Vick's Ad

When looking at Vicks medicine, everyone is used to the cold and sneezing that normally portray once on TV, but a new advertising campaign they have launched are ads on Pandora. Pandora is something that millions of people listen to everyday on their way to work, walking to school (such as myself), simply waiting in line, etc. Ads are common if you do not want to pay $4.99 a month, but a new technique that Pandora has installed is if you listen to an ad for 30 seconds or so, then you get one free hour of listening to their music with no ads whatsoever. Vicks takes it an even step further were if you interact with their ad, then you get 1 hour free.

With this new interaction, you look at their ads for 30 seconds and you get 1 hour free of music. To me, that is hitting the jackpot because I like to switch between the stations and the more you switch, the more Pandora knows you will have to hear/watch their ads. At times, you are unable to do anything but watch this ad until it is done. However, with Vicks, I have become more interactive and actually enjoy when these ads come one because it means I will be able to have an hour of pure music.

            This is an ingenious way I believe because many people are about the free things they can acquire as quickly as possible and this method helps to expose people to more products while still get something in return. Requiring a form of interaction ensures that someone is paying attention to the add without making them want to skip it because there is a “treat” in it for them. I return and become more active with the cite because of this. I would prefer Vicks over anything else, thusly, there ad was successful in my case and I’m sure successful in others.

amazon's Echo

Amazon has created a plethora of new products that make our lives easier and the newest of these products is Echo. Amazon Echo is a new hands free device for you home designed around your voice. It is connected to Amazon’s Alexa, smart brain, that is alway learning about your needs to further meet them in the future. At the sound of your voice, Echo will instantaneously follow your command to play music, read the news, turn on the TV or even turn on the lights to your home.

There are a extensive amount of features to echo that make it the new innovative way to living in your own home and being able to stay in touch with technology solely through the use of your voice.

            Echo has 7 voice sensors that have far reaching volumes to be able to listen to your voice once you enter your home. Even if you're playing music, noise cancellation inside of Echo will be able to follow your commands. These commands are computed to Alexia who then in turns tells what Echo to do. Alexa herself is a built-in cloud system that is always evolving since updates are downloaded automatically. New downloads include being able to look at Yelp reviews, having access to Kindle Books, Google Calendar scheduling options, all tools that can help better the lives of people by making it easier to live your life.

            All you need for Echo to function is a good and stable Wifi connection and a tablet or other electronic device to set it up. Startup itself is easy as 1, 2, 3. There are no monthly costs and a great way in introducing products from Amazon to homes. Businesses themselves rely on social media outlets to get their products out there, but with Echo, Amazon is able to go into someone’s home and become a large impact on the lives of everyone inside the home as well as people who visit the house of the owner. Becoming a part of someone’s life is an easy way to obtain a lifelong customer rather than being an add or infrequent pop up.

GROUPON'S MISUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Recently Groupon has been caught repeatedly using Instagram photos without permission from the photographers. "The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the suit was filed yesterday by a photographer named Christine Dancel in the Illinois Cook County Circuit Court. Dancel says she shot a photo of herself at a restaurant last summer and shared the tagged photo on Instagram. Soon after, she found that the Chicago-based Groupon had used her photo in a deal offer for that same restaurant" (Zhang, 2016).

Over 1,000 Instagram photographers had their photos stolen and used in Groupon’s advertising campaigns. The suit claims that “Groupon intentionally creates the false impression that the consumers appearing in the photos are endorsing” In doing so potential customer may be lead to believe that people pictured in the ads are happy Groupon customers when in fact they are not.

The suit was filed because it is believed the Groupon is in violation of the 1999 Illinois Right of Publicity Act. The 1999 Illinois Right of Publicity Act was put in place to protect people from having their name, image, or likeness being used without their expressed permission.

Groupon’s stock value has be falling over recent years and the unspecified lawsuit can drive their stock even lower. This was definite misuse of social media by the company.

References:

Zhang, M. (2016, February 06). Groupon Sued for Using Instagram Photos Without Permission. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://petapixel.com/2016/02/06/groupon-sued-for-using-instagram-photos-without-permission/

ARMENTROUT, M. (2016, February 5). Groupon sued for using Instagram photos without consent - Chicago. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://chicago.suntimes.com/business/7/71/1306942/groupon-sued-using-instagram-photos-without-consent

"Cut Your Bill in Half"

My blog post today is focused on how to get the most bang for your buck! Over the past 12-15 months, you all may have seen Sprint’s commercials, huge yellow billboards posted all over the bigger cities, and tweets streaming on Twitter from their newly appointed CEO about their "Cut Your Rate Plan in Half" promotion that was initially rolled out in December 2014. Catchy commercials were played multiple times a day of subscribers from other carriers using chainsaws to slice their rate plan in half, bringing in millions of new customers in Q4 of 2014. More recently, this past November, Sprint decided to change things up a bit to also include T-Mobile subscribers in their updated promotion of "Cut Your Bill in Half", offering 50% off customer's bills with any of the three biggest carriers, while giving new subscribers 28 days to try their service. 

