A1OlsonComm

@http://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34472902 Brand Ad This commercial doesn't tell you anything about a specific product, or even about the brand, really. It focuses instead on an interesting character who they are hoping will appeal to their target audience, which consists of any and all people who drink beer, and his endorsement of the brand, making this a brand ad. They boast about his various (impossible) accomplishments and make him seem as interesting as possible, even giving him the title of 'The Most Interesting Man in the World', which serves to both hold the audience's attention and to make the endorsement at the end of the commercial appear more meaningful. After all, when some one who is, essentially, the embodiment of everything you want to be in the future tells you to buy a certain brand because he thinks it's better than the rest, wouldn't that make you want to buy it? The message, in a nut shell, is 'If you buy Dos Equis, you will be more interesting, like The Most Interesting Man in the World.' This is why the ad, and any of the other Most Interesting Man in the World ads, is quite successful.

@http://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34471582 Informative Ad This would probably be an informative ad because a) in the end, it gives you information about a new feature of Volkswagen cars, which is some kind of blinking light sensor type thing that tells you there's something in your blind spot, so be careful, and b) the whole thing at the beginning was sort of informative in itself because it kind of broke down and demonstrated the whole concept of how the blind spot detector mirror thing is supposed to save you from dangers that you can't see. It focuses on some aspect of the car that other cars don't have and explains why that makes the car better than the rest in an attempt to make you want it more. This 'break down' bit at the beginning is combined with comedy and music to create the hook and grab the attention of the viewer, who they are hoping will be part of their target audience of anyone looking to buy a new car. I think this is a fairly successful car ad. It's more attention grabbing than a car ad that simply explains the car while showing clips of it driving, but, because explaining the car and showing what it looks like is very important step in helping the viewer understand the ad and actually see the car, they still managed to get that part in there.

@http://www.our-picks.com/archives/2007/02/05/the-pc-vs-mac-ads-return-now-from-the-pcs-perspective/ Defensive Ad I can't actually WATCH any of these ads, because the school district decided it was a good idea to block 75% of all internet content. Whee. However, I don't really need to watch these ads because I already know what the PC VS Mac debate is, I already know that Mac has been slamming PC in its commercial for years, and you can read right there at the top of the page that the ads are the PC's take on the PC VS Mac commercials. So, since the word 'versus' is right there in the name, you can tell that it is going to be a comparative ad, since PC paid for it, they are going to come out on top in the ad, and since the ads are a take on the competitor's commercials, wherein PC is always a loser to the max, the ads posted here will, in short, probably be PC coming back and saying 'Hey, we aren't as bad as you make us out to be, and you've go flaws too, as a matter of fact.' And that is why this is a defense ad. The hook in PC VS Mac commercials is usually the music and, above all, the comedy. People are more likely to watch something funny than something serious, so it's likely that Microsoft chose the same approach to appeal to the target audience the PC and the Mac are fighting over; PC users, and anyone thinking of getting either a PC or a Mac, especially when they are younger people. I can't actually say whether or not this ad is succesfull, because I can't watch it, but if it is anything like Apple's PC VS Mac ads, and it does pull off the comedy hook I'm assuming it employs well, then it probably is.

@http://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34445929/sxi:487485 Comparative Ad If Microsoft's PC vs Mac ad was a defensive ad, then this original PC vs Mac ad from Apple is a comparative ad. It pretty much makes the competition look bad in order to make itself seem better. The two kinds of computers are humanized and then compared, with the Mac always coming out on top. But these Mac vs PC ads make the Mac look better by making the PC make points against itself and point out it's own flaws while Mac just sits back and watches the PC ruin its own business. It uses the same hook I'm assuming the Microsoft version uses (I used these ads to infer that, remember?), which is primarily comedy with some theme music thrown in, and the target audience is also the same, with extra emphasis on trying to steal younger PC users from Microsoft. I know for a fact that Apple's PC VS Mac ad are extremely successful; it has gotten them many new customers, and stole enough customers from Microsoft that they felt prompted to make a response ad (^^^).

@http://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34471905 Persuasive Ad The ad doesn't tell you anything about the product, there is no speaking during the commercial, other than the slogan, and it focuses on a specific product of the company; the yogurt. That's what makes this a persuasive ad. It uses music in the background and the humor of the girl beating up the guy for the yogurt as a hook to get people to remember the ad. (Mostly the second one.) The hook tells you that the yogurt is so good that people are willing to beat up the person they're in love with for it. That must make it really, really good. The best in the world, and all that. The target audience is yogurt lovers, since yogurt haters are unlikely to buy yogurt, even if it IS the best in the world. I think this ad is fairly successful, because it effectively sends the before mentioned message that the yogurt is REALLY good, and because I find the hook so funny that I watched the commercial several time in succession.