The Advertising Review

Social Networking and Your Brand: Part 1

2008-02-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

Social networking sites have become very popular across the web, with new sites popping up every day. From the giants like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn - home to millions of unique visitors, to more niche social networking sites centered around geographic areas, pet owners, suburbanite moms or even retirees with tattoos! The bottom line is, if you can find a group of people with a common interest, there is likely a networking website for those people to interact with.

So the question is: How can social networking websites be a benefit to your business?

Part 1
Share of Voice & Control of Voice

Social networking sites allow a unique opportunity to combine your advertising budget and public relations campaign efforts on to the same platform, and in some cases, the same content page.
A perfect example would be a local art center that I'm work with on www.indy.com, an entertainment website with social networking capabilities for socially active people in Indianapolis.
For their advertising budget, we put together a media plan that promotes signing up for their painting and sculpting classes, as well as highlighting specific gallery openings and events. While simultaniously, selected members of the art center staff have created profiles to network and write free "postings" throughout the website, specifically on the "Things to Do" page.

The display advertising on our social networking site will allow for share of voice, meaning not only will a percentage of the page content have information about this company, but also every time their ad appears on the site...a competitor for the consuming audience, didn't.
The postings by staff members via their profiles allows for control of voice. Simply put, the web and social networking sites in general can be filled with bogus info. With a staff member networking on the site and posting events on the Things to Do page, not only will the client become somebody to easily get in touch with in regards to questions about the event, but also over time, the staff profile will become a source to turn to when the next craving for an art project comes up. Finally, and most important, the information provided via the staff member profile will be ACCURATE and INTEGRATED with their advertising message.

Cheers,

USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter Results

2008-02-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

So how did the USA Today ad poll compare to my results?
Take a look...

Super Bowl XLII Ads: Giants vs. Patriots 4th Qtr.

2008-02-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

NFL.com
Interesting and entertaining 5.5

Ford F-150
I can't wait to buy one and spin it around. I like the Dirty Jobs guy, so 5.9

Local Ad
Local Ad

Sunsilk
Hair products during the Super Bowl? Hmm...somebody paid attention to those female audience stats...8.6 for paying attention...5.4 for entertainment.

Coca-Cola Floats
I liked it, but I'd like to see Coke take on Pepsi with the funny factor. 6.5

Coca-Cola Politics
Eeh..we dont' agree on much, but we agree on Coke..just okay. 5.5

Toyota Sequoia
Decent auto ad..at least they didn't try to make it a Hybrid joke like the Yukon 6.9

You Dont Mess with a Zohan Movie
How about just calling it Zohan? Anywho, glad to see Sandler doing comedy again. 7.3

E Trade Baby Renting the Clown
Hillarious round 2. One of the best. 8.8

Taco Bell
Eeeh...next! 2.3

Gatorade Dog Drinking Water
Pretty funny...made me thirsty. 7.5

Bud Light Semi-Pro
Hahahah...love Will Farrell, looking forward to the movie. 8.3

Hyundai Genesis
I hope this car looks as good on the showroom as it does in the ad. 7.2

Victoria's Secret
I couldn't agree more..let the games begin. Liked it. 7.4

Amp Energy Drink
Is that Donkey Lips (from Salute Your Shorts)???? That's funny if it is. 8.1

Wow! Giants upset the Patriots!!
Patriots coach Bill Belichick walks off the field before the game ends! Now that is entertainment. Congrats Giants!

Super Bowl XLII Ads: Giants vs. Patriots 3rd Qtr

2008-02-03T17:05:00.001-08:00

Cars.com Plan B Witch Doctor
Another good commercial from Cars.com. Product mention and laughs...well done. 6.7

Salesgenie.com
How do we take this company seriously? How about a testimonial or something? Are they for real? 2.5

Vitamin Water Shaq
28 of 30 seconds had nothing to do with Vitamin Water, but Shaq on a horse? Not too sure what made the least amount of sense. 4.5

Bud Light Cavemen
This is what I'm looking for!! Funny as hell 8.9

Ice Breakers Ice Cubes
Eeh..okay. Carmen = sex appeal...thats it. 6.5

Bridgestone
Okay, this time I wasn't expecting a Saab commercial...but they should've ran Richard Simmon over..maybe a "better get Bridgestone" ad. 6.9

Careerbuilder.com Wishing
Funnier that their 1st Qtr ad...I'm betting site traffic goes up this year. 7.7

Hyundai Genesis
Well done...thought it was a BMW or Lexus...HYUNDAI?!?! Nice. 8.5

Pixar Wall E
I have no clue what this movie is about...I don't get it 3.0

Jumper Movie
Like the looks of the special fx, depending on what's out, I might see it 5.6

E Trade Baby Buying Stock
Hillarious! People will talk about this one. 9.1

Bud Light Special Abilities
Should've used this and a different ability that Qtr 1 *Fire Breathing*, better than the first...at least it was original 5.5

Super Bowl XLII Ads: Giants vs. Patriots 2nd Qtr.

