Thursday, September 19, 2013

Week 4: eMarketing

The term 'eMarketing', or better known as online advertising, has been voraciously adopted by all sorts of companies all over the world to send messages to consumers about their products. With tools such as video editors becoming increasingly user friendly, it is becoming too easy to whip up an advertisement you'd pass off as eMarketing.

Anyone can create an advertisement on a software and post it online. But the key to a good advertisement lies in several important details. In class, we talked about the AIDA model:

Proven: I go through these steps a little too quickly whenever I shop online :(

This model illustrates how a consumer goes to a website, and a product or probably the brand attracts his or her attention. Next, the consumer demonstrates interest by clicking on a link to the product. The consumer shows desire when he or she decides whether to get the product. Finally, there's action when the consumer actually purchases the product. Beyond this first visit, there is the loyalty a consumer demonstrates if he or she visits the site again for future purchases.

This AIDA model can also be used for eMarketing. When someone views an interesting advertisement online, it could spur the subsequent actions following capture of attention.

I have personally created my own mantra for what I feel can make an exceptional eMarketing advertisement. With this, I present to you my very own SAUCE model!




With this SAUCE model, I analyzed several popular online advertisements. 


1) Simplicity

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo Da Vinci

When you think of an Apple advertisement, the first word that comes to your mind is probably simplicity. The beauty of Apple's eMarketing is that they are extremely plain and straight to the point. Go to their website and you will be immediately greeted with their less-is-more online ads:



The website is designed to be extremely clean cut, with directions on what to press if you'd like to be directed to a certain product.

Apple appears to keep things consistent by designing very simple looking software and tech as well. Nobody likes a product that is complicated and difficult to use. Similarly, nobody likes to look at a complicated advertisement that does nothing but confuse or irritate you. 


2) Ads that don't look like ads

This one can get a little confusing. An advertisement that doesn't seem like an advertisement? How is it possible?

Take a look at this YouTube video:



At first, I had absolutely no idea that this was an advertisement. What I thought was a really clever and intriguing prank video turned out to be a promotion tactic for the movie Carrie, a remake of the Stephen King classic novel of the same name. I was so impressed by the video that I sent it to my mother. One thing led to another and this weekend my family is going to watch Carrie


Online campaigns that disguise themselves as anything but ads are exceedingly attention grabbing simply because the consumer doesn't think of it as trying to sell something. Instead, ideas are being planted subconsciously. This way, consumers wouldn't be overwhelmed or too critical about being sold a product.


3) Unforgettable 

By unforgettable I really mean iconic viral videos. Old Spice, a brand of body spray, released its commercials on YouTube and it was a hit. The advertisement features Isaiah Mustafa and his ridiculous wacky monologues, Old Spice ads have been circulated and viewed nearly 47 million times on YouTube as I'm typing. It even outranked Obama's victory speech on YouTube in terms of viral videos in its first 24 hours.





Old Spice created an unforgettable character with its commercials- now, whenever someone mentions Old Spice body spray, I don't think about the deodorant. Instead, the image of the Old Spice Guy and the catchy jingle pops up in my head. Despite being an old brand of deodorant, Old Spice successfully rebranded themselves and managed to sound both cheeky and manly to appeal to their younger target audiences.


4) Creativity

For your online eMarketing campaign to be seen and remembered, it has to be creative to stand out among the rest of the ads. You would have to think out of the box and present your product or service in the most ingenious way possible.

Last year, Air New Zealand released a truly unique and fun safety video with characters of the Lord of the Rings. As the movie the Lord of the Rings was shot in New Zealand, it was a great way to bank on the related movie characters to create a never-before-seen air safety video to break the monotony of the otherwise boring default ones.

Most recently, Virgin America, another airline carrier, also made the viral video list with their air safety music video. While Air NZ featured hobbits, elves and wizards (and Gollum) from Middle Earth, Virgin America had singing air stewardesses, dancing pilots and a robot dance segment.



The video, which was released on Oct 29, garnered over 3 million views in less than a week. This is an excellent way to increase brand awareness alongside teaching passengers about air safety. We'll definitely be seeing passengers paying more attention to the safety video on Virgin America now.


5) Emotion

A successful ad campaign can also be one that tugs on the viewers' heartstrings or makes them laugh with saturated humor. Thai advertisements are famous on YouTube for manipulating their audiences' emotions, which makes their videos very memorable.

This extremely touching video by Thai telecom True Corporation has had millions of views since its debut on YouTube last month. It was even featured on the famous site Mashable and praised for its tearjerking storyline.



Another trivia point: it's based on a true story!

Although traditional media is still largely relevant, eMarketing is a venue for businesses and companies to reach out to different sets of demographics, such as teenagers and young adults. With the high circulation and reach of the Internet, any company that does not adopt a good eMarketing campaign is missing out on a large chunk of audience.

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