· Product Name: Diet Pepsi Max
· Year Made: 2008
· Ad Agency: BBDO
The Diet Pepsi Max Ad for the 2008 Super Bowl certainly turned a lot of heads, and
not only on the commercial either. Everyone at the party I was at for the game was sitting mesmerized as the commercial was playing. What makes this ad so special that a large group of teenagers were stopped in their tracks? The answer is simple: it was funny! What set this commercial apart, however, was the head bobbing technique. It is the attention grabber along with one of the funniest things to see someone do. Seeing people in their everyday lives falling asleep brings everyone back to a time that either they fell asleep on the go or saw someone else do it (which is even better!). Not only was there definite puffery with the snapping of the head when everyone fell asleep, but after they drank the Diet Pepsi Max they all bobbed their heads to the beat as well. This ad is not really selling anything other than the actual product because it is full of average everyday people living their lives. It did promote a universal sleepiness, but I don’t think that is an uncommon belief.
This ad was very effective to not only one, but many different groups of people. Since this commercial targeted multiple age groups and ethnicities, the Pepsi Company had the hard task of appealing to everyone. When they made their ad they knew that they would be dealing with die hard football fans, husbands and wives of the die hard football fans, casual football watchers, channel surfers, and children. They know that a good amount of these people would be drinking, and since their product is non-alcoholic, those people would need a little bit of persuasion. By using one of the most popular songs of the year What Is Love by Haddaway, they got a lot of people to pay attention right off the bat. Then by using the head bobbing technique they turned a few more heads. The fact that the commercial was on during the Super Bowl pretty much guaranteed that everyone else was watching anyway (since everyone knows that this is the best time to watch commercials). I definitely went out and tried the Diet Pepsi Max after seeing this commercial out of pure curiosity, and I do not even like diet soda. In fact, I usually avoid it like the plague...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Rift Fournier
Last Friday I had the privilege of listening to Professor Rift Fournier speak about his experiences in the media industry. Mr. Fournier hasn’t been teaching at Lindenwood University that long, in fact I believe this is the first year we students have had the opportunity to take one of his classes. What Professor Fournier is really famous for is writing, producing, and even acting for television.
When Rift was young, he aspired to be a writer. At the time he believed that writing was sitting around in a bath robe all day, waiting for ideas to come. However, when he graduated from high school he decided to get a degree, so he went to a university and studied to become a doctor. Many science courses later he decided that the medical field wasn’t for him and decided to go to law school. In his junior year, Professor Fournier decided to move to Hollywood to become a writer. He eventually got a job writing for a comedian who paid him five dollars a joke… not exactly his idea of fun, so he decided to move on.
A few years and several moves later, Rift landed a job writing and producing the hit television series “Go”. He and two other guys about his age (mid twenties) were a huge success and he said that they had a lot of fun. He told us about one time in particular. He said that he had a huge office (oversized in his opinion) that he and one of his colleagues were in one day, talking about how if their bosses knew how much fun they were having with their jobs, they would probably get fired. Mr. Fournier’s advice to my class was to find something that we enjoy, for if we don’t, no matter how much money we make, we are going to be miserable. He went on to write for twelve more television shows, and produce for three of them. He even acted in “Kiss My Grits” in 1982.
Mr. Fournier’s life has been filled with change and excitement that many will never have the opportunity to experience, and as an aspiring writer I can only hope that in the years to come I will have some of the success that he has had.
When Rift was young, he aspired to be a writer. At the time he believed that writing was sitting around in a bath robe all day, waiting for ideas to come. However, when he graduated from high school he decided to get a degree, so he went to a university and studied to become a doctor. Many science courses later he decided that the medical field wasn’t for him and decided to go to law school. In his junior year, Professor Fournier decided to move to Hollywood to become a writer. He eventually got a job writing for a comedian who paid him five dollars a joke… not exactly his idea of fun, so he decided to move on.A few years and several moves later, Rift landed a job writing and producing the hit television series “Go”. He and two other guys about his age (mid twenties) were a huge success and he said that they had a lot of fun. He told us about one time in particular. He said that he had a huge office (oversized in his opinion) that he and one of his colleagues were in one day, talking about how if their bosses knew how much fun they were having with their jobs, they would probably get fired. Mr. Fournier’s advice to my class was to find something that we enjoy, for if we don’t, no matter how much money we make, we are going to be miserable. He went on to write for twelve more television shows, and produce for three of them. He even acted in “Kiss My Grits” in 1982.
Mr. Fournier’s life has been filled with change and excitement that many will never have the opportunity to experience, and as an aspiring writer I can only hope that in the years to come I will have some of the success that he has had.
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