JBL Launching a Global Campaign for All-New Portable Waterproof Speakers

JBL has created an invention that replaces the "classic" portable speaker that everyone enjoys. Their all new portable speaker is now made for the water with their waterproof edition. Many people want to embrace the fun moments in their life with good friends and great music, even while playing in the water at the beach. I know I'm not the only one who is afraid to bring a portable speaker near any water due to the chance of it becoming wet, which in turn, can ruin it. And why would we want to spend the big bucks on a portable speaker that may not work due to getting splashed on while we're simply wanting to have fun? With that said, I believe this waterproof speaker is an invention I would call: genius.

JBL developed a Global Campaign, along with its talented agency Doner, that keep you wanting more. They have introduced the public to commercials that are well done and extremely valuable, in my opinion. The first commercial I watched was one that I thought was informative but also funny at the same time. There was a male and a female in the water at a beach listening to music on their JBL waterproof speaker. As the male placed the speaker in the water every time, fish would jump out of the water behind them. I feel that this is trying to demonstrate the aspect of how amazing this speaker is and how big of a step up it is from their competitors by having the waterproof edition. Not any speaker can make the fish want to jump out of the water and dance along to the tunes! 

Here is the first ad: 

The new campaign JBL is launching is located in Europe and the US via broadcast, digital, and social media. There are two different waterproof speakers they are introducing, one is called the Charge 3, and the other is called the Clip 2. The Charge 3 offers the ability for the speaker to last 30 minutes underwater and plays tunes up to 20 hours on a single charge. The Clip 2, on the other hand, has a built-in carabiner clip and a battery that can last up to 8 hours. I believe this campaign is trying to target the people who want to be adventurous and live life to the fullest by bringing the beats with them wherever they decide to explore next.

The next ad this article featured was brilliant. They had a couple hosting a pool party, and when the cops heard this, they arrived, but everyone was underwater with their JBL waterproof speaker. This demonstrates that the party can go on underwater even when the cops show up to your door! I found this ad to be extremely funny and entertaining! Here is the last ad I viewed: 

The slogan for this campaign is called, "the wetter, the better", which I believe perfectly fits with their overall goal of promoting the advantages of their speakers being waterproof. I can tell you this campaign has definitely made me think twice about replacing my current portable speaker. I am the type of person who needs music as a motivator and who enjoys the entertainment it offers when in social situations. When I was invited to a pool party, I was asked to bring my speaker along. I really did not want to bring it due to the fact that I knew there was going to be water involved, and sure enough, the speaker was sitting on the table close to the water so we could hear it, and someone accidentally knocked it in. I quickly grabbed it out within 3 seconds, but ever since that incident, it has a fuzzy sound to it when it plays my music. Very irritating to me! 

Overall, I think JBL will find success with these 2, all new waterproof speakers. Not only because they are waterproof, but because they offer advantages like being underwater for 30 minutes, so you know if an accident happens where it gets dropped in the water, you don't have to worry. As the Marcomm news article says, "the brand's first-ever IPX7 rated waterproof portable speakers ensure a worry-free listening experience, no matter where the music takes you. Even underwater."

Red Bull Debuts The Marketing Store's Creation of Shout/out

Red Bull reaches yet another height in displaying its new advertising tool known as Shout/out. Shout/out is a disruptive social media tool that was created by The Marketing Store, and aims at reclaiming social media feeds for the users. With this new tool, the public can quickly be informed of information the advertiser wants to get out in the high speed reading technique. The words quickly flash across the screen with one word after another consistently being displayed. Shout/out also wants this tool to be utilized at live events, such as Red Bull's Music Academy UK Tour, so people can quickly grasp the information on social media instead of being delayed with reading Twitter's post that have a 140-word character limit. I believe this disruptive tool can be beneficial to the people, and has done a fantastic job at adjusting to the ever-changing World of technology by providing this new tool.

