The Stories behind the Big Brands

Neatorama tells the stories behind some of our country's biggest brands. I really enjoyed reading them! Check out the top 10 food brands, car brands, Hollywood Studio logos, and tech logos.

Morton Salt

Betty Crocker

Paramount Studios

Ford Motor Company

Canon

Ads on Edge

Ads on Edge

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: branding recession)

More information encouraging decision makers to change advertising and marketing spending, not cut it. In challenging economic times, all areas - professional and personal - need to be evaluated and altered, but not necessarily eliminated completely. This slide show presentation from The Economist, while aim solely on print advertising, can be applied to all elements of marketing, not just print.

Don't Cut the Budget, Just Change It!

Often times during tough financial times, companies feel like they should cut some unnecessary spending. And more often than not, the marketing department is the first area to get budget cuts. Various studies over the years, however - like the ones featured on the Financial Times website, prove that marketing is beneficial and even crucial, in times of recession.




According to one study featured on Financial Times, Kellogg's maintained its marketing spending during the 1930s depression, while Post did not. Kellogg then dominated the dry cereal market for the next half-century. As shown in a McKinsey & Company report, the companies who increased their spending in a recession were the only ones whose profits rose substantially when the economy recovered.

The companies that kept their marketing budget in tact, or increase them, were able to keep their voice heard, thus allowing consumers to stay familiar with their brand. And by keeping or increasing their marketing budget, these companies were able to increase market share and profitability over time, ultimately making their companies stronger players than the companies that decreased or eliminated their marketing spending.

Can I have your attention please: Banner Ads

Has anyone noticed that banner ads are a lot sexier than they use to be? These mini, yet flashy animations are much more impressive than their static counterparts that were displayed back in the day. Unfortunately, flashy doesn’t necessary mean a hit. A “hit” is when the user actually selects the banner ad to view the web page.

Banner ads are key components of branding a company’s identity. Ideally, the company wants you to click the ad, visit their site and hopefully purchase something. A memorable ad may stick around unconsciously and the viewer may search for that product or service at a later time. Many people have caught on to the schemes of online freebees and the success rate of banner ads have dropped since their initial introduction. The integrity that a company upholds in the public’s eye is key to their longevity. If the product or service can’t be offered for free then maybe providing general information or a discount is more suitable.

Getting your banner on sites that has major traffic can be costly but the ROI may be worth it. Sites that are targeted more should equal more hits for your banner. There are also businesses that will post your banner ad on publisher’s web sites. A less costly route is to exchange banner space with a partner or client, which is where building relationships can finally pay-off.

Annoying as some ads may be, banner ads can be just as entertaining as a new movie preview. With applications such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash and Paint Shop Pro, these compressed, interactive and motion packed ads can deliver an entertaining message.

Ads on Tests and Quizzes?

After budget cuts, a teacher at a San Diego high school decided to cover his printing costs by selling ads on the bottom of his test and quiz papers! Two-thirds of the ads are inspirational messages written by parents. Two ads were from an engineering firm and a dentist office. With the ad sells, the teacher surpassed the amount needed for all his printing needs for that semester!

Tough times call for more creativity!

source: USA Today

1960's President comes back to talk about environmental issues and reporters get beamed up!

Technology amazes me more and more each day.

Greenpeace recently launched a digitally altered video of one of JFK's most famous speeches for their new digital ad campaign.



Frankly, it's kind of creepy to me, but the fact that they can take video of one of our presidents speaking in the 1960's and altered it so that he is addressing issues pertinent to today is amazing! The question is would JFK have agreed with this video's stance?

Another very interesting form of technology was used for the first time during the election coverage. Hologram interviews!



I am still trying to figure the relevance of this...it seems like it sort of loses a personal touch.

When brands battle...

Wow, this Mac vs. PC thing is getting interesting!

As brilliant as the Apple commercials are...I think Microsoft did an excellent job responding back with their ad, "I'm a PC."



I think this was the much better route to go, marketing wise, than the ones with Gates and Seinfeld.

I saw another Apple commercial that just came out that took a direct jab at Microsoft for spending a said $300 million on their advertising rather than using money to fix the actual problem - VISTA. Here are the following two jabbing Apple ads:






And then I see this - a more low-key Microsoft ad made entirely from PCers.




If you are a PCer, you can upload your own "I'm a PC" video here and possibly be on TV!

What would truly be ironic is if the "I'm a PC" ads were created on a Mac. According to this article, they are.

To be fair, I know several people that have and use VISTA and have absolutely no problems with it. They love it!