Assignment+One


 * Online Advertising Campaign #1: InsWeb & howlifeworks.com**

InsWeb is a website that provides users with a variety of different auto insurance quotes, as well as other types of insurance quotes. When users purchase insurance from a company that InsWeb refers them to, InsWeb receives a commission. InsWeb's major competitors are more recognizable companies like Progressive and Geico Direct (Goliath, 2004).

The majority of InsWeb's advertising budget is used for online advertisements (Yahoo, 2010). The advertising techniques used in InsWeb's current online advertising campaign involves interactive banner ads (Weintraub, 2008), and sponsored placements within mock news articles on howlifeworks.com, which appear to be Pay Per Click. Howlifeworks.com articles are then sponsored on digg.com. The use of digg.com suggests that InsWeb's target audience are young (ages 18 - 30), computer savvy people who own a car. InsWeb's advertising objective is to increase the number of times users from this population click on a link that directs them to their site, and hopefully obtain an insurance quotes from the site.

I first saw this advertisement on digg.com recently, placed between digg articles, with a large amount of diggs (figure 1). I have noticed this sponsored article for about four months now, but just recently decided to see where the link leads. When I clicked this link I was brought to a story on a (seemingly) general interest website that, in an editorial fashion, describes how most people are paying too much for auto insurance (figure 2). A number of links within this article direct users to the InsWeb website where they are prompted to fill in a Zip/Postal code and begin searching for auto insurance quotes ([|www.insweb.com]).

//Figure 1 - Digg.com & Figure 2 - howlifeworks.com//

I do not believe this adverting campaign is effective. I believe that by using of digg.com might be targeting the wrong audience for this type of campaign; when computer savvy people using digg.com are taken directly to a faux general interest article it is fairly obvious that the article is a cheap advertisement. Users must travel through a mediator website, howlifeworks.com, before reaching the actual InsWeb website. Less computer savvy users might believe that howlifeworks.com is an actual general interest website with information that appeals to them, but those users are less likely to be using a website like digg.com. I would suggest InsWeb sponsors links directly to their own website from digg.com if they desire that target audience.


 * Sources:**

Goliath (2004), //Time for a makeover: competitors' ad spending forces InsWeb to rethink marketing strategy.// Accessed January 28th, 2011 at http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-604056/Time-for-a-makeover-competitors.html

Weintraub, J. (2008), //LowerMyBills - Auto Insurance Ad.// Accessed January 28th, 2011 at http://www.jayweintraub.com/2008/01/lowermybills--.html

Yahoo (2010), //Summary of InsWeb Corp.// Accessed January 28th, 2011 at http://biz.yahoo.com/e/100319/insw10-k.html


 * Online Advertising Campaign #2:** **Volkswagon - The Force Youtube commercial**

Every year the Super Bowl features incredible commercials that are featured in news stories and rated in online and TV specials after the event is done. Commercials draw almost as much attention as the game itself, and discussions as to which commercial was the best lasts for weeks afterwards. This year Volkswagen, among others, has taken a slightly different approach to Super Bowl advertisements; Volkswagen has revealed their commercial on YouTube before it has been debuted during the allocated time slot during the Super Bowl. The minute-long commercial, called //The Force,// features a young boy or girl dressed in a Darth Vader costume testing the power of the force on household objects, only to discover the power held within the Volkswagen Passat (The Wall Street Journal, 2011).

media type="youtube" key="R55e-uHQna0" height="390" width="640" align="center"

By placing the Super Bowl on YouTube, Volkswagen is expanding their target audience immensely. Super Bowl XLV drew about 111 million viewers in the U.S. (Yahoo, 2011). The Volkswagen commercial on YouTube currently has 21 million views, and the number of views continues to rise rapidly. It can also be understood that target audience demographics will be different on YouTube compared to Television. The target audience for the Volkswagen //The Force// YouTube commercial are similar to the average YouTube user; young to middle aged people and equally divided between males and females (YouTube), though users with some interest in Star Wars may enjoy this commercial more.

I first spotted this commercial in the 'Trending' section on the YouTube homepage on the Friday of Super Bowl weekend. At that point the video had 11 million views and I was curious about the video and decided to watch it. Users could also find the commercial by visiting links in various news articles posted before the Super Bowl (searchenginewatch.com, 2011).

I believe that this advertising campaign is very effective. Super Bowl commercials already quite a bit of interest following them, and by trying something new and revealing the commercial on YouTube before the Super Bowl begins a large amount of news and media interest in the commercial is achieved. I believe users also have a feeling of privilege, able to watch the commercial before the "rest of world" views it on television.

Volkswagen's advertising technique in this instance ads an aspect of viral marketing to an otherwise fairly linear advertising campaign. When the video is posted online it is easier to share amongst people, it spreads more quickly, and it becomes available in more places (for example: blog posts such as this). Users also experience more engagement with the advertising campaign because they are given the opportunity to comment on the video.


 * Sources:**

Searchenginewatch.com (2011), //2011 Super Bowl Predictions: 'Volkswagen Commercial: The Force' Beats 'Audi - Goodnight Commercial'.// Accessed February 5th, 2011 at http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/110205-113112

The Wall Street Journal (2011//), Volkswagen Wants You to Feel the Force During the Super Bowl//. Accessed February 5th, 2011 at http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/02/03/volkswagon-wants-you-to-feel-the-force-during-the-super-bowl/

Yahoo (2011), //Super Bowl sets record with 111M viewers in US//. Accessed February 8, 2011 at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-superbowl-ratings

YouTube, //YouTube Fact Sheet.// Accessed February 7, 2011 at http://www.youtube.com/t/fact_sheet