Car Commercials

Car commercials...typically portrayed as being boring by nature with the flashy, fast car speeding around a racetrack or local car dealerships with small budgets to film without much thought going into the script. Although I can't say I'm a huge "car funatic", I was thoroughly impressed with Audi's latest commercial. It positions itself directly against its competitors by reminding people that these brands are what you're told to like...yet the Audi is different. There is a little boy who stares up at a red flashy car poster, a couple staring at their Lexus, a few businessmen outside their gray BMW's, and finally a shot of an Audi which wizzes by and grabs the attention of all these consumers.

All I can say is what a great way to position your brand, Audi. Stand up to your competitors and tell your consumers they don't have to like what they've been told they are supposed to like. Hoping to see some print or outdoor advertising to implement this campaign further.

SONIC in New England...shocking!!

For YEARS we have waited the arrival of SONIC in Mass and throughout New England! What is Sonic, you ask? Well if you have managed to live under a rock for the past few years, you must have been missing out on the nationwide tv ad campaign that has been driving us New England-ers nuts since there aren't any in this area of the US. Until NOW! Still not sure what it is...then here's Sonic's website.

Sonic lets costumers reminisce on the old fashioned drive-up burger joints...order, eat in the car & go! It's a ton of fun beacause of its quick, easy and affordable style of dining. Don't expect the fanciest feast here though since it is based off the idea of a burger joint but trust me, you won't be disappointed as they have a wide variety of wraps, burgers, salads, smoothies, slushies & more.

A vacation last year led me to my first Sonic in VA and it was incredible! The excitement was incredible leading up to the event & have been hoping ever since to see more break out into the New England area. Looks like the 2.5 years of advertising in this region has finally paid off! Boston Globe reports on how they had to turn away customers after they had waited over 2 hours in line. How crazy is that?

Of course there has got to be a way to tie all this back to marketing so one thing I'm wondering is if Sonic has a way to trace zip codes searched on its website to see the top hot spots in New England to consider opening up more locations. Might make for an interesting way to do marketing research...?

how contradictory are Starbursts?

Although most people see Starbursts as just a bit of juicy flavor to nix that sweet tooth, this candy company would like you to remember that they are a...contradiction! Hmm...seem a bit odd? Well, their new ad campaign - see BrandWeek - embraces their contradictory-ness by reminding people "it's a pack of contradictions". When you think about it, Starbursts are an odd candy because it's hard on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside so it's not a hard candy, not a gum…what category would you call it? Interesting idea which sparked from customer feedback and interesting ads to come with a Scotch-Korean & an albino lifeguard... well you'll have to read more to learn more about it. Hopefully the contradictions won't confuse the customers more but will increase sales with another bit of life's small luxury item at the checkout line.