C’est la saison des festivités! The merrier the better! November and December are my two favorite months of the year! Not only because it is the Holiday Seasons or my birthday month (december) but it is also almost the end of the year and it gives me a chance to look back, reflect on how I spent my year and if I followed through my new year’s resolutions or not, never too late to achieve those goals! It is also the time of the year where we find ourselves dancing in a seascape of bright colors of reds and greens. The time of the year where we kick a boost to the American economy from all the unnecessary shopping we make, on a positive note the time of the year where we enjoy the joy of giving. The time of the year where merchants/stores are stocking their stockrooms and shelves in hope of record sales. And it is the time of the year where Madison avenue are aggressively flooding all platforms with holiday themes and jingles.

I believe companies that own the holiday colors as their brand logo have an advantage to their competitors where they can build an entire empire totally around the holiday themes, IT IS THEIR TIME OF THE YEAR TO OUTSHINE. For example, a company that does it so well is Macy’s- The company has become a tradition for every end of the year events- from the thanksgiving day parade to “Believe in the magic” of Christmas spirits.

Bloomingdale’s or Lord&Taylor are less of a player in this theme. And even though JC Penney revamped itself and tries hard to get a bigger piece of the market share pie, we all know MACY’s owns the holiday seasons.

Likewise with Starbucks:

Think about their competitors.. And your buying habits during this season.. which brand attracts you the most?

But Back to BLACK FRIDAY! This is the earliest Black Friday in history- stores opened at midnight or even earlier.LVMH, a luxury retail group which own Moet Hennessy, Pucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and other luxurious brands had a good 3rd quarter with a rose in revenue. A lot of companies are having quiet a strong revenue this annual year. So I am really eager to find out the total retail sales for the Big Black Friday event 2011.

According to Chicago Tribune:

“Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, typically ranks as the biggest shopping day of the year. In 2010, U.S. retailers rang up $19.3 billion in sales, based on estimates across all payment forms from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. This year, the credit card company estimates retail sales will top $20 billion.

The National Retail Federation expects 152 million people to shop this weekend, up 10 percent from last year. The initial shopping frenzy suggests the biggest shopping weekend of the year is off to a strong start.”

My mother was definitely also off to a strong start! She went to Macy’s at midnight, and again at 7am in the morning. I myself have not contributed to this frenzy madness. Goodly, the media alleviate the stress behind this busy crowded day– advertisers have wrapped this stressful tradition in messages of joy, savings, anticipation, and humor.

My favorite of all!!!!!! This series of commercials are hysterical, catch the attention and delivers the message with a BANG! Props to Wieden+Kennedy for the great job!

Don’t you love it?

Today I’m sharing with you a commercial that I came across in Taipei City.

We have seen the concept of HOPE and DREAM used in many advertisings especially in financial services that they have become cliches, or what my old ad agency would call: “sacred cows” – topics that have repeatedly been use, and never been challenged.

The message is the same. We live and plan for a better future. We dream for a better future. We pursue our dreams. And we chase happiness.

Our audiences are fatigued with these terms that we, Madison Avenue, try to kill the sacred cows to break through the noise when we brainstorm for ideas, but depending on situations or even places or/and target market we tend to re-use them.

Ogilvy, not shy to recycle the dream, produced an aspirational and emotional campaign for TC Bank in Taiwan, Asia. Unlike many cheesy Taiwanese commercials with jingles or dominated-celebrities commercials that I saw during my short stay, this titled “Dream Ranger” commercial with a touch of westernization stood up against the clutter of cute, humorous and (literally) loud ads.

The version I saw was :30 seconds, which I was unable to find on the Internet. But the longer 3 mins versions is as good as the other one. I apologize for not being able to find one with English subtitles, but I am sure with the vivid images, you will be able to capture the message.

One more thing, it is inspired from a real story. So let’s watch:

To understand why this commercial would work or not in Taiwan, we must first understand the culture. Taiwan like many other Asian cultures is a very family-oriented culture. The older generations including my parents live for the second generations. They live to provide their kids the best education, and to raise them in the best possible environment even if it means to sacrifice and lose their self for the children. In short, children are the future.

The fact that this story is an extract from real life events is already a plus. Taiwanese are sensitive with any true emotional story.

In my opinion, this commercial is not targeted toward senior citizens but to a younger target audience of age 50 and under; to those whose minds can still be persuaded and changed, to those who can be inspired, to those who are still chasing for dreams or hopes.

Why it wouldn’t work? The reaction I received from my 70 years old uncle who lived and is still living in Taiwan his entire life is: “Too many oldies in the commercial, don’t you think they should let young people the opportunity to act and work instead of hiring these old people?” Well, it’s just his opinion; the opinion of a 70 years old traditional old fashion Taiwanese man.

What do you think? Do you like the aesthetics of the commercial? And what other commercials you’ve seen project a similar message?

What better company is out there to remind us that the holiday season is all about Love, Sharing and Happiness? Coca-Cola of course! They have a history of creating successful campaigns during the holiday seasons- from catchy jingles to polar bear to penguins. This is year Coca-Cola took a different approach using a generic christmas prop- a snow globe – to shake and bring people together.
Beautiful commercial!

This video is creatively very well done, and generated 1,544,252 views on Youtube, and 22,500 likes on Facebook.

What are some holiday commercials that you really like this year?

The billboard was on the right side of the road, which exposed the left side of the picture to drivers.

So what I saw first getting off the highway was a skull, and then a little boy’s face…

Most of us do not know the difference to drive 10 miles faster, at 30 mph or at 40mph, clearly shown here, it means life or death.

Hit this little boy at 30 mph, and there is an 80% chance he will  live. Hit him at 40 mph, and there is and 80% chance he will die. Perhaps 30 mph or 40 mph does not mean anything to us drivers, but 80% or survival or death makes a BIG difference for a little kid.

Now every time I find myself pressing on the gas pedal I think of this ad.

Who is the association behind this attention-getter PSA? The PSA does not show any logos or name of the association. And I haven’t seen this billboard in other parts of the city. Have you?

After a very successful marketing plan to group an airline company with a cartoon character, according to Venture Republic, Hello Kitty is so popular that Taiwan’s second largest airlines, Eva Air, decided in October 2005 to use the Hello Kitty brand on flight routes between Taipei, Tokyo and Fukuoka. By paying Sanrio a franchisee fee, Eva Air has dedicated an entire Airbus A300-200 to the Hello Kitty brand. Everything from the aircrafts exterior, boarding passes, flight crew uniforms and the interior were all held in the Hello Kitty theme. The special Hello Kitty plane was booked more than 90% on average.

Sanrio’s biggest success is its ability to create products that appeal not only to children, but women in their 20s and 30s around the world. That’s why Kitty adorns not only bedspreads, backpacks and notebooks, but mobile phones, toasters and even cars.

To continue on the success, Smart USA and Sanrio launches the first ever Hello Kitty vehicle wraps. Vehicle owners can order their vehicle wraps through Smart USA’s “smart expressions” website which customize the full body designs with different color schemes to choose from.

Here are a few pictures from the website:

How cute was that?

Wait, there is more… In addition to automobiles, Hello Kitty is also conquering the fashion world with retail brand featuring collections with Hello Kitty.

We have here the Reebok x Hello Kitty Plush Kitty Kicks with the iconic red bow tie.

And the classic Dr. Martens reinvented and limited edition of Hello Kitty’s bow and a mash-up of Sanrio characters.

Wonder what’s next? A Hello Kitty iPad? or a Hello Kitty Space Shuttle?

Once upon a time in the 21st century, Gap decided to change their classic logo, but who knew that social media could change any major decisions that a company makes. In this day of internet, Gap received a severe backlash and protestation from thousand of Facebook and Twitters users for changing their beloved classic blue box with tall white letters logo. The feedback prompted the company to react, and after four days of announcing their new logo, Gap switched it back to its old design.

According to CNN, Gap stated in their press release: “We’ve learned a lot in this process, and we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowdsourcing.”

Why aren’t some marketers still realizing that they should be talking WITH the customer and not AT them? This case is a great example of “Don’t talk AT your consumers, but talk with them.” Lesson learned, and everyone is happy again. The End.

At work, we always get to meet new people, and I am repeatedly introducing myself, saying the same thing over and over again, but I feel like even though there is a lot of talking, we are actually saying nothing at all. Similarly to the old saying: “It is better to say something to someone instead of nothing to everyone,” so why are we still talking AT people all the times instead of talking WITH them.

Respectively, marketers are getting aware that people do not really pay attention when they are talked AT, and they are now switching their game plan to talk WITH the consumer, pulling them and having the consumer to engage with their product or service.

One great example of how a company talks with the consumer is Whole Foods.

Whole Foods does not spend outrageous amount in advertising. The company dedicates to create a great customer experience, engages consumers to learn more about organic product, eco-farming, and non-profit organization, in fact, most of its advertising are word-of-mouth, and they focus more on inside marketing programs such as signage and promotions. What a smart way of using this influential powers of customer as the advertising vehicle.

I think Whole Foods was one of the first company to promote healthier living, socially conscious buying behavior and philanthropy. Originally, in the 80′s, health food stores were small, expensive, and didn’t carry a large variety of products, Whole Foods changed all of this and they became the founding firm of this industry. Correct me if I am wrong. And in additional, the company have an amazing website with blogs, recipes, sale items, tips, podcasts and more. The website is well designed and explains the Whole Foods concept very well, and the blog gives great insight and background about various food or items. They keep it exciting for the consumer to engage in their activities.

The average shopper at Whole Food is affluent, educated and sophisticated. These consumers are already aware that Whole Foods is helping poor countries, the underprivileged, and small farmers, and by using their products they are not only contributing and helping them but also working WITH them to achieve that objectives. That’s why the customers buy recycled bags from Whole Foods, that’s why they bring their own shopping bags,  that’s why they would donate money to Whole Foods whenever the cashier asks “Would you like to donate $1 to help ______________?”

