Clear Channel Advertisements

     For those of you who aren’t aware of what Clear Channel is, it is a major media conglomerate company in the United States that plays a major role in our radio, television, and advertising industry.  It is the largest owner in AM/FM radio stations today and spends billions on outdoor advertising, which is why I brought this subject up. A majority of the time the public will see hundreds of billboard ads for major automobile companies, movies, television shows, products, etc. I forbid to look at those darn billboards, but I was walking down a street and this massive Advertisement stood out to me. It caught my eye because I have never really seen this power house company make a whole ad just for themselves they usually put their trademark logo under all there signs and commercials, but this time it was strictly for them. It was a very clever Ad, There were tons of columns and rows of cows colored white and one and only one cow stood out from the rest it was colored red. Furthermore the Ad statement said, “Stand out from the rest of the heard and “Brand” yourself differently” One of the largest media advertising companies is using this opportunity to say hey come advertise with us and stand out from the rest of the competition. Like this multi billion dollar company doesn’t bring in enough revenue already!!! Corporate America needs to advertise things more often to the public that are actually useful and effective, ones that bring awareness and help, like Ads that benefit the consumer level for example affordable local businesses, organic farms, ads that bring awareness of what is happening to our environment, our society and culture. Now this would not benefit the major conglomerate companies at all therefore their not about to go this approach b/c it wouldn’t be an effective way for them to maximize profits!! Its all about the benjamin’s in the ends unfortunately!! Now I do realize it would be difficult for this to be put into effect- could cause lots of controversy, biased marketing, it goes on. Would have to be implemented very carefully with both sides of the story.

Apple Ipod Nano

Apple just released their new line of Ipod Nanos last week and they are extremely eye catching! It feels like they just released a ipod nano a couple of months back, the “pocket sized square shape.” With this new release of course Apple wont spare any expense to promoting it with their stunning graphics and colors in their product line Ads. I recently saw the new ipod nano commercial  and it actually got my eyes off the text book I should have been reading carefully for Comm 2 and went straight to the TV screen to get a glance at the new shape, color, and design of the new ipod nano. My thoughts were. hmm looks pretty sweet, do I need one? no. I gotta iphone, but beyond that what I got from the commercial was: a hip new product, gotta have feel, flashy look. Didnt really show consumers what the product can do, it just showed enhanced visuals of the ipod nano which looked really cool on the 50′ plasma I was watching it on! Check out the ad for yourself. I attached it the this post! Enjoy

Cambridge University wants to utilize the mass commercial media to increase enrollment

Cambridge University plans to use the media to attract inspiring students who’s dream it is to pursue a college opportunity at one of England’s most elite and prestigious universities, (Cambridge University). The institution has talked with Britain’s top 3 TV producers to create TV Soaps . The article states, “One of the better ways of communicating directly with potential students is to talk to them through the soaps and other programs they watch.” They want to change the perception that Cambridge is only for the wealthy and gifted. Their Plan is to target all economic backgrounds of students. Cambridge University is largely funded by the Government. The Gov wants half of all young people to attend college by 2010, according to the article. Through these TV Soaps they hope to attract more enrollment. Now I believe that is could be a very effective approach on Cambridge’s behalf, but they need to be careful of how they plan on incorporating the school in Soaps without being prejudice and biased, a somewhat difficult task. Bottom line they want to utilize a broader range of demographics to attract more students thus increasing profits and funding for the school, as well as the media.