PR Campaign: Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise has received negative publicity from his views on scientology and from his outburst of love for Katie Holmes in his infamous interview with Oprah. Ways in which his PR agent can reverse these negative views of him are to bring other scientologists into the picture. John Travolta and Kelly Preston, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are also scientologists, but no one thinks they are crazy. So, for Tom Cruise to look sane again his PR agent should set up another interview with Oprah. This one, having pre-drafted questions and answers to avoid making any mistakes or looking ridiculous on television.

Favorite Superbowl 2008 Ads

Superbowl commercials are always the most entertaining ads out there. No matter what brand they are advertising, they are usually extremely funny. As in the case of the 2008 Superbowl, my favorite commercials would have to be the Bridgestone Tire commercials and the Bud Light beer commercials. In a Bridgestone commercial a squirrel starts screaming at the top of his lungs because he is about to get hit by a car, followed by practically every other animal in the entire forest screaming, and the wife in the passenger seat screaming as well, until her husband spins around the squirrel and nothing is harmed. The commercial reads Bridgestone Tires or nothing. This ad just mocks the idea of a car crash and plays up its humor level as it illustrates how easily avoidable crashes can be with Bridgestone. The Bud Light beer commercials are also a favorite of mine, as they show the ability of a person to have supernatural abilities directly after drinking Bud Light. In one commercial a guy is given the ability to fly, until all of the sudden he is sucked into the turbo engine of an airplane, where Bud Light claims: ability to fly no longer available. This is great because you’re definitely not expecting this outcome. But nonetheless, Bud Light’s refreshing taste remains.

Message Appeal: 2 Ads that work, 2 that don't

Commercials that I tend to be most animated for are ones that are funny. I think every person likes a commercial that is humorous. Although, it is difficult to appeal to the humor levels of mass numbers of people, some commercials have been able to reach many Americans at their humor levels simply because they play off of people’s commonly made mistakes or misfortunes. For instances, AT&T commercials about the necessity to have AT&T’s network “more bars in more places” demonstrates many people’s bad luck simply from not being able to communicate. I think it can be amusing to see hypothetically how many ways a vacation can go wrong or to see how events can arise that you never planned for. Some of these include AT&T’s "Hong Kong Mistranslation", unsuitable "Hotels in France", "Naked Beaches in Spain," and the "Techno Twins in Brussels." Since people clearly do not want these mistakes to arise when they are away from home, customers would be more motivated to joining the AT&T network.
FreeCreditReport.com also plays on the idea of misfortune that people aren’t prepared for. The commercials are great because they enhance MOA (motivating, opportunity, and ability) while providing an entertaining commercial. They enhance consumer motivation and opportunity by creating novel stimuli—catchy, easy to remember songs which constantly repeat the brand information. They also enhance ability to relate by providing realistic contexts for everyday life about bad credit scores and potential credit card theft.
Advertisements that I am not a fan of include the 2008 Super bowl commercial for SoBe Life Water and the Axe Dark Temptation: Chocolate Man. The SoBe Life Water ad featured Naomi Campbell and a bunch of lizards dancing to Thriller. The commercial did not represent any of the 4 types of message appeals—humor, fear, guilt, or sex appeal. The commercial did not show why SoBe Life water was good to drink, nor did it seem rather to relate to anything. It was entertaining to see the lizards dancing to Thriller, but its use of Naomi Campbell did not enhance consumer motivation because she did not make people want to drink the water. She appeared to be off-beat while dancing and not a convincing Life Water drinker. Then, at the end of the commercial, a lizard crawls into the Vitamin water! I, for sure, do not want to image a lizard in my drinking bottle. The ad did not work.
As for the Axe Dark Temptation Chocolate Man commercial I have to say that I was intrigued. It was a very interesting concept to appeal to men while playing off of the cravings of women. However, the commercial seemed to portray male dominance and give the impression that women would do anything for chocolate, which is obviously not the case. As a chocolate lover, I was kind of appalled to see women licking the guy’s ears off in the movie theatre and stopping their gym work-out to watch him walk down the street. I suppose from a guy’s perspective that is what he would want in a cologne.