Advertising+Critique

__**ADVERTISING CRITIQUE**__

The advertising campaign I chose to critique was for the 2013 Hyundai Coupe starring an awkward Sasquatch. The online campaign was a spin off of the successful TV commercial which aired at this year’s super bowl. Specifically regarding the online campaign, I will be discussing a banner ad and the official website for the ad which featured a series of short 30-50 second clips starring the Sasquatch.

Firstly, in case people are not familiar with the super bowl ad, I will supply a link to it here []. The commercial premiered on TV on super bowl Sunday. The commercial used humour to attract an audience to the it.

While on YouTube a day after the SuperBowl, I noticed a banner ad with the Sasquatch’s face (see screenshot of banner ad below). The ad read, click here to watch my super bowl ad. I clicked the banner ad and it took me to the official website of the Hyundai Sasquatch advertising campaign.
 * __The Banner Advertisement__**

The banner ad’s target audience is definitely people that viewed the TV spot during the super-bowl. However, I believe that it is not limited to only that audience. Because the Sasquatch’s face is quite humourous, it may get clicks based on this alone. Also there are many people that like to search YouTube for super bowl commercials. In Canada not all the of the million dollar super bowl commercials that are aired in the United States make it to Canada. This makes many people in Canada curious to know what commercials they missed. Because this banner ad has the words "super bowl" in it, they might click it.

I think the banner ad is effective because the text in the ad and the Sasquatches face allow people to immediately recognize the ad, and to understand that if they click it, they will get to watch the commercial.

Personally I clicked the banner ad because I thought the commercial was quite funny and wanted to watch it again.

The banner ad links to the official website of the Hyundai Sasquatch campaign (here is the website [] ). On the actual website are a series of 10 videos along with the super bowl ad. The 10 extra videos were made for online viewing purposes only. The target market of these short clips is definitely the same target market that the banner ad was after. The videos showcase the Sasquatch and the two actors in the original commercial, in a sort of humorous/fictional behind the scenes footage of the commercial shoot.
 * __The short videos on the website__**

The dialogue of 10 online ads does not mention the car that is being advertised even once. Furthermore, throughout the entire website, the Hyundai logo is nowhere to be found. This makes it seem like the intention of the advertising campaign is not to sell people on the car, but rather just to make people laugh, and to make them stay on the website for as long as possible. Underneath the video thumbnails is a picture of the car which links to a spec sheet of the car (here is the spec sheet [] ). It is the spec sheet that is designed to sell the car. The ad campaign is designed to get people to click on the spec sheet.

Personally, after watching all the videos on the site, I felt compelled to click on the car to see the spec sheet since there was nothing else to click once I watched all the videos. I believe this was an effective campaign due to the hilarity, the short duration of the videos, and the fact that the car was in each shot. Because the videos were short, I did not feel like it was a waste of time to watch them all. Also I think it was very important that the car was in every shot of the videos. This forces viewers to remember what the clips are advertising, even though there is no direct reference or mention to the car at all throughout the entire online campaign (other than in the commercial that aired on TV).


 * __Conclusion__**

So overall the hilarity of the commercial is what made me click the online banner ad. After about 10 minutes on the site I did end up clicking to open the spec sheet on the car. If I were seriously interested in buying a car, I would have done further research on the car and perhaps purchased it.

In both the banner ad and on the Hyundai Sasquatch website, there is not one reference to the Hyundai logo. It seems like Hyundai is trying to avoid their image with this online advertising campaign. In the car market, Hyundai does not have the best reputation. It seems like Hyundai realizes this and is trying hard not to link the new car and ad campaign with the poor reputation of Hyundai. The logo is not seen until after the spec sheet is opened.

__**SCREENSHOT OF BANNER AD BELOW**__ __**THE SECOND ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN**__

The second campaign that I choose to critique is one for Molson M lager. I found the advertising campaign on the metacafé website. The screen shots of the ads are shown below (IMAGE 2 and 3 below).

