Psychology of Advertising

Friday, February 11, 2011

Mindful - Playful

Honda has just released a commercial for it's five-door coupe known in Europe as the Honda Jazz.

This commercial projects creative energy with a "mindful - playful" brand personality. Mindfulness comes from the strategic premise of flexibility to meet unanticipated needs, while playfulness arises from Dr. Seuss-style writing and imagery.

Minnesota's own Garrison Keillor performed the voice-over, adding his own home-spun charm to complete the storytelling.

For more perspective on psychological theory and the development of persuasive advertising, please see Strategic Power of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Super Banner

Chrysler's outstanding Super Bowl commercial - Imported From Detroit - was a signal of things to come (scroll below for earlier post).

Here is Chrysler's banner from the top of today's New York Times. Clearly they know where to find me.

This is exceptional banner design employing symbols with wonderful copywriting... "A car you don't have to own to be proud of."

Now that is courageous copy.

The banner takes you to a site where you can view the Imported From Detroit commercial and learn more about the Chrysler 200. Just scroll down to February 8th below if you missed seeing this commercial on the Super Bowl.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Super Sunday's Super Brand

People thirst for more than good football on Super Sunday. So beverage commercials are always plentiful. This year was no exception, although only one beverage brand presented exceptional advertising.

Coca-Cola's corporate core competencies focus on distribution and branding. And, when it comes to advertising, no beverage sends it's brand signal more effectively.

In this commercial - called Border Crossing - we see the "gift-like act" that is an essential element of the Coca-Cola brand concept. "Happiness" may be how people speak of this campaign in contemporary terms, but the enduring metaphor of the brand involves the universal gesture of friendship. This metaphor was also portrayed in the Dragon commercial for Coca-Cola.

It is this underlying concept that differentiates the brand and raises it above all other beverages. Brands desperate for attention resort to stunts, while Coca-Cola sustains its leadership secure in the knowledge it stands for core values shared by people everywhere in the world.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Imported From Detroit

Automobile makers dominated commercial time on the 2011 Super Bowl. Their commercials were all over the lot. As the dust settles, one image remains. Chrysler's "Imported From Detroit."

In two sweeps of the second hand Chrysler moved to seize the high ground in automotive imagery. The ground was there for the taking. The new GM could have seized it, and Ford certainly has a claim to it with it's well positioned products.

Nielsen audience research reported the Chevy Camaro commercial set a television audience record with 119,628,000 viewers, but it was a typical car spot - attractive woman with attractive car - and Chrysler's story will outlast it.

The signal on Sunday was that it is the new owners of Chrysler who really know the value of brands and how to communicate them. And it didn't hurt that the advertising agency and commercial director took a page from the playbook for the opening credits of the Sopranos.

A commercial like this is no accident. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Chrysler.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Best Buy Wins Super Bowl

Let's put the USA Today Super Bowl ad liking ratings aside (see earlier post below). It's really a distracting "trash sport" when it comes to getting down to business.

For my money, I think Best Buy placed the smartest, most successful commercial on this year's Super Bowl.

When it comes to business and advertising strategy, it is hard to beat their offer to help us rid ourselves of yesterday's electronic millstones and replace them with the latest good things to do what we really want. Why not get something for our old technology, let it go properly into a recycling program, and happily move ahead with a better product?

When it comes to advertising creativity, Best Buy smartly employed two popular culture icons (metaphors) to bring its offer to life.

Just think.... it is time to "Ozzy that old phone" and "Bieber-Up" with the future.

Congrats to the people at Best Buy. Smart business.

Super Bowl Advertising Regressing to the Mean

The vibe on yesterday's Super Bowl advertising reflects a bit of disappointment.

Here's the trend line on the USA Today ratings for the "most liked" Super Bowl commercial in each of the last 23 Super Bowls. The newspaper uses a ten-point liking scale and they put together a small sample audience each year that is said to be generally reflective of the audience for the game.

This year, the Bud Light and Doritos "Dog Trick" spots tied at the top with 8.35 ratings.

The dotted gray line is the 8.6 average for the 23 years of data. You can notice a phenomenon known as "regression to the mean." Ratings climbed when the scores were first reported, but now appear to be settling into an even pattern. This suggests advertisers have developed a "formula" to reduce risk.

Advertising, of course, thrives on intelligent risk-taking. Formulas are bad things when it comes to the most productive advertising creativity. So, it is probably time for some notable advertisers to move beyond slap-stick and pet tricks.

Although, they may be satisfied with "Professionally OK."

There is always next year.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Super Commercial

This new spot from VW excites us about the shape of things to come.

The commercial employs the "beetle metaphor" to promise performance like never before. It is a car commercial without a car, demonstrating the power of original ideas in advertising.

It is charming, involving, and compelling.

Important Readings For You

Eighmey's journal articles on Internet advertising place him among the 10 most widely cited on the subject. His path-making article "Profiling User Responses to Commercial Websites" (see Journal of Advertising Research, March 1997) has been cited in more than 783 scholarly articles and books.

For a conceptual and data-driven analysis of youth values and the propensity to act on values, read Eighmey's article "Why Do Youth Enlist? Identification of Underlying Themes" in Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 32, No. 2, (January, 2006).

Read "Harlow Gale and the Origins of the Psychology of Advertising" in the Journal of Advertising, December 2007 for historical perspective.

For the big picture read "The Psychology of Persuasion: Perspectives for Theory, Research and Application in a Diverse World." A book co-authored with Osei Appiah and published by Cognella, 2011.

For 450 print ads that bring to life Advertising and American History, scroll down to the link featuring the original ad for Oreo cookies. Why not check out all the other links, too.