Importance of Branding

The positives of branding include both the buyers and the sellers.  For buyers it helps speed consumer purchases and for the sellers it helps introduce new products or promote all same brand products. When it comes to a branding there are many factors that go into it being a successful one.  You need a brand name and logo that can be easily recognizable.  It will have to avoid linguistic traps, easy to remember, suggests a more positive image, and says something to the user.  For the consumer brands are a status symbol that they like to show off.  A shirt with the Lacoste logo is more expensive than the exact same shirt that has the Old Navy logo on it.  This is because people have an idea in their head that the clothes they wear should look higher end.  That is the brilliance of branding.  It molds psychology and science into one.  Products have a life cycle.  There is a time and an end to them, but brands live on.  The original Macintosh computers came and went but the brand is making billions.  That is because even though their laptops are more expensive than Windows but people like the feel it gives them to own one of them.

What do you feel about the effects of branding? Do you feel it can manipulate people into buying more than they should?

Marketing Alcohol

When it comes to alcohol advertising the companies need to be careful about how they advertise on all medias.  During commercials the actors can't be shown drinking alcohol.  In the series of Jagermeister commercials a bunch of blue collar men sit at a round table and hold up a shot and cuts away before they drink it.  Another obvious rule is to not advocate irresponsible drinking and not to look as if the the advertisement is selling its product to minors.  Cartoon promotions are not advocated.  On social media sites like facebook official brand pages can only be viewed by people of legal drinking age. They also have to monitor their sites to block people promoting bad behavior and they have to tell people to drink responsibility.  Advertisers also can't sell a product based on alcohol content.  In the US alcohol advertisements are allowed when 70% of the viewing audience is over 21.  In other countries it is against the law to advertise before a certain time.  Because alcohol can be dangerous and it has killed people they still get more leeway than cigarettes.  Cigarette companies can't advertise on television at all.

Do you think it is right that alcohol is given so many restrictions? Or do they not have enough?

In Response to Joseph Maturo's Post

The New Race In Marketing

When it comes to the new generation of consoles it comes down to the PS4 and Xbox 720.  Both Microsoft and Sony have been very secretive on many of the details of their product.  The design of the consoles are still unknown.  However branding has a lot to do with this console war.  Each system has a loyal fan base for the current systems that came out in 2005-2006.  They will stay faithful so it comes down to the neutral parties that are waiting for more details to decide what they want.  I personally prefer the Xbox 360.  I've had it since 2005 and its worked out alright.  Having Netflix and HBO GO on Xbox Live makes it more than just a video game system, its a home entertainment system.  And that is really the goal for both Microsoft and Sony.  

Video Game Marketing

Now that video games are more mainstream now than ever, there is an urgency for more aggressive marketing plans.  The marketers for these games have bigger budgets and are able to bet more and more creative with their advertisements.  All their hard work is not forgotten because there are game marketing awards and there are multiple categories.  Awards range from best retail marketing campaign to outstanding overall marketing campaign of the year.  That award went to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The problem Bethesda Softworks had wasn't with its core demographic, they wanted to make sure the genre of fantasy role playing could compete with a market mostly dominated by first person shooters.  They had a strategy to build its brand by showing its strengths which was its sweeping cinematic style. Everything they did was to try to excite their core audience and get gamers who would never buy Skyrim interested in the product.  Huge outdoor billboards and a live action commercial really helped in achieving this goal.  All of this paid off because in the first 48 hours of the launch Skyrim sold 3.5 million copies, shipped 10 million copies worldwide and made 650 million dollars in sales at launch.  Skyrim made its case for game of the year due to the fact its a really good game and the hype its marketing team built during the months leading to its release.

Source: http://www.gamemarketingsummit.com/awards/winners/

Advertising in television

In 2009 the NBC show Chuck was in the prime time rotation but was struggling with maintaining a large audience.  After two seasons NBC was planning on pulling the plug on the show.  The show had a faithful following by a small group and they took to the internet pleading to keep the show going.  According to NBC executives the reason they brought Chuck back for a 3rd season was because of an advertising partnership with Subway. Subway was excited about the opportunity because it help expand there advertising.  What was attractive to them was Chuck's audience was mostly young viewers so if Subway and Chuck joined forces it would be a mutually beneficial relationship.  The show was able to go 5 seasons and it was because Subway decided to advertise in their show.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/upfronts-chuck-takes-the-subway/

What do you think product placements role is in television?

In Response to Suzanne Koval's Post

Are companies trying to reach a different target market by advertising during new TV programs?

I do believe that companies are seeing the increase of viewers of the Grammy's and are trying to broaden their target market.  These companies see an opportunity to gain customers through the awards show and are willing to pay the price of a 30 second commercial.  I also think that some are trying to save money.  The Grammy's may have less viewers but everything will have less viewers than the Super Bowl and paying $800,000 instead of 3.8 million is a good way to save money for your company.  

It's Gotta Be The Shoes

Michael Jordan turns 50 today and is the greatest basketball player in the history of the sport.  He was signed by Nike in 1984 and a perfect storm was made that created one of the best marketing opportunities ever.  Nike was a struggling company at the time and risked millions on an untested player.  They put all of their energy into marketing the Air Jordan's but it was the play of Michael that got people interested in the sneakers. Then in another stroke of brilliance they hired a director that only made one movie and trusted him to make an ad campaign that would sell.  Spike Lee as his character Mars Blackmon sold the hell out of each version of the Air Jordan's with the famous line "It's gotta be the shoes." Nike rolled the dice and lucked out by choosing the best player ever, and they chose a relatively unknown director to market their brand.  Now they basically own the market on basketball sneakers and people are still saying "I wanna be like Mike."

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/15/its-gotta-be-the-shoes-how-nike-bet-on-jordan-jordan-bet-on-nike-and-both-won-big/

What do you think about Nikes strategy back then?  If you were making the decisions would you have made all those risks and put your company in jeopardy?