The Magic of Silence

The commercial was seen online (Hulu), done beautifully, and the absence of sound actually added to the ad. I am normally able to tune out ads because they all sound relatively the same. The signal to start paying attention is usually a brief silence because it means the ads are ending and your show is coming back on.

Notice, Understand and Retain

Not only did I pay attention to this silent ad, but I actually retained it. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the whole point of advertising to have viewers notice your ad and understand and retain your message? Here’s what I got from the ad:

A similar ad with the same color palate

It was an H&M ad for their woman’s line, specifically a tunic and one other article. White background, one model, two articles with the prices listed. The ad’s message included three things:  style, affordability, and the ability to stand out from the pack. Well done H&M, well done.

I’ve seen this ad several times since and it has always been silent. Has anyone seen this ad or anything similar?

Blonde Chick #1

Ms. Anderson

After a few minutes I finally figure out that they’ve been talking about Dancing With the Stars; a show that I frankly thought was the lamest (how’s that for a word?) concept and was watched only by my aunt and my grandma. But, the more I listened to these people talk about this new season with Ms. Anderson, I decided to give it a shot. One chance, and one chance only.

The next day I logged onto Hulu and watched the first episode. Whoa! This show is quirky, sassy, awkward, yet extremely entertaining. I’m sad to admit that right then and there…I BECAME HOOKED. Oh but wait, it gets worse.

Blonde Chick #2

One of my least favorite dancers of this season was Kate Gosselin, not just because she was a shit dancer, but mostly because she didn’t seem to give a shit. She moved like a sloth with two broken ankles (if they even have ankles). I was so amazed by her lack of spunk that I knew I had to investigate further. You guessed it…in addition to watching DWTS, I am now watching Jon & Kate Plus 8, from the beginning. Lucky for me (oh boy) Netflix has the majority of their seasons available to watch instantly.

Semi-Korean Family

Those 8 little kids just sucked me in. I mean seriously, the show is about nothing of importance. The episode I just watched today was about them changing the carpet in their house. I can’t make this stuff up, but it has helped me come to two conclusions:

1) Kate Gosselin is a biotch and I understand why Jon needed to be as far away from her as possible. She treats him like he is her 9th child.

2) I think Kate is on some type of mind-numbing anti-depressant now. Her attitude in 2010 on DWTS was reminiscent of a zombie compared to her crazy biotch attitude in 2006 on Jon & Kate Plus 8.

That’s my two cents on sushi, two blonde chicks, and a semi-Korean family. Oh yeah, I’m on team Evan on DWTS…lame, I know. Who is your favorite dancer???

Fabio aint got nothin'

I have a new found obsession with Johnny Depp. Juvenile, I know, but totally legit. I’m trying really hard not to make this sound like a gushing 14 year olds diary entry, but don’t hate me if it does.

Singing Rock-a-Billies

It all started with Cry Baby. Shocking I know, that I hadn’t seen it, but never-the-less I put it in my Netflix queue recently and didn’t think about it again until it landed in my mailbox. Then I watched it.

Never would I have thought that crying, singing, rock-a-billies would be so appealing. This movie was right up my alley, campy as all hell, and just the right amount of Johnny.

Spontaneous Combustion

Then came my dream. The most realistically awesome dream. I was marrying Johnny Depp in my parent’s backyard in the most amazing knee-length black vintage dress. Even in the dream there was a sense of spontaneity; as if we had met the week before and fell madly in love and decided to get married. I woke up the next morning with no recollection of it…until seeing his face on t.v. and the whole dream came rushing back.

Ever since then, I can’t get enough of his movies, and whenever I see his face I get this strange feeling that we are connected somehow. Strange, I know.

Edward

About a month ago I saw Edward Scissorhands for the first time and fell in love with it too. Go ahead and check the date of this entry, I know you wanna. I AM writing this in 2010, and I DID just see Edward Scissorhands for the first time. What can I say, I didn’t watch many movies as a kid.

Not only do I think that he is an extremely dreamy man, I am just now discovering how talented of an actor he is. He’s not the run-of-the-mill, one role type of actor. I feel that the boundaries of his talent are few and far between.

Next stop…Johnnyville

The Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man is the perfect example of his range. Not a role you’d expect him to do. But do it he does, and very well might I add. Way back when I first heard of him in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, I thought no way, not so much. But now, I’ve done a complete 360. I’m not one to jump on the bandwagon too often, but this is one train I can no longer afford to miss.

What’s your favorite Johnny Depp movie?

It's time to take back our knobs!

So there you are, sitting on the couch watching t.v., when suddenly your eardrums are blasted with the sounds of a discount tire commercial. We’ve all experienced it, and we’ve all bitched about it. Marketers have figured this out and have come up with something new, and by far more subtle to catch our attention.

What the…?

