Woah, Man, That Raccoon Is Like, Watching The Football Game
from the trippy dept
While many advertisers are relying less on television and instead devoting more resources to online media, some companies are still trying to breathe new life into the good old 30-second TV spot. One of the most common ideas is targeted advertising that's aimed at a particular area or demographic, but one company is working on ads that are sensitive not to the context of the viewer, but rather the context of the programming or another external influence. For example, a Wendy's ad will run during some NFL games this weekend, featuring some animated raccoons whose dialogue will change depending on what's happening in the game. Earlier Wendy's ads in a test of the system advertised chili if the weather was, uh, chilly, and the frozen Frosty dessert when it was warm. This is a somewhat interesting system that could make TV ads a little more relevant and a lot more interesting, depending on how they're done. The chili/Frosty example isn't particularly interesting, really, because it's still an ad many people are probably likely to ignore. However, in the case of the raccoon ads, if they're entertaining and clever as well as timely, they could attract a lot of viewers. This could be a good example of how advertisers need to realize that their ads are content, and they need to create ads that people want to see. But simply changing the product that's being advertised depending on the weather may just be an attempt at dressing up standard captive-audience advertising, although it is an attempt to make it a little bit more relevant for viewers.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Whoa!
Yes, that is exactly how stupid these companies consider the average consumer to be. Think about that next time you are tempted to give them your money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Whoa!
On your average human this stuff really does work (why else would they keep throwing money at it year after year).
Swaying your subconcious is a very powerful tool (because you don't get the chance to think abou it) and if you don't have some negative experience to counter it, you may just say "hey, there's a Wendy's let's give it a try" rather than "Ew, Yuk, there's a Wendy's keep driving".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Whoa!
My husband and I were out looking to purchase a new mattress recently. I kept going towards the Serta's because I think the Serta sheep are just too cute. I was able to control my subconscious, however, because there were better products available.
I always thought ads were stupid and didn't affect my purchases, but this made me realize that ads probably do actually work.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: spying on viewers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Racoon Advertising
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Think of the Budweiser frogs from a few years back. They were amusing, and I could talk about them with my relatives at family gatherings (which was kinda nice - sometimes it's difficult to communicate with family in a pleasant fashion.)
When I was walking down the beer aisle, I may have chuckled a bit when I saw the bottles of Bud, as I reached past them to get my Guinness.
I'm just not sure that advertising/marketing people are the most intelligent people. Fun guys to have at a party, maybe, but not the ones I'm going to count on for my business.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I've said it before...
I actually look forward to their commercials, talk about warm and fuzzy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
When I see a raccoon,I associate it with it's deadly roundworm.
I wish they would do commercials more like they do on PBS,say the name of it,show a picture of it and that's all...And no more than three commercials per break. It's gotten to the point to where commercial tv is more and more commercial and less and less program..
The only commercials I watch are the Get a Mac ones...But they don't make me want to get a Mac and my PC runs Linux,so there you have it.
* gets off soapbox*
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]