60: politics in advertising

My poor neglected blog. You deserve an overhaul.

In the past few years, my perspective on design, marketing, politics – and life, in general – have changed dramatically. Experience does that to you. Instead of evaluating programs and campaigns from a psychological perspective or a “digital” perspective (whatever that really means), I've been appraising them from more of a sociological standpoint.

In other words, I’ve been thinking about how they interact with Western values, traditional gender roles, inclusiveness, racism… It’s hard not to acknowledge these things, given the recent rise of more female-oriented media:

1. Beyonce’s performance at the Super Bowl, which – despite the unfounded complaints of her naysayers – was perfect for so many reasons and which I should recap at some point, even though it’s already been a few months… but here’s an overview: empowerment, strength, and not a single man on stage
2. That one guy (I can’t remember his name… Sam? Seth? Something – oh well, it’s not important) who gave an incredibly sexist spiel at the Oscars and rationalized it essentially by saying, “It’s just a joke”
3. Lena Dunham’s Girls – critics have been hailing it as ground-breaking feminist work (I disagree; feminism means equality for all women and not just girls who are white)
4. The Steubenville rape case and how every single mainstream media source framed as, “Oh, those poor boys/rapists… such a bright future ahead of them…”

I’m rambling, I know. And that’s really only the tip of the iceberg!

My point is that “political” issues have a heavy influence on the way people perceive advertising and media in general. Something that seems okay in theory may turn out to be totally freaking taboo in execution. I’m thinking specifically of JWT India and their disgusting Ford Figo ad, which was entered as a fake ad into India’s top awards show.

Clearly, a bunch of dudes in upper management had no issue with this blatantly misogynistic ad. Sure, it was meant to be a gag, but that’s the thing, isn’t it? We look at these voluptuous women who are bound and gagged and wearing bikinis, and we’re meant to laugh it off. And that’s just so wrong on so many accounts. For one thing, it’s not funny, period. We should never take that kind of thing as a joke, especially since it happens all the time. That’s not something you make light of – it’s a spit in the face.

Fortunately, we are at a point in time (at least, I think we are) where feminist discourse is a prevalent and ongoing part of our culture – where violence towards women is not tolerated (not as much, at least) and where men as an institution* are put in their place.

*I know there will always be men crying “MISANDRY!!! MAN-HATER!!! REVERSE SEXISM!!!” so here’s my unnecessary disclaimer and a quick and dirty lesson: Reverse sexism, by definition, does not exist. Obviously, not all men are eeeeviiiil. But men as an institution (“the patriarchy”) are oppressive and threatening, particularly to women and people of color. Recognize your privilege and instead of complaining to women about it, start changing the male-dominated culture.

59: bon iver on grammys spot

Bon Iver "We Are Music" Grammy Spot from stereogum on Vimeo.
This is a neat little spot for the 54th Grammy Awards from TBWA\Chiat\Day LA. It's a little bit bizarre seeing Justin Vernon featured in a commercial... for the very mainstream Grammys, no less... but it's kind of nice and surprising and not something I would expect for an awards ceremony.

Actually, this Grammys spot is slightly reminiscent of the old 2008 commercials for Valspar (which I blogged about two-and-a-half years ago) and Whirlpool (I can't find the exact video I'm thinking of, but there's a lady with a bright flowing gown and a floating washing machine and there's soft, inspiring music playing in the background...? Oh, never mind. This sounds so ridiculous).

Anyway, my point is that all of these commercials are sort of earthy and flowy and surreal. It just goes to show you that advertising can be a form of art and a thing of beauty. More lovely videos below...


Valspar 2008 from Olivia on Vimeo.

"Climber" Valspar from SunTimes on Vimeo.

58: the last 'oops' and rethinking the oreo

My last post was a semi-apology, a semi-update, and a semi-promise-to-post-new-content all wrapped up in one. I wrote it in July 2011, and now it's nearing the end of January 2012.

Oops. Again.

