Chado-Design.com

Chado Advertising & Design is currently taking on new clients! Our firm is continuing to grow and as we finish current projects we are on the lookout for new projects and accepting new clients. If your business is looking to update current visual communications, introduce your brand or products to another country or culture, or starting fresh with new identity and brand development we would love to talk with you to see how we can help you meet your goals.

Chado is a full service advertising and design firm, meaning we have the capabilities to develop all types of communication including print, broadcast, and digital media. We have developed successful visual communication pieces from engaging corporate videos to extensive, full-color, catalogs and everything in between. No matter what direction you want to take your brand, Chado can devise an effective solution to meet your goals and take your brand to the next level. Our current clients range from small local businesses to large multinational corporations and we are very good at working within your budget. If you want to introduce your brand to an international audience, increase your presence online, or simply grow your customer base within your local community, Chado has the skills, talents, and abilities to help your brand breathe with gripping visual communications and solid brand strategies. Feel free to contact us at anytime and we can sit down with you to show you previous work examples, discuss your goals, and aspirations and come up with an effective marketing strategy.

It was reported earlier this month that Twentieth Century Fox is working on a movie based on the babies from the E*Trade commercials that have premiered during the Super Bowl over the past two years. The movie will most likely be terrible but studio heads still believe it could do surprisingly well at the box office. The plot supposedly involves the talking babies from the popular commercials trying to cross a playground. This isn’t the first time trade characters have made the leap from commercials to longer endeavors. A couple years ago they gave the Geico cavemen their own television show. As expected it didn’t last a full season but it demonstrated the ability for trade characters to have a screen presence for more than 90 seconds. While having your recognizable trade character star in a full length feature seems like a good way to increase brand exposure it also runs the highly probable risk of destroying the character. The E*Trade babies have been launched pretty successful commercials for the brand; people talk about them and they are often picked as favorites among the Super Bowl commercial premieres, effectively increasing the company’s brand equity. If/when this movie fails it will cast a negative shadow on the trade characters making them unpopular, irrelevant, and possibly unsuitable for further commercials. Also, the movie would be blatant rip off of the Look Who’s Talking movies, which were run into the ground in the early 90s with uninspired sequels. I believe that if E*Trade wanted to prolong the success of their “talking baby commercials” and keep their credibility intact, do not make this movie.

Product placement has always been a bit of a controversial topic in advertising. Some feel that it is unethical pitching consumer products and brands in mediums meant to entertain and can be seen as disrespectful to the viewer trying to sneak in blatant advertisements. I have usually taken the stance that it is acceptable in most cases and can usually add to the viewer’s experience. Placing real products in television programs and movies makes the film’s universe seem more realistic and, as long as the brand being represented doesn’t take artistic control away from the writers, actors, and everyone else involved in production, it is an ultimately good thing. Also with the rise of DVRs, Tivos, and streaming video with the capability to skip commercial breaks, traditional television commercials are becoming less effective and being seen by relatively fewer viewers. To remedy this situation it makes sense that ad dollars would be spent on adding the brand directly to the content for maximum exposure.

AMC’s Mad Men does an excellent job of realistic product placement; the advertising firm on the “period piece” show has real brands as clients such as Lucky Strike cigarettes, Heineken Beer, and Hilton Hotels. They also use retro ads to make the 1960s they portray more realistic and engaging.

Another example of well-executed product placement is a recent episode of ABC’s Modern Family, where one of the main characters was very excited about the release of the iPad coinciding with his birthday and not only did the iPad make a cameo, it was the focal point of the episode. The main storyline was about his family going to great lengths to buy the hot new product in time for his birthday. It was mentioned throughout the episode by name numerous times with testimonials on how awesome it will be. Viewers were also treated to a demonstration at the end when the character finally received his new iPad with 37 seconds of screen time.  The episode was very well received with about 9.5 million viewers making iPad’s product placement work close to $1 million. Surprisingly, Apple did not pay a dime for this high profile placement! They did a great job of maintaining the show’s integrity while still incorporating a product placement.

This recent example immediately reminded me of past Seinfeld episodes where products and brands like Junior Mints, Bosco, Drake’s coffee cakes, and even Kenny Roger’s Chicken Roaster restaurants were the main focus of the episode and moved the storyline along playing an integral part of the episode’s plot.

Another medium where we seen increased product and brand placement is videogames. Although much different than television the same theory applies; as long as it doesn’t take away from the content and adds a touch of realism to the game’s universe it can be done ethically. So far it has mainly been sports games that feature real brands and products that add realism to the game’s universe with in-game advertisements and sponsors. For example, in every game in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series the player can skate on real skateboard decks, wears real clothing, and be sponsored by real companies. These in-game placements added value to the player’s experience while enriching the game’s universe.Although product placement in video games has been done well in recent years, it seems to be changing. It was recently reported that the next title in the wildly successful Metal Gear Solid franchise, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will feature product placement for brands like Axe body spray, Doritos, Walkman, and Pepsi Next (a flavor currently available in Asia only). This wouldn’t be a problem in most games but this game’s storyline takes place in the early 1970s, long before any of these products were available. Discussion boards and blogs are already going nuts with Metal Gear’s rabid fan base and looks like it is already starting to backfire.

