Geico Commercial

The Geico commercial with the stack of money that is watching people is one of the most clever and "cute" ads that is on TV right now.  The little stack of money with the googley eyes combined with the catchy remixed Michael Jackson song creates an entertaining commercial.  Although I enjoy watching it and will even wait in my car for the radio spot to finish, I wonder if it is effective.  

The commercial is very well known.  I even downloaded the song that plays in the background.  However, it has not prompted me to switch my car insurance to Geico or even look at their website.  

This leads me to the question:  Is a catchy ad effective in generating business? or is there more to a commercial?   

I believe that an ad is more effective if it is clever, catchy, and entertaining, but I think there is more to it than that.  There should be some kind of direct incentive for going on to the website.  There cannot just be the chance that you could save a little bit of cash by switching to Geico.  There needs to be more than that... 

Facebook Is Turning Into Myspace...

Myspace started out as a social networking site, but it seems that it has become more of a marketing tool for bands etc...  Facebook came in right at the time and was exclusively for college students, so there would be no marketing.  There has been so much spam on Facebook lately that it seems less and less like a network.  Pages are created and people become fans of these pages and invite their friends to become fans of the page also.  My notification box is becomming full of these messages telling me to take this survey about Twilight or become a fan of cuddeling or become a fan of Reses Penutbutter Cups.  It is getting old...

Something new will surely come out soon and basically eliminate Facebook.  It seems like there is a cycle here.  A site is made that makes it really easy to communicate with friends, and as soon as it becomes popular it is monetized with advertising.

Product Placement

I think that the current type of marketing for television will not last for much longer.  The young generation has grown up with DVR's and has the ability to fast forward commercials.  I hardly ever watch any live television.  I will rarely see what movies are coming out and almost never watch a commercial.  I think that the rest of my generation is somewhat the same way and younger people watch even fewer commercials.  I think that DVR's will become a staple in most homes very soon.

Product placement seems to be more prevalent in both standard and reality T.V. shows.  MTV's new show "The Phone" seems to be a massive ad for some new AT&T cell phone.  They use it to take pictures, and are constantly talking on it.  And the narrator specifically says the name of the phone.  Also, on Survivor, the cast watches videos of their loved ones on a new T-Mobile phone.  On Prison Break, the cast somehow always gets a brand new car (from where, I don't know?).  They rip around corners in a Cadillac Escalade with the logos flashing etc...

I don't know how effective these ads are, but they definitely reach the people that watch the shows.