LEAD STORY-DATELINE: USA Today, April 22, 2002.

More and more firms are utilizing celebrities in their advertisements, but Howard (2002) asks if these firms are getting their money's worth and how to best utilize celebrities in advertising. Howard notes some examples where celebrity ads did not reach the average for likeability as measured by USA Today's Ad Track/Harris Poll. For example, while their overall average for likeability is 22 percent, only 9 percent of people surveyed liked the Pier 1 ads featuring Kirstie Alley. Another example is the $5.8 million Pepsi spent on the Britney Spears ad for the Super Bowl; this ad ranked 49 out of 52 ads as measured by USA Today's annual Super Bowl Ad Meter (and was Pepsi's worst score yet for a Super Bowl ad). Thus, to utilize celebrities effectively, the focus has to be on getting the product in the consumers' minds.

The article then discusses Office Depot's newest ad campaign, which is the biggest in the 16 year history. These ads, which began in January, link the idea of celebrities as experts in their respective area with Office Depot's expertise. The ads start with "If life was like Office Depot" then there would be an expert there to help. For example, in one ad, model and clothing spokeswoman Kathy Ireland advises two women on wearing white after Labor Day; in another, choreographer Debbie Allan shows a man how to dance while pumping gas. During the Olympics, skater Tara Lipinski was used to explain ice skating jumps. All ads end with an Office Depot clerk giving expert advice to a customer in their store. The tagline for the campaign is "What you need. What you need to know."

Office Depot is utilizing this campaign to try to stand out in a cluttered office supply market. Currently, it are number one in the $200 billion office supplies industry; however, the top three competitors (including Office Depot) only account for 20 percent of the market. After utilizing numerous themes in recent years (such as the "Taking Care of Business" slogan), Office Depot is committed to its "experts' theme" and may even build on that theme in its stores through outfitting employees with hand-held computers that can access product information to help customers. Finally, the article notes that the ads are clever, making good use of celebrities without having to pay six figure salaries to get "A list" celebrities, and have a likeability score of 18 percent.

TALKING IT OVER AND THINKING IT THROUGH!

1. What would be the benefit of a firm, such as Office Depot, using celebrities in its advertising?
   
   
2. What are some of the concerns of using celebrities in advertising and how has Office Depot addressed these concerns?

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE!

For Office Depot, the new campaign "What you need. What you need to know." is off to a promising start. The ads are humorous and attention getting. Additionally, the campaign and slogan does a nice job of utilizing celebrities to emphasize the benefit of expert service that Office Depot gives to customers.

To build on this campaign, there are several things Office Depot can do. First, it may want to increase the frequency of ads to ingrain the ads in popular culture. Second, it will need to develop new examples of celebrity experts to prevent wear out of the ads. It may even want to use other media, such as print, to alert consumers to be on the lookout for their new "expert" ad. Third, it will need to continue to make the benefit connection that Office Depot is the expert for consumers/businesses in the office supplies market. It could do this with additional advertising, such as outdoors, with just the slogan to help people make the connection with the television ads. Additionally, it will want to utilize in-store promotion to carry the television theme into the stores. Finally, it will want to make sure that employees continue to be well trained in both customer service and product knowledge so that consumers do experience the Office Depot expertise when they shop there.

DIGGING DEEPER

Additional results of the weekly USA Today/Harris Poll Ad Track for the Office Depot ad campaign illustrated that only 7 percent of respondents disliked the ads (versus an Ad Track average of 13 percent). For the target groups, 16 percent of men liked the ads versus 20 percent of women (the Office Depot ad average was 18 percent versus the overall Ad Track average of 22 percent). Finally, 11 percent of all respondents felt the ads were effective (versus an Ad Track average of 23 percent).

SOURCES:

Haralson, Darryl. "Office Depot Ads Pledge Pro Advice," USA Today, April 22, 2002.

Howard, Theresa. "Stars Don't Mean Hits For Ads," USA Today, April 22, 2002.

- Jacqueline K. Eastman

LEAD STORY-DATELINE: Duluth News Tribune, January 27, 2002.

Children are an important target market for a lot of products. Traditionally, advertisers used the Saturday morning television programs to reach children and their parents. Almost all national networks produced and broadcast their own kids' shows on Saturday morning. During the 1991-92 television season, the three networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) accounted for 58 percent of kids' Saturday morning viewing. However, things have changed dramatically in only the past decade.

Three major changes have occurred in the Saturday morning programming. First, the three networks do not command the lion's share of this market anymore. From a 58 percent share in 1991-92, their share declined to 17 percent last year. So who has grown at the expense of network stations? The primary beneficiaries have been the cable channels, such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney channels. These three channels together had a 37 percent market share last year. The second major change has been in the production of kids' programming. Because of the declining advertising revenue and increased production costs, the networks are getting out of the business of producing kids' shows. Instead, they are buying programming from cable channels. For example, ABC has farmed out its Saturday morning programming to Disney, CBS to Nickelodeon, NBC to Discovery channel, WB to the Cartoon Network, and Fox to 4Kids Entertainment Inc.