I believe that content creators have responsibility when determining whether or not to include product placement. They should be the gatekeepers to determine if including brands will add value or cheapen the consumer’s experience. Product placement is becoming more and more necessary as the industry changes but ethical considerations must be taken.

The Vitamin Water brand continues to amaze me; not only do they have a wide range of flavors that are all very good, they also have some of the funniest and clever marketing campaigns in the beverage industry that have been remarkably successful. Since partnering with rapper 50 Cent back in 2004, the company has been using a mix of celebrity endorsements, intelligent social media marketing, and entertaining advertisements to reach new customers and build a very strong brand. In 2007, Coca Cola bought the company for $4.1 billion and has increased its availability world wide allowing it to quickly take market share from soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, and juice drinks alike. They have launched hilarious ads featuring the NBA star and self-proclaimed “Canadian Celebrity” Steve Nash that are truly the funniest ads on TV right now. Their newest ads featuring Nash spoof the successful Dos Equis “most interesting man in the world” ads with Nash as “the most ridiculous man in the world”. Previous ads featuring Nash have spoofed infomercials where he portrays a Billy Mays type of spokesperson praising Vitamin Water with a priceless cameo by 50 Cent. They have also just wrapped a successful social media campaign on Facebook that culminates with the launch of a customer-created flavor available next month. Their latest ad, celebrating the Winter Olympics, transforms bus stops in downtown Vancouver BC into a ski lift with Vitamin Water signage. Taking bus stop ads, which seem to be a dated medium that hasn’t experienced much change or innovation and turning them into a spot for photo opportunities centered around the Vitamin Water brand is a great idea. With Olympic fever and increased tourism pouring into Vancouver these ads are sure to receive a lot of attention. As they continue their media blitz with effective inspired ads across a range of different mediums, Vitamin Water is definitely a company to watch.

The U.S. House of Representatives have recently approved a bill that will limit the volume of television advertisements. The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act or CALM which was approved in late December will introduce guidelines from the Advanced Television Systems Committee that aim to ban excessively loud advertisements and advertisements that are noticeably louder that the program they accompany. Although it will be another year until the FCC will start enforcing this new bill it raises some interesting questions and ideas concerning ethics in advertising.

Its now common knowledge that television ads are made louder to draw attention and hopefully be more memorable to the audience, but does this tactic work anymore? In the early days of television advertising this tactic was very clever, however, as the viewers evolve they will become immune to a trick like this. Today’s viewers are much more skeptical of what they see and hear so this cheap trick to attract attention could come off as rude and unnecessary rather than effective. The excessive noise is considered annoying to most and is would make them more likely to change the channel making it counterproductive. Also, assuming that they will be more susceptible to the brand message simply because it is louder can come off as disrespectful and seem like you are insulting their intelligence. I believe that this now practice is on its way out and therefore does not require government intervention. It does not harm anything but the brand’s reputation. It is nothing more than an old ineffective trick that is losing its place in modern advertising.

Pepsi recently announced that they would not be airing their annual Super Bowl commercial for the first time in twenty-three years. Instead, they are investing the money would usually spend on the expensive ad spots in an ambitious social media marketing campaign. Last year, the 2009 Super Bowl attracted an estimated 95.4 million viewers, with many viewers watching new commercials premiering as attentively as they are watching the actual game so this move by Pepsi is quite the gamble. Historically, Pepsi has spent tens of millions of dollars on TV and this decision and upcoming campaign could be one of the biggest events in the shift from broadcast to Internet media. As television viewership has gone down, Internet usage and social media are on the rise. According to ABC News, in the coveted 18-34 demographic, an estimated 85% now use social media so it is no surprise that more companies are diverting their resources to this new medium.

Pepsi’s new social campaign titled “The Pepsi Refresh Project” will launch on January 13^th. This campaign will be driven by social media outlets and blogs and will encourage individuals and organizations to interact and pitch ideas that will “refresh” their community. The best ideas will be presented via social media and users will vote for their favorite projects. The winners will receive grants enabling them to carry out their community projects in categories like Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods, and Education will be considered. This campaign will ultimately fund thousands of community projects while promoting the Pepsi brand. As Pepsi prepares to launch there is no telling how this social media driven campaign will be received. If this gamble pays off for Pepsi I believe this ambitious new campaign delivered through social media could be the push that further redefines the marketing game.