In my opinion, this Shout/out tool has developed something that could replace the "normal" way of communicating at live events such as debates, award shows, etc., because people who are not able to tune into these events may be at work or school, and want a quick glance at what is happening. Well, they can partake in this glance by accessing Shout/out instead of reading the millions of tweets of their Twitter feed for information. Not only is Shout/out a fun way for fans, as well as athletes and artists to express their experience live from an event, but it allows the people digging for information to cut through the clutter and save their precious time.

Red Bull has placed this tool on their website which allows the users to customize the posts they are viewing with imagery before they share it online. Chris Tyas, head of digital at The Marketing Store said, "The need to express yourself and be heard is a key part of what makes us human. However, the full power and emotion of the written word is slowly being diluted as Facebook and Twitter specifically engineer their platforms to capitalize on promoted content, and in doing so reduce the impact of organic content. The Marketing Store and Red Bull decided to take a stand and reclaim social feeds for the consumers. We're pleased to have worked with Red Bull to create this world first, to help people express themselves better, get noticed, and give heir words wings." I have to fully agree with this statement because I agree that the social media engines most of us currently use, like Facebook, have inaccurate information of stories, events, politics, etc. If we were given the opportunity to access Shout/out, we would actually be excited to view the content, instead of viewing content that we've seen a million times before on Facebook. I also agree with the key point Tyas brought up about expressing yourself, and how being heard is a key part of human nature. When you can express yourself through something as simple as a word, you feel empowered, like you have gotten across what you needed to in order to move on in life. This is exactly what Shout/out is about, it allows for a strong word that you are thinking about at an event to be displayed for everyone to see.

Overall, I think The Marketing Store really out shined their competitors by developing Shout/out, and I would not be surprised if we see more companies, rather than just Red Bull, be involved with utilizing this new social media tool. Companies can have a leg up on social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which has not happened in a long time. So many people rely on these social media sites to inform them about an event's details, but when they can have something flashing words that express the events details across the screen and be done reading in seconds, who would't want Shout/ out to become a tool available to everyone?

Flipboard Storyboard: A New Storytelling Platform for Brands

A new creative addition to advertising grasps the attention of many, this new addition is called Flipboard Storyboard. This new storyboard allows its readers to scroll through a carousel of articles, images, videos, .gifs, and audio. The main reason for developing this storyboard is for promoting companies and brands so they can give a powerful message to the people. This storyboard grants the readers to take control of browsing through the message by having a feature that lets them swipe right or left to follow a full story. But little do the readers know, the advertisers can take advantage of the them by developing a storyboard geared towards their interests and experiences. When the advertisers do this, they are attracting many potential customers, and keeping the customers they currently have by continuing to express their interests through pictures, words, etc. The secret to manipulating their readers is the Interest Graph technology that is combined with Flipboard, which is capable of targeting campaigns to readers based on their interest, and then go on to display their brand content in a way that has never been done. I found Flipboard to be something that I would absolutely love!

I think Flipboard is going to start becoming a pretty popular aspect to advertising as it grows and becomes recognized. Because what company would not want to promote their brands to reach the specific audience that are looking to gain, and be have an extremely creative display to show them? It's a brilliant idea! In the article I read, it said that Sephora has taken advantage of Flipboard. They partnered with them, specifically for their holiday campaign, with their slogan saying, "Tis the Season, Love is the Reasons, Let Beauty Together". The article stated that Sephora could "engage holiday shoppers across all of their devices without compromising the brand storytelling". This is a huge step that Sephora took to really outshine their competition. Because everyone is constantly looking for that new technological advancement, especially around the holiday season when consumers are more likely to engage in advertisements so they can find what they need easily. And with Flipboard, these consumers can simply use their mobile device while they're shopping, or before, to scan what a brand entails by a quick slideshow, instead of having to go to the website and click on many different tabs in order to find exactly what you are looking for. Daniel Daynes, global digital director of Mindshare Luxury stated, "Flipboard's design-led platform and full screen ads are powerful tools for Mindshare's luxury clients. They allow them to tell deeper stories, engage target consumers, and reach new audiences. The ease and elegance of Storyboard combines the best of display advertising and native storytelling. It allows our brands to share their stories as an integral part of the content experience on Flipboard. We look forward to our continued collaboration and innovation with the team at Flipboard." I am completely convinced by this quote that Flipboard does absolute wonders for brands due to the fact that it creates such a wonderful array of information that is placed through whatever medium the company wants. 