What do you think? Are there any companies that you feel are talking WITH you and not AT you? Or companies that you think fail to achieve the relationship with their target audience and consumers?

By the way, if you haven’t paid attention to today’s date, yesterday was a Sunday night, and the bar was packed. Every move made by the players, good or bad, cheers, screams, boo’s, sobs, laughs, curses, anything you could think of was loudly expressed in the bar by mostly Jets Fans. But my point is, when commercials were on, people were drinking, and drinking, or laughing, and drinking and sometimes eating. No one paid attention to the advertisings—except me perhaps, who only pays attention to the ads and not the game. A couple heads would turn back to the big giant screens hung on the walls to check whether the game was back on or not.

So some of my questions are:

1)   What are the percentage of people watching the football games in a) bar b) friend’s or relatives’ residence c) their own residence?

2)   Is the statistic the same for/during the Superbowl? Are people more likely to watch the Superbowl at home or out-of-home?

With advertisers and marketers spending millions to speak and attract their target audience, especially during the Superbowl, it shows how important this market is. And clearly, the college football audience is large, but how much does this media buy affects the market share increase?

On a interesting note, one gender stereotype that was debunked during this football season is that women are not football fans. Totally untrue from personal experience; my coworker N. is from the South (Florida) and a hardcore Football Fans. And while working, she keeps checking the games and scores on her phone, not to forget, expresses “her opinions” out loudly.  And I guess that is the market segmentation Febreze is going after as the Official Sponsor of the NFL. Turns out that, according to the Nielsen, one third of the viewing audience for the 2009 season for a typical NFL game were women. And the ratio of women in that bar last night was almost equal to men.

Oh yeah, and the Jets had a 31-23 win over Miami Dolphins. =)

Tipp-ex, a White Out product, created a series of youtube campaigns. The ad is not restricted to the video frame,  the character of the video takes over the outside surface of the video frame by erasing the word with Tipp-Ex. The title of the video is “A hunter shoots a bear.“

The video goes like this: a hunter gets attacked by a bear, and then pauses, comes forward to the viewer, directing his attention and informing the viewer that he doesnt want to shoot the bear, and asking the viewer to choose what he should do next. Grabbing the Tipp-Ex from outside the frame, the hunter erases the word shoots in the title and asks the audience to type in any words to help him complete his story.

Personally, I typed words such as “dances, hugs, draws, paints, sings, drinks, eats, erases” and stumbled with hilarious and all different videos- it seems that there are over 50 different possibilities to what you can write in the blank space.

The Tipp-Ex views amounted more than 16 millions views in the past couple of weeks and has created a buzz on other social media platforms, such as twitter, blogs, facebook, etc. I can only say, Genius!!

According to the New York Times, the Chinese carmaker Geely completed the acquisition of 100 % Volvo Car Corporation from Ford Motor and named Stefan Jacoby, the former head of Volkswagen of America, to be president and chief executive of Volvo Cars. After one year of negotiations, the deal finally struck and Geely announced on Monday that it had paid $1.3 billion in cash and issued a $200 million note to complete the sale.

Under the new ownership, Volvo Cars will retain its headquarters and manufacturing presence in Sweden and Belgium; and its management will have the autonomy to execute its business plan under strategic direction from the board, the Geely statement said.

(Photo from CBS News)

I am very eager to see the new position and/or direction that Zhejiang Geely Holding Group the Chinese carmaker and new owner of Volvo will execute.

In 2008, Geely sold 217,000 passenger cars in China, making it the No. 2 domestic producer with a 4.1% market share in China. A not-so-high number. So what does this buyout represent? A smart move from Gelly; not only raising awareness, also perhaps Volvo Cars Corp. is just a channel for the chinese car manufacturer to put its name out there in the foreign market and sooner than later will start exporting its car, at a cheaper competitive price. KIA and SATURN should watch out!

Let’s just hope that there won’t be any slip of quality in VOLVO cars.

But in terms of advertising, just 5 months ago, Volvo launched the “Naughty” campaign for its S60. The new ad campaign was partly developed by Arnold Worldwide of Boston. It launched with a digital experience in March and expanding throughout the year to include television, social media, press ads, experiential activity, outdoor and CRM elements.

(Photo from Mike Howard)

The objective of the ad is to alert to the world that the new Volvo S60 has a fun and adventurous side and attract a younger audience. Hence, a total of twelve short films have been produced at the Volvo test-track in Sweden. The visitor gets to choose from four headlines what test they want to try out and by using the “naughtymeter” they decide just how naughty the S60 is to be. And to further engage the audience, viewers are asked to submit their ideas for an even bigger, better test for the Volvo S60. The winner was announced and Volvo continues their campaign with Naughty Volvo Tour to launch the All-New 2011 Volvo S60.  The Naughty Volvo Tour, which will stop at around 150 Volvo retailers across the U.S. and in Canada, kicked off on July 6 in Cranston, R.I., Tulsa, Okla. and Tucson, Ariz., and will conclude in the fall. Now with a new management, how will it affect the campaign?

Here are some of Geely’s advertising in China: