Hello Air New Zealand, again

so last week I posted the Air New Zealand promotional video starring Snoop Dogg, and I did not have a very good review of it, however over the past week (the most hectic week of my life), I came across another promotional video by Air New Zealand again. Different from the last video, this is a flight safety video.



This is not the first time that an airline has done an outside-the-box safety demonstration. but what really captured my eyes this time, is the total random yet extremely entertaining side of it, combining with the recent rico series of Air NZL campaign, it is most definitely catching people's attention from all over the world.

So I will make this short, and simply express my adoration for air NZL, and take back my comment from the last blog about snoops collab with this airline.

It's the snoop D-O-Double G

Ladies and Gents,

It's my pleasure to present you, Snoop Dogg representing...

wait for it

Air New Zealand!!!!
and yes, it's a airline from New Zealand, not a alcohol brand, not a new perfume line, not sportswear, but an airline. I must say, after watching the millions of product placement in music videos, this is quite refreshing and new. However, I must confess that I was slightly confused about the message it was trying to get across. I mean yes, it's always amazing to see snoop dogg because he is always sooo chillll, but it has nothing to do with the airline itself. It doesn't have any message in this video other than it's good to be a rap star so you can have tons of half naked women hanging around in your backyard.

Or, maybe it didn't try to have a message, it was merely an informative video about the company, using star power so that it increases its observability. I guess you can never have enough observability, right? But is it worth all that money spent on making the video? I am uncertain, compare to the most recent adidas video - Adidas is All In, it's unarguable that adidas has done a much better campaign(maybe that's also why adidas is one of the biggest sportswear brand out there), it addressed the star power and its message was coherent with the value of the company.



It certainly is nice to have a bling bling big star to represent your company, but it won't mean anything if it had no main message to support it.

un cube noir et un bouton rouge

So as I was mindlessly browsing through the wondrous internet the other day, I came across this video on BuzzFeed.com, (which is definitely one of my favorite websites for procrastination). Anyway, back to video, it was shot in Paris, with a mysterious black cube sitting in the middle of Palais Royal Square, with nothing but a red button on it. Crowd start to gather up around the box as people's curiosity build up, and finally someone musters up enough courage to push that button, it first asks where they want to go, and....


MAGIC HAPPENS





by now, you have probably seen the video already (if not you can just follow this link), and if you are like me, you have probably checked out this website that was mentioned at the end of the video as well. The point I'm trying to make here is that, I AM SO IMPRESSED!!! This video has done such a good job bringing awareness and attention, and although the website was only shown at the very end of the video, it still raised my interest to find out more about it.


After being on the website, I realized that it was essentially the European version of expedia.com - it's a travel booking website. And just like the video, it's celebratory, fun and extremely appealing to the eye. With its hip web design and most definitely viral stunt/advertising video, it's not hard to guess that it's most direct target is young people in their 20-30's.


Everything about this campaign is exciting, it focuses on the word "escape", I guess everyone is in the need for an escape, from reality, from our jobs or from our relationships, and that's exactly what the MYSTERIOUS BLACK BOX AND VOYAGES-SNCF.COM offered.

JEN ANISTON GOES VIRAL

So I am pretty sure I am an internet addict, since I definitely spend WAY TOO MUCH time on it, and I have been absolutely addicted to viral video (NO, NOT THE CUTE KITTEN ONES), just like rest of the 99% internet users. And this SmartWater video is a great summary of what viral videos are all about.

well, just let me post the video first so you can see it for yourself



seems like the main purpose of the video is just for it to go viral, and it used all the popularity factors (SEX TAPE for title, cute animals, double rainbow and even that obnoxiously annoy lip syncing guy Keenan Cahill). So it's obvious that companies nowadays are definitely realizing the potential in the online segment, and using multimedia tools and medias such as Youtube, brands are able to reach a lot more people this way than the ordinary channels, such as TV, radios or newspapers. The use of internet has increased the effectiveness of advertisement to a whole new level, and compare to the high cost of other channels, the only cost goes to viral videos is only the cost of making the video.

With the readiness of the internet, more and more videos are able to reach this kind of hype, and mostly let people become aware of, and to be reminded of, and here's another video just for your entertainment =) enjoy

Weird Dancing Moves

I was reading my friend Pierre Schifflers's blog the other day, I usually really enjoy reading his blogs generally (it's essentially a marketing blog affiliated with music, and I am a huge fan and I'm always dwelling on what makes an artist popular), but this blog post about Radiohead and album "in rainbows". In this post, he talked about the lack for marketing for this album and yet the extreme success they had with this album, hence " Is marketing always necessary in making a product successful?" 


