Underwear Fig Leaf Marketed To Protect Privacy At Airport

A guy from Las Vegas, Jeff Buske created a special kind of underwear with a strategically placed fig leaf design that protects travelers' privacy when undergoing medical or security screenings. Jeff Buske says his invention uses a powdered metal and the underwear's inserts are thin and conform to the body's contours, making it difficult to hide anything beneath them. The mix of tungsten and other metals do not set off metal detectors. There are also sports bras for women that have two fig leaves covering the breasts. The price of the product varies from $9 to $37.

I'm not sure how I feel about that, because I have never had problems with that. I don't look at it as invading my privacy, so I don't see the need for that product. And I am not sure how popular the product will get. I don't really see a bright future for it. There are definitely people who do care about it. Probably the inventor himself had issues with it, or he knew people who had. However I see a bigger success for that product in US market than in for example European market because of the difference in people's views and mentality. That's just my opinion. But I definitely give credit points to this guy for the creative idea.

Food Likes Mozart??

In Japan there is a growing business trend to play classical music to some food products like bananas, sake, noodles. For 20 years Ohara Shuzo, a sake brewery in Fukushima Prefecture, has been serenading their fermenting rice during the third stage of the brewing process. For an hour in the morning and one in the afternoon, maturing sake designated for the company’s “classical series” enjoys the vibrations of Mozart’s “Symphony 41” and “Piano Concerto 20” from their stainless-steal tanks. It wasn’t always this way. Experiments with jazz, Bach and Beethoven were initially conducted by the company, but they did not produce the “richer fragrance and a milder taste” that Mozart does, Ohara told the paper. While claims that music can benefit plants are nothing new, insisting the classical greats can improve the taste of everything from bananas to soy sauce certainly is. And it’s a growing business: Consumers in Japan can now pick up bananas, tomatoes, udon noodles and soy sauce that has a label on it saying that the product has been exposed to  classical music of Mozart.

I think it's a great idea to sell something. It's a great way to differentiate the product from competitors. In the same time there have been studies made proving the effect of music. So, I as a consumer who believes in the power of the sound, would totally buy those products that are discussed above.

Viral Marketing

About a month ago I read a news about wolves attacking people and police in the parking lots and on the streets in downtown Moscow. There even was a video of it. It was explained that due to the great fire that hit Moscow and its surrounding area in summer, there was not enough food for the wolves. So they trespassed the city to find food. The videos got a lot of attention. I thought it was really odd. Wolves in the middle of Moscow, really?? That's interesting how they made it there. It's pretty much the same as the idea of wolves in downtown Chicago or Washington. So, in a week or two the secret was revealed: it appeared it was part of a highly-focused ad campaign for Eristoff, a spirits-maker which is trying to launch itself onto the Russian market. The campaign's name is Wolf Is Back. It is a great example of viral marketing. It was a creative way to link a real issue in Russia to the advertisements for their vodka.

videos: wolves in the parking lot

wolves attacking police

the homepage for the camapaign

Interesting Phenomenon

So, I was looking through some news from back home and my eye was caught by this news from the economy section of the webpage. I thought it's an interesting phenomenon and will perfectly fit in here to write about it. The economy in Estonia goes through hard times right now like the rest of the world. Even though the whole country is struggling in the economy crisis there is an unexplained phenomenon: increased use of an expensive prescription medicine that is used to treat high cholesterol called Crestor. According to the statistics Agency its sales rose 30% within a year. The increase of usage is even more outstanding considering the fact that the overall use of medicines has decreased during the crisis and this trend applies to most drug groups. The explanation may be behind the company's Astrazeneca effective outreach work. Crestor is company's one of the main products. Last year AstraZeneca spent 1.6 million Euros on advertising their product. They also did a great job in promoting their products abroad by sending doctors in different countries to introduce the medicine.

What I can see is that people really value their health even in difficult times. They do not want to spare on their health. Many of us assume automatically that higher price means better quality and companies know that and benefit from it. But is it really true? Is there a positive correlation between the price and quality? I am not really sure about it. As trying to be a reasonable consumer I think before I buying something. I rather spend some more time on finding information and doing some resaerch and comparison than overpay. For example buying a flu medicine at CVS: there is this $20 brand and one shelf below I see $10 CVS brand medicine that serves the same purose. I automatically want to grab $20 drug, but now I have become more aware. I compare those both brands to see the difference. Usually there is no signifficant difference between them. So, I do not see the point in paying more just because the product has a well known brand, more expensive looking package etc.

Does Wrangler Have a Brett Favre Problem?

So, probably many people are familiar with the scandal swirling around NFL player Brett Favre who got into trouble sending inappropriate messages and pictures to Jenn Sterger. Favre is a spokesman for Wrangler jeans. The problem is that people started questioning if he is a right person to be a spokesperson for the brand. It's asked if this is the image that Wrangler wants to portray? I think there is nothing wrong with it. I think Wrangler would actually benefit from it. Favre has all attention on him, he's become even more famous. Usually that "bad" fame has a bigger influence than that "good" fame, because people like drama, scandal, gossip. Some celebrities know that very well and using it and benefiting from it and companies are paying them a lot to get them in their team.

http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=146678

GAP: new vs. old

A couple of days ago a well known chain of retail clothing stores GAP returned to its old logo after confirming their new logo just four days before. "We chose this design as it's more contemporary and current. It honors our heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward," said Marka Hansen, Gap North America president. Apparently the customers didn't like it according to the online poll results. The logo, was created by New York agency Laird & Partners. After what happened GAP suggested that design professionals should help fix the mistake by offering up ideas for free.