The third major change has occurred in kids' viewing habits. Although kids want to watch kids programming, they want to do so at their convenience. Saturday morning is no longer their favorite time. Cartoon Network, for example, gets its highest ratings not on Saturday morning, but during weekday prime time. This change has hurt networks and has benefited cable channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that provide around-the-clock kids' programming.

TALKING IT OVER AND THINKING IT THROUGH!

1. Why is it important for marketers to track television viewership data? In other words, how would you use the information presented in this article in your media planning?



2. Discuss three major changes that have taken place in the past decade related to Saturday morning kids' programming.

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE!

Media planning was a much simpler task when the three national networks commanded a huge share of the total viewing market. The growing popularity of many cable channels has led to the phenomenon of media fragmentation. It is becoming increasingly difficult to reach a large audience base without spreading the advertising dollars across a number of outlets and media vehicles. The situation is no different for the kids' market. Children are watching more television than ever before, and their viewing is no longer restricted to Saturday morning shows. As a result, cable channels that provide around-the-clock kids' programming are becoming very popular. Just a decade ago, it was infeasible for an advertiser to reach kids without going through the three networks. Now, it is becoming impossible to reach the same audience without going through kid-oriented cable channels. In the coming years, we may see consolidation in terms of more and more channels being owned by large media conglomerates. Still, it is unlikely that this would cut back on media fragmentation.

SOURCES:

Ahrens, Frank. "Cable Puts Networks in Saturday Mourning," Duluth News Tribune, January 27, 2002, p15A.

- Praveen Aggarwal

LEAD STORY-DATELINE: New York Times, April 9, 2001.

Long perceived as an adorable car, the new Beetle is portrayed as a well-engineered car in the 2001 campaign. Volkswagen of American is taking a different approach to advertise its Beetle model in the new TV, print, and Internet campaign, which focuses far more on practical elements including interior space and safety equipment. For instance, for the first time for the new Beetle, some print ads feature cutaway diagrams showing safety features and headroom dimensions. This new emphasis on the rational is in strong contrast with the emotional, image-oriented approach used in Beetle's previous two campaigns of 1998 and 2000. Such a shift is typical of the changes made by automobile makers when car buyers' enthusiasm declines during economic downturns.

Beetle's change in direction is prompted by the decline of sales. From April 1998, when Beetle was brought back to the US, through December 1998, sales totaled 55,842, a far higher figure than estimated. The sales kept increasing and reached 83,434 in 1999. However, in 2000, Beetle sales declined 2.8 percent to 81,134. Then, for the first three months of 2001, Beetle sales fell to 15,019, down 27.5 percent, compared with the corresponding period in 2000.

The consumer research reveals that people wants to know more about the car. In addition, based on results of consumer research, this campaign is also aiming to counter consumers' negative perception that Beetle is a small car without much interior space. In response, Volkswagen is touting Beetle as a roomy, well-made car.

TALKING IT OVER AND THINKING IT THROUGH!

1. At the broadest level, advertising approaches can be broken into two categories: rational and emotional appeals. What's the major difference between these two appeals? Which approach is the new Beetle campaign following?
   
   
2. What are your evaluations of Beetle's shift of its advertising emphasis from an image orientation in the 1998 and 2000 campaigns to practical selling points in the new 2001 campaign?
   
   
3. Beetle has also used humorous ads to appeal to its target audience. What are the potential gains and problems that Beetle may encounter when using humor in ads?

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE!

The new Beetle advertising campaign demonstrates how Volkswagen, in response to the economic down-turn taking place in our society, chooses to revamp Beetle by shifting the focus of its ads from an image orientation to practical elements such as space and safety features. This case highlights the impact of changes in the economic environment on consumers' buying power and spending pattern, which in turn may require marketers to adjust their marketing mix. Indeed, marketing does not occur in a vacuum. The external forces in the marketing environment directly and/or indirectly affect organizations, and changes in the environment create opportunities and threats for organizations. It is vital that marketers monitor and analyze the environmental forces and respond to the changes in a timely manner.

SOURCES:

Elliott, Stuart. "Advertising: Volkswagen Revamps Beetle Campaign", New York Times, April 9, 2001.

- Chung-kue Hsu

LEAD STORY-DATELINE: Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2001.

A consistent plight of advertisers is finding media that cuts through the clutter and reaches the target audience. Marketers must fight harder than ever to capture TV viewers' attention as remote controls, the plethora of cable/satellite channels, and digital TV recorders, such as TiVo, Replay and Ultimate TV, allow viewers to easily avoid paid commercial spots. One solution, product placement, is to put the product in the show.

