Week 3 Advertising

Week 3 Advertising

Topic 1

            Good day all! Please forgive my blog being later than usual. Who knew that fighting ear infects as a kid and struggling with motion sickness most of my life one could end up with Vertigo! Trying to write, type or even sit has been an experience. Onward we go, I used Pinterest as my media source and Pokémon Go as my ‘test subject’. After bringing up Pinterest I used the search bar and typed in Pokémon Go, I wanted to see what other topics it would bring up. Subtitles that were brought up were; Tips, funny, hacks, updates… the list goes on. It appears the target audience are kids, young adults and people who are into Anime. Most everything is in cartoon form with bright colors. First things that pop up are charts of different Pokémon one can hatch from eggs, products one can buy and rarity Pokémon charts. This is a game that can be played individually or on a team, this is also something they show right off the bat with posters showing the different teams you can join. Within the free information, is product information that can be purchased, like a smartphone cover that shows a poke’ ball. This is a free play game, however, there are upgrades that can be purchased within the game.

            I believe the platform for this game is working quite well. This game promotes not only individual play but group play, this has taken the form of poke’ walks, runs and communities getting together to play. There are monthly community days that are promoted within the game for people to get out and walk, play and battle. From personal experience most of my children and grandchildren play; we take walks specifically to play this game. My children have purchased merchandise and upgrades within the game. I scanned down the page a short way and saw advertisements for phone covers, clothing and merchandise for the home. This has turned into a worldwide game with a massive following, while walking one night with my husband we stopped to talk. We were called over by a group of players, we exchanged game information and they were very willing to share game hints.

            This game has been very successful because, it has tapped into the competitive nature of people, it has included ALL people from all walks of life and different countries. Pokémon Go was developed on portable devices and the advertisements have been primarily on social media to hit their target demographics. The developers found a way to create a game that encompasses exercise and the sense of community, people are encouraged to do events together, like getting together with family and friends for a Poke’ run, bike ride or walk. People are exchanging information on Facebook, twitter and other media platforms. The developers have saturated all outlets that young adults are using.

            I think the developers and promoters for this game have covered all the issues that people had had problems with. Pokémon Go promotes exercise, getting outside and interacting with people. It does have the addictive aspect to it, I find myself saying I just need to walk a little further then I can hatch this egg. The game is easy to play and there’s lots of information for free if you need help. I truly can’t think of how they could have promoted this game better. The fact they piggy backed this game off of a popular cartoon that’s been around a very long time was brilliant. This doesn’t even touch on the popular card game that came out first.

                                                       

Topic 2

            The ad that irritates me is, Pandora Premium. When you listen to Pandora they advertise this service, when you open up the program they advertise it. It’s really annoying. The ad talks about listening to music offline, while you’re traveling and being able to take it with you anywhere; of course for a low monthly fee. The target audience is Pandora listeners and anyone who listens to a lot of music.  The approach I feel they’re using is ‘hidden-fear’. If you don’t have this package you may not be able to listen to your music when you want to. This ad drives me crazy! As I’m writing this they played an ad for the package, “Free for seven days, click the banner to redeem.” I am not a fan of this ad. I’m sure this package appeals to those that do travel or spend time in areas where reception is spotty. For some a free seven-day trial is nice to see if it’s worth the time money and time, however, if you forget to cancel you get charged.

            The second advertisement is for Corona. This ad talks about; it can only be summer with this specific beer. Or, it can only be a good summer with this beer. What stood out to me is the people on the beach drinking beer. So let’s recap, for it to be summer you have to be drinking Corona on a beach. I feel this is ‘stereotyping’ and ‘association principle’. You can associate the beer with summer and ‘everyone’ is doing it. If you’re going to a party you’d think of the brand; because of the atmosphere the commercial portrays. The target group would be young adults, older teenagers or anyone with disposable time and cash.