BBC and NY Times

I don't know much about BBC or NY Times so I had to look them up online for the first time to do this assignment. I don't read the newspaper and I admit that I am not up to date on my current events. I do, however, notice some news headlines on my Google homepage and MySpace just to get an idea of what's going on in the world but I rarely take extra time to actually read the article under the headline. I have wanted to become more involved in keeping up with the news.

I went to the homepage of BBC and NY Times and notice they have a few similar headlines. I personally think that NY Times is more appealing and aesthetically pleasing. All the news is categorized, as it is on BBC, but it just seems to be a lot more in depth on NY Times. They have top stories, most viewed, recent news, opinions, weather, world news, US news, jobs, radio, movies, home and garden, sports, and fashion and style. They have it so you can read it in other languages, as well. If I read the news I would enjoy these sites because everything you need to know is all right there together. It is very convenient. If I were to keep up with the news this way, I would probably choose NY Times because it seems more familiar to me. I've always heard about it and this makes it seem more reliable. One reason why I don't read or watch the news is because I have don't think you can believe everything you hear, but because I've always heard about NY Times, I feel like I can trust it and that the news offered by it would be legitimate.

Our group presentation was on Estee Lauder, so I thought I would go a little more in depth about my vision for the project. Estee Lauder has always marketed to older women. This commercial I found is very old, but they still have the same concept today which is directed towards the older woman. Even their models in the commercials are older.



By revamping the product we are bringing in a whole new stream of customers. By presenting the anti-aging creme in fun ads with cute dogs on the front with a young girl, it not only is a cute ad but it is scaring the younger generation into what they need to be doing. So many young people are using tanning beds and are in the sun without sunscreen these days that they do not think of the repercussions. This is what our group is trying to get across, that the wrinkly dog will be your face one day.

Not only will it be a fresh face for the customer, but by bringing this new marketing campaign into the mix, it is a new face for Estee Lauder. They will have younger generations coming in buying their products, but eventually they will be older customers because they stay with the product because it turns into a necessity for them.

An idea that we came up with that we were not able to mention in our class presentation was that the bags that they use for special promotions should be bags that are colors for the upcoming season. This is something that young girls pay attention to and if they walk into the department store and see an advertisement for the promotion with metallic colors on it that are also the same metallic colors for the upcoming season, I feel as if this will draw them in to the products of Estee Lauder as well.

All Publicity is Good Publicity

I don't know if i agree with this statement. If I was a celebrity, I would not want to have a bad image. I think that would hurt my reputation and my fame. I understand that if a person is trying to get his name out there and become famous, a story about his doing something socially unacceptable would get his name known, but to me, I would want to be known for positive reasons. Britney Spears is a good example of someone who has a lot of publicity but may not be good. She is very well known, but we know her as not a very good person. She has kind of a bad reputation to a lot of people now, even though she may be a talented singer. Today, people don't really think about her talent, they think of all the crazy things she's done. I just don't think that all publicity is good publicity. I would want to be known for the good things I do and not bad, maybe made up things.

News for You

Young adults today do not seem to intake as much news compared to the rest of society. Many are not interested, feel they read enough in class and choose not to read the paper in their free time, or they plain old do not care. With the average sales of newspapers dropping a great deal, the question arises as to where people obtain their news in the current day? Also, how does the news compare to such news as BBC or NY Times?
I personally do not read the paper. The only paper I happen to read is the UNCG student newspaper which is conveniently located in every building I have class in. My daily routine includes checking my mail in the morning and then scanning the news of the Yahoo home page. I personally like their articles because most of the time it is fun, interesting articles and less of the 'hard' news that always seems to be plastered on the covers of newspapers today. I personally do not like it because reading all of the sad stories and tragedies in America along with other countries seem to bring me down throughout the day thus I choose to avoid those. An interesting article I read today was "Tips for Avoiding Common Diet Mistakes" which is informative but probably not necessary. To compare my selection of news to that of BBC and NY Times is quite a difference.
When I searched BBC and NY Times news websites, NY Times homepage consisted of a picture with coffins and the article containing information about the death toll in Afghan rising. Then on the front page of BBC was police officers wearing gas masks and the article was about how Georgia was under a state of emergency. Both of these news websites consist of current worldly and political issues. Though these are important to me, it is not something I have an interest in reading day to day therefore I stick to a more friendly news setting that consists of new discovered recipes, and other more upbeat articles.

