NerdBrand Podcast
Nerd culture isn't just for a select few anymore; it's everywhere! It's in the movies we watch, the games we play, and the tech we use every day. Join us as we share our thoughts on how visual design, branding, and advertising shape our favorite movies, comics, books, video games, and other nerdy interests.
NerdBrand Podcast
The Raisin Brain Effect: Social Media's Impact on Ad Perception
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Well, in this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast, we're going to talk about how not to allow social media to turn your brain into a raisin when you're watching ads on TV. Okay, let's go. Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the NerdGram Podcast. It's been a while. I took a little break. I may take another break, I don't know. I like breaks. I'm busy, I can't help it.
Speaker 1:So, anyhow, there's been a lot going on in the world of advertising. Oh my God, has there been a lot going on in the world of advertising, and I think many of you know I'm talking about the Sidney Sweeney ads. I'll just get right to it. What the actual hell. I love Wordplay. Wordplay is a really good way to make an ad, but some people just take it too far, some people just misread things and anyways, I'm sure there's lots of hateful opinions and lots of preach adjacent opinions, but at the end of the day, it's my podcast. I'll say what I want, but it's an ad. I mean, unless it's over, it's an ad. Guys, it'll be over, it'll be fine. Does anybody ever remember another clothing company that used to do some ads that everybody was like wait a minute, are those people underage? I'm just going to leave that there and let you think on that one.
Speaker 1:There are ways to do ads where, yeah, you can subliminally put messaging in there, but then it's kind of a stretch on this one. I'm sorry, I don't care. I, you know, I don't normally talk about politics or religion on this show because, but you know, when you start eking it into my world, it's awful hard for me to not to make a nod at it or go like, really. So that's kind of where I'm at. I think it's a good wordplay. Um, I would hope that they would come out with some more ads like that, honestly, because I think having a more diverse audience women and audience and even men on there as spokespeople that are doing the same thing I think that that would definitely kind of shut it up and get the idea across that no, this is not a eugenics commercial, because wordplay has been around for a long time. I mean, you don't have to see yourself in an ad. That is not the right way to look at things, I'm sorry. I mean I remember when everybody wanted to be like Mike, but nobody wanted to be Mike.
Speaker 1:Nobody had to see themselves in Michael Jordan, they just wanted to be like Mike and play basketball. So I had a friend he just went and just played his heart out, trained on his own. He even got these weird looking shoes to run around and and I thought to myself like that is definitely determination, and he was going to go be an NBA player. That was the goal, that was the mission, and I was like white boy from Valley station, okay. So yeah, did he make it? No, he went work for the LNPD, but but I'll tell you what his parents were behind him 100% and, um, yeah, he worked on how high he could jump and how he could jump and how he could dribble. I mean he was sold all in from the age of 16 to 18. And then reality kind of set in, I think, and it was like all right, I got to get a job that pays and now, and so that was something that changed his life. But still, I remember those days.
Speaker 1:I grew up in the 90s. I mean that's the way it was. That's why I have the worldview I have. I grew up in the 90s. I saw all this stuff. I'm not a boomer. Boomers are baby boomers. Those are people that you know were born from those that went and fought in World War II, my parents. I'm not a boomer. You got the wrong generation y'all. Just because they're older than you, that's not a boomer. Anyways, enough ranting on that.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing in the slew of ads that are out there, I mean there's a lot of great advertising that's going on with, uh, kind of getting back to like showing the things more and not necessarily trying to drive some kind of subliminal message in the first place. That either is on the left or the right side of the political aisle, I don't care. It's just what is it that you're trying to offer? What problem are you trying to solve? And that's what ads are. Ads are they're forgotten things that they can run and go viral like this. But then there's some that just you know, stay with us for years. I mean here, remember this one Now, how many of you just saying I'm loving it in your head?
Speaker 1:You know, mcdonald's has been doing that for a long time and now they've got a whole series of ads out right now that is all about McDonald's and their stuff. It's great, it's great to watch. They have owned that. And now they don't even say I'm loving it. I mean just they show you the golden arches and they just kind of sing a little tune and that's the way it goes. And there you go.
