Eric's Ad Blog

Super Bowl Advertising: Style vs. Substance

Here's the scene: a swamp in the woods at night. In the distance sits a dimly lit bar.

The characters: three frogs, each sitting on a lily pad.

Action!

Frog 1 says: "Bud"

Frog 2: "Weisss"

Frog 3: "Errr"

The popular Super Bowl XXIX commercial was created for Budwesier by DMB&B/St. Louis.

The Frogs are now dead. Electrocuted by a falling neon Budweiser sign. Ironic, I know.

But what do those frogs have to do with beer?

“If there is a truth in it, it's not a truth about the product and it's not a truth even about your relationship to the product when you buy it...I think what you’re really saying is ‘I’m part of the people that get this humor.’ They want to be part of that community and the beer becomes the badge of that community. I think that’s why it works.” – Jeff Goodby of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in "Art & Copy."

It works with Beer, the frogs that is, because Beer is a Style purchase.

Style Purchases: What we wear, drink or eat. Style purchases are usually products, like clothing or beverages.

Style purchases include: Clothing, Accessories, All beverages, Restaurants, Electronics, Jewelry, Office supplies, Sporting Goods, Cosmetics, Department Stores...etc

Would the Frogs work for automobiles? Probably not. That's because Automobiles fall more in the Substance category than style. Or somewhere in between.

Can you imagine yourself saying something like "I need a new car, think I'll go with the BMW. Those frogs are hilarious."

Automobile ads should be of more substance. We choose an automobile based on a number of factors that are important to us. Safety, Longevity, Durability, Reliability, Brand Reputation. Style definitely plays a part, but purely style ads don't work in this category.

As you can see, not all products fit neatly into one category, style or substance. Many fall somewhere in between. But it's absolutely necessary to determine which one fits closer to your business category.

Who's doing style right? Old Spice with The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

Created by Wieden+Kennedy in 2010, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like is 100% style and suited perfectly for both TV and the web. The videos have built a cult-like following online. The above spot had more than 44 million views on YouTube at the time of this post.

Dos Equis and The Most Interesting Man in the World also has style spot-on. These ads really set themselves apart from the competition. The commercials also have a large online following.

Substance Purchases: Who we trust with our life, family, repairs, construction, finances, education, consultation. Substance purchases are usually services, like insurance.
Other substance purchases include: Medical centers, Hospitals, Financial institutions, Insurance Agencies, Automobiles, Travel, Construction, Counseling, Tax services, Education, Engineering, Security, Attorneys, Auto Repair, Child Care, Chiropractors, Financial Planners...etc

Who's doing substance right? Allstate. Even the taglines tell the substance story: "You're in good hands."

This ad was perfectly executed, conversational in tone and with a solid message of substance. Way to go, Allstate.

Do you own a business? If so, is your business category one of mostly style or substance? Figuring that out could save your advertising. And your advertising ROI.

When the world gathers to watch Super Bowl XLVII, put some thought into what you’re watching. Are the ads of style or of substance?

Because we are the final judge -- not the ad polls, not the ad agencies or experts -- the viewers. We decide which commercials work and which fall flat. We decide by becoming customers.

“It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.” – David Ogilvy

Editor's Note: This post was first published on Feb. 6, 2011 on Eric's Ad Blog, the old home of Zimedia.org.

Guest Post: Google Latitude Review

BY DAVE SHAFFER

Editor's Note: Dave Shaffer, Assistant Director for Special Programs at The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State University, is a community volunteer and lifelong reporter on technology and media. Dave is a 1977 Penn State Journalism graduate.

I remember Google Latitude being promoted several months ago as the program that would become the “next” Foursquare. The idea was that you could not only check in with your location and see where others had checked in, but you could actually see in real time where they were … even if they hadn't checked in. The software would look at the phone numbers and locate them on a Google Map based on GPS, cell tower, or WiFi data. That is a step beyond Foursquare’s service.

Clearly, it did not catch on or become the next Foursquare. In fact, I haven’t recently seen anything about it at all, and you have to search a bit to find that it does still exist. I thought the shared location feature was likely too much information for a large list of friends and acquaintances. Do you really want everyone to be able to see your location 24/7? I don’t.

However, I wondered if perhaps it might work as a no-cost family locator service. So in the past week I enlisted the help of three friends, one in State College, Pa, one in Maryland, and one in Texas. They all activated Latitude on their phones and became friends with me on that system. That is different than and separate from being friends in other programs, even Google programs. You have to run Latitude on your phone and agree to share your location data with your Latitude friends.

