2015 in a Nutshell
Sports & Entertainment Marketing - Noah Shanton
Three Companies that Best Marketed Themselves This Year
- Geico: Geico has been a recognizable insurance company over the years. The company repeats a common theme on how Geico can easily help people save money. They use humor, and attract attention to themselves by creating new commercials so the same ones are not being played repeatedly. Geico has created characters over the years, such as the Gekko, which people have come to associate with the company. In 2015, Geico used humor in commercials like the “James Bond” commercial where the mother is calling in when the “spy” is in the middle of a fight, and the commercial taking place in the lunchroom in an office, where a band starts playing The Final Countdown.
- Supercell: Supercell developed the mobile game Clash of Clans, a game where users build a base and defend it from invading players and their clans and then raid other bases to gain resources. It has become so popular it became the highest grossing mobile game of all time. Supercell has been successful because they initially advertised their free mobile app Clash of Clans on Facebook and within other mobile games, but recently moved into marketing on television by creating funny animated ads using the characters in the game. The company also created a humorous Super Bowl ad featuring Liam Neeson. In the ad, he plays the game and makes several references to the film series Taken, which he stars in. The ad also included an animated part based on actual elements of the game. I recently saw an ad for Clash of Clans at the movie theater, which Supercell titled the Legend of the Last Lava Pup. It incorporated real actors telling the story and the game was shown animated throughout the story. Supercell has a way of reaching a diverse audience and drawing people in to trying their games through their humorous and creative commercials.
- Nationwide Insurance: One of the key components to Nationwide's marketing strategy over the years is their jingle, "Nationwide is on your side". In 2015, Nationwide's marketing strategy features humorous commercials with Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning where Manning sings everyday phrases or thoughts to the famous jingle, including "do I really look like this?" as he is looking at a bobble-head of himself. In 2015 there were more situations featured in the ads than the previous year. This left people waiting to see the next commercial to hear what new things Manning says. Nationwide is successful with these ads because Manning is one of the most popular athletes in sports as well as a nice, genuine, and funny person with a great TV personality. The repetition of the jingle by Manning keeps Nationwide in people's heads, even when their ads are not playing.
Best Products of the Year
- Drones (for consumers) [extremely high quality photographs and videos, easy to learn to fly, reasonable price]
- Anki Overdrive [brings racing games to life]
Worst Products of the Year
- Sony Walkman ZX2 [weighty, high price, most people use smartphones for music]
- Hoverboard [will randomly catch on fire as it charges]
Best Movies of 2015 and How They Were Marketed
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens showed a number of teaser trailers on TV as part of their marketing, and then the full trailer first aired during halftime of a Monday night football game between the Giants and Eagles. There was also a lot of merchandise created to go along with the film that was available before the movie was released. This largely consisted of toys, which both kids and adults alike sought out. However, with such a large fan-base for the Star Wars movies, not much marketing was needed, since people have been anticipating and anxiously awaiting the next movie in the series since Disney announced its plans to continue the saga after purchasing Star Wars back in 2012.
- Creed uses the fan-base already established from the previous six Rocky films over the years and markets this film as a spin-off of Rocky as opposed to a sequel. New characters in a familiar setting will attract new fans who are familiar with Rocky while continuing the theme of an underdog rising to the top.
Best Musical Artists and Their Marketing Strategies
- Adele: She took a 3-year break from music and returned in 2015 with her song Hello. The song had the biggest sales week of any song in 15 years and began at the #1 spot on Billboard’s Top 100. The success of this song was due in part to a creative marketing strategy that consisted of playing a 30 second commercial during the United Kingdom’s X-Factor show that presented the opening lines of the song, but nothing else. It created a media buzz and had people talking about Adele again, wondering whether it was Adele singing the song, and whether her new album would be released soon. Hello reached out to those fans that enjoyed Adele’s previous album 21, which focused on heartbreak and misery. Reconnecting with her fan-base is the strategy Adele is taking, such as appearing on Saturday Night Live and performing a one night performance at Radio City Music Hall. Adele prefers these types of strategies to keep her name out there, as opposed to the typical ways celebrities achieve this. She stays off social media and doesn’t play the 'fame game', but rather does things on her own timeline and keeps her life as private as possible. Adele has also prevented her album 25 from being streamed, and forced buyers to purchase a digital download or CD, which has resulted in selling millions of copies.
- Justin Bieber: He has had three songs in the top 5 position on Billboard’s chart for the last several weeks. Bieber has maintained his popularity over the years by staying with a consistent marketing strategy, in which he keeps his appearance similar, such as his clothes, which keeps fans loyal because they believe he is staying true to himself. Unlike Adele, Bieber utilizes social media, especially twitter, to both keep his name out there and to keep up with his fans who are on social media. Bieber also hangs out with a lot of celebrities, which helps him stay in the headlines as well as reach additional fans. Bieber used a unique strategy that utilized both social media and his celebrity connection to promote his song, What Do You Mean?, when the song was released over the summer. In the days leading up to the release, celebrities held up signs with the song title and the number of days until the release, which Bieber posted on social media.
Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2015
- HIV Vaccine
- Kepler-452b, A.K.A. "Earth 2.0"
- Water on Mars
- First New Antibiotic in 30 Years
- First Laboratory Grown Human Muscle
The 10 Best Scientific Discoveries of 2015
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My New Year's Resolutions for 2016
- Personal Improvement: Eat more fruits and vegetables, while limiting how much sugar I eat.
- Family and Friends: Listen to my dad more when he tries to give me advice, and spend more time outside of school with my friends.
- School and the outside world: Manage my time better when working on long-term projects.