A New Idea

I love when someone gives you something useful to remember their product. I think the "stress ball" and the lanyard are so overplayed; when I get one I just chuck it in the trash. However, this business card is functional, and not only tells the consumer what they do, but how they do it. Its a great form of advertising; if I had something like this, I would want to share it with other people and get the word out that Broke Bike Alley will give you a business card to hold you over until you can make it to their shop. Although this type of advertising can't be used for every product, I think this company really played to their strengths and is delivering a product and service that is unique and useful.

Just thinking...

The other day I was thinking about what makes something "good." It all started when I was getting ready in the morning before my presentation for my advertising project. I had hideous nails; the polish was half scratched off and it looked like a 12-year old had painted them. I thought, "I have to look my best for this presentation, so I'm going to take off my nail polish." But in reality, no one would have noticed that I had crappy looking nails. You only notice something is good once you've seen the bad.

So, just thinking about this reminds me that even though the good is made better once you've seen the bad, you should always try your hardest for that "good."

British. Rapping. Farmers.

Advertising today is such a great form of entertainment. The more unconventional, the greater the impact. I love that Yeo Valley created an ad proposing a new image for farmers- cool, sexy, and hip. I think this ad really appeals to a younger crowd and gives their product an image that dairy can be cool. Often, products without any controversy shy away from interesting campaigns, frequently making boring, run-of-the-mill ads that are bypassed and ignored. However, Yeo Valley has a direct focus and gets their message across without boring their audience.

I'm all sophisticated and stuff

Over the weekend I went to the Patriot's Ball with Brett Anderson. It was for his ROTC and it was a cool experience. We got to shake hands with some fancy people, wear fancy clothes, and dance...fancily.

Not so fancy with the guns and cougar. :)

MATT COSTA (sorry 'bout the long post. but this deserves it.)

The evening started out a bit rocky. We arrived after 6:30, even though we all thought the show would start at 6:30. Then, once we got there, we waited in line at Will-Call for an hour to receive our tickets.

BUT, then things started getting good. While we were in line, MATT COSTA WALKED RIGHT PAST ME! I had a mini-heart attack, but was too star-struck to do anything. I was very disappointed in myself. However once we got inside, we were very pleased. We went up to the front near the stage, the opening bands were delightful, and then Matt.

For me, this concert was magical. And that is barely doing it justice.

After a long wait of instrument setup and mic checks, the lights went off. Then, from the back of the room walks in Matt Costa followed by his bandmates playing Miss Magnolia. I got chills! (first time) I also touched him. J They proceeded through the setlist, playing all of my favorites. At one point, Matt was singing Astair alone. (btw, I really suggest you look up all these songs) Then, he moved away from the mic and lowered the volume on his guitar. Chills number two. The room was silent, it was incredible. You had to have been there.

Then Once he came up for his encore, I was really hoping he would play another one of my favorites, Vienna. And, alas, he did! (chills number 3) He played a 4-song encore. And all throughout the concert I was singing and dancing along.

After, we went out and I GOT TO TALK TO MATT COSTA. Yeah, I did. Oh, and I got his autograph on my shirt. Oh, and he called Ashley “babe”. Haha!

It was wonderful. And magical. And I am incredibly happy. I love matt costa. I love music. I love sweet teeshirts. And I am anticipating his next concert that I will definitely attend.

Product Placement

I love the TV series, Chuck. One of the things I really do love about this show is their hilarious use of product placement.

In the most recent episode (Season 4 Episode 4), there were two instances that stood out to me. The first product was the Toyota Sienna. My Ad File Set 3 was about the Toyota Sienna commercials and their target market of "cool dads," So naturally, I loved seeing Ellie's husband, "Awesome" talking about his new car, even before their baby is born. I think this placement just emphasizes the Toyota's aim to appeal to young, hip people. Awesome's character (aka Devon) is that of a sexy young doctor, and in his little spiel about the Sienna, he managed to throw in some of the special features the car has.

The second product was Subway. Subway is one of the main advertisers for Chuck. Their "subtle" advertisement in this episode was when talking about "Costa Gravas," (a communist nation frequently visited in the show) saying, "Costa Gravas is stable now, we even have a Subway franchise!"

Although product placement can often become irritating, I think Chuck does it in a way that adds additional humor to the show and portrays the product as something normal and hip.

"The Injury"

Although my injuries are always minor, I take pictures when I deem them "bad". Last week yielded the most recent addition- the slice to the foot. This happened when I was rushing to Ward Prayer. Our meeting spot is in the parking lot, and as I was running along the fence bordering the lot, it got caught on the fence and made a clean slice from the 3rd toe down.

This is "the injury" from last year. Result of a bad tumble whilst disco skating.

This year's "injury"

My friend Lonnie took this picture on his phone shortly after the incident.

After I came back and cleaned it up, this is what it looked like.

Ta-da! (please disregard the horrible pedicure.)

Another Bad Burger King Commercial

When I saw this commercial for the first time, I immediately thought of how it stereotypes both men and women.

The few females in this clip are:

A: a haggard housewife

B: a female EMT enjoying her BK breakfast

C: a seductive younger woman

Basically, women are either housewives, working women who eat breakfast like the men, or carefree and attractive.

Additionally, all of the men in this commercial are oblivious to their surroundings; so intent on getting breakfast and checking out the young lady.

I only saw this once on Hulu, but the next time I saw this commercial begin, it didn't continue the same way. It had both men AND women going to get breakfast. Unfortunately, I couldn't find this video anywhere online besides its alloted 32 seconds on Hulu.

