Well my class has now come to an end and it is time to Head Home for the Holidays. I hope that you have enjoyed my blog posts and they have kept you in the spirit of all of the holidays covered from Thanksgiving to Remembrance Day to Christmas.
Enjoy the rest of 2013 and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Feel free to keep in touch 🙂
Brandon
John Lewis the famous retail store in London has always been known to put out amazing Christmas commercials. In my Brand Communications course one of our Professor’s blog posts was on the John Lewis Christmas commercials and how they have become a much anticipated Christmas tradition…the Christmas Wishbook of Canada.
I absolutely fell in love with the previous year Christmas commercials as they pulled at the heartstrings a little. However, this years commercial took an animated approach, titled the Bear & The Hare, obviously animated bear + rabbit characters. I think it was this animated commercial that detracted from the emotion I felt as opposed to watching a little boy anxiously waiting for Christmas Day to come (something I am sure we can all relate with).
This video has completely shot off and gone viral and everyone is in love with it, except me. Am I the only one? What do you think – by using animated animals does this still make that emotional connection? In comparison to previous years commercials, how do you rate this one? Feel free to comment.
Kmart is looking to grab some attention by ringing in Christmas with Joe Boxer. This ad is probably one of the most controversial Christmas ads in a while. The YouTube commercial is confusing at first as it is just a bunch of well-dressed men ringing bells, but then it shows the men wearing their boxers ringing bells balls.
People have immediately gone to Twitter to post their thoughts: some think its great, some think its distasteful on Kmart’s part. I personally think its quite funny and adds some humour, especially as the holiday rush and craziness is among us. I think this is “ballsy” move (pardon my pun!) from Kmart, but people are talking about it, so regardless it is working. I think that it is the direction that Kmart has gone this year in taking a more out there approach as was seen in their ad back in April – Ship My Pants.
What are your thoughts on this ad? Is it too racy for you, or is Kmart just spicing up being a boring old box store?
This post is for fun. Check out the video made by the SBE Students’ Society at Laurier for Movember.
Hope those Mo’staches are growing well.
Check out my last blog for a little bit of context on the subject.
After asking the question “can social media be used for Remembrance Day?”, I found my answer. Yes. Yes it can be used and it can actually be used effectively. Gen Y + Millenials can be seen everywhere taking an infamous “selfie” with a pouty duck face using one of the newest forms of social media Snapchat. Some people may argue that Snapchat is not a form of social media, however many top companies are now looking at ways to advertise via Snapchat.
Now this is exactly what happened. However, this advertisement is for Remembrance Day, and it is done perfectly. Now we all know Snapchats are meant to be sent and erased for good after a pre-determined time, well The Memory Project used that to send home a strong message. The message that veterans should always be remembered for their sacrifices and never forgotten.
Check out the Snap that was sent: http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/memory-project-uses-snapchat-to-show-vet-stories-can-vanish-93615
I think this was an ingenious move and is really taking a modern approach to connecting with that target market that this organization is looking to connect with. Will Snapchat be used in the future for more campaigns?
What do you think is this effective? Do you think it will send the right message and actually hit home with the targeted demographic?
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly…
– John McCrae
We have all heard John McCrae’s famous poem – In Flanders Fields. November is a time of Remembrance, in just under a week today at 11:11 on 11/11 it is important to stop, pause, and reflect on those who fought for our freedom. Where does social media come into play during a day of Remembrance. I know for myself it usually consists of my profile picture on Facebook being changed to a poppy and some generic status “I Remember those who fought for my freedom. RIP.” For the Gen Y and Millenials is Remembrance Day a dying a holiday – one that will not be around 50 years from now?
Many people think that today’s young people are so ungrateful for the sacrifices that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers made during WWI & WW2 to fight for our freedom. Are we able to use social media to reconnect today’s youth with the idea of remembrance on Remembrance Day? An article I read recently said we should do the opposite. We should actually have a social media blackout as our time to stop, pause, and reflect. No Facebook status updates, no tweeting, and no posting to Instagram – is this effective, is this a sign of respect? Is it not important to keep this conversation going on social media, especially with today’s youth population?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter – I know it could be a contentious one. However, we have commercialized every other holiday and transformed it on to social media – should we or can we do this for Remembrance Day as well?
Trick or Treat – Halloween Facebook Infographic
Thought I would share this cool infographic I found online with regards to Halloween Social Media campaigns on Facebook. Enjoy!
Forgive me if I am generalizing here, but females tend to love Halloween, but dread the day after (okay maybe a week or so after.) I would hate to think that they do not like November 1st – since it is my birthday, however the month now turned into Movember has become dreaded by all females. This would have nothing to do with the fact that Mo’Bros stop grooming their upper lip and allow it to flourish with disgusting amounts of hair. As you walk around town, on campus, or in the mall you see it everywhere – the infamous Mo’stache.
I am not sure if I also do not like Movember because of the dirty staches everyone has, or the fact that I can’t grow my own. However, Movember is actually an amazing cause that really sheds some light on men’s health, specifically cancer and mental health. I think this is a fantastic campaign and one that was really only started 10 years ago. It is amazing to see the amount of money raised to date and the number of participants and large organizations that join in on the fun. Participants flock to social media to seek out online donations to the cause. Just think about how social media has changed the way people fundraise for causes and charities. Life is so much easier now, all it requires now is linking to your Facebook page or sending out a tweet asking your friends and family circle to donate.
So ladies embrace the mo’staches and heck even join in on the fun and become a Mo’Sista. Join the Laurier SBE team today: http://ca.movember.com/team/1100889
Halloween is what I think one of the hardest “holidays” to actually use social media, and more often than not it can turn out to be an epic fail. The reason I think that this happens is because companies often try to make their “brand” turn into something that its not. Not many companies want their brand to appear scary, so to turn their brand into a “scary” monster for Halloween doesn’t often work and is poorly executed.
It seems that I am using a lot of P&G examples for this blog, I promise I will diversify my selection as time goes on, but I thought this Vine was a great example of a social media fail. Tide is the brand being used and is trying to be associated with the re-release of Stephen King’s movie Carrie. The association with Tide and the detergent cleaning your bloody clothes, although maybe it is capable of doing so, does not sit too well with me. When I think of Tide I think of getting kids grass stains out and not blood from a murder.
Plus the Vine is not even funny, give me something to laugh about not think “what the hell did I just watch?”
I wonder what your thoughts are on this Vine? Do you like the brand association with the movie Carrie? Do you think companies should even be using Vine as a social media platform? Would love to hear your thoughts.
P&G ran a #GiveAPlate campaign on Instagram that encouraged Canadians to share photos of their plates piled high with their delicious Thanksgiving meal. Each picture uploaded to Instagram using the #GiveAPlate, P&G donated $5 to Food Banks Canada.
This resulted in a $27,165 donation after more than 400 people submitted a photo (on top of the initial $25K donation). Cascade and Dawn were the sponsoring brands for this initiative (as it aligned with what the products do). P&G “photoshoppers” even sent a cleaned plate back to 100 people.
Although the campaign only lasted one day I think it is an incredible way to integrate brands into consumers daily lives.
How was your Thanksgiving feast? Did you upload photos of your plate to Instagram?
Come Home for the Holidays 