The Peoples Champ

Under Armour is winning 2016 so far.

Now, there is plenty of the pie to go around. In fact, Nike and Under Armour have had really great years, but according to Yahoo Finance Under Armour is gaming up for the future, though. Under Armour’s average five-year earnings growth rate is 32.8% compared to Nike’s 13.9%. Under Armour just recently shacked up with Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, which was a huge People’s Elbow to Nike. Other than Lebron saying ‘I do’ to Nike, they haven’t had the best year so far (thanks to Sharapova). Under Armour does have something Nike doesn’t, they get the honor of being my ad of the week!

This ad is powerful. Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. In this ad, you see everything that goes into earning that title. Brutal workouts, strict diets, and exhausting schedule. He’s even working out while he sleeps. People say that passion makes an athlete and as a clothing line to athletes, Under Armour brings you that passion. Set to the song ‘Last Goodbye’ this ad is a testimony to every athlete who gives it everything. ‘It’s what you do in the dark, that puts you in the light’ is motivating enough to really drive the tagline home ‘Rule Yourself’. It’s no ‘Just Do it’ but it’s well on its way to building up an already established brand. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone dethrones Phelps after watching this motivating ad. The great thing about this ad is that it isn’t selling a product, it’s selling a lifestyle. An active lifestyle requires clothing, enter Under Armour. The best ads are ones that make you feel something and this ad made sure to hit that. People love using products that they’re emotionally invested in. People use Under Armour because they feel like they can work harder while wearing the brand. Under Armour pushes people to do their best.

This might be Under Armour’s time to Rock Bottom Nike.

Do you smell what the Rock’s cooking?

-N

To Dab or not To Dab?

Congratulations to the Denver Broncos! Thanks to the Broncos, Denver is now known for more than just an omelet. Honestly, the game was kind of a bust. 2 offensive touchdowns? Dozens of flags. Snoozefest.

Well, it’s Wednesday. You know what time it is. Ad of the week!

Since it was super bowl Sunday I thought I’d mix it up and go through some of the winners of the Super Bowl commercials. Since we have winners….there must be losers.

Sorry Carolina.

Hyundai- First Date

Winner

This has everything an ad should have. First off, it has a story. This is a classic twist on father, daughter, and her boyfriend’s relationship. It brilliantly shows the new feature of the car but also gives the audience laughs along the way.

NFL- Super Bowl Babies

Loser

Ok NFL we get it, kids are cute, but do you know what’s not cute? The embarrassment these kids are going to have to live with. Hmmm, let’s get together some kids and advertise their parents consummating their teams victory. It seems to try too hard to be funny. With the lyrics cutting in and out between different kids, it makes it too hard to understand. Stick to football NFL.

Where has Seal been?

Buick- The Catch

Winner

There are a lot of weird car commercials. Like, who drives around in a city at night when it’s completely empty? Buick could have gone the ‘professional driver, closed course, do not attempt’ route…but instead they shook things up. They play a commercial with a football joke during a football game. Brilliant. It’s clever and even had a surprise guest, Odell himself. The grandma was a great choice too, really brought the joke home.

Dollar Shave Club- Zeke

Loser

Where did Dollar Shave Club go wrong? They’ve been known for having hilarious ads in the past. If you’ve seen the past couple ads by them this really doesn’t break any ground. This ad doesn’t do it for me. The dialogue is jumpy and isn’t funny. Of course, the creator stopped by to deliver the pitch, which is the best part. If you’re going to spend 5 million for 30 seconds you have to make waves.

TurboTax-Never Sell Out

Winner

This is almost my favorite. Playful humor and celebrity guest. He delivers the pitch in an obvious but funny way. The Super Bowl actually falls into the perfect time for TurboTax. Tax Season. TurboTax as been putting out a lot of brilliant ads recently. Another winner. You know what they say, there are only two guaranteed things in life, Anthony Hopkins and Taxes.

