The Importance Of Originality

Heineken has created a series of hilarious commercials featuring Neil Patrick Harris as their "candid" Heineken Light Beer spokesman. However, Heineken executed these advertisements in a unique fashion compared to other beer companies. In doing so, Heineken was able to stand out from the clutter of advertisements consumers see daily. In The Director, Neil Patrick Harris is confused about the regulations of advertising beer on TV and does not understand why he is unable to drink the Heineken he is endorsing. 

Neil Patrick Harris comments on an issue faced by many companies advertising alcohol. There are no requirements when advertising beer in the US, but the brewing industry's Beer Institute contains voluntary guidelines prohibiting situations in which "beer is consumed rapidly, excessively, involuntarily, as part of a drinking game or as part of a dare." However, many companies still use the long-expelled Television Code in which alcohol is not to be consumed in commercials. This is interesting because how can you endorse something you aren't even trying?

Heineken discovered a way around this issue. Neil Patrick Harris never actually sips the Heineken Light Beer in his hand, but he keeps wanting and trying to.  The best way to explain this would be through Heineken's commercial: The Director available above.The beer cannot be demonstrated or related to unsafe practices such as drinking and driving or alcoholism which is implied in the commercial below: The Party.

I love these commercials because of their creativity. The fake behind-the-scenes commercial with The Director is nothing like the beer commercials surrounding it. 

Heineken implies that Neil Patrick Harris likely drank the Heineken after filming. This leads to the conclusion that Neil Patrick Harris really does enjoy the beer; therefore, it must be good beer. The originality of these commercials stems from having Neil Patrick Harris as their spokesman but also twisting the voluntary regulations as well as the older Television Code in a humorous way. 

The candidness of The Director allows the audience to momentarily lower their guards and forget that the advertisement is actually trying to sell them something. It does not seem scripted; therefore, the conversation is witty and more natural. It is humourous if not slightly believable that Neil Patrick Harris would act in this manner based on his beer-drinking character in How I Met Your Mother.

However, I am curious if Heineken got into trouble by bringing up the regulations in this manner. They merely show the beer, so the audience “have to take their words for it” as Neil Patrick Harris states in The Party. These commercials are both appropriate for the brand and effective as consumers begin to associate Heineken with the actor. This also continued through Heineken’s commercial The Fans where Neil Patrick Harris is only referred to as "that guy from the Heineken Light commercials". These advertisements were well planned and innovative. To an extent, they reminded me of the Old Spice commercials because of how different they were from any other body wash brands at the time.

In order to stand amidst the clutter, you have to get creative. The "candid" nature of Neil Patrick Harris during these commercials provided that originality and uniqueness lacking in other beer brands' advertisements because no one can replace Neil Patrick Harris. He is identifiable, relatable and iconic in this day and age, especially in relation to Heineken's audience who have likely watched How I Met Your Mother. This campaign relates to my previous post about not letting yourself be constrained by figment limitations. Always think outside the box. It might be a risk but it brings something unique to the table that is memorable amongst the clutter of advertisements out there. Similar to the Old Spice commercials with Isaiah Mustafa, Neil Patrick Harris is associated with the brand in a comedic, albeit slightly random, way to boost Heineken's image as a suitable brand for consumers 21+. In doing so, they increased the awareness of their Heineken Light Beer and reached a new audience who may have not otherwise known about it.

What do you think of Heineken's "candid" commercials?

Don't Be Constrained By The Box

Outside the box thinking can be powerful in advertising. While in competition with other car brands, specifically Lexus, from 2001-2002, BMW launched a campaign in which they created a series of short films to differentiate themselves from other car brands. These short films were placed in movie theatres and online; Clive Owen was featured as the mysterious driver-for-hire in this campaign, but BMW also included other celebrities such as Madonna and power directors such as Ang Lee. The big names themselves were enough to bring attention to BMW but these short films were eye-captivating and easily found. DVDs of these short films were given to customers at BMW locations and they could also be found on BMWs website.

The Star

Questionable content such as suicide in The Hostage, driving with no seatbelt in The Star, gun violence/attempted murder in The Ambush, and unsafe driving in every short is demonstrated; however, Advertising Stats Canada did not receive any complaints for these short films. BMW's The Hire series disguised their advertisements as short films. Therefore, most consumers did not view the BMW short films as advertisements, but rather as short movies featuring the BMW car. These shorts brought out relatable emotions to consumers such as love, compassion and rebellion. The audience has a connection to Clive Owen who is speaking to the audience in his voiceovers, so the audience becomes even more invested. 

