An Adventure with Tide Vivid White


         Earlier this year, Betty White was chosen to speak on behalf P&G's Tide Vivid White.  She appeared in a TV commercial, online ads, in-store ads, and a live chat on Facebook.


         I think this was a pretty good move by Tide to help promote their product.  Not only is their product's name the same as Ms. White's but she is also ranked with Tom Hanks with the highest Q Score public favorability ranking.  This could in turn boost the favorability of Tide Vivid White.


         The objective for the addition of Betty White was more than likely to increase awareness and favorability of the product.


         The target audience for this particular advertisement is for younger women, who are into fashion.  Ms. White is encouraging users to break the rules and wear white.  They shouldn't be afraid to get it dirty because Vivid White makes it much easier to clean.

An Adventure with Pepsi

         Pepsi announced that Beyonce is their new brand ambassador the other day.  This means that "Beyonce will appear in print and out-of-home ads for Pepsi, as well as in-store advertising".  Beyonce will also be performing at the Super Bowl half time show that is sponsored by Pepsi.


         One of the biggest problems that Pepsi has been facing is that it was surpassed by Diet Coke and is now the third most popular soft drink (it previously held the #2 spot; Coke is #1).  Pepsi is in the situation where it needs to remind consumers of its presence, encourage trial of their product (which has been around for years), and to take back its #2 spot.  Another issue that Pepsi and the entire soft drink industry is facing is the movement to eat healthier.  Soda is known to be full of sugar and just plain bad for you.  I am not too sure how much Beyonce can change that.


         Pepsi has quite a broad target market, but with the addition of Beyonce as a brand ambassador, they are particularly trying to target teens to young adults.  To be honest, not many of my friends that are my age drink Pepsi.  They drink Diet Coke.  So I think that Pepsi trying to influence our age group is very important because of its size and influence on other generations.


         To be honest, I am not entirely sure how the addition of Beyonce to Pepsi will increase sales.  When it comes to food and drinks, the only thing that really influences my decision is the taste.  I don't really care who sponsors it or whom of my friends eats/drinks it.  If I'm drinking soda, I'm drinking Diet Coke, because that is what tastes good to me.  I don't plan on purchasing Pepsi anytime soon because of Beyonce.

An Adventure with Starbucks

            Starbucks released a steel card today, that will cost consumers $450.  But don't worry, the card is preloaded with $400 (the card itself costs $50 to make).  The card can only be found on Gilt.com and comes with a gold-level Starbucks card membership.  Only 5,000 have been made.

            I am really curious to know what exactly the problem or issue Starbucks was facing for them to come out with this.  Yes, this would be the gift for the ultimate Starbucks obsessor lover, but it is still pretty excessive for a coffee shop.  Starbucks is already considered a fairly overpriced coffee shop, and the addition of the metal card does not help that situation.

            The target market for this card is more than likely the Starbucks lover and/or collector, that has quite a bit of money.  I don't think I can name anyone that I know personally that would be willing to spend money the metal card.

            Personally, I think that this new card that Starbucks has produced is a bit excessive for this time where people want to save money, and are looking to find more and more ways to drink their coffee from home.  It will be interesting to see how exactly the sale of these cards do.

An Adventure with Target

            Target's latest holiday advertisements have been coined with the tagline, Dream Big Save Bigger.  To be honest, I really didn't think a whole lot about their latest tagline.  Sure, it was creative, but nothing to write home about.

            Last week, I had the opportunity to present my group's creative brief on Cuties to Pamplin's Marketing Advisory Board.  It was such an awesome opportunity.  I talked to every member of the board that was in attendance, as well as a few faculty members.  One of the members that stood out to me the most was Mr. Scott Tidey, who is the Senior VP of North American Sales and Marketing for Hamilton Beach Brands.  One of the comments he made on my group's brief was that our SMP did not have an end result to it.  Hamilton Beach works closely with WalMart, and Mr. Tidey told us that he really appreciated that WalMart's tagline, Save Money Live Better had always been one of his favorites because it told you the end result of shopping at WalMart:  Live Better.  I had never looked at it that way, but now that I have heard that, it really stuck with me.

            Back to Target...  Now aware of Mr. Tidey's insights, I have begun to watch advertisements a bit closer to see if their tagline shows that end result.  I think Target is pretty successful in showing their target audience (consumers looking for holiday savings, particularly parents), just what the end result is of shopping at Target for the holiday season.  Target is telling their consumers to look at their shopping list, and have those big dreams, and prepare to save bigger.  Personally, I think Target has done a good job in their holiday advertisements, and I look forward to any more that they release.

An Adventure with Macy's

            For my Consumer Behavior class, we had to analyze something in the media involving consumer behavior.  My group decided on one of Macy's latest advertisements, which involved Kris Kringle from Miracle on 34th Street...

            I really enjoyed this advertisement because of the nostalgia it brought back for me.  I think that Macy's wanted to put out a different advertisement than their "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause" advertisements for their Believe campaign.  The story of Virginia has been used for quite a few years, so Macy's needed to do something a bit different.

            I think that Macy's is trying to target a broad range of ages.  By including the Kris Kringle character from Miracle on 34th Street, they get the older age range, Justin Beiber gets the younger ages.  And the many other celebrities get everyone in between.

            I think this commercial was successful because it can successfully reach all ages and the commercial is successful in staying true to the Macy's brand during the Christmas season.  A negative of this advertisement might be that Donald Trump was included (which many people don't agree with), but I think that Macy's did a good job of combatting the backlash by making Donald Trump skeptical of Kris Kringle.  But personally, I don't care whether Donald Trump is in their advertisements or not, so I think that this advertisement has the potential to be successful in drawing in more customers for shopping and letter writing.

An Adventure with Earl Cox and The Martin Agency

            On Thursday, Earl Cox is coming to speak to our class.  Mr. Cox is currently the EVP, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer at The Martin Agency.  He has worked there for 26 years.  He is also a member of the Marketing Advisory Board here at Virginia Tech.

            The Martin Agency, located in Richmond, VA is quite a large advertising agency that was started in 1965.  They are responsible for creating many famous campaigns for WalMart, Pizza Hut, and Discover.  Thought what really launched them to their success was the Virginia is for Lovers campaign, which started in 1969.  Since then, they have cultivated many followers.  Mr. Cox has worked on the Geico and UPS campaigns.

            An issue that The Martin Agency is facing is making sure that they are still prevalent.  With so many people and new companies getting involved in advertising, they need to ensure that they are still top of mind for clients.

Questions for Kelly Fisher:

            How did you get into the industry?

            What inspired you for Geico and UPS?

            Did you come in entry-level and work your way up?  If so, what did you do as an entry-level employee?  If not, how did you come about your position?

An Adventure with Gap

            In my Consumer Behavior class, we had a group present on Gap's new holiday campaign.  I found it to be a fun use of color and celebrities without it being too over the top.  Gap did not necessarily have a problem that they needed to solve, they just wanted to remind consumers about their product during the heavy holiday shopping season.

            Around the holiday season, consumers look for things that remind them of the love between all different relationships, because the season inspires that feeling.  So many brands that involve food or decorating try to use this idea of love in their advertisements, but its not as used in clothing brands.  I think Gap did a great job of using love in all forms while successfully advertising their clothing.  The only issue I've noticed with the campaign is that I have not seen any of their advertisements.  The only reason I knew about them was through class.  As long as they are promoted correctly, Gap should find these advertisements to be successful.  Love hits home somewhere for every consumer, and its always a great feeling to be reminded of during the holidays.