Butterfinger’s- Bolder Than Bold Jump

Loser

What’s bold? Butterfinger’s gamble on this ad or the fact that it failed? This ad has way too many things packed in for just 15 seconds. It’s basically yelling the pitch at you…which is unclear because you want me to believe that a candy bar is bold. Nope

T-Mobile- “Drop The Balls”

Winner

Favorite ad of the Super Bowl. Everyone has been throwing shade at Verizon for their “A Better Network as Explained by colorful balls” commercial. Sprint had a comeback and now it’s T-Mobile’s turn. This ad is hilarious. It gives the info in a playful and topical way. Steve Harvey made an appearance and laughed at himself. Simple and witty.

Honorable Mention

Budweiser- #GiveaDamn

This commercial is more than just a winner. It came at the perfect time of the game. Where everyone is drinking and having a good time but are starting to leave the party. This ad serves as a public service announcement not to drink and drive. Good on you Budweiser.

I’m just going to leave this here.

 

Budweiser didn’t pay him to say that.

 

The real winner.

 

Betty Freaking White 

 

I’m going to go hug my family. I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight.

-N

 

 

Advertise (pause). Advertise again. Repeat.

I never watch T.V.

 

and I get the feeling people have a certain tolerance when it comes to live T.V. For this to make sense let me add a little pretense. Monday I was watching a football game, which is about 4 hours long. As much as I like watching football I just couldn’t stop getting annoyed at commercials. I was thinking…”What’s wrong with me?”. I have a marketing degree, I’m supposed to love and be interested in commercials. Then something dawned on me, it’s not the commercials themselves, it’s the repetition. Now, as a rarely watch T.V. I was shocked about how many times the same commercial would be played. Now I understand the reason behind the repetition, some users flip around during commercials and might miss the targeted ad. The more times you throw that ad out there, the higher chance you have of reaching those users. Sometimes repetition works along with the with the company/agency strategy. Throw in a catchy jingle or a recurring storyline and you have the user hooked. They’ll be whistling your jingle all day, or they might visit your website to “continue the story”. But ask yourself a question, “Did you really capture them?” If I have a jingle stuck in my head it’ll go right out the door when I start jamming in my car. Now, “Same Old Love” by Selena Gomez is stuck in my head.

(look at that 50 million views)

Now that doesn’t mean I’m going to go grab her new album. I could go to your website and play around, but I might get bored and go look at pictures of cats. I know that companies/agencies have done their research and they know what they’re talking about but it still gives me a funny feeling. I don’t deny that this tactic works for some consumers, I’m simply saying that it’s annoying. Annoyance is an interesting subject when it comes to advertising, it’s a slippery slope. Repetition in advertising is never going to go away, pun intended. Companies and agencies aren’t perfect. They can’t guarantee that each user will see each ad once, and frankly they don’t care. The more you see the ad, the more the message has a chance of sticking. Back to the slippery slope. Nobody likes to be annoyed.

I’d rather watch this

What happens if a fly is buzzing around your face? You take a swipe at it. What happens if you see a commercial over and over? You forget about the product or message and think about how annoying it is. At this point the strategy the company/agency started out with is now the thing that ruined their chance of doing what they set out to do, sell a product.

 

This is a serious concern for sellers. In today’s world, it’s getting harder and harder to get commercials out there. Do you know why?

Cause people find them annoying.

I’m one of many millions of users of Netflix, which is ad free. Millions of people have Hulu Plus, which is now commercial free.

 

I’ll definitely pay the extra $4 for No Commercials

 

Many internet users use AdBlock, which even works on Youtube ads. It’s safe to say that we have a lot of ways to avoid ads.

 

Advertising is at a crossroad. What’s the solution?

Content.

You need an ad that makes people pause their live T.V. to show someone else. You need an ad that get over 500,000 views on Youtube. You need an ad that gets people to ask other people if they’ve seen it.

I know what you’re thinking. “It’s easier said than done”. To that, I’d say if sales or market share don’t increase due to your ad campaign then you haven’t done your job. So stop making excuses and do it. Give me and every other consumer a reason to enjoy watching live TV.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Netflix.

-N