Female Mascots, Where are You?

I don’t know about you, but more often then not I reference to brands and products by their mascot. For Geico, I think of the talking gecko and for Kia I think of the dancing hamsters, who can’t help but love those little guys. The use of mascots is one of the oldest tricks in the book in advertising and marketing but according to Ad Week something seems to be a little off. Where are all the ladies at? Typically, women handle 85% of all purchases made by consumers but only a few out of the 140 brand mascots out there are female characters. The five most famous female mascots include Betty Crocker, Progressive’s Flo, Mrs. Butterworth, M&M’s Ms. Brown, and Chicken of the Sea Mermaid. Although all of these mascots belong to very propionate well-known brands, 3 out of 5 mascots are over 5o years old. Besides Flo and Ms. Brown there are not many new female mascots running around.  I think this concept is something that advertisers and marketers should be using to their advantage. Along with the current animal fad, adding and creating more female mascots might be a really good angle to play at. Like Add Weekly said, women make 85% of all purchases why not increase the number mascots that cater to women? Maybe it would increase your number of sales or talk value and coming from a girls perspective a little more representation would be nice.   

Blog #3 

- See more at: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/best-female-brand-mascots-147486#sthash.xHygB15Z.dpuf

The Upside to Being Hacked

"Interesting day here at BURGER KING, but we're back! Welcome to our new followers. Hope you all stick around!"

The past few days, Twitter has been experiencing some pretty big breaches in security with a recent increase in hack attacks. To almost anyone, being hacked is the last thing you want however these last few break-ins have exposed an unexpected upside for two big brands Burger King and Jeep. According to Ad age, this round of hacks has boosted both of these brands with an increase in followers without having to lift a finger or spend a dime. In a single hour, Burger King gained over 25,000 new followers and continued to pick up followers at a rapid pace.  Pretty good for a days work huh? Along with these big brand hacks, other brands such as MTV and Denny’s have been picking up on the publicity and fake hacking their own accounts to see if they can replicate those same results for themselves. 

http://adage.com/article/digital/account-hacks-shine-light-twitter-s-treatment-brands/239903/

Article #2

Something Wicked This Way Comes

As congress continues to waste time playing school yard games, which I often to refer as the age old "my balls are bigger than your", the country waits in anticipation of the dreaded sequester. This estimated $85 billon dollar round of spending cuts is expected to take its full affect throughout the fiscal year without much hope of a backup plan or a quick effective replacement. In simple terms these “across-the-board cuts” are being used to persuade and put pressure on the public to encourage or in other words force new agreements in congress regarding issues such as new tax revenues. 

Easily predicted, these massive cuts are not only going to affect government personal employment but will hurt defense and education budgets as well as affect the cost of air travel and jobs. But lets be honest, it’s not going to stop there. What about advertising? What about sales? Without a shadow of a doubt, this sequester is going to have a massive trickle down affect. Advertisers are going to have to find new angles and ways of persuasion to make those products we think we have to have affordable and worth it when money starts to get tight. Prices of products are not just magically going to become cheaper just because we dealing with a national budget cut, in fact they will likely go up. The advertising game is going to get a little bit harder and a lot more competitive, it’s time to gear up so some else isn’t stealing your sales.

When times get rough and money and federal aid is a little harder to come by, the majority of society is not looking for those high-end luxury products or shopping at pricey stores but rather going to the affordable second best. It’s going to be all about the next best deal. This sequester is going to affect everyone. Although the magnitude of this trickle down affect is still unknown, it’s time advertisers prepare themselves for the changes it will be facing because let’s be honest, something wicked this way comes and it might be here to stay.   

          

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323864304578320534058412860.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories