BMO Harris Bank

Harris Bank has recently come out with a great new campaign featuring several commercials focusing on the idea of teaching the youth the value of money. I think this is a great direction for a bank to head in. Instead of focusing on the pitfalls or problems people can have with money, focusing more on adults, why not take a different angle and focus on the children? It's a great game changer and will definitely attract families into trusting the banks more.

Here are some of my personal favorites from the campaign:



Aside from these darling commercials, BMO Harris Bank also gives customers numerous videos featured on YouTube about the different ways they can go about doing this for their children. They give them the step by step by explaining why it is good to do so and why it is a good idea to do it now. This is a great advertising tool because it is taking testimonial's to sell a product. I always find that that makes the consumer feel better about the product a company is selling us; to hear it from the buyer directly.

Here is one of those family videos:


This is just a great way to try and gain the trust back from the public. This is the route banks need to take in order for this to happen. BMO Harris Bank helps give people an opportunity for their children and themselves through these informational videos they have posted all over YouTube. I think this is a great way to advertise and I only hope they will come out with more cute kid commercials about their naive ways of spending/using money.

Old Spice

I couldn't help but do one of my blog posts about the great commercials that Old Spice puts out there. Each and everyone has a different spin on the same joke, "you wish your man could smell like me." I think Old Spice made a brilliant choice with this actor/spokesperson as well. He is perfect for the role. He literally, makes the commercials.

Here is one of my favorites by Old Spice:


But the main reason why I find these advertisements and commercials so interesting is because of their new found way of advertising. Old Spice has really begun to catch on to the enormous world of social media and the world of the internet in general. Old Spice now has several videos on YouTube from their new advertising campaign, where they focus on certain celebrities and people and make about 25-45 second shorts talking about why you should smell like Old Spice. And they are all great. They are witty, funny, and relatable. They may be a little far-fetched, but I think the oddity of the jokes is what draws in such a large audience. We are living in a time where advertisements thrive on being this weird funny, and Old Spice does this perfectly.

Some of these videos even reference the other tools or sites they use through social media to advertise for their product. For example, Old Spice is now a big user or participant on Twitter and Facebook. They also are constantly updating these sites and the videos I talked about above. This new campaign directly connects Old Spice to those on these sites by a series of videos on YouTube. They literally will pick out people who have talked to them on these sites and will give them a video response back.

Here are a couple of their new videos for the campaign talking about their different uses of social media:




Hope you all enjoy these commercials! They definitely gave me a good laugh!

Burger King

I found this billboard on a funny blog I follow on Stumbleupon.com and thought it was pretty interesting. As you can see, someone has put some graffiti on it to make fun of what I think is some bad advertising. The billboard shows desserts featured only at Burger King that you could have as a normal meal. The reason why this is so great is because the graffiti on the billboard points out the fact that this is why our country has such a high obesity rate—these types of advertisements.

Burger King has really been lagging behind in the advertising department for the last year. McDonalds, their biggest competition, seems to have a new commercial and new billboard every week. Having a billboard like this, and getting such negative feedback, will hurt the company and brand greatly. I don’t know what they were thinking. Because we do live in a society that is becoming one of the most obese places to live in the world, how could you think advertising desserts as main course meals would be a good idea? It’s not. It’s trying to play on a joke that’s not really funny and only contributes to the bad eating habits we have here in good ol’ America.

Even though Burger King really made a mistake in using this advertising method, plenty of other fast food restaurants play on the same idea. McDonalds used to be famous for selling and advertising fatty foods, but now have they've turned into a more family focused and healthy focused company. I only hope Burger King will catch on to the new healthy eating habits we are trying to have and keep in our country and perhaps they will steer away from eating desserts for every course.

Above the Influence

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Above The Influence campaign that's been around for what seems like forever. Their campaign is mostly made up of commercials, but I have seen quite a few billboards posted in various spots around the city. I will only be featuring one of these commercials in my post, however. I found this commercial especially interesting because I think it's really going way too far to scare kids into not drinking.



The way this video is set up paints a horrible picture about what would happen if you were to possibly experiment with alcohol. There are definitely better ways of passing on the message to teens that drinking is bad, besides this one. This really just scares kids and also makes those who may have already experimented with it, feel like they've really made a huge mistake in their life. I especially don't like the bit about how your life is virtually over if you succumb to peer pressure and drink as a teen. Isn't that a bit drastic? Shouldn't teens be reached in a more careful and healthy way? That way, the message will truly be in their minds as something that may not be something they want to do as a teen.

Many of their other commercials seem to be pushing the box a little too much with the scare tactics. But, like I said above, I think this commercial is the best example of that. These types of campaigns should reach children in a healthy and smart way instead of showing images of girls throwing up pictures and trophies from various points in her life. It's a bit silly and I don't think the message will resonate well with children/teens. Hopefully some new commercials and billboards will be coming out soon with a better message. But as of right now, I'm very disappointed with this campaign.

