Today I will be discussing the profession of public relations and its relationship with advertising. Often times when rumors or backlash is being produced towards a company or organization they will turn to a team of public relations specialists to boost their image. The public relations specialists will usually use press releases, interviews, or planned speeches with the company in order to clear the rumors or enhance the companies image. However, in order to reach the greatest number of people, the PR specialists will sometimes turn to advertising.
That's what BP did in 2011, after they were still getting some backlash for the infamous oil spill of 2006. The public was complaining that some of the oil spills effects were still impacting the waters, and that BP wasn't doing enough to fix it.
BP, working together with PR specialists, started a PR/Marketing campaign called "Committed to America"
Here is one of the ads:
As you can see, BP is trying to shake away the rumors that were surrounding their company and affecting their profits. When people saw the BP logo after the oil spill, their brand became synonymous with pollution and the harming of innocent sea animals. In these ads, BP shows the audience that their company is committed to not have another catastrophic spill, and that they are even as dedicated as improving American jobs.
Personally, I appreciate the effort being put forth by BP officials. It really does show the public that they care and are committed to not only clearing their name, but also improving the country.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
The advertisement/marketing campaign that I will be reviewing this week are the heavily discussed Microsoft Surface vs. iPad ads. Usually, I hate when companies use their competitors product in their ad, due to the fact that to me it's basically admitting that their product is considered inferior. However, in this campaign, Microsoft does an excellent job of getting down to the specifics of what their product has that the iPad doesn't, such as a USB port and kick stand.
Using the clever voice over of Apple's fabled, "Siri, Microsoft almost mocks Apple's simple interface and business incapabilities.
Only several ads that I've seen can successfully use this technique, such as this 2010 Pepsi commercial, where they portray Pepsi literally standing above the rest of all sodas, especially Coca-Cola.
As mentioned earlier however, I usually hate this technique. It seems like a low blow, and to me, is an unsuccessful ploy for me to want to switch what companies product I buy. Take this ad for example, would you want to switch products? I wouldn't.