The Molson M advertising campaign and branding is quite different compared to the traditional Molson advertising. The Molson M advertising campaign emits a very prestigious vibe. The colors used in the ad are black and gold, which are colours that are usually associated with prestigious events or galas such as the Oscars.

This differs from traditional Molson advertising which is more representative of what people think when they here the words "beer commercial". The older advertisements for Molson are much more busy, contain more colours, and usually much more complex logo design (i.e. see image 5 description below).

When the ad is clicked, the user is taken to a page to confirm their age. This is most likely a legal precaution so the company cannot be sued for advertising to minors. However, this also serves for purposes of collecting data about their user's age demographic (assuming users enter their correct age). The only problem with using it to determine an age demographic, is that users may not enter the correct age. Users that are under age, but want to view the site anyways will purposely say they are an older age so they can view the site. Other users may quickly type a fake age just to get to the website faster.

When entering actual site, the main focus is on the "exceptionally easy" drinking taste and the awards the drink has won. The site actually uses the words “prestigious awards” on the home page in accordance with the black and gold colour theme(SEE IMAGE 4 BELOW).

The first ad in IMAGE 2 is a medium rectangle ad which is a flash video commercial (which can be seen at this link []). The banner ad ends with the picture in image 2 below. The picture tells its viewers to celebrate mastery, and shows a picture of Molson M beer. The commercial is shot using beautiful cinematography and shows a few different professions that each require a certain type of “mastery”. The last shot is a bartender pouring Molson M lager, associating the beer with mastery. If the ad is clicked, the viewer is linked to the brands facebook page. The top post on the face book page was showing Molsons support of ArtProjectToronto.com: "Celebrate with us our passion for the arts and come discover the new 16 best up-and-coming untapped emerging Artists ".

IMAGE 3 is a banner ad that directs the user straight to the website.

__//**SUMMARY**//__

I think the ad campaign is effective for attracting a certain type of market. The market is a higher class of beer enthusiasts and people who enjoy better tasting beer. I have come to this conclusion based on the words, and colour choices of the ad campaign. The black and gold elegant theme, and the word choice (eg. pretegious, mastery ect.). Molson already is a major competitor in the cheaper beer market in Canada with products like Molson Canadian. Molson M on the other hand seems to be directed towards a higher class of customer yet, the brand priced the beer the same as Molson Canadian (see prices in links below).The fact that the company was supporting artprojectstoronto also supports that the the company is trying to reach out to a class of people that appreciate art. Usually higher class people appreciate art galleries. The advertisement is trying to advance that Molson has a new high class, and great tasting beer. I believe the beer is trying to compete with the higher priced domestic beers` taste. The company is also trying to state that they are the only beer in the world that is micro-carbonated. I found the advertising campaign on the meta café website. The ads were located on the right side of the webpage. The colors in the ad are black and gold, which are colours usually associated with prestigious events or galas such as the Oscars. The language choice used in the ad is also reflective of a higher classed target market (eg. The ad used the word mastery and the website whos off the "prestigious awards".) The brand attempts to stand out from it’s competition by stating that it is the only micro-carbonated beer thereby giving the beer its unique easy drinking taste.
 * Who is their target audience?**
 * What are they trying to advance?**
 * When did you see this campaign, and where?**
 * What techniques did they use?**

I think the ad campaign is effective for attracting a certain type of market. The campaign uses already set standards (such as colour themes), words, and interests(eg. art) to attract a higher class of customers to the brand.
 * Do you believe they were effective?**

__**IMAGE 2 (AD ON TOP RIGHT OF IMAGE)**__

__**IMAGE 3 ( BANNER AD ON RIGHT HAND SIDE)**__

__**IMAGE 4 (OFFICIAL WEBSITE)**__
 * __IMAGE 5 (Molson's traditional types of logos)__**


 * Image Description:** Molson's traditional logos have been much more colourful and complex than the new simplistic molson M logo seen below.

__**IMAGE 6 ( Molson M's logo)**__