Well, I can see where Pierre is coming from, however I disagree. Although there wasn't any of the hard-ball marketing tactics used for the album, the video "lotus flower" was their best marketing strategy




First, radiohead is not considered as a mainstream band at all. Although it's very popular, but it's very unique in its own way. It feeds off the vibe of being different, alternative and for a lack of a better word: Hipster-ish. The video itself is unarguably very different, I mean if the dancing was to put onto "so you think you can dance", it will most definitely be aired, but for the wrong reason." People who love this band love to identify themselves as being non-mainstream and free-spirited, and Radiohead to do such a stunt like this, it will definitely become viral. 


Second, with the increasing trend of the internet usage, there is less and less need to the traditional ways of marketing, aka Billboards & TV. All people need nowadays are just the exposure to the internet, and Radiohead had successfully captured this trend and used it for its own advantage


music always (i mean most of the time) has a very specific demographic. Age, background, psychological state of mind, and usually people who listen to similar music have similar way of thinking and behavior (I'm not trying to stereotype, and I do know that it's not true all the time). To successfully market an artist/album, the first thing anyone needs to do is just to figure out who their target audiences are and then figure out the best way to reach their targets with the right message, through the right medium and at the right time. In this case it was the weird lotus flower dancing moves.

Who's ready for S&M?

First of all, I want to apologize for this inappropriate title, however I do have a legitimate reason for it. About five minutes ago I just watched the new music video S&M by Rihanna, and every part of me is genuinely disgusted. The entire video was filled with sexual connotation and the people in the video were all dressed up in suggestive costumes such as bondages or dog chains.  (Click HERE to see the video for yourself)

However I did not write this post just to slash the video or the song (but just to clarify, I HATE this song). Sure this video is definitely one of most edgy, envelope pushing ones in recent music industry, but it sure did not just come out of nowhere.  In recent years, we all have seen many artists that use the good ol' SEX, DRUGS and ROCK & ROLL to sell. The controversies are getting more controversial, the crazies are getting crazier!!! Lady Gaga and her Alejandro, Kanye West and his Monster, Rihanna and her Disturbia. THEY SURE ARE DISTURBING! But my question is, is this really an expressive art form or it's just plain marketing scams? I mean it seems like the only thing that sells these days are the glorification of excessive drinking, overly exposed boy parts and dramatized sexual contents. Is this what really represents OUR generation? These marketing strategies of giving what the public want, as much as I don't want to say, are brilliant, truly ingenious!! But these "good ideas" are hindering the true talents of our time. Once in a while we get a Susan Boyles, and we get reminded what amazing-ness is all about, and how many Susans do we have, that actually made it to Billboard's HOT 100? Not that many.

Our pop culture is so saturated with mediocre talents with maximized packaging and over exposure. Now it's time to bring out the maximized talents with the maximized packaging.

(photo source: http://kickinthepeanuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/rihanna-disturbia2.JPG)

Advertising-less Advertising

Recently I had read a blog post by my fellow classmate Shawn Davis about the "advertisement" of marijuana. Shawn pointed out a very interesting fact "it literally markets itself: no ads on buses, skytrains, TVs, magazines, and for the most part even the internet" and at that point, I realized that there are so many more businesses which do not advertise at all, but still comes back with incredible amount of revenue.

Take facebook for an example, one of the most unbelievable story of the past decade. I think we can all recall how we first became the "addicts" that we are. We did not get talked into by some random sales person, nor did we see any direct TV commercials. Chances are we first stepped into the world of endless-hours-of-being-on-facebook after hearing our friends talking about it. This is the power of "customer loyalty", and it's one of the most effective ways of spreading popularity.

We trust our friends and family more than anything. Hours of persuasion by a stranger could not compare to a 5 minute chat with a friend. We believe that these people that we trust always have our best interests in mind, and that they do not try to get anything out of us. 

That's what's so great about "customer loyalty".  It's relatively cheap compare to other methods of promotion, and it's far more effective. But of course, to have a solid foundation of "fans", a venture must have some sort of competitive advantage over others, and always treat their customers with respect and care.




(picture source: http://xprojectmanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/customer-loyalty_retention.jpg)