Old Spice Commercial from Brianna's Blog

    

      This old spice commercial focuses on a man who looks like a decorated captain of a ship, but immediately says that he's not. So apparently appearances are deceiving, at least to the nose. He only looks like a strong, burly man because he's wearing old spice. It’s interesting they take this stance in the commercial because it seems that they're flaunting the fact that they’re lying.  One might go as far enough to say that they're promoting lying, and being someone you’re not.  

What is really prominent in the commercial though is the fact that he has gold coins coming out of his pockets, and they flood his house. It consumes the  house and fills it up over the man and his wife's heads. This use of gold coins plants the thought in the audiences head that old spice will make you seem rich and wealthy. If you use old spice, gold will be spilling out of your pockets because you smell so good.

A Revealing Glance into My Writing Process

     When Chel Whit edescribes his painful writing process he says that he's not ready until he drives off a cliff when inspiration finally hits. This is how i feel, driving off into the unknown with no idea how to start it off, what to write about, or where it's going to end up. One thing about driving off a cliff is that once you start, you can't stop. Just like once you start writing something you can't just abandon it in the middle. You need to continue to write it and see it through til the end. Going off the cliff is like entering the literary world of opportunities. The possibilities are endless once you get an idea about what youre going to write.

Heineken Commercial

This Heineken commercial is the most interesting out of the three commercials we've watched in class. This commercial is well done and gets the point across in the short amount of time it has. The commercial employs a use of language that makes the viewer focus on what the commercial is about. Even though they never say the actual products name, the woman is speaking another language. This might get the consumer to turn the volume up to hear it better or stick out in their mind because its different than hearing something in english and forgetting about it five minutes later.
     This commercial mainly focuses on symmetry. There is a larger party going on in the foreground of the house but the host and hostess each take three of their friends to the back of the house to let them in on their secret spaces. This can symbolize that this beer is an elite beer, that only a select few can access this German beer. When the woman shows her girlfriends the walk in closet, they shout and scream in glee. Wall to wall filled with shoes, clothes and accessories. However, overshadowing them with their extreme happiness is the host and his guy friends because he has a walk in refrigerator filled to the max with the Heineken beer.
    As important as this symmetry is, it is worth noting that only the men are shown with the beer. This is an interesting point because it isolates half their target audience. It stereotypes women to only be happy if they have a closet filled with their shopping spoils but they can't have the beer, only the men can. This is a seemingly bad choice on the marketing standpoint because now some women may not drink Heineken out of spite. That can really hurt sales, since the point of a commercial is to generate sales.

My Video: Dove Beauty campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Asking the right questions: Heineken Commercial

1) Is there anything designer in the walk in closet?
2) Who were all those people in the house?
3) What was she saying to her friends?
4) What country are they in?
5) Why were they showing off the walk in closet?
6) Why do they never say the name of the beer?
7) Why do they show only the guys with the beer?
8) Who is their target audience?
9) Why are the men and women seperated?
10) Why are they only showing the rooms to a certain number of friends?
11) Why do only the women speak?
12) Is the product only available to the rich?

Asking the right questions: AT&T

1) Why choose Hansel and Gretel?
2) Why the rapid day to night change?
3) Why use the particular catchy, repetitive song?
4) Why does no one talk until the end?
5) Why didn't they start skipping until they had the phone?
6) Why use such young children?
7) Why are they in a big city?
8) Why use a complex story in such a short amount of time?
9) Are they selling the GPS or the company?
10) What makes their GPS better?
11) What is their target audience?
12) What do the bread crumbs represent?

AT&T Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel, the story of two children who get lost in the woods and find their way home after following a trail of bread crumbs back to their cottage. AT&T changes this story slightly for their own marketing purposes. Instead of being in a forest they are lost in a big city walking somberly along leaving their breadcrumbs. However, in this version their breadcrumbs disappear so the children are left alone in this big city without any way to get home.

Luckily they had their AT&T 3G phone with them so they were able to get back to their cottage. They were actually so happy to have the help of AT&T’s wireless network that they started skipping. This is a significant point to make because before this they were just dragging along, now with the phone they are can skip, be carefree and act like children. They don't have to worry about getting home because AT&T GPS app will do that for them. This means that they’re parents don’t have to worry about them getting home either. Now they can just live in the moment and enjoy life all because of AT&T, since its "your world, delivered."  

Writers as Warriors

Trimble makes the case that all writers are like warriors, defending their claims. This is a valid point because if the writer himself doesn't defend his own point then who else will? Only the writer knows the ins and outs of his own argument. No one else can defend their position like they can. So it's their job as a warrior to fortify it and prove their point beyond a doubt. The writers know how to win their battles as warriors in this war of words.

Pantene Commercial

     The goal of any commercial or marketing technique is to gain customers. This being said, Pantene hair products are no different. This particular commercial tells the "extraordinary" story of an asian deaf girl who overcomes her disability, to play the violin in front of a large audience at a contest. One scene that stands out from the rest is while she is playing on stage and we are transported to a field of wheat. This seemingly cliche image of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon could symbolize any number of things; from  overcoming her disability, playing without formal training, to the impossibilty of playing a taped violin. This scene is meant to stand out for one purpose and one purpose alone, a butterfly is Pantene's logo.
      This whole metaphor is just a marketing technique, to leave the consumer with the thought that all this was possible because of Pantene. She was able to achieve her greatest dreams because she had great hair. Pantene uses this subtle imaging and the overall storyline to connect with the consumer on a personal level. This commercial is likely to stick with the viewers because it plays on their emotions. They can feel the young girl's pain, tears, and struggles, and feel elated at the end with her being triumphant. This is just another marketing technique used by Pantene to gain more customers. The main point of this, is that all of this was possible because she had great hair.

So here I am at Hofstra and I am blogging. Writing online makes me feel....

exposed. i never like when people read my writing because i feel like its just not good enough, but for this everything is out in the open. Everybidy and their mother can read this post and i really dont know how i feel about that. I think i feel differently about wiriting on here rather than say twitter or facebook because there you have some control over who can read or view it. Here you dont know who is reading what im writing. Everyone can see your mistakes, feelings, views, beliefs bascially everything. I like to show people things when its done, and perfect. this is just raw and undone and incomplete? maybe thats the word im looking for. I also don't like writing with a time limit, i feel pressured and rushed to get everything out of my head so i apoligize if this seems un organized. I guess this is something that im going to have to get over though if im going to have to do this more often. Antoher thing i dont like it not being able to backspace. Spelling errors can effect how some one sees the piece and its not usual for me to leave things without checking them over.  1 mintue 22 seconds to go and im running out of thoughts to say, i guess i just dont like the anonymity of this but i will get over it.