Throughout this past year, not only did Sprint invest a substantial amount of money into their marketing campaigns but even more so into their network. With the significant improvements to their network quality, a recent analysis conducted last month by Nielsen shows that Sprint's LTE Plus network beats AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in delivering the fastest LTE download speeds!

Perception vs. Reality

As we close out the quarter and end the class, I wanted to present the class with this final blog post about a company who is using a web 2.0 technology in an innovative way. The company that I am focusing on is Dove, which is a company that is most famous for their line of toiletries. A few years ago, in 2013, they launched one of their many "feel good" campaigns which was targeted at women and how confident they were in themselves. The campaign consisted of two parts, the first was to have people convey to an artist how they saw themselves and he would draw them without ever seeing them. The second part consisted of complete strangers describing the same people to the artist and comparing the two pictures which is where the perception vs. reality concept comes into play.

Dove's Real Beauty Sketches campaign was one of the more creative takes on a major problem we have in our society, on a social and personal level. Being a woman, I can definitely relate to this campaign due to the fact that I myself have been hard on myself or compared my looks to other women's based on what society has lead us to believe. Even if you tap into online platforms such as twitter or tumblr, it's not unusual too come across a discussion or two about how women are forced to take on these unattainable goals of how they should look and present themselves.

The platform that Dove decided to premiere their campaign was Youtube. Which was a smart move for them because Youtube is one of the biggest and fastest growing video sharing websites that there is in this day and age. Not only does having this video on Youtube allow for convenience but it also allows users to share the video to different platforms thus increasing the exposure and the audience that Dove serves. I'm a huge fan of this campaign because it sheds light to a real problem that we don't think about too often but one that still has a huge impact on us.

Not For Sale

Hi everyone and welcome to my second blog!

In tonight's blog I would like to talk about a campaign called Not For Sale. The campaign focuses on stopping human trafficking throughout world. The definition of slavery is a state of subjection like that of a slave. The idea of enslaving someone does not have to relate to slavery of blacks but has to do with the treatment of people without respect to labor laws or entrapment of people to do sexual acts.

Over the years I have heard about human trafficking but always considered it as an act that happens in other countries but over 30 million people are or have been involved in human trafficking worldwide. The act of enslaving humans is now known to be modern-day slavery; the act of someone becoming a victim. It is shocking to read that there are more slaves in the world today than any other time in history.

The campaign Not For sale was founded in 2001 by Dave Batstone, when he discovered a restaurant in the Bay area was the center of a local human trafficking ring involving teenagers from India being bought into the United States. Not for Sale provides survivors and at risk communities with shelter, legal services and healthcare. Once a relationship is built with organization and the person is assured to be safe, they then focus on long term goals of education and employment.

Candace Robinson

"Like a Girl"

Hi everyone! Welcome to my second blog post!

Today, I will be talking about a successful marketing campaign that has caught my attention in the past that is very relevant to our society. Social media is such a large aspect of our culture and everyday life nowadays that companies are using it to reach a large number of people within a short amount of time on a daily basis. The campaign I chose is called “Like a Girl” by Proctor & Gamble and it is a brilliant take on the crucial time period between childhood and adolescence that negatively affects girls’ confidence. The marketing campaign was so successful when it first came out that Procter & Gamble have done multiple similar campaigns afterwards geared towards self-image and confidence. (YouTube link for the campaign provided below)

The “Like a Girl” campaign was used to advertise the ‘Always’ feminine-hygiene brand and it featured girls of varying ages. The video shows how girls, when they are younger, are much more confident and not as self-conscious. However, as they become teenagers, they become incredibly influenced by the people around them and our society that they begin to doubt themselves. They start to associate the phrase “Like a girl” with bad connotations and to words such as weak, overly emotional, inadequate, cowardly etc. In the marketing campaign, you can see how different the phrase, “Like a girl” resonates with the girls of varying ages. When instructed “run like a girl,” young girls are seen running as hard and fast as they could while older/teenage girls and the boy mockingly try to run.

The campaign is very powerful in showing how critical it is for us adults to help young girls and boys maintain their strong self-image and confidence throughout their teenage years. I remember when I first saw this commercial I could not stop watching it and I kept showing it to friends and family. Since the marketers did an amazing job creating a social media campaign that emotionally connected with viewers, they accomplished their goal of promoting Always products through it. The marketers successfully raised awareness of the confidence issue whilst advertising their products and increasing sales.

I, personally, loved the campaign so much that I actually use a lot of Proctor & Gamble products now. It was very refreshing and touching for me to see something that many others and I could personally connect and relate to through the campaign. My opinion about the “Like a Girl” video is also shared by millions of other people around world as it has over 60 million views on YouTube. Additionally, when the campaign first came out, the hash tag #likeagirl was trending worldwide on many social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter for weeks straight and it definitely boosted the image of the Always brand and Proctor & Gamble in general. Overall, this “Like a Girl” social media marketing campaign was/is one of the best I’ve seen and it has brought the company a lot of respect and success.

'Like a Girl' by Proctor & Gamble- YouTube link for the video