As consumers become more educated on the nature of running a business and the practices that associate it, they also start to learn that they do not want to be manipulated in the ways that they may have been in the past. That is why some people are finding that traditional advertising is not nearly as effective as it may have been before, because these potential customers are starting to see right through the techniques being employed on them. In this way, it is important as a business owner to consider alternative marketing strategies.

For instance, it’s not uncommon to find a fair bit of product placement in television shows and movies. The recent Transformers movies from Michael Bay very clearly promote the products of General Motors, plainly showing us that the these robotic cars are taking on the appearance of flagship GM automobiles. Similarly, Stephen Colbert oftentimes mentions Doritos and other products as part of The Colbert Report, so it’s safe to assume that the show is getting some sort of fair compensation for this kind of advertising.

More recently, we’re starting to see a greater trend toward advertising within video games. These are above and beyond the co-promotions that video game companies may have with other businesses; instead, we’re talking about advertising and product placement within the video games and video game systems themselves. On the Xbox 360, it is possible to download free dashboard themes that feature 7-Up, KFC, Pizza Hut, and certain Hollywood movies. Playing certain driving games, you’ll see billboards lining the racetrack promoting real world products.

The constant brand exposure is having a definite effect on a demographic that may not be quite as accessible through conventional means. If these “gamers” are spending too much time on their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, advertisers can’t reach them through newspapers and radio ads. The in-game advertising may be more effective for this demographic, but some are saying that the ads are too intrusive, especially when they are inserted in a paid product like a video game.

What do you think? Is in-game advertising fair game (no pun intended) or should publishers keep their products as “pure” as possible?

With so many television commercials aired each day, it is far too easy to get lost in the mix. That’s why you want your television ad campaign to be unique and memorable, in addition to have a strong message that will induce potential customers to inquire further about your products and to make that all important purchase. However, there are so many commercials that really make very little sense.

You may have seen the relatively recent ad campaign promoting Coke Zero (you can watch one of them on YouTube) featuring a series of talking body parts. The blind tongues are tasting the Coke Zero, unaware that they are drinking anything other than the original Coca-Cola formula. To them, it tastes identical. The eye, without the ability to taste the product, informs the tongues that they are not drinking the original Coke. Finally, the brain shows up to tell them to shut up.

I have two main questions about this ad campaign that I would like to see clarified, since they don’t seem to make any intuitive or logical sense whatsoever. First, the eye and the tongue are both depicted with leg-like appendages, allowing them to “walk” around on the set. Why, then, is the brain not provided with a similar walk-enabling appendage? It has two arm-like extensions, but it moves around on what appears to be a wheelchair. Is there a hidden message to this depiction?

Second, the eye speaks with what sounds like a French accent. Coca-Cola Bottling Company is an American company and, as far as we can tell, the tongues and the brains speak with typical American accents. The possibly pretentious eye, however, has a foreign accent. Are we being led to believe that sight is a foreign sense in some ways? One that should be ignored?

While I think that Coke has done a good job in creating a memorable ad campaign (albeit one that is mildly disturbing in appearance), there are some inexplicable details that don’t make any sense. Does this hurt their effectiveness? What do you think? How do you explain the “French” eye character?

Does it pay to jump the gun and advertise something that is not yet available? This question not only applies to upcoming products that may not be launching for a few more months as well as upcoming sales that may be several days away. There are certainly both pros and cons to promotion something ahead on time.

On the one hand, early promotion can bring about a great deal of hype. You can get people talking about your product, service, or sale well ahead of schedule. This can help to generate some great word of mouth, informing and exciting people who may not have otherwise heard about what you have to offer. For upcoming product launches, it also means that you can gauge the relative interest of the public through their interest in pre-orders and similar promotions.

On the other hand, early promotion can frustrate customers because they may find that they are being teased with something that is not yet available. You may have heard about “vaporware” and these are products that are seen only as concepts and not yet in real life. As the release date gets pushed further and further into the future, potential customers start to lose interest in something that is too ethereal and not real enough. While waiting for your product, they may turn to a competitor for what is available right now.

Early promotion of an upcoming sale can also backfire. If people know that a certain item is going on sale in a week, they may not be willing to come into your store to make a purchase today. They’d rather wait. Early promotion of sales also give your competitors the opportunity to match or beat your deal, potentially grabbing away customers who may have otherwise purchased the product from your company instead.

