Quiz for Chapter 8

There will be a quiz for Chapter 8 at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 10th.

Superbowl Ad Assignment

Marketers spent between $2.8 and $3 million per 30 second spot on last night's superbowl (think about it -- that is about $100,000 per second of air time).  As with every year, there were commercials that were universally seen as hits (the Doritos Pug and VW Darth Vader ads) while others did not seem to hit the mark (Joan Rivers as the new Go Daddy girl, Kim Kardashian for Sketchers).  Some commercials created controversy (remember the Homeaway ad with the baby being squashed against the glass or the Groupon Tibet-themed ad) and others received critical acclaim (Eminem's 2 minute, $12 million Chrsyler ad promoting "imports from Detroit"). 

You can find ratings of the superbowl ads in many places -- especially with the use of social media -- but the most scientific rating approach was used by USA Today.  For the past 20+ years, USA Today has conducted the Ad Meter.  USA Today assembled 282 adult volunteers in Bakersfield, Calif., and McLean, Va., and electronically charted their second-by-second reactions to ads during the Super Bowl. Shugoll Research and Trotta Associates chose the volunteers, who used handheld meters to register how much they liked each ad (ratings could range between a low of 0 and a high of 10). A computer continuously averaged the scores. The scores shown are the highest average for each ad. 

Go to the USA Today Ad Meter page (you will see a drop down menu on the top right of the Ad Meter view box -- if it is not already set to Ad Meter, make sure you do so) and look at the results from the Ad Meter -- you can also view all of the ads here as well.  2011 was the first year in Ad Meter history that there was a tie for the top spot. 

Look at the 7 ads at the top and the bottom of the list.  Do you think the ad meter got it right for the best and worst ads?  Why or why not?  Put on your hat as a marketing professional.  In your opinion and regardless of the Ad Meter rating, which one commercial did the best job of effectively promoting the brand/product?  Keep in mind when answering this question that you should not simply be thinking about the commercial you liked best or found most entertaining -- you need to think about the commercial as an entire marketing package.  Why was this commercial the most effective?  Which one commercial, in your opinion, did the worst job of promoting the brand/product?  Why was it the least effective?

Post your responses to the blog no later than the beginning of class on Tuesday, February 8th

For Thursday, February 3rd

During tomorrow's class, we will discuss Research Design (this material is covered in Chapter 5 from your text -- which I assume you will have read before class).  If time permits, we may begin covering Exploratory & Qualitative Research Techniques (you should plan on reading Chapter 8 which covers this material before next Tuesday).  The powerpoints for both Research Design and Exploratory Research have been posted to the course blog.

I also want to give you a heads up on a couple of things.  Your next quiz, for Chapter 5, will be five minute,  in-class quiz.  It will be administered at the beginning of class on Tuesday, February 5th.  You will not be allowed to use your notes or book for this quiz.  If you are late, you will be unable to take the quiz.  Also, you will have an assignment related to the ads televised during Sunday's Superbowl.  I will post this assignment either late Sunday night or first thing Monday morning (the timing will depend upon when the pertinent web sites are available for viewing).