Facebook Ads?

I wonder, do companies really benefit from placing an ad on Facebook? When it comes to ads on websites, I RARELY click them. But why? I'm starting to understand that I see ads as a type of spam, always showing up but never really asked for. Companies are investing A LOT of money on these ads and it seems like they aren't worth it.

According to this blog, "The basic targeting options on Facebook are demographic; everything from gender to birthday. There is a keyword filter that is based on items from the profiles of Facebook users. That’s different from the search-based keywords of Google but it’s an interesting possibility if you’re looking for, say, fans of a particular rock band."

Apparently, they aren't targeting me very well because I can't care less about the ads. Something about them feel very generic and not very interesting. Maybe because I'm an Art major? lol.

John Coy 5.12.11

John Coy was the GAUGE Speaker for Spring 2011. Not so long ago, he was added to the list of the AIGA LA Fellows, which is a big deal! The information he shared with us was very insightful.

Now, let's go back to when I met John Coy.

John Coy was a reviewer during the AIGA Student Portfolio day on April 30th. I was fortunate enough to get a spot to talk to him. When it was my turn to see him, I introduced myself and mentioned that I was from CSULA and was looking forward to hearing him speak in a few weeks. He then went through my portfolio and said many good things, and one of them was that although each piece in my book was different, he felt my "voice" peeking through. I had somewhat of an idea of what he meant, and I knew it was a good thing.

Now, back to the day of his speech at CSULA.

Despite the technical difficulties, John Coy was till able to share a lot of useful information. I loved the fact that he wanted a list of questions from the students to better understand who we are and what we want to learn. I was hoping he would mention something about finding your "voice" and he did!

From what I understood, finding your voice meant finding your passion for design. Once design becomes part of who you are and not just a profession, your work will start speaking for you and exposing your passion. Back in Portfolio Day, he was telling me that he could see that design was something I loved, but was not part of who I was.

I am definitely going to keep growing as a designer to reach that level of passion that all successful designers have. I can't wait!

Harsh Ads

I noticed that insulting ads are very indirect and softly convey their message. However, it seems like some ads just GO FOR IT and do not care about the viewers feelings. Here's an example:



Even though this ad is hilarious, I still found it offensive. Why would Slim Fast do such a thing? It all comes down to psychology. If Slim Fast would have shown a photograph of a slim bride, with a big smile, with a corny headline that read "Look Good On Your Big Day," the viewer would not react to it and ignore it because they do not relate to it. Slim Fast was clever in using plastic dolls and not real people because although the insult is still there, it makes it funny and rememberable.

The Cute Effect

Check these photos out! http://weruletheinternet.com/2011/04/06/30-pictures-of-cute-and-tiny-animals/#more-812

All of the animals in those photos had HUGE eyes and tiny bodies, giving out that "cute" and "adorable" appearance. That is a very powerful tool in advertising because no one can say NO to those little guys. I remember watching TV commercials about animal abuse, filled with images of animals whom you just feel sorry for, and most importantly, whom you can't say NO to. Soon after you'll find yourself donating loads of money to save the poor animals, I know I did.


Now, I wonder: will the "cute" effect work throughout different types of campaigns? We shall see.





Monkey!

Europe has cool commercials

So, during a gap between classes, a few classmates and I were looking around the internet for some good advertisements. Betsy came across this IKEA commercial which is only aired in Europe:

Yes, it's pretty hilarious, and definitely memorable.

Now, how is this good advertising? As explained in class, we must not be literal when it comes to visuals. IKEA is known for its furniture, but furniture was not the main component of this advertisement, which made it new and interesting to watch.

Here's another one, that was banned. I wonder why?

As I watched this commercial, the last thing on my mind was "IKEA," but they did an awesome job in tying everything together. Although the commercial is a little out there, it still does it's job.