Monday, September 20, 2010

Don't Touch my Doritos

I think it’s hilarious and definitely one of my favorite commercials but it’s also interesting to consider from a marketing stand point. When I think of advertising, I think of ads that tell me why I should purchase a product or what makes this product better than all the others and this commercial does neither of these.  It positions Doritos as a good snack and the little kid is protective of them so we have to assume that they taste wonderful (which they obviously do) but there is no clear message presented in this advertisement.  This begs the question of whether or not this advertisement was successful at promoting the Doritos brand. The commercial was for the super bowl, which throws a kink in the question because of the all the pressure to have the best commercial, but I think it is still relevant. If I were an avid Cheetos lover, this commercial would not make me want to pick up my keys, drive to the store and try some Doritos because they might be better than Cheetos.  It might give me a good laugh and I might remember that I saw a funny commercial about Doritos as I pass them walking down the aisle to find my Cheetos, but that’s about it.  These types of advertising allow brands to create commercials purely for entertainment instead of promotion.
This commercial does however use the marketing tactic of brand recognition.  Whenever I go shopping I stick to brands I recognize as I would guess most people do. This year, I moved into an apartment and had to purchase items that I am not use to buying such as cleaning products. I bought scrubbing bubbles for my shower because I had heard of the brand and I bought cascade complete action packs because I had heard of them and seen the commercials. Even though this commercial for Doritos doesn’t tell me how much better they are than the competition, it still got the brand out there and may influence the way the people purchase their snack foods.  The commercial also suggests that other people eat Doritos and will do anything to keep them to themselves. This says that Doritos taste good and this may also influence consumers purchasing habits.  This commercial presents a lot of questions about advertising today. Should brands be more concerned with getting their name out there or should they try to persuade consumers that their product is better? Or is it just about having the best commercial during the Super bowl?

3 comments:

  1. Written by Anne Davis - forgot to include my name! Sorry

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  2. And I'm not sure why the first part is underlined..Sorry about that too.

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  3. I don’t know why, but this commercial hit my funny bone at the right spot. Every time I walk down the chip aisle and see Doritos, all I think about—besides how delicious they are—is the little boy saying, “Keep your hands off of my Momma and keep your hands off of my Doritos.” Lately we’ve seen commercials for established brands such as Doritos in which the humor aspect overpowers the underlying strategy, but still seem to have strong impacts. I would imagine that this particular Doritos advertisement experienced a relatively high recall index following the airing of the commercial. I specifically remember that in almost every conversation I had within 24 hours following the Super Bowl—centered around the commercials—mentioned something about the humor of this particular Doritos commercial. Although strong recall measures are important, recognition scores tend to be more reliable and play more important roles in purchase decisions. Recognition is a simpler process in which the consumer has more retrieval cues available. If we were to see this commercial again, we would easily be able to recognize it from our previous encounter(s) with the advertisement. I’d say this commercial would have an above average score on a typical recognition test. Recognition is generally more important and valuable than recall because recognition scores tend to be more reliable and do not decay over time the way recall scores do (Solomon p. 117). As indicated by our own behavior, we can see the value and impact of high recall and recognition effects. The biggest challenge in the advertising world today, as brought on by the changes in technology and consumer culture, is the ability to break through the clutter. Out of all the commercials I watched yesterday, I can’t recall any of them. I don’t even know if I would be able to recognize the commercial or brand/product if I saw it or encountered it again. The key is the ability to stand the test of time. Even though this commercial aired a while ago, whenever I venture down into the chip aisle, Doritos are what stand out to me among all the other options, for many reasons. Although this commercial has its imperfections, it has the ability to evoke a sense of passion and territorial feelings about sharing the deliciousness that are Doritos, allowing for strong recall in the immediate future and additional long-term brand recognition. Maybe it’s the combination of established brand recognition and humor that make these types of ads effective in terms of recall and recognition, but whatever it is, it seems to be working. I enjoy (and remember) ads that play more on the emotion and personality of a brand/product rather than its features.

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