Paid avertisement reverse engineer post

The post I am going to reverse engineer is from the company Waze.  I chose this because I feel that it is NOT a very good advertisement and lessons could be learned. 

Waze is a community based navigation and direction app that relies on the input of others to tell you the best way or route to get somewhere. 

The app uses input such as locations of accidents, speed traps, construction, etc. in order to help you get where you're going rather than just relying on distance and time such as Google maps or Apple maps.

In this sponsored ad I found on Facebook, Waze is soliciting people to advertise their business on it.  The caption reads, "Mobile advertising made easy. For as low as $2/day - start driving traffic to your business."

The image is a short gif that shows two different views:

The target audience of this post is business owners.  But I think the ad is very plain and doesn't grab anyone's attention.  The second image in the gif or short video is what the advertisement could look like for your company. 

They claim to be able to drive traffic to your business but there is nothing that makes me want to read more about it.  I think they are trying to grab people with the cost of only $2 per day but that really doesn't tell you what you get for that.

For a social media ad, I think that it should be better at making people want to click on it and learn more.

The ad uses decent colors and contrast and is visually appealing but lacks decent content.  The other thing that is good is that it is short.  People don't like to invest a lot of time when scrolling through and looking at ads.  This allows them to see everything very quickly.  It also requires that they click to learn more which I'm sure is the ultimate goal of Waze.

I guess the thing that confuses me most is that Waze isn't typically what people are looking through when trying to figure out where to go.  Their minds are usually made up.  Waze tells them how to get there. 

All in all, I think that there are better ways that Waze could have gotten their word out or explained what it is they are trying to accomplish.

Video Ad Reverse Engineer Post

The advertisement that I am looking at is from the mattress company called Purple. Purple is a business founded and operated out of Utah.  They are known for the color of their mattresses and accessories which are purple as well as the engineering and construction of their products.

The video that I am specifically looking at is a 4-minute infomercial style video.  It features a bubbly blonde girl dressed as Goldilocks and showcases her performing experiments on various mattresses with eggs and weights.

The reason I am looking specifically at this video is that it is one of very few that actually caught my attention.  (A feat not easily accomplished.)  Snap shots of the commercial are below.

Contrast

The first thing that Purple does really well is contrast.  Throughout the video, the background stays pretty well subdued.  What shows through the most is the dress the host is wearing (which is also purple) and the bright purple mattress itself.

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a very important photography technique that Purple uses throughout this video.  The host is almost always in the left or right third of the shot.

Repetition

Throughout the commercial, A large glass plate is dropped onto various mattresses.  The eggs break on every drop except for the drops onto a Purple mattress.  Purple shows this over and over taking care to explain that the eggs only break on the regular mattresses.
They even go so far as to show 1,400 pounds of weights on top of the glass and still no breaking eggs.

Other Techniques

I think the video does a great job holding the viewers attention for a variety of reasons. 

First, the rapid shots of the host close up and panned out doesn't let the viewer settle one type of shot for too long.

 Second, the contrasting colors of the host's costume keeps you focused on her rather than anything else.  It doesn't hurt that she is also dressed in purple, paying homage to the company.

The video does a great job in another way.  They are able to tell the story of what is happening without using subtitles for what the host is saying.  They do post print on the screen that explains what is happening but you are able to figure out the rest without knowing what she is saying.

Of course, if you do click on the video, you hear a cleverly written script that has plenty of little one-liner jokes to keep you amused.

In addition, the company tells you exactly what they are doing by posting the price of the mattress on the screen with a link asking you to click more if you want further information.

The video does a great job giving people the information they need regarding the mattress but I feel that it may have run a little long.  People start to lose interest after a couple minutes. 

I do think that putting the price in the video is a good thing though.  If for nothing else, it limits the curiosity checks to the website.  There is no sense bogging down the bandwidth by people only interested in the price.  By doing this, the company is assured that only the people going to the website from the link weren't bothered by the price at all and may truly be interested in the product.

Overall, I feel that Purple did a great job on this ad.  It has the same look and feel as the famous Squatty Potty and Poo-Pori ads which makes sense since they were produced by the same people.  A link to the full commercial is below.
https://www.facebook.com/LifeOnPurple/videos/525076717682909/

ad campaign

For me to attract more people to our website and to generate more business, I realize that I have to appeal to the side of people that hates getting bored.

