5. February 2008 by bryan.lonn.

Both Walgreens and CVS are blaming the smaller amounts of flues this season to the reason why cold medicines aren’t selling at their locations.  Does this mean that CVS and Walgreens may start working on a new flu-strain to boost sales?  Who knows but the CEO of Walgreens hopes some more people will get sick this year so his stocks wont flatline.

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4. February 2008 by bryan.lonn.

What was Hershey’s thinking releasing a product that resembles Cocaine? Millions of dollars went into marketing this hilarious product even when law-enforcement and communities around America said, “It was a bad idea.” I feel like someone at Hershey’s loved the energy drink Cocaine and decided to go with a similar idea. Since the Cocaine energy drink failed and was pulled off store shelves, it was no surprise that this product was pulled too. Some of my Gen Y friends thought the idea was funny and brought vital issues to the table. For example the Drug issue in America and the problems that we still have with censorship over real issues. Unfortunately, since the product was already pulled most couldn’t even try it. Note to product makers: Don’t resemble illegal drugs, Americans can’t handle it.

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23. January 2008 by bryan.lonn.

This years SuperBowl has already a number of records.  One being for the high costs of advertising one brand.  Anheuser-Busch is spending 18 million to advertise one brand at the SuperBowl.  We all know how successful the SuperBowl is and how large the audience is for potential impressions.  But repetition of impressions for the same reach has been proven to fail.  Will advertising Bud Light 18 times this year at the SuperBowl really motivate consumers to go towards their brand?  I figure if you haven’t grabbed the attention of the consumer by the fourth try then the eighteenth will be unsuccessful as well.  Generation Y would tell you that 18 advertisements for Bud Light may make them go towards the competitor in annoyance of continuous advertising.  Could this stunt possibly cost Anheuser-Busch?  Will have to wait and see.

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18. January 2008 by bryan.lonn.

Saatchi & Saatchi developed what they thought was a solid and creative campaign for the Wendy’s company.  Their random samples showed that customers thought the campaign was funny but it never said it would drive sales.  Well after this weeks Advertising Age the statistics are in and the campaign was an utter failure to bring in new customers.  With disappointing sales last year for Wendy’s the $435 million dollar push for the RED wig campaign seems like a waste.  But who at the mega Advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, thought it was a good idea to begin with?  With icons like the Green Bean Giant, Tony the Tiger and others, who can really connect to a man wearing an overly bright wig?

After interviewing a few of the customers at Wendy’s about the campaign most didn’t even know the campaign existed and worse yet if they did see the commercials the market tuned them out.  My reason is it just doesn’t cut through the clutter of todays life and the idea seems amateur at best.  Anyone with a basic camcorder could do one of their commercials and it just isn’t eye-popping enough for our markets.

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14. January 2008 by bryan.lonn.

In Advertising Age’s January 7, 2008 issue the cover story featured the new Knight Rider show debuting this February. Skeptical already about the show remake I read on to find something of hope for the potential flop. I was surprised that the chairman of NBC Entertainment didn’t even run a test screening to see if any markets would like the new show. Obviously he didn’t pay attention to the remake of Miami Vice film that became a flop. After doing some research I found out that Knight Rider has already had two remake series’s (Ex. Knight Rider 2000). Both with minimal audiences. I guess NBC is thinking if Michael Bay can turn Transformers from an old 80s show into a box office hit, they can at least turn the KITT car into the new Mustang Shelby GT500KR. Get real! Most of the Generation Y audience members I’ve been talking to think this new show is a joke. Some potential viewers are saying, “the only way I will watch the new Knight Rider is only if the writers strike keeps up and theres nothing else to watch.” The new hero (Silverman) is boring and the idea for the show was becoming unpopular by it’s third season with the original series. I just don’t see much hope for this new show and without doing a test market I think even NBC has their fingers crossed. Once stellar shows like Heroes and Lost continue I have a feeling Knight Rider will just fizzle out.

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