Week 3

TOPIC 1: TWITTER/FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM AND ADVERTISING/PR -- Social media has become crucial for companies and organizations in promoting products, services, events and causes.

1. Using Facebook, Twitter or another social media platform (e.g. Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube), do a search for a particular brand, product, service or cause and DESCRIBE IN DETAIL how the company or organization is using social media. Cite Examples.
2. Second, evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. Who is the TARGET AUDIENCE (be specific)? Is it working? Tell why or why not.
3. If you were the Product/Brand Manager, what else would you recommend to promote this product, service or cause?

Since I use Facebook the most compared to Instagram I decided to use it and looked up Hulu. I use Hulu and Netflix a lot so I figured it was a decent option. The first thing I noticed is their "Cover Photo," which has three of their highest rated or most award winning shows. The Handmaids Tale, The Looming Tower, and Castle Rock. Coincidentally, I haven't yet watched any of those three shows.

Their next four ads in a row are all either mentioning the Handmaids Tale or The Looming Tower for their awards and apparently many upcoming Emmy nominations. They're letting their consumers know that their shows are popular and successful!

Looking through their posts I'd say they're targeting a young adult/adult demographic. I feel like they're not targeting the younger audiences as much as trying to reach adults. These shows seem more adult related and not necessarily something teens would be interested in. Just my opinion. I can't say for sure if its working, but if they're getting that many nominations and awards then it must be in some form.

They could try to target a more wider demographic then they currently are, but I do understand that the Emmy's are coming up so I understand why. I see plenty of TV ads for Hulu, and internet ads. I feel like they're doing a good job on their own already.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/hulu/

TOPIC 2: PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES -- Consider TWO DIFFERENT ADVERTISEMENTS or PUBLIC RELATIONS campaigns that you've seen recently online or on TV, read in a magazine or heard on the radio. Choose one ad that you think WORKS, and one that you think is a DUD.

For each ad:

1. Briefly DESCRIBE the ad. Then discuss what stood out about the commercial or PR message.
2. Who is the TARGET AUDIENCE? Be very specific here!
3. Which PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES are used in the messages (e.g. famous-person testimonial, snob-appeal, plain-folks approach, bandwagon effect, hidden-fear, irritation, association principle, emotional branding, integrated marketing, narrative, stereotypes)? Note how these techniques are used in the ad or campaign.
4. Finally, explain why these techniques worked, or why they failed.
5. Note: Go ahead and include a YouTube video of the ads or photos into your blog post!

So the first thing that came to my mind when I read the part about the dud ad/commercial was Carls Juniors "El Diablo burger" commercial with Matthew McConaughey.

Heres a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_iPj9ysHI

In this video Matthew McConaughey is slowly and in a "creepy" voice listing a few of the products on it. It's considered to be a trance type video with different pictures of the sandwich/burger and other things flashing in between the rest of the video. This version I found online seems shorter than the TV version, but maybe its just because I hate this commercial so much. The only thing that stood out to me was how off putting this commercial was. I'd say they used "irritation advertising" and they definitely used a celebrity approach. I noticed at the end Matthew says "Answer the call of the Carl's," as if that's supposed to mean something.

Carl's Junior normally heavily market towards men usually, however this commercial seems marketed I suppose to people who like spicy stuff (I do typically), trance fans possibly (?), and I suppose maybe Matthew McConaughey fans.

I think the ad failed, as previously stated I just really do not like this commercial. I thought it was awkward and annoying. Also I don't know why you would want Jalapeno poppers on a burger. But I have never been a fan of Carl's junior commercials because they've always been tacky and usually use Sex appeal to sell their food. It's food...

(What's funny to me I later noticed that that was Matthew McConaughey on page 380 of our book explaining the different Persuasive strategies. One of the Lincoln car ads he was featured in)

As for an ad/campaign I think was successful and that worked would be this Mercedes Benz ad I recently saw.

Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFzfkOKEbKk

The ad is for Mercedes Benz summer 2018 Event. It starts with a couple picking up a dog from an animal shelter. It then shows the dog and couple driving around in the vehicle till they get to a field where they play fetch with their new dog. The commercial then states to add a new member to the family and announces their summer event. What stood out to me was the dog and that they adopted him from a shelter which I think is very important. In this case, most people love animals so I feel that was the main appeal, I know it was for me! I would say they some "emotional branding" in this one when it came to the use of a shelter dog. However, Mercedes is a high end well known brand and I feel they have that "Snob Appeal" especially with "Mercedes Benz, the best or nothing."

I think their techniques worked. It appealed to me and normally they do not. I love that they encouraged adopting a dog from a shelter especially potentially in a commercial aimed at more wealthy people. Although that was obviously not the main point of the commercial, it was my favorite. I still cant afford one, but I'd be willing to look someday when I can.

As for the target audience I'd say there's several here. Animal lovers, luxury vehicle customers, and more wealthy customers are the audiences I'd say they're targeting. I couldn't really say there's a target age other than it's not really aimed as much at younger people.