Escape rooms are a difficult thing to sell people on.  It's not because they aren't fun.  On the contrary, they are some of the most fun you can have.  They are simply unknown.  P A lot of people have heard of them but few have actually tried them.  The trick in all of this is to try and get people to spend money on something they have never done or perhaps have done and feel that they don't need to do it again.

To help in getting people to try something new, I want to appeal to that fear of boredom.  I need to remind people that summer, while a blast, can be tiresome for children that have nothing to do.  To that end, I have created a campaign that attempts to get people to avoid getting bored and to try something new.

The tagline of the campaign is simply, "Don't waste away this summer.  Learn to connect with you family in a whole new way at A Great Escape at Gardner Village."  A photo of bored children or teens will be included such as the pictures below.

I would like to come up with the photos myself or at least find some copyright free images to use.  The message coming from the photo should be the same though.  I want the picture to scream "boredom". 

I want to post the ad on both Facebook and Instagram and promote both for 1 week.  The success of this campaign will be measured in clicks to our website as well as an analysis of the bookings.

Advertising reverse engineer post

Square is a credit card and payment processing company.  Square promotes itself on having a user friendly and easy product to use.  Their ads tout the simplicity of their product and they use simple but vibrant images to get you attention. 

The first ad that I noticed was a 10 second video from Facebook. The video contained 5 frames.  In the first, the only thing you see is the opening of a small device.  In the second, that device is being set up by a simple “click”. (According to the video.)

The 3^rd frame is someone tapping their phone to make a payment and the word, “tap” appears.  The 4^th frame shows a stack of money with the caption, “paid” and the last frame shows Square’s simple logo, a easily identifiable square inside of another square.

The first thing about this ad is that it is a video instead of a simple photograph.  People love looking at photos and they love videos.  Short videos are becoming increasingly popular in social media.  It tells a quick story and doesn't waste a lot of the user's time.

The next thing about this ad that is effective is the ad's layout and design.  Everything in the images is simple.  Simple colors and no clutter.

Centered in the middle of the frame is the device in all white.  It sits on top of a blue background.  It reminds users that there is nothing complicated about it.

All of the frames use good contrast.  The backgrounds are clean and don't take away from the message of the frame.  In this frame, you can clearly see what appears to be a stack of cash. The green contrasts nicely with the purple making people focus on the cash.  Above it is the simple word, "PAID".  It reminds people of what drives us all, getting money.

Another effective design element is repetition.  Each of the frames repeats the simple statement at the beginning of the post, "Slide, Click, Paid."

All of the posts made by Square seem to follow the same logic.  They promote how easy it is to use them and how simple it is to operate.  In addition, they tout the successfulness of the companies that use them and imply that by not having to worry about payments, you can focus on growing your company.

As a consumer and business owner, I have and do use Square.  I decided to do so simply because of how easy it is.  I wanted something that was “idiot-proof” and I think I have it.  Could there be simpler products out there?  Probably, and most likely there are cheaper.  But Square did a great job with their marketing and I was sold.

Square has done a great job with this campaign and I imagine they will continue to use this strategy.

I would recommend that they improve their Instagram posts a little more though.  They should focus on the ease of use more.  Business owners want what will be easy for their employees to use.  It’s great to focus on how the product will help you grow but everyone does that.   Square was developed out of the need for simplicity and they should focus more on that.

I would recommend posts that showcase how difficult it was for a company’s employees to get things done until they switched to Square.  I believe that would appeal to more business owners.

Social Media Branding - Reverse Engineer Post

As I was searching several websites, I decided to analyze Ford Motor Company.  I did this for a couple reasons.  First, I like Ford and I thought I would like to see how a company as large as Ford tackles social media.  Second, Ford has been around for a long time and even though they are an established company, they realize that advertising today is just as important, if not more important, than years ago.

Competition is fierce, regardless of what business you are in.  Ford sells cars and so literally hundreds of other companies.  Ford also sells their cars around the world so not only are they competing with the big domestic and popular foreign brands here in America, they have to compete with local brands in other companies.

The first thing you notice about Ford's presence is their logo.  It is a simple, two color image of their logo.  Their fortunate in that their name is part of their logo.  It is the same logo on their cars and in all of their branding.  It is also the same logo it has been for years.  While some of the logo has changed over the years, the main part, which is the cursive writing of the name, "Ford", hasn't.
Most recently and on all of their social media accounts, they have added the words, "Go further" to their logo. 

"Glamour shots" of the cars from Instagram

Ford has also has a good use of contrast when it comes to the colors they choose.  But there is something else that I noticed with even this one set of photos.  Ford has a substantial use of the red, white, and blue color scheme. 