I feel like Burger King continually misses the mark in their advertisements.

I'm not the only one who noticed this...

http://devolutionmedia.blogspot.com/2010/09/burger-king-commercial.html

http://www.marketlikeachick.com/burger-king-loses-marketing-machismo-focuses-on-women/

May I just say...

General conference was so good!

I mean, it always is. But I really enjoyed watching it this time. I was attentive, took good notes, and enjoyed all of the talks.

However, I was definitely expecting a huge announcement from President Monson. Nearly every speaker gave some sort of advice to follow the prophet, have faith, use our agency to choose the right, etc.

These are some of the (funny/ random) things we came up with that he might advise us:

1. no ear piercings at all

2. no internet (yikes!)

3. no facebook (another yikes..haha)

4. everyone get up and move to Missouri

5. tithing now 15%

Well, needless to say, he didn't say any of those things. But he did give great counsel to express gratitude.

My testimony was strengthened over these past few days. I know that our church leaders are inspired and give us talks that apply to our lives. I am so grateful for this true gospel. I am also grateful for the gift of the holy ghost, the gift of agency, and the blessings of love and faith.

I hope anyone else that watched felt some of the same things as I did.

This is what happens when you have a stomache ache at 1:07 am.

I think this blog is going down the drain. I really don't have a clear focus anymore. I'm not even inconsistent!

Last night, as I sat in bed at 1:07 am eating crackers, I just kept thinking about this blog. I don't even know what prompted it. Maybe because yesterday I was hooked on my computer? I'm still not sure.

But I think its just going to continue being a random compilation of crap for a while. So, bear with me, and please don't give up on my blogging "abilities".

And in the meantime, watch this video.

Never say No to America

I think is interesting that even though this is an Egyptian commercial, it still uses a song sung in English. This cultural imperialism is more present than ever in music and commercials. I have never seen a commercial wit ha song in Arabic or any dialect even close to that. It makes me wonder if the roles will ever be switched. Will we ever be the nation that is being imprinted upon? Because of the expanding creativity and mediums to produce things, I think we will continue this act of spreading our culture to any end of the earth.

Say what?!

Lands' End has something cool???

I love all these items in this new division of Land's End.

COOOL!!

So, in case you were wondering what my favorite things were...

This baby

And these

This too

What the heck is this?

Another what the heck

Well, as you can see, there are some winners, and some apparent losers in this batch. But I've gotta hand it to Lands' End...None of these items are monogrammed or in shades of fluorescent orange. A first.

Not your Typical Vegetable

USA TODAY REPORT

When I came across this news report, I wasn't quite sure what to think. Actually, this was the procession of my thoughts:

1. Ew. You know that feeling you get when you are looking at something while eating a different item? For example; If I'm looking at a gallon of Orange Juice and I'm drinking a cup of milk, I get a sick feeling because I was expecting to taste orange juice. I almost want to spit it out. Or when water comes in a can on airplanes. Isn't that the most bizarre feeling? Your mind tricks you into expecting what you're thinking about.
2. Cool! They package apple slices in little bags, so why not carrots! And one of the packages even looks feminine! Don't see that too often.
3. Hmmm...I wonder how other people will take this new campaign. Even though the article says its not an anti-junk food campaign, you can't help but get the feeling they're trying to one-up Doritos.
4. Wow. $25 million?! That's a lot of money. And the slogans aren't extremely creative. I mean, "scarrots?" First thing that makes me think of is scabs. I'm not saying I can do better, but if they're going to spend $25 million, they might as well get something cooler than that.

Would you buy carrots in a chip bag? Will it be a success? What do you think?

BIG NEWS

Attention, attention. This is some BIG NEWS. Like the title said.

I am going to start becoming........Consistent!

Anyone who reads this blog doesn't know what I'm planning on majoring in at the moment. Since I haven't disclosed this information to many people, this may come as a surprise, but hopefully you will think "Oh, okay, that sounds like something Kelly might enjoy and/or be good at." If you don't think that, maybe you will give me some suggestions???

Alright, the game plan right now is Communications! I'm not quite sure which emphasis at the moment, but I'm leaning towards Communication Studies. Or advertising. Or PR. Or Print Journalism. But not Broadcast Journalism.

So, to give me a better idea of the advertising world, I am taking Intro to Advertising. And as part of that, I have to write a blog. So, really, that is why I'm going to be consistent. But only for four months! So don't get comfortable. Because I like the title of my blog and I don't want to change it.

Oh, and here's a video* that cracks me up every time.

* Mom- click on the word "video."

Alright, alright...

So, I know I have been inconsistent...but really, isn't that what this blog is all about? A surprise post!

Well, I'll just put up a few pictures from this summer.

My birthday

A little cutie and me at the pool

2 little cuties

Sisterly love on the 3rd of July

Thrift (junk) store hat

Well, that about sums up my summer. Well, the most fun things at least. My summer was mostly just nannying. I did have a lot of fun this summer spending quality time with my parents though! I always love being with them and I'm lucky I have such wonderful parents!

Now its back to school...

To all my fans out there...

This one goes out to you.

A post!

I just had a lovely trip to Disney World with the whole family plus grandparents. It was wonderful to relax, have fun, and just spend time with my siblings. Here are a few pictures from the trip (which are mostly just pictures of the pictures they took on the rides)

The "Smoking Jacket" we found in the house.

Just Jammin' to some Aerosmith...Enjoying Rockin' Rollercoaster

The Classic Churro Shot

Enjoying Space Mountain

??What's up there Grandma??

It was such a fun vacation and I'm ready to do it again!

Dreaming of...

Disneyland