How far is too far when it comes to promoting your product in our consumer-based world?

by erica ~ February 6, 2008

Mediashop PR intern Erica reconciles the advertising and media news of the day:

I mention the world only because the influence of effective marketing has reached our long distance consumers and professionals in China. As part of their new marketing campaign, LensCrafters is launching celebrity driven ads, also known as “celebrity seeding,” The Wall Street Journal reports LensCrafters will be focusing on their sunglass division by having celebrities strut their stuff on the red carpet while wearing their fashionable frames. LensCrafters is owned by Milan-based Luxottica Group, who licenses brand names such as Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Prada, and Versace among many others. LensCrafters claims that they are not paying these celebrities to expose their products, but I highly doubt that is not 100% valid. In addition to this ad campaign, LensCrafters will be promoting the necessity for regular eye exams using direct-mail strategies and distributing scratch off cards offering various customer discounts. This all seems pretty normal for us Westerners but will it be too much for Asia to handle? I guess only time will tell and hopefully their reactions will be good predictors for future promotions.

Speaking of celebrity driven campaigns – where is your money really going when you purchase (RED) products? According to this article in The New York Times, it looks like the money you spend to try to help the AIDS Fund is being spent more on promoting the companies than the actual issue of the campaign – AIDS. I think it’s great that companies are participating in such a great cause but what are they are really doing to promote awareness and support for this AIDS Fund? What these companies are participating in is something called ‘cause marketing,’ which is a brilliant idea if you ask me – bringing social issues and marketing together to form a greater method for reaching out and passing the message along. What makes the campaign even better is when you attach a celebrity to it like Bono for (RED), who has a great impact on his audience. I guess you never really learn where your money goes, but hopefully it gets to its final destination as promised.

Trying to bypass ads especially in NYC is pretty hard since every corner you turn you’re hit with billboards on walls, taxi cabs, telephone booths, and even people! You simply cannot escape these ads and before you know it – look no further than into your jacket pocket where your cell phone lies – you will soon be receiving cell phone advertisements, according to this article in The New York Times. On top of those annoying telemarketers who found your cellphone number and the up-to-date news you are receiving through text messages (which you accidently signed up for but now cannot get them to stop sending those messages) – you will most likely be getting ads according to the area you are in. CBS and Loopt are joining forces to test this technology. With the help of a GPS system in your cell, certain advertisers can prompt you to their nearest store location in the area. There are, of course, some privacy issues that come along with this idea – no one wants to be bombarded with these messages, especially if they have to pay extra for them if they do not have a test message plan. What can they possibly think of next?