Nostalgia

One of the brands that have done a good job at using nostalgia in marketing is the Volkswagen Bug. They have managed to keep an old classic alive and relevant. Through the years we have seen the Bug evolve and become more modern while still holding what it represents, which is a different era and lifestyle.One of the advantages of using nostalgia is that remembering the past usually evokes positive emotion. People that used to drive a Bug in the past might see the 2013 Bug and think of all the great times they had with their Bug. This might cause them to want to purchase another Bug, and BOOM. The consumer has associated the brand with happiness and the idea of nostalgia would have worked. Another advantage of using nostalgia is familiarity. The consumer is familiar with this product, the brand and what they represent. When a product has been around throughout time it shows that they have longevity, have substance and are trusted. Nostalgia may also make people feel younger. For example, my grandmother actually drives a Bug, when I asked her why out of all cars she decided to buy a Bug she simply told me it makes her feel younger, she also added that it makes her feel like she still has a part of the "good ol days." Like we mentioned in class, using nostalgia in marketing can also be cost effective. The brand has already done the creative part once before so bringing it back makes it vintage and cool.

One of the disadvantages of using nostalgia in marketing is it may bring up old memories or be associated with negative connotations or perceptions. For example, the BP oil spill was so horrible that the company will never be able to tap into nostalgia because with every advertisement that they do peoples minds will automatically remember the oil spill and how many problems it caused. Another major disadvantage of nostalgia in marketing is that it might alienate certain age groups. Because nostalgia is bringing up the past, the younger generation may not have any recollection of the past trying to be marketed.

  A brand or product that may not be successful in using nostalgia as a marketing technique could be social media companies. Although social media has been around for a while they have not been around long enough to have a sense of nostalgia. For example, no one can say, " ohhh I remember Twitter, we used to tweet all the time, we were obsessed with telling the world our every move." No one can say that because it is still happening, it has not become a thing of the past yet.

Selling a Jeep

   For our Jeep Advertisement we decided to go with the Jeep Compass. The jeep compass is 22,000 and gets 28 miles to the Gallon. The fact that it gets good gas milage is important because with the constant raising of gas prices we wanted to make sure it was affordable yet reliable and dependable.
    Although seniors' main concern is not the ruggedness and adventurous lifestyle that the Jeep is known for we figured that if we mixed the adventurous lifestyle along with the safety features and dependability of a jeep it would be very marketable to this age group.
   For our commercial we decided to show a group of 50-somethings to 70-somethings in a car ( two women and one man) together rocking out on their way to the park for a walk, one of the women's phone rings and its her grandson who is calling from school who is asking her to pick her up because he doesn't feel well. All of a sudden the grandmother looks back at the passengers and says "Get ready for a wild ride." The grandmother does a dramatic U-Turn and the roadway becomes a jungle. The cars on the road turn into wildabeasts and antelopes, the car is maneuvering through the animals with style and grace. The puddles on the sides of the streets turn into raging bodies of water that the Jeep has to get through, a wind and hail storm suddenly hits and Grandma is driving with such ease. Grandma does a dramatic fancy U-Turn again and ends up in the front of the school. The music stops, the skies clear up and the sun comes out. Grandma gets out of the car and does a cool walk into the school doors at the same time the view of the camera shifts so that we can see grandma walking towards school and we can see the entire jeep.
   With this commercial, like I mentioned before, we feel that we can get the lifestyle of the Jeep, which is adventurous, while showing that people can do everyday things in a jeep as well, like picking up their children from school. Targeting these two points I feel will be the most efficient way to grab this age groups attention and make them want to buy a Jeep.

It's a Lifestyle

1. I absolutely believe that brand communities like Harley Davidson result in greater movement of the brand. We have talked all semester about how to get the buzz going about a brand. How to keep it relevant and exciting while being interesting and innovative. The brand communities allow for all of these things to happen. By having Harley Davidson put together these events they are bringing people closer together with common interests. These people bond over a common factor in their life (the bike) which makes the brand stronger because bot only are they meeting others with similar interests but the brand itself is giving back to the consumer. Consumers like being apart of something larger and in this case its the Harley Davidson way of life.

