3.27.2012

ragu is getting rag-diculous

Ragu is trying on silly for size.  They just released a new commercial marketing campaign that hosts the numerous predicaments that getting children to eat can pose, and silly solutions.

I guess you can be the judge of how silly suits Ragu's size, and see some seriously sickening solutions to some of the sticky situations these parent's encounter.  Yeah, I got carried away with my alliteration just now.  Oh, and there are more after the jump, this one's just my favie-fave.

 

3.21.2012

target says color changes everything

I've spent plenty of time highlighting the neatnesses of other companies.  It is about time I show some home-crowd favoritism and talk about Target.

Target released a full blown spring marketing campaign all around color ("color changes everything"), and while it has nothing to do with food (I work in grocery at Target), it does make me say, "awesome".  It also makes me say, "That commercial was brilliant; the colors, the music, and the touch of parkour really came together to make a timely and relevant message that was hard to ignore, not to mention the..." well, you get the point.  I like it, and I think it is amazing and fun, and I am now sharing it with you:

commercial:


Jason Wu (exclusive design partner) commercial:xx


In store marketing:




3.18.2012

the bible and book of mormon

It's Sunday.  Why not do a religious post?

Remember Tagxedo, the word cloud making site?  Well I found plain text versions of the bible and the book of mormon, two books I believe to be the word of God, and turned them into word clouds.  Then I compared 'em to see which words were prominent.  Here's what I saw:

the bible and the book of mormon word cloud

Not trying to prove a point, just thought it was an interesting comparison using a cool tool.

3.17.2012

can you spot all the viral web content?

This particularly fantastic commercial is brought to you by Vitamin Water (owned by Coke).  Now, other commercials have tried to incorporate viral web content (videos/pictures/fads/whatever), but I've never seen anyone do it as well as Vitamin Water does here.  So can you spot all the viral web content?


I took screen shots of each after the jump.

3.13.2012

me in an apple


So Kristy found this awesome website (Tagxedo) that can create a word cloud based on text you enter, a URL, Twitter account, and many other sources.  You can then choose a shape and font and color.  It is amazing. 

So of all the things I could choose to showcase this neat tool, I chose me.  Surprised "narcissism" didn't pop up in there; although, now I suppose it will. 

3.10.2012

why healthcare costs so much

I had a most enlightening chit chat with a good friend of mine.  We will call him... "Rayqwan Jose Peters", but "Ray" for short (to protect my friend's true identity, I changed hist name to a racially ambiguous smorgasbord).

ANYway, Ray works for a large hospital now and is currently in an MHA program.  In short, Ray knows his stuff when it comes to healthcare.  But that's not all, his current job in the large hospital chain is to determine the cost of new services.  Ray decides how much you and I will pay for our healthcare.

I made a visual for what he told me.  I was fascinated.  He didn't use the example of a shower, but I thought I would.



























So here's what I took away:  healthcare is so expensive because half of the patients in the U.S. are on government aid, a program which doesn't reimburse hospitals for what they need to have a viable business model.  To stay in existence hospitals are forced to charge people who pay twice as much.  Let me put this in other words:

We are taxed through our healthcare payments.

Here's another way to put it:

We fund medicare and medicaid when we go to the doctor.

I totally understand the motives behind government assistance programs.  Helping others who cannot help themselves is a great source of joy for me in my life.  I also don't feel comfortable being forced (in yet another way) to incentivize dependency. Unfortunately,  I don't have a solution to the problem.  Hopefully whoever's president will figure it out.

3.09.2012

mormon infographic

I thought this infographic was neat, being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA a Mormon).  Okay let's be honest, that sentence should have read, "I thought this infographic was neat, being a total nerd.

Anyway, my business/numbers-minded head thought this was a fun snap shot of some Mormon stats.

mormon infographic

Source: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-101#C3

3.08.2012

two hilarious kids

To combat the heaviness of yesterdays post, I'll get about as light and silly as possible.  Two hilarious videos of super funny kids.

The message is the same in this video!  If you believe in yourself, you can do anything (and, for those of you wondering, anything = ride a bike).  This video didn't allow embedding, so you'll have to click to see the greatest child motivation speaker ever.


And the most watched comedy video on YouTube: David at the dentist.  I know these are old - oldies but goodies.

3.07.2012

kony and invisible children

Be warned, this post is a bit heavier than my usual.  I was touched by this viral-video masterpiece.  Aside from my fascination with how this video has become a YouTube sensation, I was moved by watching someone do something motivated by sincerity and love.

The lesson for you and for me from this video is not necessarily to support a specific cause for Africa (although it surely is a worthy cause), but to reevaluate our most urgent efforts, and to assign them a worth, and to re-prioritize our efforts based on what we truly want to stand for.

Before the big unveil of the video (below) can we talk for just a second about the brilliance in marketing that went into this?  Now, do I think that the Kony 2012 campaign holds lessons for marketing managers everywhere? No.  I don't.  Kony 2012 is (or appears to me to be) a sincere effort motivated by love of our fellow man.  Their guerrilla marketing and crowd-sourced marketing are really only applicable for that type of effort.  But man! the action kit, the video, the movement, the messaging, the graphic design, the colors, the social media, the storytelling.  If nothing else, this is a brilliant case study in marketing in our modern day.

I watched the whole video.  I couldn't turn it off.  Really great job to everyone involved:

3.06.2012

i think i hate politics

I tried to write about politics.  I wrote sentences, then I deleted them.  I wrote them again, and then went back and deleted them.  I think I hate politics.  Or maybe I'm just too thick to comment.  Regardless, I don't think any sentences will ever be written by me about politics.  Except for arbitrary ones like the last 7.

Anyway, I did think this commercial that just came up from Cain was hilarious and really weird (yeah, Cain, that strange fellow who dropped out months ago just came out with a commercial - or rather his Super Pac did).

Enjoy it.

3.02.2012

turnaround: a jcp story

Remember how when we watched that Kohl's commercial I speculated that it could be a move to preempt JCP (or should I say, "jcp"?)? <- side note: ?)? doesn't look like a real thing allowed in the English language. Please forgive.  Also I'll tell you, out of fear it won't be noticed, that I purposely flipped the phrase in my title to suggest that jcp invented the turnaround.  I fear my brilliance will be lost on the less observant.  I digress...

JCP, now lowercase jcp, has made some pretty "boss" moves (what kind of nerd says "boss" in quotes.  also, what kind of business-y person says "boss" at all?).  I could tell you, but instead, let me show you:

logo:
jcpenny new logo











stock:
jcpenney stock price jump
and of course, commercials:
so much americana in this one:


ellen's commercials have almost all made the YouTube most watched front page the last few days.


You might have a hard time finding stories about jcp's strategy change, so let me point out a few obscure publications that have been tracking it: forbes, business week, chain store age, cnn.  Notice how I put them all in lower case?  JC-Penney-ed!