Verizon NFL, take the action with you

While watching my beloved packers this past Sunday, I realized something very interesting about Verizon Wireless's NFL Mobile commercial; It was all Green Bay Packer footage featuring the amazing, Clay Matthews and his infamous, "bicep flex." After seeing the commercial, I felt like Verizon really made an effort to connect with their fans, where ever they may be.



This commercial does a great job of connecting with a wide range of audiences. It appeals to any kind of man--a chef, a husband, a golfer--as well as women. Also, any fan of the Packers would know this dance. This makes the commercial intimate and special. It's like they knew they were showing this for us Packer's fans!

But, I can't help but think, "Was this really intentional?" Does Verizon really play different clips for different cities? Judging by the reaction I just gave to seeing the Packer's on my phone service's commericial, I'd say they should. It's ingenious! And I'm sure Verizon is hitting all their targets. Guys go nuts for the stuff! I'm definietly giving Verizon an A on this one. It was super intimate, funny, and it sold me on the product. I felt like I could be one of those people, stopping in the middle of the street and crouching down to celebrate a Clay Matthews tackle. Verizon really made a good choice of showing a Green Bay Packer clip. We're just so dedicated that whatever has to do with the Packers, we're there!

Nissan Leaf 2012

I couldn't help but notice the new 2012 Nissan Leaf commercial. It's clever, real, and it really gets the point across; this is a 100% electric car. Not only do I think this commercial is great but it's super smart. After seeing this, I would feel guilty not to purchase one of these cars.




I especially enjoyed this commercial because it showed that Nissan is ready to take down their competition. In the commercial, the new 2012 Chevy Volt is featured. The Chevy Volt is a half-electric half-gas powered car. I think it was really smart idea for Nissan to do this because their car is actually 100% electric powered. This commercial really plays on the idea that everything we use uses gas. So having the Chevy Volt in the commercial, really shows up the competition and shows that Nissan is the better car.




What's interesting as well is I featued the new Chevy Volt commercial in a previous blog as being a great advertisement. Well, now that I've seen the new Nissan Leaf, I'd have to take back my statement. I think this advertisement is taking something that is serious and making it relatable and changeable. By just buying this car, you'll be taking the next step in helping the environment become more indepedent of oil and gas. The whole idea of an electric toothbrush blowing fumes in my partners face doesn't seem like the way I want my future to be. So Nissan is hinting that by taking these little steps, and buying their electric car, we all can make some huge improvements in becoming more eco-friendly as a nation.



Overall, I think this advertisement is a great example of how you can seriously implement some environmental ethics in to the minds of the people. This is a clever commercial that I'm sure you will remember if you see it. It's smart, logical, and you feel good about doing it. Where you can go wrong?

CK One Shock -- Seriously, Calvin?

This new CK One commercial, promoting the new CK One Shock fragrance, is sure to catch your eye, but probably not in the way you had hoped. Calvin Cline's new campaign, targeting men and women mostly likely the age 18 years to 35 years, features several attractive, young, and half-naked men and women, dancing around an empty, laser-filled room, in front of an oddly placed camera. What's the message here? Oh, yeah. To buy Calvin Cline's new fragrance, of course! Not.



This commercial is so raunchy, sexual, and plain out inappropriate, that I don't think it should even be aired on TV. One of the biggest problems I have with this type of advertising, is the way they degrade people's self image. They portray the wearers of this scent to look and act in a certain way. And supposedly, that's the cool way. The women are super skinny and the men are perfectly chiseled. But why? That's probably not who's really buying this perfume. Why go down that road? Companies should really be trying to stay away from this type of advertising. They shouldn't be telling me what the perfect woman and man should look like.

Not only does it degrade the normal person's self image, but it's also way too inappropriate for everyday TV. It's wrong for this commercial to be shown. The whole commercial looks like it's about a bunch of kids, messed up on drugs, making out without clothes on, in front of a camera, and saying CK One, Shock. Why would I want to wear this scent? What in this ad has made me say to myself, oh yeah, I'd love that? Nothing! I wouldn't even buy this for a friend. This advertisement is just another sex ad but the kind that just doesn't work at all. Calvin tried to fool us with the techno music and rave lights, but he's not fooling anyone. All this advertisement is doing is making Calvin Cline looked like a dirt, sex oriented brand. This commercial will definitely change the minds of his loyal customers. I won't buy anything made by his brand ever again.

Here are two videos showing the new CK One campaign. The first is for the entire CK One campaign and the second is only the CK One Shock ad.





And it doesn't stop there. Check out what else Calvin has to throw at us on his website, www.ckone.com.