Online+Ad+Critique

**997009026**
 * Abid Abbas**

//** Pick two instances of an existing online advertising/marketing campaign and critique their design and approach. Who is theirtarget audience? What are they trying to advance? When did you see this campaign, and where? What techniques did theyuse? Do you believe they were effective? Why/ why not? Post this on your personal wiki. **//

 With the internet’s mass global appeal and a cut throat audience of billions, online marketing is an ever evolving art where by marketers thrive to innovate for viewer retention. The two campaigns discussed are that of Corning Incorporated and Chevrolet who demonstrate instrumental understanding of online advertisement and brand re-imaging within the dynamics of the current online universe. //**__Corning's Online Campaign 2010-2012: __**// media type="youtube" key="jZkHpNnXLB0" height="315" width="560" align="center"

//Sample 1.1// //Sample 1.2// media type="custom" key="12404360" align="right" Corning, a publicly traded company that is now over 160 years old published their first YouTube video in Jun 2009. Marketing their innovations in science to a more industrial crowd, the video marked the first of this company’s efforts in using online advertisement as a tool to improve and establish their brand image within their industry of relevance. Though these initial efforts were limited to a specific non-consumer audience, they took a sharp turn in 2010 in their efforts to reach out to a much larger audience using multiple formats within the known spectrum of online advertisements.

Though Corning does not provide consumers with their products directly, their campaign efforts target the masses to create awareness for the use of their technology by various consumer electronics companies. Not only does this improve their brand image but is likely to drive the sales of affiliate companies who feature Corning’s technology, increase investor turnout or loyalty, and gain an online fellowship across their social medium pages to support their research and development endeavors.

The first time I personally came across their name was in early 2011 when searching through various websites for competitive Smartphone pricing. This was a simple yet effective medium rectangle flash banner (Sample 1.2) that read “Tough, yet brilliant.” Learning more about the credentials of “Gorilla Glass touch screens” their online presence in their marketing efforts was more prominent than ever.

//Sample 1.3// Along with their medium flash banner focusing on different aspect of their market involvement, their campaigning also involved the use of an interactive flash game (Sample 1.4), short videos and static banners optimized for mobile and desktop use (Sample 1.3). With such a multi format approach to promote their technological contribution to the latest in Smart phones, Gorilla® Glass is a name that is virtually hard to ignore when considering newer smart phone options. Being one of their most commercially viable products, the Gorilla glass seems most viable to promote, however Corning did not stop there with their online campaign for recognition of innovation.

Their most recent attempt at drawing mass traffic towards their brand was made on February 3rd, 2012 whereby they published the second installment of their successful concept video ‘A Day Made of Glass 2’ (Sample 1.1) making it a two part series of the company’s envisioned innovations. The first installment of the concept video ‘A Day Made of Glass’ last year in Feb 2011 received over 17 million views as it was shared and liked hundred times over. With over 300,000 views within 3 days, their latest edition is making headlines throughout the blogosphere being shared by popular sites like Gawker, Mashable, and Gizmodo. Blogs are a great platform for the growth of such campaigns as these blogs tend to have a loyal fan base to begin with and spread the message like virtual word of mouth.

Having recognized the fact that Corning wants to promote their image and popularize their forward contribution to a fast growing tablet and mobile industry to further drive their movement, their campaigning proves to move in the right direction. Having dedicated their recent approaches to the online medium, Corning has attested to an impressionable campaign. Earlier attempts at using a mouse-over game, bulky flash banners, and relatively low budget videos of an actor in a gorilla suit might seem rudimentary in compare to their recent $1.5 million concept video hits, but with consistent and improved online marketing strategies they prove to show the value of online campaigning.

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Sample 1.4

__Works Cited:__
 * "Corning® Gorilla® Glass Online Advertising." (online forum message). //Corning Products //. 2010. http://www.corning.com/products_services/gorilla_online_ads.aspx (accessed February 5, 2012).
 * “//Corning Home” //. 2011. []
 * Carr, Austin. "CORNING GORILLA GLASS’S $1.5 MILLION (NON-SUPER BOWL) FILM SHOWS OUR GLASS-COVERED FUTURE."//CO.CREATE // (blog), http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679617/corning-gorilla-glasss-15-million-non-super-bowl-film-shows-our-glass-covered-future (accessed February 4, 2012).

//**__Chevrolet’s Online Marketing Campaign 2012: __**//

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On January 30th, 2012, OK Go a well known group of musicians who are known for their special talents in making viral music videos posted a 33second sneak peak at what their music video would look like. This sneak peak was well received as it got over a 100,000 views within the next four days. Considering it wasn’t such a great indicator of the upcoming result, merely a hype generator leveraging their social influence the views were substantial. The only link provided was that to Chevrolet’s marketing campaign online, “LET’S DO THIS” ([]) which seemed to be for their new ‘Chevy Sonic’.

With info on the upcoming NFL plans and a chance to win the new vehicle leveraging social media networks, the website seem to stir enough hype for the actual money maker, the premier of the music video. OK Go described the venture as a partnership with Chevrolet and the website described it as ‘Sonics first music video featuring OK Go’. The music video itself that links to Chevy’s official campaign website was finally uploaded after a 5day gap. Seen trending like wild fire across Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube; the commercial music video lives up to its hype.

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In its most basic core, this is Chevy’s online viral marketing campaign. Having over a million views in 24 hours and still going strong, this campaign uses number of elements typical to previous viral campaign with an added zest of OK Go’s experience with domino style video directions. Where by any singular error within a single take may cause the entire project closer to a seeming collapse. Such risk loving displays in the face of a brand’s image is usually welcomed by a positive market response. Previous examples of such marketing stunts would be that done by Guiness in 2007 with their commercial ‘Tipping Point’ ([]) or even Honda in 2003 with their commercial ‘Cog’ ([]).

This commercial music video targets a large array of groups, from music lovers, to driving enthusiasts, to cynics who might refute its authenticity; the content is great enough to be shared across several online forums and humble enough to be enjoyed by the millions. Having the advantage of having viral campaigns online would be the immense amount of data that can be relayed back to the sponsoring company, Chevrolet. This can further be used to assess their product and strategy.

The campaign itself is very well thought out and an effective campaign since it has received great positive feedback. The product placement on the viral surface is kept minimalist and the allocation of advertisement funds seem appropriated toward the cause of art. The leading scenario of this particular campaign has given it the credentials to be discussed on blogs under positive light and having it 'trending' encourages more discussion on its execution, design, intent, effort and final feel. Furthermore the descriptions and tags don’t prioritize the importance of the sponsors on the official OK Go YouTube page either.

__Conclusion:__ “Great content always wins.” Both the campaign revolved around the production of good content. In the first case it revolved around entertainment and information, where as in the second case it was entertaining and emotive.

__Works Cited:__
 * Jones, Michael. "CCT356." //Lectures //. Performed 1/31/2012.
 * Ok, Go. "Needing/Getting - Official Video.", [].
 * //Reddit // . http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/pc4ky/ok_gos_newest_music_video_holy_shit_this_must/ (accessed February 6, 2012).
 * Robinson, Aaron. "Car Commercialism: The Making of OK Go's "Needing/Getting" Music Video." http://www.caranddriver.com/features/car-commercialism-the-making-of-ok-gos-needing-getting-music-video (accessed February 6, 2012).