A Look Back...

As I finish up my research paper, I find myself looking back at the beginning of the semester. The first few days of class I had no idea what I was going to write my research paper about, and I was worried that it just wouldn't get done, let alone be written well. Looking at the final copy of it now I am pretty satisfied. I'm glad that I chose the topic I did because it was interesting and it helped me to dig deeper into my major and I learned a lot.

I also think that the blogs were a great addition to the entire process. It was nice to be able to write about the sources, or just about whatever I had found throughout my research. It will be a nice thing to look back at in a few years and remember all of the work I put into this paper. It will also be funny to look back at it when the world of advertising has changed, and to find that my "future of advertising" has become the past.

History fascinates me to begin with, so the history of my major ended up being the perfect topic. I think I researched it well and found out many key points that were vital to the development of modern advertising. I am even more excited to take more advertising classes and to eventually start my career in the advertising business. One day you'll be flipping through the channels to find a commercial that I developed. This research paper is truly only the beginning.

Suggestions Received

My three classmates also had some suggestions for my paper and I took them all into consideration. I changed some of the things that they pointed out to me, but some things I kept the way they were to begin with. First of all, I fixed my citations that were incorrect, as well as my works cited page. Laurie pointed out that not all of my citations matched up with the page. She also pointed out a few places where things were inconsistent, such as my spelling of the word “Domino’s.” I looked it up and changed it to the appropriate spelling.

Molly found some of the same mistakes, and she also pointed out page numbers that were missing, and that my works cited page was not double spaced. Amanda suggested that a few of my sentences be worded differently, or moved to a different paragraph, but for the most part I left the organization of my paper the way it was. I also went through and edited my paper one last time, just to catch any small errors. I added a few commas where they were needed, and I took the time to really read each sentence separately so I would not miss anything.

I think peer review sessions can be tedious at times, but the end results are very helpful. The suggestions from my classmates were useful and insightful, and my paper improved because of them. I hope that my suggestions helped them in return, and that they were able to develop and refine their papers as well.

Advice Given

The two peer review sessions that were conducted for our final research papers were extremely valuable and they helped me to improve upon my rough drafts. I think all four of us were able to help each other immensely and it was definitely nice to see and hear the opinions of three other people. After looking at the same material for so long it is hard to find errors, so having a few sets of fresh eyes take a look at your work is very beneficial. I believe that I was able to give some good advice and suggestions to all of my classmates, and I also took their suggestions into consideration.

When it came to Amanda’s paper, I had a few suggestions for ways that she could improve her rough draft. I felt as if her paper was lacking logical organization, and that some things were just simply out of order. Her writing was good, and there were only a few grammatical errors, but I suggested that she move some of her paragraphs around. I thought that her paper was not flowing very well, and that some of the dates were out of order so it made it difficult for the reader to follow. She also talked about the same topics in a few different places in her paper, so I suggested that she put the related information together in order to cause less confusion. There were also a few things that were worded a bit awkwardly in my opinion, but they were not necessarily wrong. Overall I thought that the content of Amanda’s paper was very good and that her paper was well-researched.

Laurie’s paper on the other hand was extremely organized and it progressed in a logical manner. I felt as if it was easy to follow because the dates were in order and like topics were grouped together. The only major things that I found were a few inconsistencies. She had commas before and after “Jr.” in some places, and in others she had a comma only after it. Some of her citations differed from the others, so I just pointed these things out to her. She also used different tenses in a few places so I made some suggestions regarding that as well. Her paper seemed thoroughly researched and it was very interesting to read.

I also had a few suggestions for Molly and her paper. I found a few general mistakes, such as typos and simple word choice. There were a few places where she used “has” instead of “have” or where she left a word out. I also mentioned that some of her paragraphs were extremely long and indicated a few places where they could be broken apart. I added a few commas as well, and found a few sentences that I thought were fragments. I found very little wrong with the content and organization in Molly’s paper, and overall I believe that it was written very well.

Can Sky Save Saturn?

Recently Saturn has been struggling in sales, so GM is hoping to revive the brand with the new Saturn Sky. Instead of pulling the brand off of the market, GM is taking a huge risk with the Sky roadster in hopes that it will turn things around for them. They know that Saturn does have brand loyal customers, so they're hoping that the new sporty look of the Sky will spark some interest.

The new vechicles are supposedly a big upgrade from the Saturn. They're steel-bodied cars instead of plastic, and the Sky's are coming with a pretty hefty price tag. But will it be enough to revive the brand and get them out of the hole?