But this time I completely promise that this post will feature my last "oops, sorry I forgot to update" because there's lots going on in the world of brand, marketing, advertising, user experience, creative, digital, and more (look at all those buzz words!), and I want you to hear about it and to marvel with me.

So there's that.

Now that I'm done with announcements for the time being, I want to leave you with a story recently featured on NPR's Planet Money. It's called "Rethinking The Oreo For Chinese Consumers," and it's a prime example of rewiring a household brand and snack/cookie/treat (depending on what kind of consumer you are!) to fit another culture's usage behaviors and eating habits.

If there's one thing I've learned from: (1) my travels abroad in Taiwan, China, the UK, and Europe; (2) as an Information Science minor interested in the art and science of user experience; and (3) through my prior research experience at the Communication Department at Cornell... it's that you can't just "transliterate" words or ideas or products from one culture to another. Meanings get lost -- remember that urban legend about the Chevy Nova and how it no va ("doesn't go")? -- and tastes get confused. In an increasingly connected world, you really do need a deep understanding of the cultural and business environment in which you are going to operate.


In Kraft's case, the Oreo team in China had to reconsider what the Oreo cookie really is. Is the Oreo cookie all about the flavor? (Chinese consumers found it too sweet and too bitter.) Is it about the round circular shape? The black and white color? The Oreo team essentially had to identify the classic features of the Oreo cookie and figure out whether they even matter when considering international markets.

From the American standpoint, the Oreo cookie is a nostalgic, emotional experience. You have the ritual: "Twist, lick, and dunk." And it resonates with us. But it's kind of a weird thing. I mean, scraping off the cream with your teeth? Um... ew. (And yum at the same time! I can haz all teh Oreos plz?) How do you sell this quirky American thing to Chinese consumers?

According to the Oreo team, you use emotional advertising, apparently. With the help of Draftfcb, you get cute Chinese kids partaking in this weird American thing, and next thing you know, you've got sales skyrocketing and a very happy Kraft Foods.


Ah, the intersection of consumer behavior, market research, culture, branding, and marketing. Don't you love it?!

Next time: Some thoughts on Yum! Brands and KFC and their perfect egg custard tarts. Le swoon.

(via NPR and Kraft Foods)

57: oops...

Hi all. So clearly, clearly, I suck at the blog thing. I started an entry back in March, apologizing for how sucky I am at updating the blog - but of course I never ended up posting it because, well, I suck at updating the blog.

Some news: I spent this past spring term (January to end of April) in London, studying abroad and interning at an independent ad agency called Inferno. I learned a lot, saw a lot, met a lot of lovely people, and can say that without a doubt it was my best semester ever as a student. Now that it's summer, I'm home in Atlanta and interning at Newell Rubbermaid, which has been an educational experience on a whole different level, and filled with all sorts of perks, to boot!

I have a handful of posts in the queue, just waiting to be finished and published, but until then feel free to keep in touch on bee-co warrior (my foodie pet project) or Twitter!

56: HCI and music

Yann Tiersen on six iPhones:



My church's worship team on iPads (skip to 5:00 to see Seth Condrey making good use of the T-Pain app):



Collective win, yes?

55: a visualisation critique from my HCI design class

artifact: map your moves

Moritz Stefaner's Map Your Move visualization shows where New Yorkers have moved in the last ten years. His data comes from an informal survey of 1700 people, and because most of it reflects people moving from, to, or within the New York area, he uses that entire region as the focus of the graphic. All other parts of the world are mapped relative to New York City.


When you first go to his project, you see a bunch of brownish-purple circles of varying sizes. Each circle represents one zip code, and its size represents the number of moves to or from that zip code. He uses rings around circles to indicate which behavior is more prevalent (red = people moving out, blue = people moving in).


