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.