The Art of Advertising

I work at a local sports bar called JP Looney's. The other night one of my co-workers called the work phone at Looney's and asked to speak to me. As I answered the phone she asked me if I could go in the bathroom, go into one of the stalls and read off the number of one of the advertisements that was posted on the stall door. It was for a ski resort that she was interested in going to.

Once I hung up the phone with her I was laughing because the whole situation was funny to me. A certain add on the bathroom stall door caught her eye while she was taking care of business and it created business for the company. When thinking of strategic ways of pushing your product and discovering the best ways of marketing and advertising your product, bathroom stalls would not be the first thing that came to my mind but yet it was a genius place. Though I did not realize before, sitting here typing this I can picture those certain advertisements on that same stall without even realizing it before.

Advertising seems to be in so many places that we see, but may not immediately be interpreted as advertising, thus creating the extraordinary "subliminal advertising". This is surrounded by us every day and we may not realize it, and also may not realize that we are being influenced by subliminal advertising. Something that really is crazy to me is how it is in many movies now. Someone will be holding a soda where the can is turned just perfectly towards the screen so the viewer can observe that it is indeed a Coke can.

After having this particular class and being exposed to so many different ways of advertising, it makes you more aware, thus trying to pick up on these specific strategies of advertising.

The Apple 1984 Macintosh ad is a mystery to many including myself. Asking questions of why it was so popular leaving sales to exceed through the roof once this advertisement was aired. The ad was shown once during the Super Bowl game on January 22, 1984 and would never be aired after this. The commercial being shown only once was a choice...a strategic marketing technic so to say. But why? Why spend money on creating this well thought out commercial if only it was going to be shown once? These are just a few questions I asked myself.

Once watching the advertisment over and over again to break down the science and trying to gain the knowledge of how the creaters of this ad were thinking, I came to a few conclusions of my own. First it was as if the commericial was more of a short film. Second I noticed that all of the people gathered together were not just one generation but several. This to me would be a way to show people that this new product is not just for young people, but for everyone. Then, you had this woman come and throw the axe which sort of left you boggled until the words came on the screen,"On January 24th, Apple Computers will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984'." To me this made such an impact that perhaps people were so shocked by this that it immediatly drew them to the product.
The director Ridley Scott was interviewed and it really went in depth in to why this commercial succeeded and why it was created like it was.

Yahoo Avataars

I have a very similar opinion to Kristen and I want to expand more on the concept of the Yahoo Avataars. Before our professor sent this assignment out I have never heard of the Yahoo Avataar before. I went through the process of creating one and ended a half an hour later with great frustration. I have always been one that is in to fun and interesting parts of the technological world but this experience was not one of them. For me it was a long process of creating something that I did not find a valid point of it existing. By this I mean the development of this person that is attached to your messaging system. For me when I am instant messaging (I have personally always used AIM) I just want to type to that person; with Avataar it is that and also has a great extension of accessories you could say. Yes, being able to outfit the person how you want and change their hair style is fun, but I still do not see the point of it. Perhaps I am missing something but what Yahoo failed to do is tell me why this other stuff is important and perhaps more explanation would make me want to use this more.

Yahoo! Avatar

I think Yahoo! Avatars are very cute. It's a fun little activity that people can do, but I don't really get the point of it. What is the purpose of them and what are they used for? For suggestions on how to improve it, have the homepage explain what Yahoo! Avatars are. That's really my only suggestion. I love how you can have pets and other accessories for your personal avatar. I typed in some things to search and most things were available, so I think as far as all the extras go, there is a good variety. It's got a good selection of appearances like skin color, hair style, apparel items, and accessories.

Steve and Barry's

Steve and Barry's is a store that has collegiate wear. There is a new one that moved into an old k-mart building and I have passed it so many times. This k-mart building has been empty for years and when new stores try to move into an old location, it is hard for it to be successful, so I was skeptical and didn't want to give it a chance at first, but because it was a new store that I had never heard of, I was curious about it. The sign in front of the store might have been misleading, at least it was for me. It looks like the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus logo. Every time I saw this sign it was confusing to me. I thought of college students at the circus. One day I decided to visit Steve and Barry's. Walking in I was expecting sportswear and college apparel, that's it. There were ads with Sarah Jessica Parker and Amanda Bynes and it surprised me. I saw graphic t's with food labels and names of bands. This store turned out to be nothing like I expected it to be. I came to a separate section that was the new Sarah Jessica Parker line called Bitten. There was a television with a running loop of an interview of SJP about her new line. I thought it was a great marketing tactic to hear straight from her about her line. It made the experience more personal. Next to this section was Amanda Bynes' line, Dear. They used the same stategy with the interview about her new line, too. I loved this new Steve and Barry's and the prices were not too expensive. The clothes were very fashionable and was target to young people. It has mens, womens, juniors, and kids. I will love to shop here again especially now that I know what it is all about.