In my opinion, some serious marketing skills are needed if GM thinks that they can make up for their losses with the Saturn in the past few years, but it definitely can be done. Their biggest obstacle will be to transform the idea of a Saturn from a cheap car to an "affordable luxury." A tough task, but not impossible.

I think the Sky looks like a really nice car, and yet it is still affordable to those "young professionals" who are just finally making enough money to buy their own car that's a little nicer than the one they learned to drive on. I can see that being the biggest target market.

This is just one example of the issues that advertisers are faced with. It is also a great example of repositioning the brand or product in the eyes of the consumer.

Commonly Misused Words

Once upon a time there was a princess, whose skin was fair and hair was long and blonde, who was in search of her prince. A wise old woman had told her that if she were to ever find him, she must first trek through the forest, in stormy weather, to the site where an altar had been made by a witch.

"It's there that you will find your prince," the old woman said.

The princess accepted her mission, except she had just one question. "Is there a track that I can follow through the forest?," she asked the old woman.

"Tracks do not come for free. You will have to pay a fare of two golden coins," she replied.

"Well that's not fair," said the princess, "Who's going to be able to afford that?"

"You're a smart girl. You'll do the right thing." And with that, the old woman vanished.

It wasn't about doing the right thing, it was the principle of the matter, the princess thought to herself. She felt she had the rite to travel without paying a fee. After all, she was royalty. And as you can imagine, the princess did not know whether or not she would do the right thing. However, she did not lose sight of her goal.

She thought about how the journey would affect her, as well as the positive and negative effects of finding a prince. Advice from her old principal came to her, but she tried not to let that alter her feelings. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it. She even jotted down some thoughts on some stationary, and went as far as to cite the sources. This girl meant business. She dreamed of becoming a playwright one day.

The princess finally set out on her journey. She left in the middle of a thunderstorm, and she listened to everything the old woman had said. As she walked her shoes were either too loose or too tight, and she had to stop to adjust them. Eventually she arrived at the altar.

In front of her was a stationery witch, and she was not budging. The princess tried to talk to her but she wouldn't respond. The witch wore a cape, and its ends were frayed. Frustrated, the princess began to dance around the witch, trying to make her move or to atleast make some affect. Her dancing finally effected the witch, and she began to laugh.

With one flick of her wand the witch made a prince appear. The prince and the princess fell instantly in love. (Well what else were you expecting? It was their destiny!)

But do you really think they're going to live happily ever after?

Another Prominent Figure

Although Rosser Reeves is one of the most influential figures in the advertising business, in my opinion Leo Burnett comes in as a close second. He started one of the greatest advertising agencies that still holds his name today.

Leo Burnett's advertisements emphasized visuals as opposed to long drawn out body copy or explanations. The pictures got the message across and the copy just simply backed the original message up. Burnett is also known for creating some famous brand icons such as the Pillsbury Dough Boy, Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant and the Marlboro Man. These, along with many others, are images that almost anyone would recognize, even today.

Burnett started his career at an advertising agency called the Homer McGee Company. It was here where he worked on several accounts for automobile ads. He later was hired at Erwin, Wassey as the head of their creative department. It wasn't until 1935 that he founded the Leo Burnett Company, Inc., in Chicago. This was a risky move because most of the big players could be found in New York City, and there was not much in the midwest as far as advertising went.

One of Burnett's most famous quotes is, "When you reach for the stars, you may not get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either." I think that clearly shows his ambition and thought process. He truly believed that anything was possible and he strived for the best in each and every campaign he worked on. Without the work of Leo Burnett the advertising business certainly would not be where it is today.

Back to the Beginning.

I found another source that will help me in the organization of my paper. The website for Advertising Age had a timeline of major happenings in the world of advertising.

This source is extremely organized, and it is easy to take information from. It allows you to click on any time period and lists the major events that were going on in the world of advertising at that time. It is very helpful when it comes to dates of major events and I think it will be helpful to organize my paper chronologically.

I will definitely be able to use some of the information in my final paper. I don't know if I will use the actual information, or just the dates and other things to keep my paper organized, but either way I'm really glad I came across this.

Also, Advertising Age is one of the biggest, if not THE biggest magazine in the business, so it is definitely a credible source. One of my advertising professors even suggested that we subscribe to the magazine because it always has the most up-to-date information, and interesting stories about what is going on in the world of advertising.

