Adidas Investments

So i noticed today that the Second overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft Robert Griffin III already has a commercial up and running representing Adidas.  I must say that this athlete has not hit the field yet and already cashing in on his talent.  I am not saying this is a bad thing, but I have come to realize that athlete are becoming their own stock of their own company within themselves.  Adidas did another big investment signing Derrick Rose to 10-year $250 million contract.  The funny thing is just like stock athletes are just as unpredictable as the stock exchange.  It seems to me the biggest dividends are being paid to those who signed on the bottom line.

Words or Logo?

When we see advertising we see words used like a company name or sometimes just see a logo like the Nike Swoosh.  I feel that if the consumer can recognize a brand through a logo and does not need the actual company name to identify the company it seems that a company's marketing and advertising efforts are effective and amazing.  I believe the biggest challenge, but the biggest reward is to have my company recognized by a logo.  The reason why I say this is consumers can easily identify with who you are, most likely they had a great experience with that company, and even some slight resemblance can probably trigger they thoughts about the company.  It is brand recognition at its best.

Sport Arenas

I noticed while watching sports on television especially hockey and basketball that sponsorships are all over the place.  In hockey, the wall around the rink is plastered with corporate sponsorships.  I don't think I have ever seen so much advertising in one spot.  In basketball, they have come up with tv holograhics on the baseline for advertising.  Even though, this is very creative by marketing reps. it continues to get annoying.  How far will a company go to get their name noticed?  Furthermore, with all this companies competing in the same area, how effective can they be going forward?

When WE are the advertising

We are cheap advertising.  Every time we buy a t-shirt with a logo on it or a bumper sticker or anything that has a corporate name logo we voluntarily become a walking advertisement.  The question how effective is it?  I wonder if people are more inclined to purchase a product when they see their friends or a group a people with it on or in use.  I know in advertising its all about brand image and how many times people see that brand and its quality.  We see advertisements all the time in different facets, but I question their effectiveness.  Advertisements shows why we should buy and gives us reason to buy.  Isn't seeing someone happy with a product enough?  We do not always see others with their products or service and the satisfaction they receive as much as advertisements, but when we do we seem more inclined to buy.

Doing it Yourself

Advertising is not about big corporations or companies on TV, radio, print, social media, etc.  Self-employers sometimes can't afford or do not have the resources companies have for advertising.  Face-to-face networking, grass-roots advertising, career fairs, anything that can get your name out to the right audience.  It takes a lot of effort to advertise your own name and create an image, but when money is short motivation will make up for it.  I remember my mother blew up her business card for real estate close to a half a page in a high school musical program.  She is a real estate agent and she wanted to target mothers and fathers looking for a new place or looking to sell their own.  This is just one channel, but a good example of taking advantage of every opportunity.  Also, the housing market is still rebuilding so for someone like my mother she has to go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure she gets as much exposure as possible.  It seems like going above and beyond the call of duty is now the standard for self-employees.

Web Page Ad Backdrops

I have been noticing (especially on sport pages) that certain advertisements are the backdrops on web pages.  Movies, video games, electronics, etc.  being advertised very aggressively on web pages.  It is pretty difficult to ignore them and thus accomplishing the mission of awareness.  I wonder why it took so long for someone to come up with such an idea.  Is it an idea by the web developers to increase advertisement revenue or advertisers getting super aggressive with their campaigns?  In someways its kind of annoying because sometimes a link will pop up and makes it difficult to get to the web page you wanted to get to.  Nevertheless, this type of advertisement does not fail to capture a person's attention.

New Channel of Advertising?

Being a gamer in my spare time I noticed that Microsoft is advertising all types of tv shows, movies, products, etc. on their online gaming service.  Microsoft has provided an online gaming experience that many gaming analysts say is unrivaled.  The service called Xbox Live has taken online gaming to a whole new level and its becoming more of an experience and a stimulation of fun.  Xbox Live has advertisements out for new downloadable music, games and accessories that can be purchased through the xbox website, new movies in theatres, the list goes on and on.  Since the release of Xbox 360 in 2005, 66 million consoles have been sold of those 66 million, 40 million are xbox live users.  That means 40 million people are seeing all these new products and services.  Is it safe to say that this can be a new and probably cheaper method to effectively advertise product and service?  The numbers look like its worth the investment.

Corporate Sponsors in College Athletics

The debate of the student athlete has always been a very hot topic in the worlds of sports and business.  Collegiate athletics have become more of a business year by year than actually a pure sport.  A few years ago the NCAA allowed corporations to become sponsors of collegiate sports programs.  For example,  the University of Connecticut in 2008 signed a ten-year $45.5 million contract that gives Nike exclusive rights for advertising and branding on the campus and athletic apparel.  Nike can advertise on campus, during athletic events and all varsity athletes have the Nike "Swoosh" on their jerseys.  At a college, education is suppose to be the selling point, but now there are going to be a lot more salesmen in the business of education.

Product Placement

Product placement in movies, television shows, and live events seem to have an impact on consumers.  For example, in Iron Man 1 Robert Downey Jr. was shown driving a new Audi vehicle that was released around the time the movie first premiered.  This kind of exposure was worldwide and seen by millions if not billions of people.  I can only imagine how much money Audi spent on this product placement and I am assuming it was a lot.  Billions of people watch movies and placing a product in something that can be seen by billions of people sounds like a good investment.  Thats what advertising is, exposure, the more the better.

Internet Advertising

Internet advertising is somewhat of a gray area.  When I think of internet advertising I think of those banners on the side of the website or those fake surveys or links that lead to nothing.  Now that the internet is evolving at an amazing rate internet advertising can be much more effective.  Although, the track record of internet advertising doesn't look great social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter could make internet advertising a viable option.  People on facebook can now market their items they have for sale and real companies are advertising right on facebook with their own pages.  Twitter has the same idea going and companies can actually follow their consumers and get first hand feedback from consumers.  Also, by "tagging" the company's name the company can see what is being said about them instantly.  Internet advertising can reach a whole new level with these social media sites and can be a very effective advertising tool.

Famous People

In our modern age of business, companies begin to use people of influence (i.e. athletes, actors, politicians, etc.)  At what point did these people of influence become a product themselves?  It seems that everywhere we look the person sponsor or endorsing a product or service is being sold more than the actual product or service.  As a society, we tend to pay attention to the people that endorse these products and sometimes buy what they are selling because of who they are.  Will this lead to products being sold with a great lack of quality?  More so, when will consumers notice?  These are one of the few times where you cannot blame executives or companies, consumers need to read between the lines and take responsibility.

The X-Factor

Advertising has gone through quite the transformation over the past 60 years, going from word of mouth to radio, television, computers, and now it seems like the sky is the limit; literally.  The methods in which advertising is expressed it seems that the direction is changing.  The direction is not necessarily the way it’s being presented, but how the message is being connected to the recipient.  Companies are beginning to have a greater connection with their consumers and figuring out the exact needs of their consumers.  The knowledge obtained by companies has made advertising more efficient.  For example, Nike does a great job on making their advertisements memorable and for a lack of better term “epic”.  The connection they make with their athletes through their advertising is innovative and original.  Nike captures the essence of sports and with modern technology brings absolute best out of their products and message.  I personally believe that a company like Nike is one of the best companies that can capture that consumers imagination and emotion and create advertisements that go above and beyond the status quo.