Smit Shah's Blog

Best Superbowl commercial:
Careerbuilder.com
1. Is the super bowl the correct target audience for this product?
It is human nature to want more out of your current job. Everyone can relate to the feeling of not enjoying their work, and having to just survive the week for a paycheck. Majority of the viewers would consider looking onto CareerBuilder.com to check the kind of opportunities listed there before changing their jobs. Currently the job market is quite hot and the number of individuals switching jobs has increased compared to the last couple of years.
2. Was the ad memorable? Why?
The punchline made it memorable "Don't just survive the week". The idea is that majority of employees would rather be home if they were getting a paycheck without working. Or the'd rather be in a different position or a different company or under a different supervisor give a better opportunity. So in order to pay their bills they work and they survive through the week hoping to get paid on friday.
3. Was the product name memorable? Why?
I had prior knowledge of the website and have used it previously. They displayed their product name at the end of each commerical making it easier to remember instead of having faded text over video.
4. Were the products benefits memorable and clear? Why?
Yes, their message was easy to understand. If you are unhappy with your current job, please visit careerbuilder.com to find a better job then your current one.


Worst Superbowl commercial:
Budweiser Select
1. Is the super bowl the correct target audience for this product?
Most viewers consume beer. It would be a good marketing idea to have an advertisement during the game.
2. Was the ad memorable? Why?
No, the ad was not memorable. The audio was not clear enough for viewers to figure out what the conversation was. Could not figure out what it was about, even after watching it for three times.
3. Was the product name memorable? Why?
No, name to generic "Select" figured out the name the second time I watched it on youtube.com. They should have had a punchline somewhat similar to what Doritoes did for their ad.
4. Were the products benifits memorable and clear? Why?
No, it either did nto mention the benefits or if it did they werent clear. Watching the commerical for a couple of times still did not convey what they were trying to say abou their product.

Smit N Shah

Article # 3
Ad based Free Online Radio

Yahoo Inc. is the pioneer in online radio stations segment. They have a huge customer base from their mail service that enjoy this service for free. They have a collection of over two million songs which are catalogued based on time, genre, and user preference. They also allow users to create their own radio stations where they can mix and match various artists across genres, time ranges, and style. The users can even ignore specific artists or songs if they prefer. They have a paid version of the same service. With the paid version the members agree to pay a specific amount for free unlimited, uninterrupted access to their music library. Yahoo also has an online music store where members can buy songs. In addition to their audio collection, they also have a vast collection of music videos. The music videos are cataloged as well by genre, artist, time and user ratings etc.

Most of today's workforce uses computers in one way or another. Having an online radio station with a huge collection of songs provides a one stop shop for users. Their collection being updated on a regular basis keeps helps it retain its existing customer base. Their service being free makes it even more appealing to online music listeners. A major piece of their free radio station segment generates revenue by placing audio commercials in between songs being played on their radio stations. To support their free service for the video stations, they place static and video images while viewing their video stations on the side of the video player. The idea again is to provide customer advertisements specific to customers preferences. So if a member who likes listening to hip-hop songs would be interested in a concert coming near their city. This provides a higher return on advertisement expense for the concert hosting company and a better revenue for Yahoo. If there is a song that is highly preferred by a specific age group then displaying advertisements regarding events targeted for that age group would provide higher conversion rates.

I think that the customer centric model is what will help marketing and advertising companies succeed in the future. Because the advertisements target specific customers, based on their interests the conversion rates are higher. Over time I would expect Yahoo Inc's revenues to increase at a steady pace.

Smit N Shah

Article # 2
Billboards in the virtual world


Almost all travelers in todays day and age use the internet to get directions from one location to another. About a decade back MapQuest.com was the only free provider of directions to online users. Microsoft came up with MapPoint but the service was not free and the software cost a bundle. But since Google launched Google Maps(based on the original product by keyhole, which Google purchased), its been a different exprience for the online users. Google maps provides quick easy and precise directions from one location to another. Their maps load quickly, the user interface is more intuitive and there is minimum clutter (unwanted advertisements) on the page. Google Maps currently only provide maps in a 2D (Two Dimentional). To be able to view maps in 3D you need to install Google Earth on your machine. They also integrated local resturants, movie places, hotels etc. in Google Earth which makes the product lore valuable to users. Microsoft realizing this potential customer base launched its MapPoint service under the new Live.com concept that it has been trying to push. Their product Live Maps provides 2D images similar to Google Maps. They continue to have a rich user interface which makes the exprience better. They also added a new feature, which currently google does not have, called 3D. It requires the user installing a small software which will enable them to view 3D maps from within their website. In order to generate revenue and continue to provide this service for free, Microsoft inserts relevant advertisements into map. For example: if you are searching for an address, you will also see advertisements for hotels, that look like billboards on the map indicating that there is a hotel nearby the address, it will also provide information about the hotel on that billboard. They plan to extend this concept to city maps used in games like Grand Theft Auto (GTA) where the game could have such billboards of actual companies and help drive down the cost of developing the actual game. Hence driving down costs and creating value for customers.

This is a fairly new concept where the users view advertisements on maps and games. The information is non-intrusive hence users would not dislike its existance. The idea is to create value for customers, and by using marketing/sales models that help increase revenue at no additional cost to the users seems to be suitable for software services industry. The 3D rendering of information made it easier to understand and more human-like. This is a huge market with a lot of users who are always interested in better information. This product provides information specific to a location hence making it more direct to a user as apposed to random advertisements.

This strategy is fairly new and still in Beta by Microsoft. It is too early to comment on wether it would succeed at its goal or not. But based on the past trends that Google has set, it seems reasonable to say that Microsoft's idea of a 3D virtual billboard of the future will be successfull.

http://www.betanews.com/slideshow.php/Virtual_Earth_3D/143/3

http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Launches_Virtual_Earth_3D/1162850835

Smit N Shah

Article # 1
Microsoft Video Advertisement on various websites.


With the technology available today, consumers prefer to do their homework before going out into the market to buy a product. They check customer reviews and feedback on various websites prior to investing in a product. CircuitCity.com has a great user review section for all of their products which makes it easy compare products side by side. CNet.com has their own company reviews and also customer feedback on their articles. They cover almost all technological products from laptops to MP3 players. They have recently also added motor vehicle reviews to their portfolio. Microsoft has started marketing its products online on a such websites. They play a video commerical prior to playing the actual review on CNet.com. In other words if I as a future customer, go to CNet.com to survey a product, they play a fifteen to thirty second video commercial prior to the actual review. This forces me to watch or atleast hear the commercial before I get to see what I actually want.

Advantages of Internet marketing is the broad reach it has to consumers. The Web is not just nationwide - it's worldwide. This means that your product or service can be viewed by people just about anywhere in the world. Compared to other forms of advertising, Internet marketing can reach a far larger number of people. Another advantage is that when you put your money into it, you won't have to put too much. Not only is online marketing fast and easy, it's relatively inexpensive. Compared to other forms of promotions, it is far more affordable and cost effective. Among the other advantages, it can also help you reach your target audience of consumers. These features of online marketing make it a great promotional strategy. Moreover the users viewing this commerical are already using a computer hence provides a perfect target market. Through email marketing, you can reach thousands of people at once. This provides an awesome platform for promoting their products directly to customers instead of intermediate vendors.

Marketing a software product to a user on the internet makes the most sense. The reason being, only someone using the existing technology can value the features and functionality of a newer technology. Moreover, a person visiting a website for user reviews would be a technologically savvy. Hence this would be a perfect target audience for the advertisement. Also, the user wont mind watching it for a short time as long as they get what the came for (the review).