A Look at the Other Side

Although it is difficult for me to admit, many people believe that advertising can have many negative effects on people, especially children. Millions of children sit in front of the television on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. Some may watch a few of their favorite shows, while others spend hours upon hours sitting and staring at the screen. In one hour of television there are approximately 20 minutes worth of commercials. After a few hours, that commercial time begins to add up. When children are exposed to television advertising for long periods of time, it can begin to have serious negative effects.

Because Saturday morning is a popular time for children to be watching television, it is also a popular time for advertisers to run their commercials at a high frequency, or in other words, the same commercial multiple times. Children may see the same McDonalds commercial five times during a certain program. The advertising may also be different commercials for the same product.

The brands that are advertised on Saturday mornings are also very specific. Most of the commercials will be for fast food or sugar cereals. To the advertisers, it only makes sense to target these brands to children who will eventually convince their parents to purchase them. However, advertisers have failed to take into consideration that their commercials could possibly be overwhelming to the young minds of their target market.

Children account for billions of dollars in sales each year, and they are an essential target audience to many brands and companies. However, are those billions of dollars really worth the consequences? Child obesity is becoming a real problem in today’s society, but can we directly contribute that to Happy Meal commercials? Some will argue yes.

Other arguments have also been made against advertising targeted to children. People believe that because children are exposed to so much advertising at such young ages, they can develop brand loyalty while they are extremely young.

In addition to brand loyalty, advertising can also put images into the minds of children. Due to the excessive cigarette advertising with Joe Camel, this mascot became as recognizable to six-year-olds as Mickey Mouse. Later, after the Joe Camel ads were discontinued, a study showed that Camel was the most popular brand of cigarettes that was sold to minors. An obvious conclusion can be drawn, but whether or not it is a fact is debatable.

Although the negative effects of advertising are a clear reality, the blame cannot be placed entirely on the advertiser. Parents are also responsible for the health and well being of their children. Although the commercials are there, the parents are also allowing their children to be exposed to them. Assigning blame, however, is not the main concern. Children’s lives are being affected because of advertising without question, and measures to prevent or stop this need to be taken.

Should I Be Persuaded?

Although this is no longer a current advertisement, I found that the commercial for the "Chocolate" cell phones that featured Christina Aguilera's song, "Candyman" was brilliant. If you're not familiar with the commercial, I'll try to describe it for you.

The scenery was almost like a high-tech candy factory, with conveyer belts going every which way. But instead of candybars traveling about the factory there were the cellphones. The three colors of the cellphones (red, white, and green) were the three colors used throughout the commercial, and the way the commercial flowed was unbelievable. Christina Aguiulera's song worked perfectly as the "soundtrack" for this commercial because she describes a guy like candy, but in this case it seems as if she's describing the phones. Also, a main feature of the cellphones is that they double as an mp3 player, so it was like the song was coming from the phone.

As I write this I feel as if I'm not giving the commercial as much applause as it deserves. I guess you just have to see it, and for those who have I hope you agree with me!

The commercial just had so much synergy, everything was related and it had many key aspects that an advertiser strives for. For one, the catchy pop song will most likely be stuck in your head for the rest of the day, if not the week. The use of color and movement makes it hard to turn your head or flip the channel in the middle of it. The way the product, the song, the visual, the colors, and the design all work together is really great.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only person in the world who would rather watch commercials than the actual television programming. I, obviously, blame this on my major, and at times I find it extremely annoying. But on the other hand, I enjoy it. I found this commercial to be one of the best that I've seen in a long time, and it motivated me to one day create, or atleast be a part of creating a commercial that is on the same level.

Another point that I hesitate to make is that the commercial began to persuade me that I NEEDED one of these cellphones. I am ashamed to admit that I was sucked into the business that I will one day be working in. I have not, however, purchased one. Yet.

Expository or Persuasive?

Considering my topic is for the most part based on facts and leaves little room for opinions, my final research paper will most likely be expository. I don’t see how I could form a persuasive thesis about the history of advertising; there’s not much that needs persuading. It will be simple to lay out the facts in chronological order and in a neat, organized way. However, when it comes to the strategies used in advertising, I may include some of my opinions on which are best, or where advertising is going in the future. For the most part my final paper will consist of hard facts and information that I have collected, so it only makes sense for it to be expository. In a way, it is a bit ironic. Advertising’s main purpose is to persuade people to buy products, and yet my paper really won’t be persuading anyone to do anything.

