Clever Marketing

I'm in Orlando this week at an American Marketing Association conference called MPlanet. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe this conference. I'm being a sponge and soaking it all in, because there is so much to learn, so many ideas to be crafted, and so many big, influential people in the marketing business to meet. For instance, this morning, I had breakfast with the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) for Mars Candy. Some of our session leaders included the President of Anheuser-Busch, the CEO for Xerox, the CMO for Sony and American Express... these people get marketing, and it's amazing to be able to tap into their knowledge.

So the last two days have got me thinking about clever marketing I've seen, specifically on TV. I could post funny commercials all day long, but I won't. Search You Tube to find out for yourself.

All of the commercials Peyton Manning does are so crafty. They guy is funny. Like the one below.



The luxury of having a brand that people know is that you get free marketing (and really, who can complain about free marketing?). The CMO for McDonald's spoke to us today and shared the video below with us. This was something these guys did and posted it on You Tube, and it turns out McDonald's turned their random You Tube video into a commercial. And used them as themselves.



Of course we all know Budweiser, and they're genius marketing. There are so many Bud Light commercials out there, I don't even know where to start. And who can forget the "Real Men of Genius" commercials ("Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor" for example). They still make me laugh to this day. The first ad below is pretty clever. The other is just a montage of "Real Men of Genius" commercials. Funny. (By the way, Bud Light has 4 1/2 minutes of commercials in this Sunday's SuperBowl. Any bets on who has the first 30 or 60 second spot???)





So this is just a snippet of the type of people I am meeting this week, and gaining so much valuable information from. I have to admit that I'll never, ever, ever look at marketing and advertising the same way again, but that's what makes this so fun. I like to see who is on the cutting edge of marketing because this day and age you have to be, as more and more people are holding on to their money. It takes some pretty clever marketing to get the consumer to bite.