Commercials are these things that are not supposed to have any meaning. They are supposed to add value to the product or service in the eyes of the consumer. They are not supposed to be artistic, right? Some of the commercials are funny, though. I like it when companies step out of the usual lines to give us something that’s at least entertaining.
This is the value that marketing brings to the table. Back when I was growing up, marketing wasn’t even considered a real science. To many people, it was just a gimmick for companies to have to spend money. There was no real promise of return on investment, much less a time for it to take place. My father, being a fan of sales, even bought a couple of old marketing books to read.
I read them and to my surprise, they had many things that made a lot of sense. Some of them were actually marketing tactics that people would normally do, like getting business cards, flyers, an ad in the newspaper or even sponsoring a sports team. What they did differently was to explain the reach that each of these strategies had and the impact on the average consumer.
From that moment on, I became a marketing enthusiast. Even though I was a shy person, I started attending all sorts of courses and seminars that would turn me into a better salesman. For me, it was not only about making the sale, but also from breaking out of my old mold of shyness that I’ve had for so long. The courses, seminars, and books worked wonders for me, and I got very good in sales.
I went to college and ended up majoring in marketing and got to see that transition of going from paperback marketing to e-marketing, SEO, and all the works. I think marketing is fascinating and even got to make an ad for one of my school projects. I didn’t have a lot to play with budget wise, but I learned to play with what I had.
I’ve seen a lot of very nice ads, but very few of them are able to touch so many chords in people like the one in the following video. Adidas had this contest where college students would produce an ad for them. If the ad was good enough for them and they ended up choosing it, the student would get paid for the ad and possibly job offer to go with it. One student submitted this ad and was rejected by Adidas, that is until he posted his ad on the Internet and it went viral!
