Thanks, Captain Obvious

I've mentioned before that when it comes to advertisements directed at me, I can't see the forest for the trees. Most of the time, I'm unable to follow through with an advertiser's desired response because I'd rather focus on trying to answer questions like, “Hey, how’d they do that?”

This happened most recently while I was watching a few episodes of a television series streamed on Hulu Plus. This particular show lasted about 45 minutes and allowed for three or four 1-minute ad breaks per episode. I was very impressed when I noticed the following ads for Hotels.com spread out in succession during the breaks:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

• Obviously, how'd they do that?! These three spots played in the proper order, if you will.
• I like that the Captain acknowledges the low probability of viewers actually paying attention to the spots.
• Searching for the best deals on hotel rooms is something I don't do often. With that in mind, I’m amazed that there's enough competition in the world of hotel booking to warrant this level of advertising.

OTHER TAKEAWAYS

I was happy to hear daylight isn't in any danger, and does not actually need saving.
— Captain Obvious (@CaptainObvious) March 8, 2015

• According to this article from Adweek, the Captain Obvious campaign is fairly new. The videos above were posted to Hotels.com's YouTube channel a few days before this post.
• I’m a little leery of Captain Obvious's Twitter account. It seems odd that a highly desirable Twitter handle the likes of @CapatainObvious would be available for such a new character and account. Perhaps it was purchased? Or maybe the ad agency that created the character smartly claimed the name before Hotels.com came calling?
• Also, for an account that was created in November of 2013 and only follows 10 accounts, the Captain's 94,000+ followers seems awfully high. Perhaps they were purchased?
• Then again, maybe such a skewed following is perfectly explained by Hotel.com’s affiliation with over 240,000 hotels from around the world? Like I said, I’m certainly not up-to-speed on the hotel booking industry.

So thanks, Captain Obvious, for being a new, fictional spokesman on the scene - for all the reasons I mentioned in an earlier post. Where will we find you next??

{Top Photo: Unsplash}

A Missed Target in the Soda Wars

I'm a bit of a challenge for my fellow advertisers when it comes to casting marketing messages my way by traditional methods. I'm a proud cord-cutter and don't do appointment television so it's almost impossible to catch my attention with TV ads. In the car, I switch stations so fast during commercial breaks that it's almost like an instinct. Forget newspaper and magazine ads too.

My recent post about the relationship between Santa Claus and the Coca-Cola Company made me consider the ways such a huge company (and Coke's competitors) could reach people like me. So I made a quick list of the main ways advertisements reach me in my personal life:

• Web ads based on browser activity.
• Preroll advertisements on YouTube and Hulu Plus.
• Ad breaks on my free Pandora account.
• Sponsored posts on Twitter and Facebook.
• Email subscriptions. 

I'm sure I'm missing a few but the list isn't very long - and these are all channels that are clearly not traditional methods. 

So back to Coke. They cover the globe with advertising and, to keep up, Pepsi does too. Their behemoth brands are instantly recognizable and the Soda Wars require each company to keep pushing. But as I thought more about how these companies reach people like me, I realized that it's been a while since I've seen any type of ad from Coke or Pepsi. I really racked my brain and came up empty. So, starting with a clean slate, I kept track of any exposure I had to these brands for 2 weeks. Here are the results:

First, Coke:

• I went to a movie in a theater that serves Coke products. After an seemingly endless run of ads, trivia and etiquette reminders, a Coke ad appeared just before the movie began. You know the one - ice cubes fall from the top of the frame, clinking along until they fill up the entire screen. Audio of a beverage being opened follows this image, which is then covered by a poured soda. 
• I happen to follow Coke on Tumblr, which I forgot because their posts get lost in the mix. But, a few weeks after the movie theater ad, I scrolled past the Coke Tumblr in my feed and a bright, red image that featured the white silhouette of the Coke logo definitely caught my eye.

That's all! Two instances in two weeks! 

Pepsi didn't perform much better:

• I spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube and lately I've come to really appreciate the perspective given by drone videos. During my 2-week experiment, I happened to come across this video that featured drone footage of New York City's five boroughs. Here's a screen cap of something in that video that stood out: 

• I also find myself watching a lot of viral videos on YouTube, like this one that featured some cool, slo-mo footage of a room full of mouse traps being set off by ping pong balls. Turns out that this viral hit was made possible by it's sponsor, Pepsi Max. I know...it's not Pepsi, but it's in the family.

That's all for Pepsi. It's a tie. For the most part, I was a missed target during this observation of the Soda Wars. I'm not sure what to make of this. My only conclusion is that I'm not a very "visible" target by traditional means and, because I don't search for or visit the websites of these brands, I don't appear in new media cross hairs either. 

I know I'm not the only person that is exposed to ads exclusively by way of the methods I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Time will tell if big brands make adjustments and the Soda Wars impact my life once again.  

All of This for Pens

I recently noticed the following :30 second commercial for some pens while watching one of my favorite TV series on Hulu Plus. As you can see for yourself, the ad showcases the vibrant colors and smooth pen-to-paper ink transfer the PaperMate InkJoy has to offer.


This is a nice ad and I like how the animation captures the pens strutting their stuff. But this commercial made me wonder: is there really a high demand for something more than the everyday, basic pen? I mean...did PaperMate really do all this for pens??

Just as it had it’s way with the paper industry, the Internet Age has surely zapped the writing instrument market, right? The last seminar I attended is a great example of this notion - I was amazed at the sound of my fellow attendees click-clacking away on their laptops (as opposed to the old method of jotting notes by hand).

Then again, I’m sure there are plenty of artistic people that still get excited at the sight of a new style of pen. My sister comes to mind!

Other thoughts I had about PaperMate and it’s advertising practices:

• I’ve never seen the above ad on regular television. It could be that the PaperMate execs recognize the value of video but are turned off by the fees associated with TV advertising. 
•  The folks at PaperMate are proud of their ads (they should be) and have done a great job of including a bunch of their old spots on their YouTube channel. 
• The efforts put into some of these old spots makes sense given the times in which they aired. One of those old commercials really caught my attention by featuring (what’s now) a familiar face:

I’m not 100% sure but that spokesman looks like an actor that played a pivotal role in a very iconic comedy from 1978. Think you know who it is? Tweet your guesses to @Nick_Baggett. Thanks for reading!