When we watched the ad for Macy's that included all of the different celebrities and designers, I knew that I would remember this ad and think about it before I would remember or think about a Belk or Dillards ad. I think that Macy's does a great job of removing themselves from the boring department store group. When people think of Macy's they think of New York City and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. When people think of Belk or Dillards or JCPenney's they do not think of anything except low prices and good sales and department store products/layout. Having an ad on television about the different celebrities and designers that Macy's offers is a great way to individualize themselves from all of the other department stores that everyone is tired of. I am sure that Macy's will reap the benefits of this particular advertisement.

Persuasive Advertising

Today in class we looked at advertisements that were persuasive and affective. The commercial that was very persuasive was the Cheerio advertisment. It made you think of the brand and how something so small could bring people together. It is very important to accomplish a persuasive and affective advertisment because you want to spend your time and money wisely. If an ad does not capture people’s attention and make a person want to buy the product they are advertising then the ad was worthless and didn’t do what it was supposed to do. A persuasive ad is going to stick in a persons mind and hopefully turn that person into revenue for the brand instead of just a viewer. The Macy’s ad was also a really great ad it showed all the celebrities and brands that you could find at Macy’s instead of showing sales and items that you could buy. The advertisements that work the best are created and innovative, they show the true character of the brand and make you want to be apart of that brand and what they have to offer.

experiential marketing

In class we've been discussing experiential marketing and how Vera Wang could use that to promote her new line SimplyVera at Kohl's. I think that the best idea that we came up with was the have either a fashion show in the store, or have free makeovers in the store that use her clothing. Many consumer's who come into Kohl's either don't know about the line or don't really care. Those people need to be exposed to the new line or else it will never get sold. I don't think that the new line will really bring in any new customers for Kohl's because I think that Vera Wang fans do not want to buy her things at Kohl's. Once the Kohl's consumer's are aware of the brand, they are more likely to come back to the line and buy her things. The makeover would be a good chance for consumer's to interact with the store and see the clothing on themselves. Many times consumer's won't buy something because they do not think it will look good on them, but when someone makes them try it on they realize that it really does look good, and they end up purchasing it. Even if the Vera Wang prices are higher than the other Kohl's brands, if a woman looks good in something she will cough up the extra money to buy because she knows it looks good and feels good in it. I think that this would be one of the best things for Vera Wang to do to promote her line because otherwise I feel like it will not sell well and eventually fade out.

Yahoo Avatar

I thought that the Yahoo Avatar was very interesting. It gave you an endless number of different options that you could add to your woman/man. It was fun to play around and give her different features and outfits. I think that this would appeal more to a younger audience because its kind of like playing dress up only in a virtual way, but it could still be interesting for college students. I think that its helpful in a field like consumer apparel and retail studies because you can see how outfits work and try different kinds or styles but not actually have to try them on yourselves you and try them on the virtual doll first and see what you like and dislike. It would make a retailers job easier because they wouldn't have to waste the time of trying things on people first. I'm not really sure what else they could do to make it better because it has about every option that you could have as far as hair and facial expressions. With all of the different options you can create just about whoever you want to be. They could maybe use a little more clothing options and more accessories. For the most part i really like doing the avatar and enjoyed getting to try different clothing and different ideas.
-Asia

Yahoo Avatars

I had never heard of Yahoo Avatars before, but after visiting the site and playing around with it, it seems pretty fun. I don't really know what the point of having one is...(maybe for your Yahoo messenger?)...but it is fun to play around with. I really like that there are so many options for what you can do to your avatar. The organizational or 'for a cause' options of t-shirts or backgrounds make it very versatile and interesting. I don't really have any suggestions because they've already thought of everything. I would have never thought of some of the hairstyles or different options for the avatars. Beyond a physical aspect, it would be kind of fun and interesting if you could make them talk or interact with others. Also, having options for careers they could have or families that they could make...it might take it to another level beyond just the physical attributes. Another thought that I had was that they could have options as to what brand of clothing or what designer clothing they could wear. The brands may be able to make money off of this or just increase their brand awareness. I saw on there that Pepsi has teamed up and I think that this is a great way to get the brand more publicity. Other brands should follow in their footsteps and think about doing the same thing.


--jordan.