Martha Stewart and Macy's

While the never ending and always interesting talk about Vera Wang and whether or not it was a good choice for her to have a line at Kohl's, Martha Stewart raises interesting views about having a line at lower end department stores. Several years ago Martha Stewart started a line at K-Mart that consisted of home accessories such as towels, linens, etc. To me this line was going to make it or break it. She had a heavily watched television show and then for her to come out with a line in K-Mart could have risked her career. Luckily it sold very well and just recently she started a line at a much higher end department store; Macy's. Here she started a higher end line that consisted of housewares that is going to launch very shortly.
After reading about Martha Stewart's line it then makes me consider that Vera Wang has much larger plans that we are not thinking about. Perhaps she is starting out at a lower end store (Kohl's) so after a few years she can then launch a more exclusive, higher end line in a store such as Macy's or Nordstrom's. To me this would be a great move because you are targeting different people with different incomes by having base lines then more exclusive lines.

People have different views and opinions on what is ethical and what’s not. I, personally, think things in this world have gotten way out of hand. There is hardly any dignity or respect in society. Television and advertising have taken things to a whole new level when it comes to ways of life being acceptable. I think that there is too much sexual content out there exposed to young people who are not mature enough to understand or deal with it. TV cannot be watched without some kind of reference to sex being shown during any time of the day.

I totally support celebrity endorsers when selling the brand, but not in a sexual way. I think commercials like for the hamburger and Paris Hilton was way offensive. Things like that are selling sex, not the product. Even though sells may go up because of that, it’s not for the right, ethical reasons. Celebrity endorsement is great for a company but they could loose some business if people get insulted if the ad is sexually offensive.

It is difficult to have a universal standard of what is morally and ethically acceptable, but companies need to consider everybody’s feelings and beliefs when creating an advertisement, not just a curtain group, because everyone will probably be exposed to it and it will impact their sells.

Role reversal

In class we talked about a certain Old Navy commercial that when a women said no, a man said yes. This was very offensive to some and raised many issues of women not having control and that being shown to young people. Another popular string of commercials are that of the Axe body spray. Women are forcing themselves upon men without their consent and the only objective is sex. For some reason these have more of a humorous vibe to them then when we watch the Old Navy commercial. To me this doesn't seem right because if you are offended by the Old Navy commercial, you should also be equally or not more to the Axe commercials. There is nothing subliminal about the Axe commercials and come right out and show that a woman is forcing themselves onto a man without their consent. I found an article that equally agrees with what I have said and goes into many good points.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2007-04-17-axe-sell-usat_N.htm?csp=34

Here is an example of one of the commercials as well.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/312591/axe_commercial/

Starburst Ate My Face; Skittles of Wrath; Skittles Q. Beardo.

These are three ads that I get so annoyed with. They are kind of funny at first but overall they’re just so pointless and I don’t like watching them. In order to have a good ad, you want the viewers to remember it but you have to be careful in how you do that. Like these, for instance, I remember the ads and what they’re about but it turns me off from wanting the product. To have a successful ad, make the viewer remember it and make them satisfied with it. You don’t want them to go away from it being disgusted or shocked.

A good example of having successful ads is Target. I know a Target ad when I see it. The commercials all have the same vibe and effect. They have simple logos that people recognize and remember, like the red target and the black and white bullseye dog. They get the audience to remember their ad by having upbeat music, colors, and attractive scenes. I think Target ads are much more enjoyable to watch than the Skittle’s and Starburst ads.

The Importance of Advertisement

On the subject of commercials it is very interesting of the importance of them. The Geico commercials may be very entertaining, but yet you think back to the point of them and are not really sure what the product is. In some of the commercials all they say is "so easy a cave man can do it" but thats all. They leave you hanging and lack information about the product, though they tend to be funny. It's amazing that a commerical can have a huge factor in whether or not the product is successful or not. That is due to the ability to have diverse people be attracted to the product through the commercials. A good example of this would be the Nike commercials.