COMM 506 Burger King Commercials

     Since Burger King is now #3 in the hamburger fast-food market, we can expect them to come up with some changes to help bring in new customers. One of these changes was a much-needed boost in commercials on television. The commercials, featuring celebrities David Beckham, Sofia Vergara, Jay Leno, and Salma Hayek, are humorous in nature, and they use the humor to bring about the message that there are changes happening at Burger King; that it is the "place to be."
     This is not what I was expecting from Burger King. While I did expect them to use celebrities, because that's what most commercials seem to do these days, I was not expecting those four people. It seems like they are trying to attract a Latino audience, because of their inclusion of Vergara, Hayek, and Beckham - three big celebrities in the Latino community. The Latino population is the fastest growing population in the country, and while it would make sense to appeal to them, making three out of the four commercials directed solely to one group seems a bit much. The use of Leno, I think, was to give Burger King some credibility and class, while at the same time appealing to the older generation, who know him from his late night show.
     In addition, the choice of Vergara, Hayek, and Beckham is interesting because they are all very attractive people (sorry Jay). Another reason that Burger King likely chose them was to express the idea that you can go to Burger King, eat their food, and look like these celebrities.
     Personally, the only commercial I found myself laughing at was the David Beckham one. Something about it, whether it is the swooning of both the employee and the manager, or the shift between fantasy and reality, did it for me. The other three seemed a bit contrived, like they had to force a laugh out of it.
     I am not sure if I think this is the correct direction for Burger King to move in. On one hand, the Latino population keeps growing, so it makes sense to appeal to that population. On the other hand, they shouldn't alienate their loyal customers by not appealing to them anymore, or ignore other sects of the population. Only time will tell if these ads work.

COMM 506 Leadership Lessons from "The Godfather"

     Last month, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of "The Godfather," one of the most influential and best movies ever made. The film still has a grip on pop culture today, and is constantly referenced and quoted in movies, music, television, books, magazines, advertising, and more. Fast Company wrote an interesting article on the leadership lessons that can be found within the film. These five lessons found in "The Godfather" can be found in companies today.

1. Build a powerful community.

Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization that builds houses for those in need, is a company that partners itself with organizations that can benefit them, and at the same time, be able to offer assistance when needed. Corporations such as Bank of America, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Whirlpool donate time, money, volunteers, and materials needed to build the houses. In return, the company gets free advertising, and the knowledge that it helps a non-profit organization; this can help recruit new people for that company, or change people's minds about a company.

2. Hold people accountable.

     HP is one of the biggest names in the computer industry today. Last year, they released the HP TouchPad, a tablet computer. It did not sell well at all, and was not a very good product; it was slow, outdated, and bulky. They tried to remedy this by selling it at discounted prices, first $50 off, then $100 off. When they realized that this wasn't working either, they had a fire sale, and started selling them at $99. They sold out most places, just for the sheer idea of a tablet PC for $99. At the same time, HP announced that they were stoppling the manufacturing of the TouchPad, as well as stopping the research and development of their mobile phone line. This is an instance where the company realized they did not have a good product, and rather than drag it out, they decided to cut their losses and accept that this wasn't the market they would make it big in.




3. Don't get emotional.

     Netflix is a company that came into the business world with little fanfare, but is now a giant. They were able to play the game and come out on top; by offering free streaming and cheap DVD rental all by one company, they easily ousted Blockbuster, Hollywood Home Video, and other mail rental services. Netflix has gone through some rough patches as of late, but they are still on top of the rental business, and these days, it's tough to find someone that doesn't either subscribe to Netflix or know five other people that subscribes.




4. Be decisive.

     Facebook has shown to be decisive with its acquisitions. Over the last few years, they have been buying small tech firms and software development agencies, usually scrapping whatever projects they were working on, but keeping the talent in order to better Facebook. Yesterday, they bought the photo-sharing company Instagram for one billion dollars. With this purchase, they will now have skilled photo techs and programmers, as well as a program that thousands of people are already using. Now they can integrate Facebook into it, and vice versa, to sell more advertising and get the people who are not already members to sign up.




5. Spend time with your family.

     As I've blogged about previously, the accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers believes in mandatory vacations. This way, their employees get rest, have time to spend with their families, and come back to work feeling refreshed and bubbling with new ideas. It is important to spend time outside of the business, especially with friends and family, not only to get a break from work, but to have time to think about something else. When this happens, ideas that one may not have thought of applying at the business level may come to rise, or ideas that have been needing that one more little thing to make it complete may be made complete, due to rest, relaxation, and an open mind.

COMM 506 Obama's Slip?

     

     Before President Barack Obama was set to have an on-air meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the two of them talked quietly about some things. Their microphones were on, and being in the positions that they are in, they had to know that whatever was said between them would be able to be heard and then re-transmitted. They were talking about nuclear missile policy, and Obama said that this is his "last election," and that he would have "more flexibility" to talk about it after "my election."

     This little "slip" on Obama's part has been argued about for the last few weeks. Some say that he did it by accident, and that there is no intent behind the statement. Others argue that he said it purposefully, and it is showing confidence on his part that he will be reelected.

     In these times of 24-hour news channels and the Internet, any tiny piece of news can be blown out of proportion. Especially in the United States, where politics is a hotly talked-about subject, anything that the President does, says, doesn't do, or doesn't say can and will be talked about by all parties. With the election looming, politicians are getting more and more desperate for something to use to attack the opponent. 

     Personally, I do not think Obama had anything malicious behind this remark. I think he was being confident in that he is going to be reelected, and when that comes, he will have more breathing room to talk about hot-button subjects like nuclear safety. He has been the President for close to four years, and was a senator prior to that; he knows the game of politics, and he knows that if there is a microphone in front of him, odds are there are people on the other end listening and recording. This is just a case of the other side wanting some ammunition against him; whether or not the general public will be swayed by it is up to them.

