My Feelings Exactly

So. I need a new phone, do I finally cave and go Apple? Or, do I carry on with my less "creative," less "impressive," Android?

Let's see what Samsung has to say about this:

Hilarious. "Dude, you're a barista." I think this new campaign captures the people that were on the same fence as I am perfectly. Apple fanboys will buy the 4S, and no one can argue that many of the iPhone exclusive features aren't impressive, but why do people really buy phones? How often will you really use Siri?

This spot pokes fun at all of the drama that people ascribe to new Apple launches, and makes a grab for the people that just need/want a new phone. It is very much a rational ad, fittingly, as Samsung has always been a rational brand. Even among other electronics companies, Samsung has made many of its spots based on the superiority of their product. 

One thing to touch upon here, though, is that it can be dangerous to mention a competitor in an ad, but Samsung tackled this by not mentioning or focusing on the iPhone's features as well as being pretty classy in their dialogue. They poked fun of someone that anyone would have poked fun at, not labeling them as a silly iPhone user, just a silly barista.

Overall, I think this spot works, but I'm still not sure what phone to buy.

Maybe I'm Not the Target Here...

I got my December issue of Gentleman's Quarterly today, and as I flipped through it, I stumbled upon this Dolce and Gabbana ad...

I'm not a really macho guy, but... yeah. He's naked and I'm not sure I'm okay with that. So, this got me thinking, what makes high end fashion go for this kind of thing? DG isn't the only one who has ads with shirtless guys and while this may be an oversimplification, I don't think there's an overwhelming majority of GQ readers who are also gay. I think DG is betting on the fact that people who buy their products are... vain. I am not cheap, and I love quality, but you won't find me wearing anything from Dolce. I find it too showy, which might be a correlation to why I also dislike this ad.

I digress, DG knows that people who buy their products are willing to drop cash to buy into the emotional appeal that DG offers in its "sexy" image. So, I can see their logic here, but I still find it weird. In fact, I'm not even sure what this guy is selling aside from the image. I'm not the target, but again, that's not the point.

Another Reason to Never Grow Up

I've spoken about my closeted love of video games before, and I would be remiss to not blog about the heartache that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has imparted upon me. You see, in a futile effort to grow up and press on with maturity I gave my XBox to my younger brother a month ago, and I am now crestfallen to see just how amazing the new Modern Warfare is.



Now, this is not a blog about my life, so let's bring it back on topic. Watch this ad, and tell me you don't want to go shoot stuff.

Yeah. That was Jonah Hill. Which, is not all that surprising. CoD is known for celebrity cameos, the ads for the previous Call of Duty iteration featured Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel ( CoD:BlackOps )The reasoning, I think, is to appeal to a wider base. You see, based on gameplay alone, your average gamer will buy and play CoD because its just a damn good game. The trick here, is to attract people who might not otherwise play the game. I promise you, if you have any video game experience, you WILL enjoy playing this, especially online where you can match wits against other people

So, Activision, the game's developer, is doing two things with this ad; gamers familiar with the game will recognize the sneak peek at weapons and maps featured in the video, and the non-CoD'r will at least be intrigued enough to spend a little time on it.

The aims of this campaign are to entertain, keep fans intrigued, and attract gamers who might not already be fans of Modern Warfare. In these three goals, I think Activision succeeds.

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You-ification

1960's Mini

MINI has been an icon of the automotive world for a long time, over 45 years. Indeed, it is a symbol of the 60's in Britain and stands as a mascot for foreign cars in the US. So, a car company this old and established must have a hard time impressing younger markets, right?

Wrong. MINI has a new campaign that is aimed almost exclusively at young adults. And in none of them will you see anyone behind the wheel over the age of 30. How do they manage? Well, I think that MINI has focused on a few key elements to describe and enamor their younger audience:
-Individuality = Customization
-Adventure = New designs and products

I signed up for MINI's social media network and started seeing just how many ways I can make my MINI my own, and on top of that just look at this ad, and tell me you don't want to have that kind of fun in your life.




MINI's entire campaign focuses almost exclusively on these two ideas, and speaking as one young adult, it works. I'm signed up for a test drive of the new Countryman next week.