NYU Local » Advertising

Dear Yahoo: That Awful Advertising Campaign is So Y!ou

Keyana Stevens — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:15:45 +0000

Dear Yahoo,

You must have missed the memo, but this happens to be the 21st century.

It’s great that you’ve been trying to improve yourself, but your new ad campaign looks like it came straight out of the 1980’s (the internet barely existed then, so how is that even possible?). The bright colors, the stupid hats, the statements about the internet being “personal” again – what were you thinking? Are you really stupid enough that you believe you can win me back like this?

I mean, sure, you’re the [PDF] “second most visited home page” on the internet (and at one point were the first!). But let’s be honest with each other: the only reason that’s true is because of your email service, which actually sucks and is one of the reasons I dumped you.

For most people, the internet is no longer the equivalent of a fashionable accessory or cool toy. It is a necessity. It’s not enough to simply advertise the internet anymore, or to act as if personalized themes and backgrounds are original. We all have internet. Facebook and MySpace cornered the market on “giving the internet a personality” years ago, and even NYU Home can be personalized. What makes your internet better than, say, Google’s? Google’s clean Gmail service actually makes me like checking my email. Yours is a mess of panels and obnoxious advertisements that just frustrate me.

You promised you would change, and you let me down. I know you said you’d redesign your page, but it looks exactly the same. And yes, I know you recently got a new CEO. But her lack of advertising experience shows, because every time I walk home and see one of your ads on Third Avenue, I want to cry, not jump for joy like Miss Stupid Hat up there.

It’s really sad that you keep trying to get my attention when I’ve clearly moved on. Take a hint, Yahoo. Don’t come back and bother me unless you’ve really changed. These attempts at originality are sad excuses for actually improving your service.

Sincerely, your ex,

Keyana

Tropicana Returns To Old Design Because New Design Is “Ugly” And “Stupid”

Dene Chen — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:36:34 +0000

NYU students who still have their meal plans probably won’t know what I am talking about, but anyone who buys their own orange juice probably noticed that Tropicana orange juice recently changed the design of their cartons. I actually found out by not noticing, because I couldn’t find the Tropicana in my bodega without the giant orange in the middle of the package. Until I realize that it had changed, I honestly thought it was a cartoon of some flavored tea brand.

According to Gothamist, I was not the only one who found Tropicana’s change perplexing. After only one short month of why-can’t-I-find-my-OJ, Tropicana has decided to return to its old packaging, retaining the cute orange-shaped caps which was the only fun thing about the new design.

Peter Arnell, who was interviewed by the New York TImes, is currently taking a lot of heat for this redesign since he was the one who presented the idea at a marketing event hosted by Pepsi Co. a month ago. According to Jeff Bercovici:

“He also made over Tropicana’s packaging, tossing out the orange-with-a-straw-in-it image in favor of a glass of juice — because, Arnell explained, consumers needed to be able to visualize the juice inside the orange. ”

Sheesh. Someone is trying a little too hard to be Don Draper.

It turns out that the parent company of Tropicana is Pepsi Co., which would connect the new tao-like Pepsi logo to the zen-like features of the Tropicana design. The difference is that Pepsi’s logo is “the pinnacle of the entire universe,” while Tropicana’s is probably not.

Image from Portfolio.com

Taxi TVs Force Us To Watch

Kate Ray — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:39:52 +0000

New Yorkers are complaining about taxi TVs – those screens on the back of the drivers seat that blare commercials at you – that supposedly can’t be turned off, according to Gothamist. A spokesperson from the Taxi and Limousine Service said that the screens weren’t being designed that way, they were just malfunctioning. But could this really be part of a massive public transportation plot, along with those changing bus ads, to make us watch commercials all the time?

Photo: Flickr courtesy of mecredis

New Bus Ads Change By Neighborhood – One Step Closer to Big Brother!

Kate Ray — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:58:48 +0000

Whoa, did you just see the picture on the side of that bus turn from a Coke bottle into an Oreo? Don’t worry, it’s not the acid. Gothamist reported that the MTA is replacing the ads on the sides of its buses with GPS-controlled screens that change with each neighborhood’s demographic. You know, so that every bus starts flashing its American Apparel signs as it passes by Washington Square Park. Right now, MTA is testing out the technology on the M23 route, which runs East-West in Manhattan on 23rd street.

Big Brother on Your Cell Phone

Kate Ray — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:46:30 +0000

Gawker has a scary story today about new cell phone software that can record what you’re hearing and report back to the companies that want to know. If you hear an ad on the radio, for example, the software will store that data so that companies will know how effective their advertising is. The company, IMMI, has this ominous message on its website: “The ad experience has changed. Measuring ad effectiveness hasn’t. Until now…” (Cue Darth Vader theme.)

Photo: Flickr courtesy of wanderingone