2. I think the "oath" and the "passport" enhance the meaning of this ride. With the oath you are swearing to abide by something so it makes it seem like you are joining a very exclusive club. the consumer likes to feel like they are apart of something exclusive. Again, feeling like they are apart of something bigger is something that the consumer likes. I also think the "passport" that they stamp makes for more meaning because it makes it a journey. The rider wants to continue to get all the stamps and finish the ride. Once it is over the rider can look back and remember what they went through for each stamp.

3. I do not think it is necessary for Harley Davidson to get more involved. I think it will dilute the purpose of the ride. I think they are doing a good job of giving the ride structure and direction by having the oath and using the stamp book method. If Harley Davidson were to get more involved in the ride I think it would feel too structured. The rider wants to be able to enjoy the ride on their own time, like the article mentioned, the Harley Davidson rider is classified as rebellious. Rebellious people don't want to listen to meticulous direction from someone else. If I were a Harley rider I would defiantly attend this riding event because I would be able to  meet new people that enjoy doing what I do. I like that Harley Davidson is letting the people get what they want from their ride.

4. Besides the ride it would be beneficial for Harley Davidson to maybe do things like giveaways or contests. Giveaways show that the brand cares about the customer because they are giving away free things. Giveaways could also create a buzz about the brand because people will want to enter it and win free things. Who doesn't like free things?Another option thing Harley Davidson could do is have parties or get togethers in their shops. People could eat, drink, look at new bikes and get to talk to people with common interests.

Woman more than Sex? NO WAY

Although I wish I could say that gender stereotyping was a thing of the past I can assure you that it is not. Companies and products want to appeal to certain demographics so they aim their campaign ads to either men or women or both. In aiming someone to the opposite sex one of them is going to get downplayed. For example, if you are advertising hard liquor you will probably see a beautiful woman at a mans feet. If you are advertising Skinny Girls Margarita mix the women will more than likely be the main focus of the ad. In my last post mentioned that stereotyping was a thing of the past but after doing further research I have changed my mind. Let me show you some examples.

 These are both ads for alcohol one of from the1950's and the other is from the 2000's. As you can see not much has really changed. In the picture on the right the woman is half naked, showing of her figure, her hair is blonde, insinuating purity and softness, and looks very provocative. In the picture on the right again, you see a blonde woman practically naked with a man standing over her. The man standing over shows his dominance and her submissiveness. In both ads the woman is being used as a sex symbol downplaying her intelligence.
Again, with the ads on the left women are being sterotyped as unintelligent and weak. The top picture reads " The Mini Automatic For Simple driving". This is insinuating women are not capable of driving. Women need something simple and not complicated so that our little pea brains can understand.
The lower picture reads " You mean a woman can open it"? Women are as weak or maybe even weaker than a twig, we have trouble opening anything that does not include our makeup or diaper bags.

 The ad reads "Pamper your man... and the whole family too"! The picture that is shown is a man in a suite looking straight forward with a masculine stature. The woman is smaller and lower than him in the image, she's wearing house clothes and is not looking at him directly in the eyes because she is not equal to him.








This is a more recent ad for a microwave oven. There is a woman laying in a grass field throwing up a microwave oven for a mothers-day campaign. Although this ad is a a lot more subtle than the previous one it is insinuating that any woman would absolutely love a microwave oven as a gift because the only thing we are good for is cleaning, cooking and making babies.

So there you have it! Gender stereotyping might be done a little more subtly these days but it is definitely still in full effect. I personally don't take offense to these type of ads because women have proven to be much more than just a housewife. These types of ads should be taken with a grain of salt because the company is just trying to sell a product and create a buzz. Ads like this shouldn't be taken seriously or to the heart. 