This campaign brought positive focus to the brand while simultaneously breaking ASC codes (10, 14 b and d) and getting away with it. Since the short films were not always interpreted as advertisements, the audience was more susceptible to the message: BMW is cool. An audience typically has its guard up when viewing advertisements, but their guard goes down when watching movies; therefore, BMW got its message across with less barriers.

This campaign was incredibly successful and a brilliant marketing move. As a result, BMW sales increased by 12%, which put them ahead of their competitor Lexus. Advertising  online is cheap, so BMW saved money in terms of media placement. By relocating cost to production spending, BMW created high-quality advertisements with good music, legendary directors and famous celebrities. This new tactic paid off. The BMW short films were so popular that BMW ran out of DVDs, and the short films online were viewed over one-hundred million times. Without consumers complaining about the questionable content in The Hire short series, BMW never had to pull its advertisements. They can still be viewed online today. Companies are beginning to follow suit by creating short films or in Nike's case, "Nike Originals," similar to the idea of BMW's The Hire short series. These new short films differ from BMW's The Hire by repurposing the focus of these short films towards empowering women; therefore, they lack BMW's masculine driver-for-hire and violent situations. Short films over advertisements appear to be a new trend in the sports world with Nike and Adidas at the forefront to increase their female consumer loyalty. 

However, BMW was unique with its short films to increase awareness and loyalty first.

It is important to think outside the box. BMW took a risk in spending most of their money on production and less money on media placement. There was no guarantee that this tactic would pay off for a car company, yet with this campaign, BMW became more successful than their competitor at the time. Without meaning to, BMW has started a new trend towards short series instead of rigid advertisements.

To check out The Hire BMW short series, click here.

This one is my favourite!
BMW presents The Star featuring Madonna and Guy Ritchie.

What's Your Brand?

No, I'm not referring to the brand you choose to wear or promote by having a company name or symbol visible somewhere on you. What is your personal brand?

This question is consistently posed to us Post-Grads as we progress towards finding a job in the industry. What is your personality? What do you want future employers to think of you?

It was easy when we were young. We wanted to be liked for who we were. We still want that as adults, except we want to present the best version of ourselves to people who can affect our futures; this includes professors, future employers, coworkers and classmates.

Your personal brand can be displayed on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and in person. Your brand allows you to stand out from others with similar educational backgrounds, skills and experience. Your personal brand can make you memorable against many others applying for the same position. You want to impress the individual making the decision and demonstrate what uniqueness you can bring to the company. Will you get along with your coworkers? Will you be a good fit for this position?

Use what experiences you have to your advantage. What values can you offer the company? You worked in retail? Amazing! Now explain how that can benefit us and why we should hire you over the countless other students who have also worked in retail. You're friendly and studied communications? Great! Demonstrate those skills.

How do you do that?

There are a number of things you can do. Pick and choose an experience, event or quality that makes you different and zone in on it. For example: I'm an author. That's distinctive from many students applying for the same position as myself. It also demonstrates my creativity, self-discipline, organization and time management skills. Being an author is one part of my personal brand.

Your personal brand does not have to revolve around one aspect of yourself. Another side of my personal brand is related to advertising through promotional experience, which demonstrates my outgoing personality and friendly nature.



Everyone has a brand that is unique in its own way, so make yours work for you!

If you're interested in learning how to build your personal brand, hit up the video below by Digital Royalty on Youtube. Very insightful!

Are You A Digital Native?

Digital natives were briefly mentioned in my Advertising Media Administration class at Sheridan College and the concept got that little engine in my head going (yes, I know that can be dangerous because once that engine starts its pretty difficult to put the brakes on). The idea of a digital native shouldn't be all that surprising since we live in an age where technology has engulfed so many areas of our lives. Since I majored in Media, Information and Technoculture at Western University, which is a fancy way of saying that I studied communication methods and society's reliance on technology, I immediately recognized the label as being heavily associated with how much we daily interact with technology. It's hard to escape the temptation of everything being right at our fingertips now that we've had a taste of it, but what about the most recent generation that is growing up with touch screens and google searches?