You can interact with the graphic by clicking on a circle to look at moves to/from the area, or you can drag your cursor to make a radial selection of dots that let you see a bunch of zip codes. Once you click on a zip code, all irrelevant dots fade away, and you see a bunch of red and blue lines, which represent each person's beginning and ending location, the year the person moved, and the reason why. There is also a side bar that shows general statistics for the zip code(s) you selected (# people moving in/out, reasons for moving in/out, when people moved in/out).

critique

Overview: The first thing that I always notice is aesthetics, so when Map Your Moves (MYM) loaded on my screen, I was a little grossed out because all these different sized dots reminded me of the measles. However, it's important for these circles to be different sizes because they show you at a glance where people are coming and going. Also, Moritz maps his graphic so that you can see other locations in the world, but he doesn't attempt to make his map geographically accurate (i.e., distances are disproportional), in order to make sure everything fits on the screen without having too much unnecessary extra space. It's nice that he considered this because it goes along with Fitts' law - bigger + closer = faster. The colors are nice as well, because the red and blue contrast nicely, and the background is very neutral and therefore not distracting.

MYM doesn't have very robust zoom and filter features. You can "zoom" in on a cluster of zip codes by making a radial selection of circles. However, it's not a very precise method at all. When you select a zip code area, the graphic automatically eliminates all other items for you, so you can see your current data points very clearly, but based on your goal, some points might be more important than others. The system may be too rigid in that respect.


Details on demand: MYM is fairly good at providing details; whenever you position your cursor over a circle or a line, the circle/line becomes outlined, and a text box with information pops up, which not only helps you maintain your orientation but lets you glean specific information very quickly. The sidebar is also useful in that it shows you statistics for your current selection area.


At first glance, it's hard to compare relative numbers, because the bar graphs for each variable are in the same line. However, the designer does include gray baselines when relevant, so you can easily see whether these numbers are actually statistically significant, which may be more important than positioning the bar graphs to appear more comparable.

redesign

Because the mapping is not to scale, it's hard to find specific zip codes. Most people only know a handful anyway (office, home, school), so in order to navigate, users really need to rely on trial and error. An easy fix would be implementing a search bar based on address. That way, users wouldn't have to know individual zip codes, or have to look through each circle one by one; they could type in a familiar street or nearby restaurant to navigate (similar to the way Yelp and Google Maps work).


There is also an issue with size. It seems that Moritz made tradeoffs in usability and ability to interpret and understand information. According to Fitts' law, bigger may be better, but in this case, actual circle size is a defining characteristic and relevant to the interpretation of data. Because the thin lines and small dots are hard to select, and because many of the lines overlap each other, it's easy to either select the wrong one, or miss it entirely and click on the white space instead (which actually clears your selection completely and takes you back to the overview). You could address this with a gravity function or a magnetic cursor so it's easier to jump from circle to circle or line to line. You could also add a history bar with the last several regions you looked at, to undo unwanted or accidental actions.

In Carr's paper, he says that visualization is designed to help people who are "pursuing a goal that is unknown to the designers and requires sifting through a lot of data," but that supporting specific tasks is also good. My goal was definitely unknown at the time - it wasn't until I actually started playing with the visualization that I realized I wanted to know why people were moving away from New York and where they were going. When I scrolled over lines, I'd see general reasons for moving ("Work or School," "Can't Afford What I Used To," etc.), but there were also people who wrote things like "building was being replace[d] by a 'luxury' condo," or "Neighborhood was scary," or "didn't like australia." To me, these are the little pieces of information that make data so interesting and help people relate to one another. I'd like to see a feature that shows almost the opposite of what this visualization currently does: Start with the why (reasons) and show where people moved. This could be as easy as making the reasons listed in the sidebar clickable; zip codes with people moving away due to roommate or relationship issues could vary with size.

54: the best sad winter/cheer up playlist ever

It's six songs, all the better to put on repeat.

Soft Shock (acoustic) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Twilight Galaxy - Metric
Moth's Wings - Passion Pit
L.E.S. Artistes - Santigold
All I Need - Radiohead
Past in Present - Feist