Sweet Spot

My fourth source for my research paper is a book called "Hitting the Sweet Spot." This book is focused around one of the most recent advertising strategies. Throughout the history of advertising things have been focused around the product, but this is the first concept that deals with the heart and the emotions of the consumers.

"Hitting the Sweet Spot" is a guide to giving consumers exactly what they want to see through the advertising of the product. Instead of commercials focused on what the product is, they are now focused on how they will make the consumer feel. It has been found that people are emotionally attached to certain brands and this strategy plays off of that. The goal is to hit the sweet spot of your target audience, or to find the one thing that will connect with them on a personal and emotional level.

Instead of Tide just being a laundry detergent, it is now a feeling; it reminds you of your mother washing your clothes and the scent brings you back to those fond memories of childhood. Sure, it washes your clothes, probably gets them pretty clean, but Tide means so much more than just simply clean clothes.

The concept sounds a bit silly, but almost anyone can name a few brands that they are emotionally attached to, and that is exactly why this strategy is so successful. Maybe it's that your dad gave you your first baseball glove and it was Wilson brand, or that you ate Cheerios with your grandmother every morning. Just think about it. Both of those would make great commercials.

"Hitting the Sweet Spot" is one of the more recent strategies in advertising and it will probably continue to be successful for a while. A lot of information is useful in this book and it will definitely fall somewhere into my research paper, most likely towards the end of the chronology.

Breaking Through the Clutter

In the past, advertising was easy. Merchants would yell in the streets about their fruit. People would post up signs around the town advertising their service. Competition was minimal, and technology was nonexistent. There was no such thing as mass communication. People had limited means of getting the attention of their customers. However, in today’s society, there are numerous ways to get a message to the consumer. Advertisers today are having more and more difficulty getting their voice heard through all of the noise.

Previously there has not been as much competition in the advertising business as there is today. There were ads on television simply stating what the product was and why you should purchase it. There were only a few different brands in each product category. People were not forced to pick and choose as much as they are in today’s society. Advertising was more of a means of simply getting the word about your brand out there as opposed to persuading the customer away from a competing brand.

In today’s fast-paced society advertisers are forced to do just that. The object has shifted from stating to persuading, and as thousands of ads are being thrown at consumers everyday, it is crucial for advertisers to find a way to make their ad stand out above the rest. A person is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements a day. As you can imagine, each person remembers very few if any. New strategies are needed to create the ad that they will remember.

A few strategies have been implemented in the past and they have paved the way for future advertisers. However, these strategies are slowly becoming outdated and there is a constant need for new and innovative ideas in the advertising business.

How can people break through the clutter? How can we make the consumer not only see but remember our commercial? And even better, how can we get the consumer, after seeing the advertisement, to purchase the product?

These are just a few questions that advertisers today are being faced with.

Peer Review Session

When we had our peer review session in class, it seemed like everyone was able to benefit from it, or atleast take something away from the constructive criticism. Because the four of us all had the chance to read each others papers, we were all able to compare and contrast each paper, as well as find the weaknesses.

In my paper I found that I needed to better explain what the Unique Selling Proposition was because the average person does not know about it. I somewhat took this for granted, and for the rest of my paper I will have to be careful about assuming that the general population already knows some of the things that I know about advertising and its history.

I think the peer review session was helpful, especially because it allowed me to fix things in my paper that I hadn't found on my own. I corrected a few comma errors and reworded some of my sentences. I also started threes sentences in a row with the word "the," and after the peer review session I was able to correct that as well.

I hope everyone else benefited from the peer review session as much as I did, and I really think its a good, helpful was to use class time in a way that everyone can benefit from. It was nice to be able to fix the paper after the peer review session, because I think everone's papers would have improved.

Positioning

The third source I'm using for my research paper is a book called "Positioning: How to Be Seen and Heard in the Overcrowded Marketplace." There is a ton of information packed into this book, but I definitely think I will be able to use a lot of it in my paper. It will be difficult to pick and choose from the examples, because there are a lot that relate to my topic. A lot of the information can be weeded out and picked apart.

The book is written around an advertising strategy called positioning. Positioning is when an advertiser "positions" the product in the minds of the consumers. Instead of simple stating what the product has to offer, positioning gives the product an identity in the consumers mind. Often times the product is positioned against its competitors. This usually occurs when a brand is #2 in the category and they need something that will let that brand stand out from the #1 brand.