The WB network has created a reality show, "No Boundaries," as a product placement vehicle (pun intended). The star is an unlikely one - a fleet of Ford sport-utility vehicles. In the show a group of individuals compete to finish a difficult outdoor voyage while driving Ford SUVs. Ford is paying for the production costs of the 13 hour-long episodes named after the slogan for its SUV lines. Ford will control eight commercial spots in each hour-long episode, using four for its own products. A Ford SUV is expected to be part of the prize for winning the competition.

Ford is promising that the show will not be an extended ad for their product. Though the final word on programming decisions will be the responsibility of the creative team, they are aware that Ford is the corporate sponsor. They will need to balance Ford's interests against the interests of viewers who may turn off a program that lacks compelling drama. If the show fails, Ford risks its reputation by association.

TALKING IT OVER AND THINKING IT THROUGH!

1. What are the advantages of Ford using a reality show as a product placement medium?



2. What guidelines would you recommend to Ford and the creative team to avoid possible criticism that might arise from consumer advocacy groups?

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE!

Product placement is not a new idea; the movie E.T. in 1982 was used to launch Reese's Pieces Candy. The movie Home Alone II was written after the toys were designed so that the script would explicitly incorporate them. However, as marketers push to include more products into the script of movies, television, and other media, product placement will become the next source of clutter to consumers.

There are two likely future actions that will impact product placement. An advantage of product placements in some venues is that it can serve to lower production costs, as is the case for Lions Gates the producers of "No Boundaries." Consumers may respond by opting to pay a premium for shows that do not include product placements. The other realistic action will be regulatory intervention. The National Advertising Review Council may develop guidelines, as they have for advertising to children, for their members to follow. The Federal Trade Commission may also develop regulations regarding product placement that would be mandatory for marketers to follow. Whether it is guidelines or regulation, one solution may be the implementation of a rating system. If products within a show are paid product placements, the show might have a VP rating for a visual product placement, U rating for use, and O rating for oral mention.

SOURCES:

Mathews, Anna Wilde. "Ford Motor Gets Starring Role on WB Network," Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2001, p B1, B4.

- Renee Fontenot

LEAD STORY-DATELINE: Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2001.

In an effort to break through the clutter associated with advertisement breaks between television shows, increasingly companies are turning to product placement. Product placement is the use of a brand or branded product or service in the story of a movie, TV show, song, book, or whatever. The product can be mentioned, shown, or used by the characters in the story. Recently, Campbell soup has been a regular on the popular TV talk show "The View" on ABC. The four women hosts, most of whom have been news reporters, have talked about their experiences with Campbell Soups. In one show, the audience became participants in a segment sharing their personal soup sipping techniques and singing the famous 'M'm M'm Good' jingle.

The network and the company signed an agreement where in exchange for monetary compensation, the show would provide Campbell with an non-commercial venue to advertise their products. The Campbell Web site was linked to the Views Web site. Before and after each commercial break there was Campbell "billboard," flashed on the TV screen. Unlike an ad, Campbell did not have full control over what would be said about their product. Mugs and other props with the Campbell logo were sent to the show but explicit details about their use was not part of the contract. The hosts were encouraged to include mentions of Campbell soups in their banter, but explicit scripts were not given to them.

The show claims that the Campbell sponsorship was fully disclosed to the audience. However, studies show that most viewers do not recognize such placements as advertisements and take them as being newsworthy or as personal endorsements by the hosts. Therefore, product placements are not recognized as advertisements by consumers and not as critically viewed as a regular ad during the same show for the product.

TALKING IT OVER AND THINKING IT THROUGH!

1. Think of a recent TV show you have watched. Do you recall any branded products? Did their presence or use seem natural or could they have been planned?

2. Suggest some guidelines for marketers regarding product placements? Are there product and show types or formats that should have different guidelines? Explain.

3. What is the risk of the increased use of product placement by marketers?

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE!

The use of brand products or services in a TV show or movie does not necessarily constitute product placement. Product placement implies an explicit agreement between the company and the show producer to include a specific product or brand. Brand products add realism to a story line. The absence of all branded goods in a movie or TV show would be conspicuous and unnatural.

Product placements are becoming bolder and more prolific. As with any form of advertising, if marketers push the limits of social acceptability they subject themselves to a range of consequences. One consequence may come from consumers by means of a boycott. In order to 'voice' their objection to the overuse of product placements, consumers may boycott or simply not choose the products of firms that engage in overzealous use of this tool. Another consequence may be the organization of citizen groups that persuade the government to increase the regulation of such practices. At this time, with many consumers unaware of the blurring of the line between entertainment and paid product placement, such backlash seems a distant future.

SOURCES:

Branch, Shelly. "Product Plugs—'M'm M'm Good'?," Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2000, p. B1, B12.

- Renee Fontenot