Let me first say that Latitude is a free download and, while it may increase data usage over time, there is no cost from your carrier (at least not Verizon) to run the program. So basically, it is free.

Second … you can actually see your friend’s location, in almost real time, and depending on the source of data on each phone, with surprising accuracy. In one case, I was able to see that a friend was in the food court at a mall in Maryland. I sent him a text and asked, “You aren't having dinner at the McDonald’s there, are you?” “No,” he replied. “But I’m at the bar-b-q place next door.” That’s pretty good. At other times, location data tended to drift off just a bit. And there was often a delay of a few minutes in receiving updates. So it isn't exactly like what you see on TV. But generally, it was surprisingly accurate.

We've since closed the Latitude connections. But here’s my conclusion:

If you want to be able to “see” the whereabouts of family members or close friends, with surprising accuracy and in an (almost) real-time environment, try Google Latitude. I would suggest you be sure to limit the availability of your location data only to Latitude friends and careful to limit who you add as friends.

A typical Latitude location screen. Not *exactly* right, but awfully darn close.

CONTRIBUTOR PROFILE

Contributor:

Dave Shaffer
Dave is a community volunteer and lifelong reporter on technology and media. Dave is a 1977 Penn State Journalism graduate and Assistant Director for Special Programs at Penn State's Center for The Performing Arts. He's worked as news director for WCED in DuBois, Pa, and as a freelance reporter for The Brockway Record and Reynoldsville Star.

Website:

Facebook

Employer:
Penn State Center for the Performing Arts

5 Tech Predictions for 2013

Zimedia's 5 Tech Predictions for 2013

5. Second Screen takes off – The second screen takes on the big screen.

The second screen is taking over. Users are splitting their time between the main screen and a second screen – companion devices and apps. For live shows, users turn to Twitter. For movies and streaming content, users stick to GetGlue to check-in and provide live commentary. (If you're into streaming video like Netflix and Hulu Plus, you'll want to check out GetGlue.) In November, GetGlue was acquired by TV-loyalty service Viggle for $25 million in cash and 48 million shares.

AirPlay-like devices also allow users to stream media from a tablet or smartphone wirelessly to a television set. It opens up content from apps or the web and makes it playable on a user's TV. Apple AirPlay on Apple TV is one of the first and best. More are on the way in 2013.

4. Facebook loses market share– due in large part to audience fragmentation.

Facebook has an enormous lead when it comes to audience share among social networks because it's always one step ahead of the competition. The same changes that infuriate some users are the ones that keep others wanting more. MySpace lost users because it was stagnant. Facebook doesn't want to suffer the same fate.

But users will begin to explore other options in 2013, including LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Path and others, all of which have adopted the "Newsfeed" layout. Users will spend more time on these sites, which means less time spent on Facebook. Foursquare, for example, has de-emphasized its leaderboard and put more focus on the newsfeed and its "Explore" feature.

3. Mobile Payments become mainstream – Square launched in 7,000 Starbucks coffee houses in November of 2012. Today, Square is processing $10 billion in annual mobile payments. In 2013 mobile payments will become mainstream.

Joining Square in the mobile payment race are competitors Google Wallet, PayPal, Intuit, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, VeriFone, among others.

2. Free city-wide Internet – Public Wi-Fi gets closer to the streets in 2013. Already available at many restaurants and stores, more hotspots are on the way.

But more than just hotspots: Google has been working on a city-wide Wi-Fi network for some time, with the first attempt around 2007. It's Google Fiber project seems to have taken the spotlight, as the company rolled out the high-speed broadband network in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2012.

We feel like now is the time to break some ground on city-wide Wi-Fi.

The Tel Aviv municipality announced in December of 2012 that it would be deploying a city-wide Wi-Fi network in Israel, headed by Motorola Solutions, that includes 80 relay stations for free wireless access. Watch for a similar service to hit the United States in 2013.

1. Big Netflix Competitor– We predicted it for 2012. Redbox Instant by Verizon launched in Beta in December of 2012. Could it be the Next Netflix? Others are rumored to be teaming up for a service. Amazon Instant Video is gaining steam, though is part of a much larger plan for Amazon. It will take a lot of financial backing which is why we’ll likely see businesses teaming up on this one. Hulu is handcuffed by its owners (Comcast's NBCUniversal, Disney and News Corp.).

Whether it’s Redbox and Verizon, Amazon or another new service, watch for it to take off in 2013.