And Now for the Finale!

Blogging over the course of the semester has been quite an experience. At first it was probably one of the most annoying assignments I had for all my classes. As the course of the semester went on it became more interesting and appealing to me. Learning about Guerilla marketing and Word of Mouth advertising has really opened my eyes to the exciting part of the integrated marketing. It bring out the creative side of a company which is what is needed today to break through the clutter.

Through this semester I discussed everything from beer to online communities. This would be an extremely long blog to get into detail about everything that I have covered over the semester, so I decided to choose my favorite parts and talk about them.

MINI Cooper: When I found out about the the new type of advertising MINI is doing, I thought it was histerical. Making up a few short movies with their product being a sidekick is just a great idea. It gives them a lot of viral potential which is definitely a good idea when it comes to sparking more interest in their company and what they have to offer. Not only did they have a fun idea but they made it interactive for potential customers who came across their sites. The viewers could enter their name and be given a super hero name which makes each and every person that comes across it feel important because each name given varies from every person.

Careerbuilder Monkeys: The commercials for careerbuilder that involved monkeys were just histerical and everyone knew them when they were on the TV. To add to the success they made a site with the monkeys where you could send your friends, colleagues and anyone else you wanted a funny email with the monkeys which spreads the word about the brand name even more than the commercials could.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Probably the funniest word of mouth advertising of the year would probably have to be the guerilla marketing that Aqua Teen Hunger Force tried to successfully pull off. This didn't work very well but that was due to fact that many Boston citizens though these little characters looked like bombs. Though it didn't help that they were placed in very strange places such as under bridges. The word spread very quickly but in a negative way. They still gained an amazing amount of publicity. Many thought it was made to come out that way and other's thought it was an accident. Either way it made headlines and people know a lot more about the show now then they ever may have if this didn't happen.

All in all, word of mouth advertising is pretty impressive. It doesn't take much for people to talk about your product. Inviting people to interact with your brand already gives you a step up. If you don't want to be interactive then just being creative can get your point across just as well if not better. If you have a great idea then you are going to be talked about. It's amazing how a company can implement a new advertising campaign and then wait for someone to take interest. A great advertising campaign is like a rain puddle. If it's big enough and people can't avoid it, its bound to get moved around. Pretty interesting how such a huge audience can be targeted with a simple advertising campaign.

Now looking back on it, I'm happy it was a required part of the course to keep a blog. It forced me to look at different strategies companies use to promote themselves. I probably won't have been as in detail with my searches if it didn't have to write something about it every time. I really appreciated the opportunity to broaden my horizons on word of mouth marketing. :0)