A tad off topic today..

I can tell that the way I view and consume media annoys those around me at times. Mainly my boyfriend.

"Well that was a stupid ad. How could they think that would work?"

"How much do you think they have to pay for an 3-D advertisement like that?

"Oh very effective! clever AND funny!"

"Wayyyyy too monotone.."


Now I'm just obsessed with analyzing ad and PR stunts..good and bad. IThat being said, I'm no where near mastering the art forms of these topics, but I have always been interested in ad. I guess any kid that didn't have one of those parents that wouldn't let them watch TV was interested in Ads. How could a kid not be?






As a young Erin I loved the commercials for toys. Surprisingly not Barbies or Polly Pockets, but one of the best parts of Saturday morning cartoons was the spots for the sweetest new Hot Wheels track, Lego set and  designs of Pogs. (I had some sweet Sonic the Hedgehog ones. It's okay to be a little jealous)

 

The way things are marketed to children is kinda funny. Slapping their favourite character on a box of crackers or candy acting as the spokesperson is still around everywhere. Ever notice that all the sugary-horrible-for-you cereal with the friendly looking tiger on the front is on the bottom shelf-right in children's reach? And you better believe that box of cereal is complete with a prize they simply couldn't live without..sticker that barely sticks, anyone?

It seems a little messed up to be marketing so many things to kids rather than their parents.. but how many parents would go out of their way to buy all this.. stuff.. without being whined to or nagged by that little bundle of joy that's gripping onto their leg, screaming?

My all time favourite - COLLECT THEM ALL!

Pokemon is the first to come to mind as that is exactly what my brother and I tried to do. (until he stole mine and said he just magically got that many in one pack :| ) They came out with.. actually still come out with new ones constantly and make some "rare" making you have to buy many more packs in hopes to get that oh so precious Charizard card..

There's probably new "rare" ones now and this is making me feel old.. so moving on.

Another fun thing provided to the world, including to parents, was limited edition. If you're trying to collect them ALL.. you need to get those limited edition ones while they're available! Wouldn't want to miss out on such an opportunity as that ugly Beanie Baby they only made 3000 of or Fruit by the Foot with tongue tattoos.

But how far do you think marketing towards children will go and what's too far? What about marketing Mc Donalds and other fast food to children on the regular? You get a toy with your meal - collect them all - and it comes in a bag full of activities. (and a potential future heart attack..) Have you seen the redone Mcdicks with the sweeeeet new play places? I'm almost tempted to hop in there.

I couldn't even throw a guess out there how many people are persuaded or convinced by an ad each day, but children are particularly vulnerable to this sort of manipulation.

I wonder if I wasn't exposed to as many ads as a child if I'd be so interested in the way they work with peoples minds now. Probably not.. it's what builds Brand Relationships..

Does it kind of make me a bad person for still being blown away with interest in Advertising and PR even though there is so much salesmanship thrown at kids?.. Meh I'll figure out a way to spin it...
;)

If you have some time..and an iPhone

If you're like me and can't quite justify buying the new iPhone 4S, I do believe the new upgrade to the operating system will hold you over.

Your text notifications have always popped up on your lock screen, now your Twitter and Facebook notifications do too. 

When you're in the middle of a sweet game of Fruit Ninja, and you receive a text, you will no longer be interrupted as your text will appear at the top of your screen. Easy to ignore without stopping to hit close :D

The new Notification Centre includes the weather, stocks (yippy) alerts from apps and missed calls. All you need to do to get to that handy location is slide your finger down from the clock.

The camera also has some wonderful new features. It's a pain in the ass trying to take a picture when the phone is side ways before the upgrade, now you can use the volume buttons as the capture button. Take the sub par picture you took at the Marker Social or Zombie Walk on Friday and edit it into a beauty right on the phone. It now has Auto-enhance, crop and red eye correction right there. Super.

Texting received a little face lift as well. It's instant, you know when the other person is typing and you know when your message is received. A little BB love thrown in there.

You know what's more fun than reading about it.. probably just getting the update. Or watch this nice video..

iPhone 4S

I have an iPhone 4.. and I freakin' love it. So when I heard of this new iPhone 4S I kind of ignored it. But now that I've looked into it, I want one soooo bad!






How much better could it be that they didn't even make it the iPhone 5, but instead just the 4S well, it's rocking a lot of cool new features. It still looks the same as the iPhone 4, but they made a lot of changes to the inside. It has an 8-megapixel camera with a faster shutter speed and backside-illuminated sensor, a voice-activated digital assistant called Siri which completely understands what you're saying to it, and a new A5 processor that provides up to 7x faster graphics processing. And iCloud is sweet! The main thing I like about it is that is syncs up your Apple devices for you. So once I download music onto my phone, it would start downloading onto my laptop. Neat-o

I still don't know if I'll pay to upgrade, but this video is pretty convincing.. 

Critics had been saying how big of a disappointment it was that it still was the same visually and they released it instead of the iPhone 5, but they were really proved wrong when they predicted crappy sales.
In the first 24-hours of being able to pre-order one of these bad boys, they sold over a million of them! Which is more than any other product Apple has sold pre-sale. 


Wanna order one toooooo? Do it right here :D


Think it's worth the upgrade?

10-4

My Boyfriend has told me for ages to get the app Voxer. Being the super on top of things and nice girl that I am, it only took 2 months for me to take a minute to download it.

I am quite a fan.

Voxer is kinda a walkie-talkie, but it can also send pictures.

What is this useful for? Well, let me tell you..

For some reason my phone is a piece, and won't receive pictures from my man friends phone, but on Voxer, it sure can.

I could see why people would think the walkie-talkie aspect would be awkward or just useless since so many folks have voicemail. I'll admit the first couple times I was awkward, but I have a tendency to be like that. (Should have witnessed the first time I used FaceTime ahh haha) But how many people hate the process of checking a voicemail? I'm going to go ahead and go against what I learned in Journalism and assume it's everyone.

This takes no time. You hold down a button to record, click on the audio clip to listen that comes through as quick as a text and to see pictures just click and it expands. Easy as pie.

The audio feature is also super useful for catching up with people. Maybe you either don't have time to sit down for a lengthy chat, or perhaps you really don't have enough to say for a phone call. It's also much more personal that texting.

AND you can do group chats. If you want to bring back MSN group conversation memories, but 2011 style.. get Voxer.

I feel like I'll add the cost at the end of each one.. FRREEEE