Social Media

Lately, companies are using social media outlets to advertise their products. These companies do this for several reasons:
1.) It’s effective. Almost everyone uses social media such as Facebook and Youtube.
2.) It’s inexpensive. Companies spend next to nothing producing these ads campaigns because most of the information is spread by consumers.
An online Forbes article shows some of the most famous and effective social media advertisement campaigns.
One example of how effective these ads can be is the Old Spice ad campaign. I am sure that everyone is familiar with the latest ads of Isaiah Mustafa on television. But, Mustafa did not stop there. He continued to comment on consumers questions online. According to Forbes.com, over 180 consumers were given a video response. This kind of social advertising is very effective because each of those 180 consumers will most likely share his or her experience with a friend or family member. This kind of interaction will effectively instill Old Spice’s name in the consumers mind as well as the friends and family of the consumer. That is because, in my opinion, word of mouth is the most effective advertisement method. I believe that what you hear from others will affect you more than what you might hear from other forms of advertising.

Ad Campaigns in Films

Advertisments are all around us. We are influenced by them whether we know it or not. Most often they are annoying and we tend to ignore them. However, in my opinion, there is one advertisement genre that tends to stick out: advertisements in movies. When this thought first popped into my mind, I, at first, could not think of an example. However, a youtube video showed me otherwise. I soon found the reason advertisements in films were so effective and popular was because the technique is very subtle. Most times, the audience does not notice the advertisement, because there is often not a break in the storyline. For example, in “E.T.”, Hershey paid to have Reese’s Pieces in the movie. The Reese’s Pieces acted as a part in the storyline rather than an interruption similar to a commercial or a magazine ad, which disrupts and pauses the storyline. In addition, film advertisements arguably enhance the feature. The advertisement, if popular, functions as a tool to relate to the audience and it makes the film more realistic. After all, the world record for the most advertisements in a film goes to the latest Transformers movie, which was a massive hit in the theatres.

Advertising and Imagery Intro

This semester at Shepherd University, I am participating in an “Advertising and Imagery” course. In this course, I plan to learn and understand ads so that I may better interpret ads in media and society and so that I can better create ads for my business.