Perception, perception, perception.

Marketing is all about creating perception. We use ads, public relations, coupons, whatever, to shape the public’s perception of our product or service. Take for instance Geico. How do you perceive the insurer, which started life as a the Government Employees Insurance Company? Chances are you think of them as cheap insurance. Why? Because for [...]

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Feel good

Tylenol is currently running a campaign with “feel better” as a tagline. There are several ads in the campaign, each posing a scenario and then finishing with the tagline. I saw one today that said that sometimes you get a headache when you are dehydrated, so drink a glass of water. The message seems to [...]

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Dissonance

American Airlines says it knows why we fly. In any case, “we know why you fly” is their tag line for the current ad campaign. The campaign shows people traveling for various reasons, most of them to do with going to visit family or going on vacation.  It seems somewhat dissonant that if American knows [...]

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Same product, different marketing, different retailers

Such is the case of a chicken sandwich being debuted at McDonald’s, apparently based on a similar sandwich at Chick-fil-A, and being marketed to different ethnic groups across the country. The story is in the New York Times, and points to the importance of advertising in promoting a food product. McDonald’s has a very large [...]

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Gen Y

Please visit my guest blog on Generation Y Give.

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Does sexism sell?

Well, it must because these sexist ads keep on appearing. You know the kind–where women appear as sexual objects, there to look pretty and please men. Or where every 1950s notion of male and female roles are reprised (women cook, men work, women clean, men work, women simper, men work). Women’s magazines are filled with [...]

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Blurring the line

Sometimes it is hard to know where the PR pitch ends and the feature story begins. Such is often the case on Food Network (even so, one of my favorites). Last night, on a program called Heavyweights, three very large fast food chains were featured. It was a “behind the scenes” look at everything these [...]

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Are you going to raid the lost ark?

In case you have been living under a rock, the newest Indiana Jones movie is opening this weekend. It is being accompanied (or should I say anticipated) with lots of media hoopla and a re-release of all previous Indiana Jones movies. Of course! This franchise has a lot of life to it. Raiders of the [...]

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Real Estate Advertising and Starbucks Logo

Existing and new home sales are down across the country due to the mortgage/credit crises. So what is a home seller to do? Advertise of course! In the past few weeks, I have been receiving more and more postcards featuring condos or townhomes in the area. In fact, on Thursday alone, I got three such [...]

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The Power of Suggestion

No secret here. The power of advertising is to suggest that you need something. Sometimes you didn’t even know you needed that something.  Such is the case in some types of medical advertising. Is your skin red and flushed looking? It might be rosacea! Trouble falling asleep? Get some Ambien! On MSNBC.com today there is [...]

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