Numerous successful advertising campaigns have been formed around the positioning strategy, and the authors provide many examples of successful brands that were repositioned in the marketplace. One of the most famous examples of this is 7up.

Originally 7up was positioned almost for medicinal purposes; it was the drink your mom gave you when you had an upset stomach. It was not even in the same category as Coke and Pepsi. After 7up sales began to plumit, it was repositioned as the "uncola." This new advertising campaign compared it to Coke and Pepsi, but said that it was different, new, and not a cola. 7up sales skyrocketed due to this new position.

"Positioning" will definitely be a lot of help for my paper, and I think I will be able to incorporate the information easily with the rest of my sources so far.

Paper Progress

So far I feel like my research has been going pretty well. It helps that I'm in the process of taking a few classes for my major this semester, so everything is going together. I'm learning a lot of things that I didn't know before, and there is a lot more information out there.

I think it will be smart to organize my research paper not only in chronological order, but with the key people as well. As my research continues I can see what information I want to go where, and what information I still want to find out. I think by making an outline like that will make it easier in the end to actually write the paper.

I'm really glad that I chose the history of advertising for my topic because it's helping me to learn more about my major, but it is information that may not be studied in any of my classes. So far things are going very well and I'm looking forward to the rest of the process.

Sources for Rosser Reeves

While I was researching Rosser Reeves, I came across a few sources to use. I found most of the information about him and his life on the internet, but most of the information about the Unique Selling Proposition came from a book that Rosser Reeves wrote himself called "Reality in Advertising." This book is where he proposes the idea of the USP and where he explains it in great detail.

Unfortunately this book is no longer being printed, and has become a collectors item. Because I don't exactly have $800 to buy one on eBay, I have the photocopied pages of parts of the book. I think it will be very useful for my final paper and that the book holds a lot of information relevant to my topic.

Rosser Reeves and his USP

Rosser Reeves is one of the most important figures in the history of advertising, and his idea of the Unique Selling Proposition paved the way for future advertisers. It was in the early 1940s that Reeves came up with the USP. The theory was first proposed to explain why certain advertising campaigns were successful. The idea was that each successful campaign had something unique to offer its consumer. The unique quality, trait, or promise was something that set the brand apart from its competitors.

The USP is simply the one thing you want people to remember about your product after they are exposed to the advertisement. Advertisers strive to come up with a USP for their campaigns today, but it is becoming more and more difficult to form a campaign around a USP.

One of the most classic examples of a USP came from Dominos. “Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed,” was the slogan that the campaign was centered around. This was revolutionary because no other pizza competitor could promise that the pizza would be delivered in 30 minutes or less. Nothing was said about the taste or quality of the pizza, but a speedy delivery put Dominos ahead of the competition.

The Unique Selling Proposition is one of the most important advertising strategies in the business. Rosser Reeves came up with a new idea that was ground-breaking for his time, and he paved the way for future advertisers.

The image of Rosser Reeves was found at ciadvertising.org.

Early Advertising History

Advertising began a lot earlier than one may assume. There are examples of advertisements that date back to the Ancient Greeks. The very first advertising came in the form of street cries, or vocal advertisements. Although vocal ads were most likely the first, print ads also developed very early. Signs were first posted in Rome advertising events such as a gladiator match or another public affair.

As history moves forward to the Middle Ages, so did the advertising. One interesting fact about ads in during this period is that most of them were pictures without and words. Most of the population was illiterate so pictures were the only way to communicate an advertisement. For the most part, signs were put up for individual merchants.

After the first newspaper was started in England, advertisements began to appear in print. The first is recorded to be an ad for the return of a stolen horse. Eventually, people were opening shops and charging for an ad to be posted. Newspaper ads became much more popular after the London Gazette decided to start running advertisements.

It wasn’t until 1661 that brand names began to appear. In 1665, ads for medicines to prevent and cure the plague were placed in newspapers. Names such as “Anti-Pestilential Pills” and “Incomparable Drink Against the Plague” were used.

A topic already?

Today is the second day of College Writing II and we were asked to start thinking about a topic for a research paper, that will essentially be worked on thoughout the entire semester. I figured that it would probably be in my best interest take Professor Hanes' advice and choose a topic that is atleast somewhat related to my major. Advertising has interested me since high school, but that interest has grown in the last year, especially after last semester. I really enjoyed my Principles of Advertising class and now I am excited to continue in my major here at Kent State. As far as a topic goes, I'm still thinking about it. A topic involving advertising is a given but I need to come up with a specific idea.