"Upside Learning"

You may be asking yourself, what is a digital native? Google defines a digital native as… "a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and therefore are familiar with computers and the internet from an early age." It is an interesting concept to think about especially since I used the technology mentioned in the definition to define the term itself. I grew up with the Internet and computers but I used them to play games on websites for Polly Pocket World or Neopets when I was a child. Does anyone else remember those? Anyway, the new technology never stopped me from being active and involved with sports (I was awesome at basketball… I really tried at soccer). I still play recreationally and go running in the warmer months at twenty-two years old.

I have two younger sisters and watching them grow up with the advanced technology is fascinating. Mandy is thirteen years old and Leeza is seven. Mandy absolutely adores learning. When she first received her laptop two years ago, much earlier than I owned a laptop by the way (no, I'm not jealous…),  she googled everything. When I was unsure of something Mandy found an answer with a few taps of her keyboard, even if I had asked my mom the question. Leeza is significantly younger than myself and does not own a phone or a laptop, which makes her more inclined to go outside to play. The general consensus around digital natives is positive in terms of technological progress yet somewhat negative in terms of laziness. However, witnessing these two young girls grow up in different environments from one another, they are so active that I can hardly keep up with them. Between taekwondo, soccer and dance, these girls are far from lazy and they have a thirst for knowledge. They are merely lucky enough to live in an age where if they want to learn something new, they can search it online and be reading it in seconds.

What are your thoughts on digital natives?

Let's Get Creative!

Who doesn't enjoy a fun art project every now and then?

Life is way more exciting when you conceive an idea that you can share with others. Have you ever had an image in your head that you wanted to bring to light? Sheridan College offers plenty of opportunities to get creative and put that imagination to good use.

Through the creative communication courses at Sheridan, my imagination has poured into my work to produce advertisements that are in no way actually used by these companies. However, in generating these "advertisements" on Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, I've developed important technical skills that I use for more than just school work. In my experience with book cover design, understanding how to utilize those same Adobe programs can only enhance your level of professionalism with the design. These tools are incredibly handy even if you merely want to add some original or inventive touches to your portfolio or resume.

The images here are a few examples of the kind of creative work you can accomplish with the use of these programs. The image above has also been turned into a gif that you can view here: Nikon Advertisement gif

If any of you are fascinated with the idea of bringing an image to light through the editing of colours, enhancements or manipulations, Adobe Photoshop and InDesign will help you along the way.

Learning about these programs through the creative communications course at Sheridan College has made a difference in the level of imagery I can create. Even if I need a refresher once and a while to remember the insane amount of tools available to turn that mental image into a real physical copy, I enjoy the time it takes to make it happen. Now I find myself goofing around with images merely for fun.



I could get lost in these programs for hours with how many interesting and new ways you can alter an image to convey the message you want. If you're interested in the advertising industry or merely being creative in general, get a hold of Adobe InDesign.
It will change your life.

Or maybe not, but it's still fun.

Sheridan Life

I've never written a blog. This will be the first one. Ever.

I've written short stories, novels, twenty-paged essays, but a blog? Not until I began my second semester at Sheridan College. Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I'd like to make it clear that I am a total nerd who loves reading, writing and learning. Creating a blog was bound to be the next step.

My time at Sheridan College thus far has definitely been an interesting experience. The Tim Hortons Express has saved my life on multiple occasions, especially with the Wintery days only becoming colder. I love skiing and snowboarding, but you could not pay me enough to make the trek from the student parking lot to the G building without first entering the SCAET to avoid the frigid air.

Coming from Western University, where almost everything is theory based, to a smaller campus where professors really get to know your strengths and weaknesses and provide you with hands on experience, makes all the difference. I feel like I'm getting a better grasp on the advertising industry and its many different areas. Granted, my program at Western University did not focus on advertising per se, which is why earning my certificate at Sheridan is building my confidence in terms of applying to positions in the industry.

As the line goes, "knowledge is power," and that power is what seems to be increasing my inner most confidence. Through presentations, media buying demonstrations, creating ad campaigns and designing the advertisement content itself, I feel as though I'm better understanding what is required of me before I begin a placement. It's invigorating and inspiring. Not only am I inspired to enter into the work force, but I'm inspired to let my imagination run wild. I'm invigorated to write more fiction novels. I'm excited to design book covers and promote my novels on my own. I'm motivated to learn more about the advertising industry and the different companies I could potentially fit into in my upcoming co-op placement. Even though I'm halfway to receiving my certificate, I'm looking forward to learning even more and sharing my experiences with those of you who have found your way to my page.