COMM 506 Internet Usage Among Different Generations

     This week, we were asked to comment on the findings of the Pew Research Institute in regards to internet usage among Millennials, Gen X'ers, the Boomer generation, and older. The full report can be found here.
    The only piece of information that surprised me was the fact that searching for health information is the third most popular online activity for all adults over the age of 18. For older adults, it would not surprise me; I just did not realize that so many younger people were using the internet to research health problems, so much so that it is the third most popular activity.
     Other than this, I was honestly not surprised about any of the other data in the report. It showed that younger generations, such as Teens and Millennials, are more likely to be online wirelessly, use social networking more than anything else, and get almost all their news from online. Older generations, such as the Boomers and the Silent Generation, do not use the internet that much, and when they do, it is for informational purposes such as government websites or health information.

COMM 506 The Engine 2 Diet

     The other night we attended a lecture at school about a complete plant-based diet, called the Engine 2 Diet. The creator of the diet, Rip Esselstyn, was the first presenter. He talked about how the diet has affected him, his coworkers, and people that he's helped with it. He was energetic, and definitely fully believed in the diet. Next, his father, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a physician, came on, and gave a lecture about the health benefits of the diet. He gave some good research and data about how the diet can reverse heart disease and lead to better overall health. Lastly, Rip's mother, Ann Esselstyn, showed what food and drinks you could buy, recipes for the diet, and where to find complete plant based foods.
     I liked a few things about this presentation. First, Rip was a fantastic speaker. He got the crowd engaged in what he was talking about, asked questions, and was humorous. He presented good examples of his diet working, and did not say anything about meat being "evil" or murder or anything along those lines. His father was also interesting, though a little boring. As a person with a heart defect, I was very interested in how the diet can help with heart health.
     One thing I did not like about the presentation was that none of the presenters talked about changing their lifestyle. They all talked about how good the diet is for their health, Rip showed examples of people whose health improved and they lost weight, and Dr. Caldwell showed evidence of reduced heart disease...but none of them talked about exercise, giving up bad habits, or other lifestyle changes that could have an impact on their health. Even if the diet is successful without lifestyle changed, it would have been a good thing to mention so that people don't have the expectation that they will lose a lot of weight by just changing to a plant-based diet. Another thing that bothered me was when Ann was talking about the different foods that we should eat and recipes we should use. The lecture was given at a university, and the crowd was a mix of the general public and students. She started talking about foods that could only be purchased online or in specialty food stores, and most students cannot afford to shop like that. I wish they had geared the food presentation more towards students; showing them cheap, healthy alternatives that they could buy at local supermarkets, and quick, easy recipes for the student on-the-go.

COMM 506 "Bad" Commercials

The following are commercials that are "bad." They are not bad in the sense that they are poorly made commercials; they just do not sell their product or service in a smart or appealing way.

The first time I saw this commercial, I thought it was a part of the show I was watching. I could not believe that they would say something as cold as "It's not for women." I definitely got a good laugh out of it, but once I started to think about it, I realized that this is a terrible way to sell this product. Maybe they were thinking that if they said it's not for women, more women will want to buy it? I don't know. Regardless, I think there are more people out there, both men and women, who see this as sexist and plain stupid. Now these people will tell their friends and relatives about this dumb commercial and the product that it is for, and they will most likely not want or buy it. The commercial is definitely geared towards men, and it is pretty silly; it has the macho guy with the gun, beating up bad guys and whatnot...but when that last line is spoken, the entire commercial just seems stupid and too over-the-top.

These commercials do not bring about good will for the ASPCA. These commercials are downright depressing. They show images of mistreated animals with a sad song played over it, meant to tug at the viewer's heartstrings and donate money to their cause. Having adopted three dogs from shelters, I know how run down animals can look there, and there is no reason to show it on a commercial to try to get donations. Show the animals having fun and running around. Talk about how easy it is to adopt from a local animal shelter. But please, don't interrupt my Simpson's episode with a sad song and equally as sad animals.

Lastly, the commercials for the Department of Homeland Security's "If You See Something, Say Something" do not help their cause, in my opinion. These commercials breed fair and paranoia in people that travel using public transportation, and telling them to call if they see something suspicious could lead to an outbreak of worried, angry passengers. These commercials say that if a person sees something suspicious, they should tell someone; who's to say what makes something "suspicious"? Altogether, I think these commercials harm public transportation.

COMM 508 Ben & Jerry's Press Release

Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc.

30 Community Drive, Burlington, VT 05403

Kellie McLaughlin & Max McLenna

802-846-1500

facebook.com/benjerry

twitter.com/benandjerrys

February 15^th, 2012 18:00

BEN & JERRY’S TO INTRODUCE NEW FLAVOR – “OCCU-PIE MALT ST.”

Burlington, VT – Have you been watching the news lately? Have you been seeing all those people camping out in tents, protesting for something…but not sure exactly what? Well, wonder no longer! Ben & Jerry’s is pleased to announce a new flavor to its always-growing selection. “Occu-Pie Malt St.” is a new flavor, consisting of graham cracker ice cream, blueberry and cherry swirls, and chocolate malted milk balls!

            Ben & Jerry’s CEO, Jostein Solhein, said, “This flavor was created to represent the American people and their struggle to achieve to achieve the American dream.” This flavor, inspired by the Occupy movements all across the United States of America, is meant to be a delicious reminder of what is trying to be accomplished.

            “Ben & Jerry’s is proud to present Occu-Pie Malt St. in hopes that it will bring about recognition to the Occupy Wall Street movement,” said Solhein. This delicious, inspiring flavor is set to hit shelves late February 2012.

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