Mayhem is everywhere!

Have you met Mayhem? Many of us are all to familiar with Allstate's latest campaign featuring the sadistic perpetrator in situations which show the importance of investing in Allstate's insurance. When I first saw the ads, I thought they were hilarious (My personal favorite is Mayhem as the GPS). In my Research Methods in Advertising/PR class, we're doing a semester-long group research project on a different brand or company. My group chose to base our research question around Allstate's Mayhem campaign, asking whether or not humor is an effective tool in advertising.

We are going to create a survey which includes video links to ads from both the light-hearted, humorous Mayhem campaign, and the more serious "You're In Good Hands" Dennis Haysbert campaign. Following each ad, we will pose a series of questions meaning to gauge the memorable, informative, engaging, and convincing nature of the ads.

Allstate's latest Mayhem ad: super fan

Our group is going to start designing our survey soon and then we can finally start reeling in some data that will (hopefully) bring us a step closer to answering our research question.

I read an interesting article on the New York Times website that talked about Mayhem, and how Allstate has adopted the new strategy of creating a villain to portray the product (or in this case, company) as the hero. By doing this, Allstate is able to establish a positive brand image. Another thing I like about the Mayhem campaign is how they still include the Dennis Haysbert voiceover at the end of the ads, almost like they're tying the two campaigns together or maintaining some sort of congruity within their marketing.


This has definitely been an in-depth undertaking but I've definitely learned a lot about marketing research throughout the process. And what a process it has been. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product (and the finish line for that matter!)

Ad Project: Milwaukee Power Tools

For my creative strategies advertising class, one of our projects was to create two ads for an assigned "client", who in this case, was Milwaukee Power Tools. After working on the project for several weeks and putting the finishing touches on our Strategic Action Plans, our professor told us that suddenly "our client changed their mind" and wanted to go in a new direction with the campaign: comparing aspects of the tools to nature. We were told to scrap our past ideas and start from scratch; however, we were to keep our SAP the same. Our final ads along with SAP were to be turned in the next day.

Panic ensued.

The rationale behind the last-minute change-up was that our professor wanted us to focus less on using Photoshop and InDesign and more on creating good body copy. Stressed under the time-constraint and tired after what seemed like an endless back-and-forth email conversation, my partner and I managed to pull together two decent ads.

Our final two ads for Milwaukee Power Tools

In our original SAP, my partner and I had targeted the product to middle aged, white-collar male homeowners with families. We felt that our original slogan, "Build your own memories" could still be relevant with the new theme, so we didn't change it. The most difficult part of this project was deciding which two images to use for the new concept and developing creative headlines that could relate the images to our audience and the product.

Hopefully what we lacked in creative graphic outflux, we made up for in copywriting!

Scary Good

I stumbled upon this ad a few months ago, and I think that it's genius.


Dirt Devil: The Exorcist (April 2011)

In all honesty, upon first viewing this, I was pretty scared (that being said, my fear tolerance is pretty low). From the eerie music, camera shots of flickering lamps and a man saying the rosary, to the screeching girl on the ceiling, I had absolutely no idea what was possibly being advertised. But then, the camera slowly pans upwards, the music goes from horrifying to happy-go-lucky, and we see an old woman vacuuming her floor. Wow. It's so perfect. Not only does this ad keep the audience on edge until the final second, but it throws in a humorous and completely unexpected twist as well.

In my opinion, this ad works for multiple reasons: for one, it's catchy. My attention never gravitated away from the screen for the entire 1:32 duration (and that's saying a lot because normally I can't stand scary movies for a second!). On that note, this ad speaks to multiple audiences. It isn't just targeted to a specific market, rather it can appeal to everyone. A teenager could enjoy this just as much as a 65 year old man could. I mean, I'm sure this might be a bit much for an 8 year old, what 8 year olds are even buying vacuums? Finally, it establishes the competitive advantage of the product; Dirt Devil Vacuums are powerful. The whole purpose of the ad is to show the strength of the vaccuum, and it does so pretty blatantly (although maybe slightly exaggerated).

Some people are critical as to whether or not humor is effective in advertising. I think that if used in a smart way, that isn't too over-the-top, it definitely can be. Humor makes things memorable, and if the whole point of advertising is to ingrain a brand into the mind of a consumer, then why not use humor in order to help do so?

Sharing is caring!

Look who finally came around to making a blog! I figured that this would be a good place for me to share my thoughts on just about anything that seems relevant. Hopefully in due time, this page will be filled with everything from videos, to designs, to articles, and everything in between!

To kick things off, I almost feel obligated to share this music video, Somebody That I Used to Know feat. Kimbra-- Gotye. A friend introduced it to me today, and I have been playing it on repeat ever since. It's definitely earned it's #1 spot in the charts in Australia. Gotye's voice is so hauntingly beautiful, I swear you'll become instantly hooked.



Another thing I love about this song is the music video. I have always been a fan of stop-motion, and love how it was integrated into the video. Since each frame is shot individually, you have to acknowledge the time that probably went into the production. Then there's the awesome body paint which probably took hours in itself as well! So much to appreciate with this song! Hopefully it can as much recognition in America as it has in Australia!