2008-02-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

Bridgestone Tires: Screaming Wildlife
I thought it was a Saab commercial for the first 10 seconds. The grasshopper *I think it was a grasshopper* screaming was the funniest, 5.9

Doritos Music
Eehh...not too sure what to think. Clearly an attempt to drive votes/web traffic..I imagine we'll see a lot of this tonight. 3.5

Wanted
Looks pretty bad ass, and I'm sure I will see it, so it's a success. 7.5 (Angelina Jolie 10)

G2 Gatorade
Kinda funny at the end..should've just used Payton Manning the entire time, still not too sure what the different is between G2 and...G1? 4.8

Godaddy Danica Patrick ***
We'll find out how much Danica exposed, but im sure it isn't much. Then again, I'm going to visit the site just in case. 8

Dell
Felt cut off...very cut off...didn't make me want to do anything. 2.5

FedEx Pigeon Distruction
Pretty good. I always like a nice chaos commercial 7.9

Cars.com Circle of Fire
Turned the tables on a cars salesman, you gotta like that. They managed to talk about their newest feature *cell phone listings* and made it entertaining. 7.6

Tide to Go Talking Stain
Hillarious...8.1

Budweiser "Thunder Training"
Pretty good..the dalmation made me think of Miller Lite vs. Budweiser ads, so I was thinking it was going in a different direction entirely. Still funny. 7.5

Ironman Movie
Eehh..might see it..looked okay..just okay. 3.0

Toyota Corola,
It would've made sense to go for the "cheap car gets awsome fuel mileage, but they went for the entertaining approach, and I think it went "just okay" 5.5

Leatherheads Movie
Looks funny, will likely see it...7.0

Garmin, Napoleon
I liked it, plus I'm actually in the market for a nav system, so I'm glad I reached their target market. 7.2

CareerBuilder Follow your heart
It was okay...probably a lot of people who would love to tell their boss they quit, not too many that want their heart to get ripped out though...6.9

Sobe Life Water, dancing lizzards.
Funny, what the commercials are supposed to be about. People will talk about this. Hopefully everyone will remember that it was a Sobe ad..and not just the dancing lizzard ad. 8.8

Parents the Anti Drug...pretty good for a Super Bowl ad/ public announcement (N/A)

Yukon Hybrid
I'd like to see more car, and actual MPG info, etc. Just okay. 4.3

Bud Light Accent
Ehh..I just expect more out of their Super Bowl ads, just okay. 4.3

Narnia Movie
Doesn't really interest me, and to be honest, I was looking forward to the next ad as soon as this one started. 2.5

Planters Uni-Brow
Funny, entertaining..Another good example of what a Super Bowl ad should be. 7.7

T-Mobile: Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade
Sir Charles usually provides a good laugh. I think they should've talked more about their product. 5.2

United Way
Just a PA, so we have to like that...not meant to be entertaining, N/A

Pepsi: Justin TImberlake
Another great ad by Pepsi..they've found the right firm this year. Funny and good way to brand their new points promo. 8.9

Doritos: Mouse Trap
WTF? I laughed, so I was entertained, but food and varmen rarely generate buzz. 5.5

*** Okay, it took Tom Petty three songs to get the energy up, so I checked out the GoDaddy.com Danica Patrick commercial, and it was pretty funny. Playing off the Paris Hilton *I see you*.. Bob Parsons is brilliant (GoDaddy.com Founder and CEO)

Super Bowl XLII Ads: Giants vs. Patriots 1st Qtr.

2008-02-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

For the Super Bowl ads, I will be grading on a 10 scale.

1st Qtr.

Bud Light Fire Breathing
My first thought was the dairy queen ad, left me feeling like id seen it before..nothing new, but Bud Light aims to entertain, not inform, so I'm going 7.5

Pepsi Max
Funny and memreble. I liked to cameos and the Night at the Roxberry tie in, 8.0

Bud Light Wine party
Good for most, very good if you're a guy who has had to attend a wine party, 7.3

Under Armor
Forgetable, I had to rewind the DVR to remember who it was. 3.0

Audi R8: Godfather
I'd like to see more of the new car..Godfather spin likely only made sense to a small portion. If they only have 1 ad, they needed to make better use of their time. 4.0

Sales genie.com
Trying to reproduce the success of godaddy, but only time will tell...4.9