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Re: Volkswagen 2013 Superbowl Ad

by jaywalk1 on February 1, 2013 in Advertising, Thoughts with No comments
Volkswagen Logo

Many of us have seen the ad by now and heard the controversy. I’ve been chewing on this for a few days and have come to a conclusion.

To me (someone not Jamaican but of West Indian heritage and parentage), the Volkswagen Superbowl ad is not racist. I like it because of what it attempts to accomplish and find it rather interesting for a few reasons:

  1. It presents the unexpected. “Just who is this white man with a Jamaican accent?”
  2. It presents the unexpected within the familiar – the office place.
  3. It highlights a group that is not often mentioned outside of sports, music and a few taboo topics.

THAT SAID, I did have one issue with the commercial. Several stories note that the VW team surveyed the ad among 100 Jamaicans and that a speech coach was hired to help the actors be as accurate as possible with the accents.

Here’s my issue: Jamaica is quite diverse, with people of African, Anglo, Asian and Indian descent. They could have identified actual Jamaican actors from any of these groups and still had the same (if not a better) effect on the public because it would have been more authentic by design.

I may explore this further via Socially Diverse, but in 2013, culture wins!

 

In the End, Culture…and Planking Win

by jaywalk1 on January 10, 2012 in Advertising with No comments
More Fun in the Philippines
More Fun in the Philippines

Ad Age and CREATIVITY recently covered a new campaign developed by BBDO Geurrero Manilla that turned out to be a big hit. The slogan for the campaign is pretty simple: “It’s more fun in the Philippines.”

The campaign has started to grow in popularity due to the cultural connections. There are several user-generated iterations, but this is one of my favorites so far.

No matter how you feel about planking, you can’t deny that culture wins.

Great campaigns create a point of connection with their target audiences. When that connection is centered on culture and you give it room to grow, you’re bound to get some interesting results.

Remember – Culture (and in this case…planking) wins.

Click here for the goods. 

Does the PR Industry Need a Minority Czar?

by jaywalk1 on February 8, 2010 in Advertising, Diversity, Public Relations, Social Media with No comments
bigtent

Working in social media, I have the opportunity to read lots of blogs throughout the day on behalf of clients. One blog I enjoy reading personally is the Big Tent by Ad Age.

In a recent post, blogger Doug Miller says “The Country Might Not Need a ‘Minority Czar,’ but Advertising Does.” I won’t go into too much here because I think the article presents an interesting perspective that you should get from the source. I will say that it made me think: “Does the PR Industry Need a Minority Czar?”

Though PR and Advertising are like feuding cousins, the two industries have a lot of similarities. Unfortunately, one of those is an issue with diversity. Give the article a good read, and if the spirit moves you, please share your thoughts.

Can Cause Marketing Work to Distract the Donor?

by jaywalk1 on January 12, 2010 in Advertising, Social Marketing, Thoughts with 2 Comments

Before you come to an easy Yes or No, please take another minute or so to fully digest the question because your answer is directly linked to whether or not I, your potential donor, will give money to your organization and cause.  I’ll ask again:

Can Cause Marketing Work to Distract the Donor?

To give more context, I’ll give you the situation that led me to this question and walk through my thought process. Yesterday, I sat at my desk wrapping up a few things in the evening. As I shut down my computer, I grabbed a post-it note and jotted down a quick list of to-dos. I know, I know. How un-GenY/Social Media of me…I’m just not at the point where I’m ready to rely on services like Evernote, but clearly, they’re on my radar.

Back to the list though…

The last bullet on my list was: “Check in on Charity Water.”

Now, I first got acquainted with Charity: Water via the first Twestival and shared my thoughts on how the DC event was organized and my change of heart after the fact. It had been months since I ventured over to their site for updates, so I wanted to check in on them.

Their cause is an important one, so I made up my mind to make a donation.  My eyes immediately were attracted to the large images and I began to scroll down, but I didn’t see a donate button. However, I did see something for merchandise, so I decided to click there.

First Option, The Little Black Box

This seemed like a nice option…price was reasonable AND I could help provide clean water to one person in a developing nation for 20 years. Sounds like a start… but I wondered what else did they have there…what else could I get?

A $40 gift card/DVD set….

An $80 gift set with 5 branded bracelets, 1 tee shirt, 1 water bottle….

Then the big dog… $5000 to sponsor a well that would provide an entire community with clean, safe drinking water for 20 years!

I kept going back and forth on these options (minus the well…I’m not there…YET!). What was I trying to do? Because there were these different options, I was sitting at home trying to do some sort of cost/benefit analysis.

What did I do at the end of the night? NOTHING.

Someone must have called…a google alert must have come through…a jam could have started playing…

Despite whatever you might think of me and my situation, here are the facts:

  • I couldn’t find a donate button prominently featured on the homepage.
  • The merchandise actually served to distract me from the goal of giving.

Now, we come to the major questions:

  • How many people would follow the same path that I did?
  • How many of these people are your potential donors?
  • How could your organization or ones you know rectify this situation?

I’m conflicted about calling this Cause Marketing because of the simple transaction/exchange which occurred. I’m 50/50. If you have thoughts on that or any of the questions above, please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Oh… and to conclude the story,  I did purchase something – the little black box. We’ll start here and see where it goes.

Hopefully, this provoked some deeper thinking about online giving, what some view as cause marketing and how it relates to you, your organization, groups you know AND potential donors.

Retailers Defend Ammonia Treated Beef

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