I was watching a cell-phone commercial the other day that sounded “hallow,” almost as if it was underwater. I had seen this very same commercial before, without this effect, and hadn’t paid much attention to what the commercial was about. However, on this go-around I actually perked-up and listened to the content because of how strange it sounded.

Cause and Effect

This cause and effect relationship was perhaps the exact effect the masterminds behind this phenomenon expected and/or hoped for. Keep in mind that this was not an independent event. I began to notice a few companies participating, including a cell phone company, and a manufacturer of prescription drugs, to name a few.

These are HUGE players in the advertising game, so one must conclude that these were no accidents. But, one thing is still kinda confusing to me. Why are they airing the commercial normally for a while, and then suddenly airing them with altered sound? Why not just have it air altered from the beginning?

There’s a New Sheriff in Town

Shortly after I began noticing this, I heard on the news of a law in the works that would ban advertisers from increasing the volume of commercials. Possibly this is why the new practice of altered sound on commercials has begun?

Have you heard any altered sounding commercials while watching t.v.?

Even this mouse wasn't impressed...

I moved away from Idaho during the tail end of winter 2008, when the weather was starting to warm up (for Idaho standards) and was hovering around 40 degrees. I normally don’t like to talk about the weather, as I see that it’s a cheesy conversation starter, but I can’t help but comment on the wimps I found in Austin, TX.

Bring on the HEAT!

We we started discussing moving to Austin, one of the key influencing factors was the weather. I imagined sunny skies, warm temperatures, and overall outdoor bliss. It was almost like that, until this pansy “winter” came along. OK, I do have to admit, it has gotten a lot colder than I expected (for like 3 days), and wouldn’t you know, it even SNOWED! Well…sorta.

Stocking Up

I was watching the news on the day before the supposed “snow” was to be falling. They had a segment interviewing shoppers and employees of a local grocery store. The store manager said they were having record-breaking sales because people were stocking up on essentials so they wouldn’t have to go out in the “storm” tomorrow…WHAT???

Catch it if You Can

So the next day I missed the snow all together, and the rest of my day was filled with, “Did you see the snow today?” WOW.

Later that night I watched the news (again) and the TOP STORY was the snow storm. I couldn’t help but picking up on the adjectives used to describe it: “pretty”, “gentle” and “wonderful,” to name a few. They even said, ” if you didn’t look hard enough you would’ve missed it.”

Get Real

Growing up in the north where it basically dumps snow on you until you want to crawl into a hole to hibernate for 9 months, I can’t help but find it so incredibly insane how romanticized snow is in the south. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a northerner that refers to the snow as “gentle,” or “wonderful.”

But this did get me thinking that maybe I should start a valet service for all those people who are too scared to drive in snow or ice. I’d probably need to get a car first though…

I’d like to know what words come to mind when you think of snow???

Taken out my front door...

Just Around the River Bend

Possibly there is a little place in your brain used to store them, the very same place that was once used to remember your way home. What is now filled with ‘soccerball6454′ was once filled with ‘follow the bend in the trail, pass the tree with 5 branches and 27 paces later you’re at your front door step.’

“Honey, where’d I put my keys?”

From direction storage it morphed into holding the memory of where you put the keys to your locomotive and the remote for the television set. When ‘remote-control finders’ and ‘key-finders’ were invented, the human brain was in search for something to fill the hole in that memory space.

The Internet!

So, some desperate bloak got working on something to fill that hole. And, ta-da, he invented the internet! I bet you never knew that the internet was a bi-product of the invention of the ‘remote-control finder.’ =)

There you have it. From storing the route home, to storing the location of your keys, to ultimately holding the passwords to your leisure, what will it store next? The brain is a very powerful tool and when given a task, it can perform beautifully.

The tables have turned...

Dreams Shaping Culture

It really amazes me how much dreams shape real life. Like for example, the other day I was researching the new vampire phenomena Twilight for a post I’d like to write in a few days. The woman that wrote the books said that her inspiration came from a dream she had about a vampire and a girl who were in love.  Her one simple dream on that one night, has influenced such a cultural craze right now, that it has been shaping peoples lives and ultimately their futures.

Most people claim to not remember their dreams, which I feel is a damn shame. I think dreams are such an important thing to analyze because they can reveal so much. Dreams can show you things you never knew about yourself until you watched it happen.

Don’t Drop the Baby!

I was talking with my roommate earlier today and she was telling me about this dream she had a while back. A young child kept running towards her to be picked up but she kept dropping her. She took this dream as a sign that it was probably not a good time for her to have kids.  Maybe this was her brain’s way of showing her something that she subconsciously knew all along.

I don’t know why I keep dreaming about tripping, slipping, and falling. It’s probably because I am a very clumsy person that is always waiting to accidentally embarrass myself in public. Let’s just hope that I keep dreaming about it and not actually doing it in public!

