mitzman strategic communications

Welcome, Students in CMJR 371

To access online readings and participate in related conversations, click here. 

As we’ve discussed, advertisers today mostly avoid the use of jingles and instead use music from popular recordings. This music serves several functions. It borrows interest, helps establish a mood, sometimes helps deliver the ad message through song lyrics, and associates the advertised brand with the brand attributes of a popular artist.

Check out this review of some famous and infamous uses of popular music recordings and artists. Which do you find most appealing and effective? Which are least effective? Can you think of any current commercials that stand out for their use of music? What makes them effective or ineffective, enjoyable or annoying?

Do you think less of a music artist for licensing the use of his or her music in an ad? Why or why not?

 

What the Frack?

You’ll soon be reading Words That Work, which focuses on how your choice of words can frame your message, make it more (or less) sticky, and incline your audience to accept or reject it. Here is a prime example from the realm of energy and environmental advocacy.

“Fracking” is a lot easier to say and remember than “hydraulic fracturing.” (Get the facts about it here.) Given the former's stigma and unsavory associations, the oil and gas industry probably needs to come up with a term or phrase that is as sticky as "fracking," but friendlier. If you were hired by the industry to rebrand the process, what would you recommend they call it?

 

The Business of Change

Facebook and Twitter have become powerful tools for movements for social change from the Middle East to Occupy Wall Street. Now, social entrepreneurs are creating businesses to provide additional online tools for such movements. One such business is Change.org, which makes it easy to start a petition drive, for virtually any cause, and obtain signatures online from anyone anywhere in the world. A few months ago, a petition begun on Change.org sparked the consumer revolt that forced Bank of America to retreat from its plan to charge a fee on debit-card transactions.

Check out the Change.org website (including the “We’re Hiring” link at the bottom of the home page) and this article about Change.org from the Washington Post. Note the qualifications Change.org is looking for in hiring communications managers and directors and a “Director of Storytelling.”

Any lessons here about how to rally support for a cause? Would you sign an online petition? Have you signed one? Why or why not? Interested in working for Change.org? Can you think of any other ways that the Internet could facilitate social movements – and that might be the basis for a new business?

 

Will VW Go Viral Again?

The most-watched TV commercial on YouTube last year, with more than 49 million views, was “The Force,” an ad for the Volkswagen Passat that premiered during the 2011 Super Bowl.

 

For this year’s Super Bowl, Volkswagen is running a new ad, “The Bark Side.”

 

What do you think made the first ad so popular? What do the two ads have in common? Do you think the new ad will equal the popularity of the earlier one? What’s the message or the marketing strategy involved in either ad? Do you think either one is effective? During the 2012 Super Bowl, advertisers are paying up to $3.5 million for 30 seconds of air time. Is the new ad worth it? 

 

M&Ms Go to the Super Bowl

Along with slogans, logos and jingles, mascots also are an important tool for building a brand. In recent years, the Mars candy people have created animated mascots for their M&Ms brand – one for nearly each color that M&Ms come in. A new mascot is about to be rolled out with ads during the 2012 Super Bowl. Read about the ads and the broader marketing plan here.

A 30-second ad during this year’s Super Bowl could cost as much as $3.5 million. How could the time be worth so much? Do marketers get any sort of reasonable return on this investment? Do you think Mars will? What is Mars doing to get more bang for its buck? 

 

Career Day: Image Repair at BA

Many top-level professionals in strategic communications come out of politics, where they learn how to maneuver among powerful interests and gain a sensitivity to shifts in public opinion. Political work also develops the ability to be realistic and recognize what’s possible, and what’s not, in any situation. And at the highest corporate levels, especially in highly regulated industries, public relations is almost indistinguishable from government relations, so political skills are key.

Such is the case for Bank of America’s global strategy and marketing officer, Anne Finucane. Check out this profile of her. Despite her acumen, why do you think BA has stumbled recently, as with its aborted effort to impose fees on debit-card users? How could BA repair its reputation among consumers? Do you think you’d like to do the sort of work Finucane does? Why or why not?

 

The Revolution Will Be Televised

In less than seven years, YouTube has become the world’s largest platform for videos, with 800 million unique users a month and 48 hours of new video uploaded every minute.

Now, YouTube is moving beyond user-generated content to accommodate many broadcast-quality productions that may rival those of traditional TV networks and cable channels. This is part of a rapid, continuing transformation in how people consume video, which is a huge challenge to advertisers and other strategic communicators. Old rules are being thrown out the window as audiences shift and fragment among many more content sources, and as technology opens up new opportunities to target increasingly narrow, selected audiences and to engage them.

The current issue of The Yorker looks at what YouTube is up to and what it all may mean. Check it out. What new YouTube channels would you like to see? How do you think advertising must/will change as a result of current trends?

This New Yorker article is longer than most assigned here, so no additional reading tomorrow.

The Age of Engagement

Effectiveness of a PR effort has long been measured in terms of earned media, otherwise known as media hits: how many newspapers, magazines, TV and radio programs picked up on and distributed news or information about the client. In the era of social media, however, the definition of success is shifting. It’s increasingly based on the level of public/consumer engagement stimulated by the PR, as measured by social media buzz. Read this web post ruminating on the trend, and check out some of the lesser-known social media tools it links to.

 

Anarchy... a Body Spray?

You’ve seen those ads for Axe personal care products that supposedly make average-looking guys irresistible to fashion models. Now, Axe is trying to extend its line to – wait for it – women. How does that work?

Read this article about the new campaign, and click through to the new TV commercial. Also see the Axe Facebook page. Note the serial graphic novel concept; what are they trying to accomplish with that? What’s up with calling the line Anarchy? And note the comments of the marketing prof from NYU. What do you think, ladies women? Willing to give Anarchy a try?

 

How Voters Decide

I’m curious about your reactions to this news story reporting how some Iowa voters went about deciding which Republican candidate to support in last week’s caucuses. Do you think their decision making is completely foolish? Do you think most people make many decisions this way, or is there something unique about picking a president? Should voters decide based solely on candidates’ stated positions on issues?