Flipboard reminds me of the Snapchat stories that you can scroll through by the swipe of a finger. And from who I have talked to at work, school, and in general, they love the accessibility and quickness that the Snapchat stories allow. If you are bored with one of the pictures, you can keep swiping to get to the picture you enjoy looking at, and I feel that this is what Flipboard is trying to employ in its storyboards. If consumers are bored with one aspect on their storyboard, they have the option to swipe to the next slide. And we all know, as consumers, we love options because each of us has our own different, unique preferences. 

Overall, I think Flipboard is going to make its mark, and really take charge in the advertising field as the years go on. This is because of the fact that it supplies such engaging content that the company gets to develop to grasp their target audience. There are many of us that rely on advertising to really describe the product/brand we are looking for, and to have an actual storyboard describing what the product/brand is through media features makes the product ten times more fun to explore! 

Pepsi Fights Back Against Claims it Misled Naked Juice Consumers

We all want the nutrient dense drink that says it has a full serving of fruit and vegetables because this makes us feel satisfied knowing we can check this aspect off in our diet for the day. Naked Juice is supposedly known for containing these servings of fruit and vegetables in one of their bottles, but recently, there was a lawsuit filed against Pepsi Company's popular Naked Juice drink. The lawsuit filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest claims that Pepsi fill these products with "cheap, nutrient-poor apple juice" and other fillers. They also addressed the misleading label that says, "No sugar added". And brings up a fact that their is more sugar in the Naked Juice drinks than their are in some of Pepsi cola drinks. I am a person who is extremely interested in health and fitness, and I find this alarming, as I'm sure many other people do also.

My dad was a district manager for gas stations, and he would always bring home free samples of the new drink, snack, food, etc. I remember when he brought home a bottle of Naked Juice, it was the Mighty Mango flavor I believe. He told me, "You've got to try this juice smoothie thing, it has a full serving of fruit too, and I know you love your fruit and smoothies." I never thought there could be such thing as a drink that provided a full serving of fruit or vegetables for the day so I was super excited to try it! And once I had that first sip of mango goodness, my taste buds literally sparked with excitement! I was obsessed with Naked Juice for probably a few weeks, and once I actually looked pass the front of the bottle, and read the nutrient facts, I was absolutely shocked by what I saw. I did not understand how a supposed "healthy" drink could have such a great amount of sugar. Yes, I understand that fruit and vegetables have their own natural sugar, but almost 50 plus grams worth?? Thats more than a pint of some ice cream if you think about it! And I noticed changes in my body as I drank 3 of these juice smoothies a week for 3 weeks also. I gained a pound a week it seemed like, which really did not happen to me before I started to drink these. I, obviously, had no clue it was possibly Naked Juice causing this weight gain because it's suppose to be a healthy drink, but now that I am not the only one who has questioned this drink, I am starting to believe it was Naked Juice's fault.

I believe this lawsuit was a good thing to file. And in the article it said that the lawsuit also claimed that Pepsi fails to disclose that Naked Juice is "not a low-calorie food" as the Food and Drug Administrations says. Pepsi comes back fighting this lawsuit with saying what they always say, "Any sugar present in Naked Juice products comes from the fruits and/or vegetables contained within and the sugar content is clearly reflected on label for all consumers to see. Every bottle of Naked Juice clearly identifies the fruit and vegetables that are within. The lawsuit wants Pepsi to change the way it markets their product, and calls for damages to be paid to the people who purchased Naked products. I feel that this conclusion and solution that the lawsuit wants to see form Pepsi Company is acceptable for the company to display, in respect to their customers. Now, there has to be actual experiments, or something of that nature, conducted to know exactly what ingredients and fillers go into every Naked Juice bottle, but I do believe that they definitely need to change their marketing strategy, and/or ingredients if they are truly false advertising to the public. With all of this said, I will not be a current, or future consumer of any sort of Naked Juice products.