What do you think? If you run a company, do you promote everything well before it is available or do you prefer to surprise your customers with announcements on the day that the product, service, or sale is available?

Despite newer options like Twitter and Facebook, email is still the preferred form of communication for a lot of people online. As such, email marketing is still very much alive and well, but you need to make use of this technique properly if you hope to use it as an effective means of attracting and retaining your customers. In this way, an email newsletter shouldn’t simply be one large advertisement for your company and its products; it needs to provide value to the subscriber.

This only makes sense, but who would want to subscribe to an email newsletter that is nothing more than a giant advertisement. There are different routes that you can take to add value to your newsletter while still retaining the marketable value of maintaining the email subscriber list. As is the case with this blog, it is possible to use the email newsletter as a repository of useful information related to your industry. If you are a real state agency, for example, you may want to have some useful articles included in your newsletter that discuss interior design and the process of buying a home.

Another option that may be even more effective in generating sales is to provide added value to subscribers in the form of exclusive discounts and coupons. By handing over their email address to you, subscribers are granted access to special sales and other discounts that are not available to the general public. For instance, I recently received a message from New York Fries that allows me to buy a regular size fries for just $1.25. This coupon is not be advertised or distributed anywhere else, so subscribers can feel special for receiving it.

Do you subscribe to any email newsletters? What made you subscribe to that newsletter over equivalent alternatives?

If you’re a regular reader of the major “make money online” blogs on the Internet, you may have heard about the recent launch of Sponsored Tweets. This new service comes from IZEA, the same company that brought us PayPerPost.

Many bloggers are already aware of different paid/sponsored post services wherein they can blog about an advertiser and be paid for it. Sponsored Tweets takes on a very similar format, except the advertising will be pushed through the user’s Twitter account. These ad insertions can either be pre-written by the advertiser or they can be organically-produced by the Twitter user, but in both cases, the sponsored tweet comes with full disclosure. Typically, this means that the tweet will come with the #ad hashtag or something similar.

Sponsored Tweets is not the first online service to do this. You may remember hearing about Magpie several months ago, though Sponsored Tweets comes with the backing of IZEA. In this way, it has a better chance of gaining traction, since IZEA will be marketing this service much more heavily and the user interface could be much more robust. However, it is still debatable whether there is enough value for the advertiser. Given the very nature of Twitter, it is far too easy for your advertisement to get lost in the mix and quickly forgotten.

Further still, just as was the case when sponsored blog posts first arrived on the scene, there could be a backlash from the Twitter community against users who have sponsored tweets as part of their stream. Only time will tell if this service picks up in popularity and becomes an accepted part of the Twitter experience.

What do you think of Sponsored Tweets?

You may have noticed some of the new television advertsiements for the Kia Forte sedan. This compact car is meant to compete in the same segment as vehicles like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, offering an affordable commuting solution for people who want something simple and reliable. Hyundai and Kia are quickly growing in popularity in North America and this has a lot to do with the overwhelmingly positive reviews and the significantly improved quality ratings.

In many of these new Kia Forte ads, we find people in situations that are unfamiliar to them. They’ll say that XYZ activity is not their forte, but “that” is, pointing toward their new Kia vehicle. The ads are mostly memorable and arguably do a good job in furthering the brand recognition and brand presence for Kia, but there are some inaccuracies. Do these inaccuracies hurt the ad campaign or were they intentional errors included for the purpose of irony?

For example, there is one commercial where a person is thrown out onto the street. He looks toward the camera and says that kung-fu is not his forte. However, this particularly individual is very clearly wearing a karate gi and not the traditional outfit associated with Chinese kung-fu. Ironically, Kia is a Korean company and, as such, it is neither Japanese nor Chinese. Whatever the case, the karate gi is out of sync with the mention of kung-fu. A small quibble, to be sure, but an inaccurate one nonetheless.

Must there be complete and utter truth in all advertising? We expect companies mostly to be honest and truthful with the presentation of their products and Kia is not misrepresenting its Forte compact sedan in these ads. However, the inaccuracy in the background and supplemental information may offend or confuse some audiences. What do you think? Do you expect all ads to be completely truthful and accurate?