Using Buns to Promote Bunless Sandwiches

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/

Yet another fast food chain using young women to sell their products.  But isn't this a very effective way to attract attention of the "big-eaters" out there, aka men?  KFC has taken the family approach by promoting their family buckets of chicken with more than one drumstick.  Everyone knows that children love drumsticks!  I thought it was a great idea!  But as this article mentions, KFC's sales are down 7%.  Time to look for something new.  Now they are trying to bring in young men by paying female college students to wear "sweatpants with 'Double Down' in large letters across their rear ends."  Of course this tactic will get young, college aged men interested.  And who better than them?  These boys never seem to get full!  And besides, what regular woman would want to eat a sandwich that consists of cheese in between two pieces of fried chicken?  This idea of using women to advertise a product is not new.  Hardee's has been doing this forever.  Let's just hope KFC doesn't take it to their level (you know, the commercial with the woman licking the sauce off her thigh while in a dress or the infamous Paris Hilton one...don't get me started!)  As long as KFC keeps things classy - as classy as fast food can be - all the women's rights ladies out there shouldn't get their panties in a wad.  Women flaunt their bodies without the help of companies all the time.  Maybe those women's rights ladies need to visit Victoria's Secret before they go bashing on KFC.

Check Out Your Receipt

One thing that I have learned from my advertising classes is to notice all the unique ways that companies promote their name.  I tend to notice commercials on TV, magazine ads, and all kinds of others.  I admit, sometimes I sit around thinking about what I would include in advertisements to make them more attractive and, in my opinion, better.  Now, I'm no professional so I don't have much of a say, but I like to think that I could better some of those quite atrocious ads out there. 

The other day I noticed another unique way of advertising: printing on the back of receipts.  We've all seen it before, but until now I haven't stopped to think about it.  Grocery stores such as Tom Thumb and Price Cutter put small blocks of ads on the back of their receipts.  Most companies put coupons (such as the discount car wash that I just used) to try and entice customers to come to their store, restaurant, etc.  This is just another unique way of companies getting their name out there!  I know that it worked for me!  Just like this receipt says: "Receipt advertising works!"

A Little Thing That Drives Me Crazy...

Everyone has them.  Those little instances that just get under your skin and make you mad.  Mad for no apparent reason.  Little instances that can ruin your entire day.  Pet peeves as some call them.  Just the other day as I was driving along it hit me.  Or more happened to me.  The darn radio did not have one station that was playing music!  Every single saved station on my radio was on some type of commercial and I went just about mad.  So there I am, furiously changing the stations, looking for something that resembled a song, when I realized: here is my pet peeve.  It may be something minor, but when I am driving to class, I'd like to be jamming out to some good ol tunes.  It's the jump-start to my day.  But unfortunately that day wasn't so lucky.  My head wasn't filled with any guitar-pickin', twangin' country or any bumpin, crazy techno or anything for that matter except the continuous chattering of ads.  As an advertising student, this struck me as a problem.  I am just like any other person out there listening to the radio, and if I can't stand to listen to any commercials, neither can others.  How are companies supposed to get drivers to listen about products and services if commercials make us angry?  As soon as a song ends, we go switching to another station.  Or we get so tired of commercials that we buy XM Radio so our tunes are never interrupted.  What are companies supposed to do?

Something that my Mind Map says about me...

Hmm, interesting topic.  For those of you who don't know, a Mind Map is an ingenious way to track your thoughts as one thought or idea sparks a new one.  Our project in particular consisted of starting off with one word and branching off of that word with various, divergent words.  Basically, it was a paper completely covered with the random thoughts of our brain.  Random in the way that I may have the word "sports" and four branches later have George Michael singing "Gotta have faith, faith, faith."  One thing that I did notice about my map was how I always seemed to keep coming back to sports, no matter where I started.  I understand why since sports have always been a large part of my life, more so earlier than now though.   Another thing I noticed while I was thinking about what words I would use was that many of my thoughts were inside jokes or "had-to-be-there" moments.  I couldn't exactly use many of those because anyone looking at my map might think that I'm just plain mad for coming up with that.  I thought mostly of past experiences or memories, so many that it was almost overwhelming!  It was difficult for me to be so general with my topics - I love specifics.  All in all, my Mind Map showed me that my mind is full of surprises and interesting connections.  And man, am I all over the place!

Retargeting Ads

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/technology/30adstalk.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Recently, in one of my advertising classes, we were asked to read the above article regarding retargeting ads.  I found the article to be pretty interesting.  Retargeting or remarketing is when a person visits some type of site and looks at a product (such as searching shoes on Zappos like the lady in the article) and "when that person or someone using the same computer, visits another site, the advertising system creates an ad for that very" item.  When you visit a site, your computer exchanges a small file called a cookie with the web, which is why specific information, which could cause the paranoid behavior, "follows" you around.  As a frequent user of the internet, especially Facebook, I have noticed that the ads on my pages are almost all related to me in some way.  I never really stopped to think why or how; I guess that is just another example of my generation and technology.  To some, this tracking of your previously visited sites can be a bit creepy.  To me though, I just see it as a regular addition to the internet.  Some sites can remember my login information and take me directly to my home page - how is this use of remarketing any different?  I do not think that when I login to my homepage and see ads for my school or about the recent tornado in Dallas that I am necessarily being watched.  But if companies or the government take advantage of this use of tracking where people have surfed, then there will be problems.  As of right now, I don't mind cookies one bit.

Express Yourself!

Express yourself!  Everyone has heard the saying and has most likely tried to fulfill it as some point in their lives.  There are an infinite number of ways that one can be expressive including the typical hair, clothing, and piercings route.  As I was getting my rare exercise in the other day, I thought of yet another way: your house.  I happened to be biking through the renowned, beautiful Highland Park, marveling at the most exquisite homes.  Because of the classiness of HP, all of the homes should be breath-taking, but I found myself scrunching up my nose at a few, not many, but a few.  I realize that a house is supposed to be a representation of the people living inside...and that gave me a desire to avoid some at all costs.  Some people may view a house as a beautiful work of art while I think it is an embarrassment to the neighborhood.  It is all up to personal preference.  Everyone is unique.  For instance, when I look at this house:

I may think that the people living here have gone a little too "artsy," but they may glance up from their artistic Picasso painting of a sphinx and notice me, sweaty from my bike ride in the 100+ degree Dallas heat, and think that I am utterly insane.  Of course, they may be the next most interesting people in the world and win many awards for their creativity.  It truly is astounding just how different people can be!  Personally, my favorite houses were the ones with perfect landscaping and beautiful stone work instead of brick or siding.  Here are a couple:

Just like our fingerprints, everyone is unique in their own special way.

* I apologize if these are your homes and do not want them displayed.  I can remove them immediately.  But you should feel honored they made it to my blog...

Who Cut the Lights?

Today, while I am diligently working on homework, my roommate exclames, "It's raining!"  Sure enough, it is wet outside.  But as we are admiring this change in the weather, we notice that the wire to our decoration light is cut right in two!  The once continuous string of party lights that cheerfully wrapped around our porch is now ruined!  My first reaction was utter bewilderment.  Who would do such a thing?  Then, reason started to set in as I realized that of course no one could have cut the wire because we live on the third floor.  As we pondered who (or what) could have possibly done such a destructive act, our creative minds went wild.  Was it some type of acrobatic ninja who climbed up the tree and used his sharp samuri sword to slice through my delightful lights?  Or could it be a crazed, Christmas-light-hater?  Or was it Spiderman?  I've seen the movies; I know that he can crawl up walls without any effort put forth at all.  Maybe that darling Toby McGuire is in love with me and wants to kiss me upside down while hanging from my party lights... After some intense discussion though, we decided that it most likely was not a person of any form.  But if it wasn't a human then what?!  Was it a group of scissor-mouthed ants?  Or maybe a new form of termites that feeded off of plastic-coated wire?  But then the idea came to me: a squirrel.  That must be it!  They have the sharp teeth, love to gnaw, and can climb nearly anything.  In the end, we decided upon the cute, fuzzy little creature.  Inside, I feel a bit more at ease knowing that the mystery is solved.  Now I just wish my party lights would work.