Friday, January 23, 2015

Newcastle apologizes for not apologizing


If the Brits ruled over America, Newcastle wouldn't have to apologize for wishing the Brits ruled over America.
Oh, what a thought, eh.  What if the New World pilgrims hadn't won the Revolutionary War?  This country wouldn't have been called the United States of America, and it probably wouldn't have been called the Revolutionary War to begin with. 

One YouTuber takes an insightful slant on this:
I love how stupid us Americans are. We poke and jab and make jokes at almost every country in the world, but someone makes a joke about us and we get all butthurt and start crying. Anyone that doesn't find this funny is just a dumbass. So to all the "patriots" out there, the next time you decide to jab at any other country, remember this ad and how it made you feel. If you can't take a joke about your own country, you don't get the right to joke about another. Good day.
It's an absolutely genius ad to draw on what I'd describe as linguistic reversal or soft-pedal, that is, sorry about not being sorry.  It's not a bad idea, either, to engage the beautiful Brit Elizabeth Hurley.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Newcastle went anti-Super Bowl ad (last year)


This is for our Best Beer Ad Ever Contest: Actually it's an anti Super Bowl Commercial or spoof. This viral ad features actress Anna Kendrick for Newcastle Brown Ale questioning whether she is hot enough for a beer commercial. What do you think? She's in a dressing room joking about her agent booking her on a big budget Super Bowl ad, but it turns out the beer company can't afford the high ad fees, so she's stuck in the dressing room. Each instance of "Super Bowl" gets bleeped out, as if they are banned from using the word. Anna Kendrick is a cult figure among teenage girls and pre-teen girls for her famous rendition of the "Cup Song" in the movie Pitch Perfect. In summary, as Newcastle states in the ad, this is the mega huge football game ad Newcastle Brown Ale almost made. It's got our vote for hottest Super Bowl commercial of 2014.
Attractive Anna Kendrick describes herself well:  She is more the approachable hot, than the beer ad babe hot.  Not just that, though, I love her edgy but still girl next door attitude.
The stunt marks the second year in a row that Newcastle is trying to crash the Super Bowl. The technique often is referred to as ambush marketing, where an advertiser tries to capture the attention surrounding a big event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics without paying to be an official sponsor or advertiser.

Last year, Newcastle sparked a viral sensation with its tongue-in-cheek “If We Made It” digital campaign that imagined the “mega-huge football” ad it said it would have made but couldn’t afford. The highlight was a two-minute video starring the Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick ranting about Newcastle revoking its offer to have her star in a Super Bowl spot.
Reference: Newcastle Brown Ale Calls for Other Brands to Join a Sly Super Bowl Ad Campaign.

Brilliant.
 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Newcastle goes ambush marketing (again)



Pretty Aubrey Plaza is a princess of deadpan comedy, and she is a perfect spokeswoman for a sly, wry Newcastle ad campaign.  I wasn't sure that "Band of Brands" was a serious idea, but apparently it is:
Newcastle is introducing a cheeky, irreverent campaign on Monday, in which it will try to recruit 20 to 30 brands to help it break into the Super Bowl advertising melee. In exchange for a cash contribution, the other brands’ logos and messages will be incorporated into a spot crafted with Newcastle by the advertising agency Droga5 that will air online and in some local NBC television markets during the game’s broadcast. (Rival beer advertisers are not invited to join.)

“We don’t have the money to advertise the normal way, so we found a clever way around it,” said Charles van Es, head of marketing for Heineken USA’s portfolio of brands, which includes Newcastle. “With the whole world going to crowdsourcing these days, we figured we could crowdsource an ad.”
Reference: Newcastle Brown Ale Calls for Other Brands to Join a Sly Super Bowl Ad Campaign.

One marketer once said, If you have more budget than brain, you advertise.  But if you have more brain than budget, you go social media.  Kudos to van Es and staff for their ingenuity.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Blogs give us the power of media


So the big deal about blogs is that they give people like you the power of the media, and created a personal kind of news that appeals to a high number of small audiences.
This is from seven years ago, but it's still fine, succinct tutorial on what blogging is in its essence: the power of the media in our hands.  In fact, developments over the past 10 years has put (a) more tools at our disposal to create content, (b) more avenues (i.e. media) to publicize that content, and (c) more buzz in general for others to find our content.  To me, and I imagine to you, too, these are remarkable, exciting developments indeed.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Interact, if you want an interactive community


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You as a blogger may simply want to put your thoughts, experiences and activities out there for others to happen upon (or not) and to read (or not).  But if you want to monetize whatever it is you blog, then 6 Strategies for Launching a Successful Blog speaks to fundamentals of blogging as a business.  One of those is creating an interactive community:  In my experience, social media - Google+ and Twitter, in particular - is the best platform for doing this.  You can certainly promote your blog on social media, but I find too many bloggers focused more on promoting than on interacting.  So if you are truly intent on an interactive community, then participate in discussions, respond to others' blogs and posts, and ask questions that you're genuinely interested in.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Clarify your purpose and message for blogging


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Pratik Dholakiya doesn't quite speak to either art or science in Blogging Is an Art But Attracting the Right Audience Is a Science, but he offers thoughtful questions to ask yourself and sound advice on blogging effectively.
You can’t find the right people until you know exactly what you stand for and are making it clear in unambiguous terms.
This is a crucial point, as it speaks to your purpose for blogging to begin with.  If you're just starting out, it may take a bit of time, that is, for reflection and revision, to clarify what it is that you want to accomplish and what message you want to convey.  While the science of blogging may be about examining data analysis and taking a systematic approach (e.g. which articles draw the most views, where do many of the visitors come from), the art is about drawing on your intuition and creativity to make it work for you vis-a-vis your purpose (e.g. what do you sense matters most to your target audience, how can you best influence them with your ideas).