Leave it in the Past

        In my opinion, I don't not think it is right to racially stereotype. I think people are so concerned with being politically correct these days that it does not happen as much as it might have in the past. Companies are also a lot more concerned with their reputations and making money, if they were to be racist they would lose revenue and probably get a lot of bad press,which is something a corporation never wants to have. These days, if any group of people finds somethig racist or offensive they will probably protest and create a buzz about it making the corporation extract whatever the racist or offensive ad or commercial may be.
      I also believe companies want to appeal to the majority of people so that their products can be successful. Again, with trying to be politically correct companies usually so not want to offend anyone causing their product to down spiral. For example, make-up lines like Cover Girl and Maybelline. I have seen ads for both companies which contain Asian women, Hispanic women, African American women and Caucasian. They want their product to appeal to a massive group of people so they incorporate all races to show that anyone can use what they are selling.
     Another good example is Gap. Gap, unlike other clothing companies like Tommy Hilfigure, always do a good job of incorporating all races and ethnicities in their ads. They want to include all races so that everyone can feel comfortable wearing their clothes. In the pictures to the right we see a compilation of races. What companies have also gotten better at is pulling ads or products that are found offensive. A while ago Gap put out a shirt that read

"Manifest Destiny" across the chest. “This article of clothing promotes a belief that has resulted in the mass genocide of indigenous people, and it serves to normalize oppression,” the petition to recall the shirt read.The shirt’s designer, the iconic fashion designer Mark McNairy, took to Twitter to, at first, boast about the slogan. “MANIFEST DESTINY. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST,” he wrote, then later deleted. “I AM SORRY FOR MY SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST COMMENT. IT HURT ME DEEPLY TO BE CALLED A RACIST AS THAT IS NOT ME. I REACTED WITHOUT THINKING,” he tweeted in all caps days later.

     Moreover, as I previously mentioned, companies have to worry about their images and keeping a good, clean, trusting relationship with their audience. When their biggest concern is making money and pleasing the customer  it does not leave room for racism and stereotyping. 

Applying semiotic to the real world

An example of semiotic in a print ad could be the Garnier Fructis pages. In these ads we typically see a pretty girl with long, shiny, healthy, voluminous, luscious hair. The signifier would be the bottle of shampoo and conditioner in the ad, but the signified is the way the girls hair looks. Garnier Fructis is implying that when you use their shampoo your hair will be like the models hair in the ad.

A television add that uses the method of semiotics would be the Old Spice deodorant commercials. In these ads we see a manly man doing things like riding a horse on sunset beaches. Old Spice is signifying that you can be a manly man and do rugged things but you can also smell good while doing them. The signifier could be the actual  bottle of deodorant while the signified is what comes along with the bottle, which would be smelling good while still being manly.

An outdoor symbol could be those signs in neighborhoods that read "children at play". This is letting people know to be a little more careful about their driving because more than likely there are kids around the area. When there are little kids playing outside they do not always tend to be aware of their surroundings so it is your job to be cautious. The signifier is obviously the sign and what is says but the signified is what the sign implies, and that is to more careful and cautious.

BrandsBrands Brands!!

 I think a brand represents a type of life-style a person lives or likes to portray. Wether we like to admit it or not we tend to judge people based on the brands they use or wear. A brand has the ability to portray anything they wish. How the brand decides to portray itself with the type of advertising and campaigning they do dictates what the consumer thinks about them and who will be their biggest market. A good example of this was the one we talked about in class. Dre Beats Vs. Bose Headphones. The type of image that Beats portrays is for the more urban, hip person while the Bose headphones are for the older, classier, more sophisticated user. Another good example would be the oh so chic and elegant brand of shoes every girl would die for called LOUBOUTIN'S. When women see other women with the distinguishable red bottoms we automatically think wealth, style and high fashion.