First of all I don't see the point of changing the logo. People know the brand, the old logo has helped to build this perception of the brand: a brand awareness. Why braking it with something new. I understand they tried to change something...toward the future...new and fresh. But I don't think the logo is what should be changed. They should have looked at their other fields.

To be honest the new logo is awful. Before even throwing it into public, how did they got so far into the process without realizing how horrible and boring the new design was. Feels like one of the designers came up with it, kept it in secret from others, suggested it to one of the members of the GAP team and this person without consulting with anybody decided according to his/her taste that the new logo is good enough to replace the old one. It's just how I feel about the story.

Then next thing that makes me wondering...why the advertising agency should offer the new ideas for free? I do not really agree it was their fault. I mean of course the work they did was awful, but GAP had full rights to refuse to accept the work. Nobody forced them to take the idea. They could easily just reject it and say that they are not satisfied with what they are paying for, ask for a new one or find another agency. Seems like they didn't do that, that means they found the job the designers did totally okay. Now it's kind of a late to accuse somebody else.

                                                    New logo                    Old/current logo

Viva Starbucks Via flavored instant coffee!!!

Starbucks is running a campaign for its Via flavored instant coffee. Apparently Starbucks launched Via in September 2009, and within a year, passed $100 million in global sales. The new flavors are vanilla and cinnamon. As part of the launch, Starbucks will once again sample the drink at its stores, and is dangling a free tall coffee with the purchase of one of the flavored coffees.

To be honest I saw that product just recently. I don't know is it because they did not do good job on advertising it well enough or it's just me and the message just didn't reach me. But the new flavors sound really attractive. When I finally saw the product at Starbucks it didn't make me consider buying it. The idea of a regular instant coffee doesn't sound like something I would like to try. Adding some flavor to it...now that's the turning point right there. Moreover, they are giving a free coffee with the purchase of the instant coffee. I even saw this ad on facebook. There was an even created for that campaign. They got my attention, they hit the target....I'm going to try it.

I would argue that...

I found this ad on the webpage of banned ads. This ad, from the Russian Finance magazine was banned in Moscow. The poster company had to tear down a 100 posters overnight after receiving a letter from Igor Presnyakov, chairman of the Moscow Committee for advertising and information. The case is several years old but I found it interesting enough to express my opinion. The ad was claimed as one of he best banned ad. The campaign, by the Russian Finance magazine, was judged immoral by the Committee. Maybe, but I find it hilarious. I think the creatives did a great job. You can see the image of euro and dollar. Above there is a sentence in Russian: "Magazine of how the money is made". When you see the image and read the sentence, you will understand what the point is. It is sad when sometimes the regulations and rules ''kill'' the creativity. It needs space to develop. It doesn't like the limits...that's the point that can cause problems. Anyway, the funniest part of the case was the excuse the magazine's publisher Igor Maltsev made. He said he did not realise what the posters were supposed to represent. "I thought the currencies were dancing on our poster, but after hearing from Mr Presnyakov I saw that, yes, maybe, this is a love scene." So Russian-like. Those who have ever been dealing with Russians, know what I am talking about. But the ad is good.

Hit by the remarketing...

I read this article about remarketing...the tactics used to communicate with people who’ve previously visited key pages on advertiser's website, giving a powerful new way to match the right people with the right message. Well, before reading this article I did not know anything about it. Not only I got to know what it is, I also experienced it personally a week after that. I heard about those new kind of shoes that became really popular. They are called toms. So, I looked them up to get more information on their homepage toms.com. Ever since then every time I watch something online, is it a show, movie or music video, the toms ad pops out. It is a bit annoying. If I didn't know what I am dealing with I would probably just be thinking that it is a coincidence. Maybe I would even go back to their homepage, maybe would consider buying them eventually. But knowing that it is not just a coincidence and the fact that they keep on haunting me created a bad image of them for me. I agree...from the advertiser's point of view it is a great way to pursue the consumers in a more effective way, but from the consumer's point I feel it's like invading my privacy, trespassing upon it.

You saying ghost brand huh...

A couple of weeks ago there was a lecture about the new language of advertising. The first term we talked about was a ghost brand. By the way I really like the name of it: the stress on the word ''ghost'' makes it interesting. Anyway...some examples were brought out like Pepsodent, Ovaltine, a couple another brands, and RC Cola. When I heard that last one  I was like ''wait a minute...RC Cola...ghost brand?'' Namely I was back home in Estonia over this summer and guess what they were advertising there so intensely. Yes, RC Cola. We didn't have it until June 2010. So, it's interesting how some brands are considered to be out of market in some countries, while being something brand new in others. I also attached the link of Estonian RC Cola TV-commercial. Even though it's not in English, the message should be quite clear.
http://vimeo.com/12264360