Ford’s prediction from 1940 is finally coming true – “Mark my words: A combination airplane and motor car is coming. You may smile, but it will come.” While not yet commercially available, it does appear that the day of the combination airplane/car is on the horizon.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your car would convert to a plane at the touch of a button? While this sounds like something from science fiction, or a James Bond movie, there are a number of different companies working on perfecting flying cars. The latest prototype flying car from AeroMobil, located in Slovakia, was recently shown at a technology conference in Vienna.

The new model has a flight travel range of 430 miles and a top groundspeed of 124 mph. In car mode, it fits into a standard parking space or garage, uses regular gasoline, and can be driven on the road, just like any other automobile. And, as an airplane, it can use any airport in the world, needing only a few hundred meters of surface for a runway. The newest version has been in regular flight-testing in real flight conditions since October 2014. No word on commercialization date of the car/plane or whether there is already a waiting list.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show the video of AeroMobile: http://youtu.be/gXaUgGgb3RI
  2. Discuss the innovation process.
  3. Divide students into teams. Have each team quickly research the companies that are working on flying cars.
  4. Have teams develop a customer profile for the flying cars: demographics, psychographics, attitudes, lifestyle, etc.
  5. Develop a marketing plan for AeroMobil using at least three different promotional tactics, including one social media execution.

Source: Reuters, Manufacturing Business Today

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