I am really interested in recurring dreams, have you/or are you having a recurring dream? If so, tell me about it…

Tripping is never fun

Step 1

This is much how we all live our lives. The first new step of anything is always the hardest, but once you get started you not only realize that it wasn’t that hard in the beginning, and it becomes difficult now to stop you.

Exercise

As I am sure you can probably figure out, this ’1st step effect’ can be good and bad. Say, for instance, someone is overweight and decides to start exercising. For him/her, making that first step on the treadmill will definitely be the hardest. Eventually this person will pick up the habit of working out (all other things being equal) and it will hopefully become one of those ‘non-looking’ steps.

Drugs

Now imagine that the same person decided to pick up drugs instead of exercising (kinda after school special, I know…but I’ll make the connection here in a few seconds). The very first time he/she tries the drug of choice, he/she will most likely be very resistant, scared even, but after a few times they get used to it and it’ll become like second nature.

OK…OK, Hold on…

I’m not condoning doing drugs or anything like that. I’m just purely pointing out how human nature follows such patterns, among EVERYONE. People watch out for themselves, survival of the fittest. Yes, some of us make more un-healthy choices than others, but who am I to judge? Now, excuse me while I go try to pick up the habit of cooking…

What did you resist trying, but when you did you wished you had done it sooner?

The #1 Problem

Part of my job includes researching a company before I contact them, which is almost always accomplished through visiting their website. Believe it or not, the #1 problem I run across is trying to figure out what the company does or sells. It is so amazing to see that whomever designed the website was so engrossed in the design process and was so physically close to it, that they forgot to step back, get a second opinion, and see if it answers the most fundamental questions that any company website should. Who, what, where, and why?

Even Albert knew

Search Engine Ghost

Yeah, you can put up the argument that most visitors are only visiting pages of products and brands that they know well. BUT, what if a stay-at-home mom is researching scrapbooking products and decides to do a google search for ’scrapbooking products’? Google searches a site by how often they find your search terms in relevant text on a website. This company (an ACTUAL example I’ve ran across) that is only talking about the brands of scrapbooking stuff they sell, is NEVER going to show up on the first page of Google results, or probably not even at all.

Moral

So, the moral of the story is to be blatantly obvious. Website designers spend great deals of time making a website visually appealing, but as we’ve just learned, they are not always so user-friendly or useful. Your customers will never blame you for being too cut and dry, but you can be damn sure that the second you are too technical or un-clear you will be notified either by them directly or by them taking their dollar else where.

What makes you mad about websites these days????

A frugalista in her natural habitat

Target is more than the name of their store, it’s also their new marketing strategy (which is how it’s supposed to be done). Maybe I just noticed this because I’ve been studying  marketing for the greater part of this decade, but I was blown away by the direct, targeted message of Target’s new frugalistas commercial.

Audrey, Kim and Karen

If you haven’t seen it, it’s a slice-of-life commercial showing three different women with three different lifestyles. Audrey is an attractive, 20-something single woman, living alone in a great apartment, with the exception of her dog. Kim is a 50-something married woman, living with her husband in a trendy house, and is probably an empty nester. Finally, there is Karen, a 30-something family woman, living with her husband and young child.

Think of  5 women you know of that shop at Target. Do at least 4 of them fall into the category of Audrey, Kim, or Karen (with the exception of the amazing living quarters)?  This is exactly what Target was going for!

I’m guessing that Target recently spent a large sum of money on a research study to determine that their average (or most profitable) customers primarily fall under the Audrey, Kim, or Karen category.

Now, if you know anything about marketing, you know that every company tries to create an advertising message aimed at the most profitable section of their customers. However, most companies do not have the financial resources of Target, nor the time to research as throughly as Target probably did.

Foolish or Brilliant?

I look at this commercial in two ways, it’s either extremely foolish or brilliant. It is brilliant in the fact that in 30 seconds they’ve completely defined three different segments of customers, and made them appear as glamorous and hip as possible. BUT, they have also made a commercial that appeals ONLY to those segments. What does a 40-year-old man think when he sees that commercial? He probably thinks about Monday night football, which has nothing to do with Target. If that commercial had a lawnmower in it, maybe it would have made him think twice about Target, rather than football.

But then I go back to the brilliant possibility. Maybe Target determined that 40-year-old men are not a profitable segment of their market. Or maybe they determined that as long as they market to the wives of the 40-year-old men, the wives will drag them into Target and while they are trying on the trendy new fall fashions that Target offers for the frugalistas, the men will spend time in the power tool section and eventually find some gadget they want and/or need.

This commercial can go either way, really. I find it to be really interesting, and I applaud Target for doing a fantastic job with defining their target customer (pun intended). What do you think, is this commercial brilliant or foolish?