According to the Ford Brand Identity Manual, any promoting of the product should include the Ford oval, correct color palette and fonts, their photographic style and others.  One of the other

elements that Ford requires is an orange bar.  They ask that this be done to provide a certain level of contrast.  Ford font is a proprietary font called Ford light and Ford bold. 

As I look through the posts on Instagram for Ford, I see that they obviously focus on their cars.  The cars are in a sense, "models".  While there are some candid shots of cars or trucks, the majority seem to be set up and photo shopped in ways that almost make the cars look like they were in glamour shots.

Some of the other design principles I noticed were the use of the rule of thirds and lines.  The cars are obviously the center of attention and the photographer did a good job showcasing this. In accordance with their manual, they really try and show off the best features such as roominess and comfort.

Most recently, Ford has been showcasing the Mustang.  They have made the iconic horse on the Mustang take center stage in a series if short videos they have been posting.  In addition, they have been showing some different photos of Mustangs old and new.  I believe it is in an effort to remind people how sporty the Ford brand can be.

Ford has done a great job in posting photos that people want to see and more importantly, share.  They realize that sporty cars is something that people will share.  The captions and messages they have are simple and prevent people simply skipping over the posts.

Social Media Manifesto

I live my life by a certain code.  I have always been this way though, admittedly, I have strayed from the code once or twice.  Regardless, I have always believed in certain things.

Some may find those things chauvinistic or even archaic but I believe in certain principles and have always tried to teach my children those same things.

• Never sit while a woman stands
• Always be the first to offer a handshake
• Phone calls will always be better than a text
• While important, the classroom will never be a substitute for experience, and
• Never, never quit.

While these can't directly translate into rules for social media.  I believe that the principle is the same.  Social media is both a blessing and a curse.  How we use it both dictates how people view us through the web and effects how we view others.

Hate and anger can spread quicker through social media channels than ever before.  The drive to create controversy and generate likes drives people to post or support extremely divisive things.  I have seen this and have always tried to do my best to avoid this type of posting.

I will continue to strive to refrain from posting anything religiously divisive, politically driven, or socially inflaming.  Furthermore, I will strive to avoid supporting those that cause to disrupt peace through use of social media.  

Farmers does it again

I have always been a fan of the Farmer's Insurance Company's recent ad campaigns.  I think they are funny, intuitive, and give people a reason to want to watch as opposed to almost any other insurance ad out there.  There's really nothing to them.  Take a spokesperson, throw in an outrageous scenario, and then talk about how Farmer's covered that. 

Farmer's has had great success with these commercials for some time now.  I have seen them range anywhere from a beaver chewing down a log and smashing a car to a trunk being set on fire during a parade.  Do we honestly think an insurance company will actually pay for these incidents?  I'm not sure and I doubt many people really care either.  The simple fact is, Farmer's has been getting the word out there that they will cover anything. 

They aren't trying to say that they are the cheapest agency around.  They aren't trying to target younger audiences with the promise of saving money.  They're going after a bigger pool.  They're going after people who haven't been covered like they thought they were with an insurance company.

I think Farmer's is smart in this way.  They realize that there is a small part of the population that doesn't care what get's covered.  They only want the bare minimum.  Farmer's realizes that there is a much bigger percentage of the population that has either been disappointed by their own company or has been let down.

Having that strategy in mind, they decided on a comical approach to their commercials.  We all know that sex sells and there are plenty of companies willing to use that.  Farmer's has decided on humor and I think they did well. 

Even their independent insurance agents have jumped in on the game.  Take for instance this Instagram post.

The caption around the goat's neck reads, "Apparently, I attacked my reflection in a car door.  What's a reflection?"

The text underneath tells the viewer that this was just another incident that was covered by Farmer's insurance.  The ad plays off of the guilt posts that have been so popular on social media.  Around the world, people have been posting pictures of their animals in embarrassing situations suggesting that the animal is ashamed of what they just did.  We all know that the animal isn't thinking this at all but its funny to us to think that those words could be running through the animal's mind.

Again, you see in the ad that the agent isn't concerned with making sure you think they have the best rates.  He is focusing on coverage.  He wants you to think that maybe you won't be covered if a goat smashed your car.

To drive that home, he adds the humor up the goat not knowing what a reflection is in hopes that people will share and like this post.  This is a very effective marketing campaign and one that they will be able to continue using for quite a while to come.