Advertising Campaigns

KG and Torii return to Minny

/ emgutknecht / Leave a comment

kevin_garnett_rookie_display_image2015 is primed and ready to be a great year for Minnesota Sports…. Or at least two teams. In addition to signing a new manager/coaching staff the Twins re-acquired Torii Hunter. Last week the Timberwolves traded so they could bring back Kevin Garnett. Garnett comes back to the Wolves to lend his experience to young players on a team trying to learn how to win. Hunter comes back to the Twins with exactly the same mission. Garnett is 38. Hunter is 39. Both are multi-time All-Stars. Both were among the best defensive players in their respective leagues. Garnett is a former league MVP, while Hunter received MVP votes in four separate seasons.

Torii Hunter Signing

Most importantly, both were fan favorites when they were in Minnesota and their teams are hoping they can bring some much needed excitement and success back to the Twin Cities sports scene. I’m not a Timberwolves fan but as a Twins fan I can tell you that they desperately need some fan support right now and to create some excitement. Having not made the playoffs since 2010 and finishing with a below .500 average since then as well they [hopefully] finally hit rock bottom and made some major changes this off season in hiring a new manager and bringing in some new impact players. This is a perfect opportunity for the Twins and Timberwolves to capitalize on the fan excitement on getting these two players back and run a joint advertising campaign. I think something even as simple as putting up a few billboards up around the cities with the two guys shaking hands or something could do wonders for fan sentiment on both teams. I addition to that a humorous commercial would be best to showcase the personalities of these guys and remind the fans of what they’re like. Torii has made some great commercials for the Twins in the past and I have no doubt he’d be up for doing it again.

All in all while I’m not a huge fan on the new Twins manager I’m hopefully that Torii can get the clubhouse going and light a fire under the Twins this year as KG will be trying to do with the Wolves.

McDonald’s latest commercial: Genius or Tacky?

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I was watching the Golden Globes on Sunday night when this ad came on. I will admit that I was drawn to it and couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. However, I do think I was so mesmerized by the ad because of the children singing. As soon as the ad was done my roommate [A health sciences major] said “There’s no way those are all real. McDonald’s would not say “Pray” on one of their signs”. She said exactly what I was thinking: there’s no way McDonald’s would have their employees crawl on a ladder up to their sign in the middle of a flood and write a pray for us type of message – it is both politically incorrect and beside the point when a town is dealing with a tragedy. While that was my main problem with the ad, internet outrage broke out over some of the other imagery that the signs painted.

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The commercial provoked strong reactions, with some saying they were moved by it and others saying it was tacky for a company to use tragic events to polish its image. Most of the national criticism of this ad was because the signs featured references to 9/11, the Boston Bombing and the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster which people find insensitive.

Recently McDonald’s has been trying to refresh their brand after falling sales the past two years. They have been focusing on the “lovin it” part of their “I’m loving it” slogan. A previous ad in this series was a cartoon ad in which long standing enemies like Batman and the Joker and Bears/Packer fans become friends and love each other. This new Signs ad was meant to illustrate the role that “beloved” McDonald’s restaurants play in communities. I think that McDonald’s trying to humanize their huge corporation is a good thing but they should not be doing it by capitalizing on tragedies that are still very fresh wounds for many Americans. Regardless of what your personal opinion of the ad is, McDonald’s can chalk it up to a win as they are getting tons of free publicity from it because everyone is arguing about it.

Farewell Captain

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This weekend, the baseball world said goodbye to a player that will one day surely be elevated to legend status like his predecessors, Lou Gehrig and The Babe. Derek Jeter announced his plans for retirement at the beginning of this season and advertisers have been capitalizing on it ever since. Jeter’s biggest sponsors, Nike and Gatorade have ran brilliant marketing  campaigns all summer that center around Jeter’s retirement and also manage to masterfully promote their brand as well.

After their “Re2pect” ad debuted in July which now has over 8 million views and an overwhelming number of positive reactions, Nike trademarked the phrase  for use in connection with headwear, hats, caps, shirts and t-shirts. The trademarking paid off. In less than 24 hours after Jeter’s final game at Yankee Stadium last week the hashtag “#Re2pect” was trending on Facebook and Twitter. The jitter to purchase Jeter items on Nike’s website led to “RE2PECT” hats being sold out within minutes after Jeter won the game for the New York Yankees in walk-off fashion. This RE2PECT campaign is important for not only Jeter but is probably even more important for Nike who also sponsors Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson.  Peterson remains with Nike, but the business relationship has been suspended while allegations of child abuse are further investigated.  Nike completely terminated its relationship with Rice. Instead of Rice, people are now talking about Jeter and RE2PECT.

The best tributes to The Captain this season have captured the style, grace and connection to the city for which Jeter is known. Last week Gatorade hit the nail on the head when they released a sentimental black and white ad paying tribute to Jeter.  Since the campaign’s launch last Thursday, the ad has gone viral and been viewed more than five million times.  While this ad is not meant to drive sales in the way the Nike RE2PECT campaign is, it gave baseball fans everywhere goose bumps and was a fitting end for one of the best players of all time.

As a Twins fan I grew up hating Derek Jeter and the Yankees. It wasn’t until much more recently that I realized he is not only one of the best players of all time but one of the classiest as well. Unlike many of the steroid users on the Yankees roster, Jeter has never gotten mixed up in that mess and that is something I greatly respect. He’s been a consistent, dominating player for the last 20 years. Farewell Captain, you will be missed.