Speaker 1:You got you like an established brand with an identity, and for years and years and years, coca-cola same thing. Like, they bring out the polar bears every Christmas because everybody hated Santa Claus. So they said, all right, we'll do polar bears. Santa Claus is too divisive, I guess. So that's what they did. Um, budweiser, you know they got the horses and everybody knows the horses. They all come out same time of year holidays, advertising around the holidays. I mean, there are some new things that come out. It'll be interesting to see this year what gets produced.
Speaker 1:Um, but I don't know if, uh, we would ever get tired of the old nostalgia things. I mean even the little Hershey kisses that do their you know thing for jingle bells, and that's going to come back, and they've tweaked that over the years, even though, if you've not noticed it or not, the audio is the same. But the video has been updated and I think that that's something that we all can look at and go. Hmm, yeah, it makes you feel good. So, anyways, don't read too much into ads. Stop it. There's other problems in the world if you really want to focus on problems, or if you just want to watch ads and have a lot of fun, do that.
Speaker 1:Super Bowl, you know, had some okay ads Not too great funny ads but you know it's still something right, right, I'm trying to be positive. You know it's still something right, right, I'm trying to be positive. So, anyhow, a lot of uh. You know there has been um outrage over some ads. I mean, adidas had a problem. They made an ad. Uh, doves the code, um, ai, beauty standards, um kind of was a bad thing for them. You know Google, salesforce and Ray-Ban, meta all had ads that you know. I think people liked or disliked. You're entitled to your opinion, but you know it's something that I think we kind of missed the point of what ads are for, though I just kind of have to keep going back to that because I'm flabbergasted. I was so gobsmacked when I heard the things that I have heard so far.
Speaker 1:Some of the ad campaigns that are out currently. At the moment you may or may not see them based on, even if you're the target audience. You have to think about that. You know, um, I will tell you I watch a lot of Disney plus lately. Uh, I cannot specify how many, I lost track. How many pharmaceutical ads come across, that thing, uh, so we are still in the age of pharmaceuticals like throwing money out. I mean, I don't even know. I see so many pharmaceutical ads I'm starting to think that I got some of them diseases. So I just, you know, that's kind of the space we're in.
Speaker 1:But you know, there's been some surprising ad campaigns. Skincare campaigns have been pretty interesting, you know. I know we all want to see ads of empowerment and things like that, and that's great. Thought-provoking ads are great. There's a time and place for every kind of ad. Uh, t-mobile ran some really funny ads and I think they tip, they kind of put the icing on the cake when they got, um, old Jason Mabola himself, you know, um, um, involved in it and to be in the ads. I think that that was kind of the funniest ad campaign at least in 2024, that I can remember was T-Mobile.
Speaker 1:Now T-Mobile is running ads again about, you know, and they're using Billy Bob Thornton and him walking around the middle of a field in what looks like you know Iowa or Wyoming or God knows where, and the whole point is that he don't know where he's at, but with his phone he can find out, and so that's something that's going on right now and that's an interesting ad campaign and it's more about not so much about how you feel about T-Mobile or how you feel about 5G or how you feel about farming or what you think about what Billy Bob's wearing or Billy Bob Thornton himself. It's just more or less emphasizing the point like, hey, t-mobile's got some satellites now so they can always get you connected, no matter where you are. And it kind of reminds me of the Verizon ads of can you hear me now? It's just their way of doing it and showing off the prowess of the network and how strong it is, and that's a good ad for that reason. There really wasn't much else thought behind it. It's like hey, we need to show off what we can do, and that's what you want to do with an ad, right, and hope that you touch an audience that receives that ad and says, man, I need that. And then they do that, and that's the point.
Speaker 1:Um, I'm seeing a lot of ads for pets. Um, you know a lot of things going on in that realm. Chewy's got some pretty aggressive OTT ads running right now and streaming about dog food and how to take care of your dog. I mean, there's one dog running around and it looks like it's just going nuts as far as how it behaves and it's like, ok, we need a type of feeder for a dog, which I didn't know existed, but they have a cage, all these other things to keep from chewing up stuff because it's going to be a puppy for the next two years or going to go through that period. They kind of intentionally put that into the ad so that if you're like, wait, I got a dog that's within that two year period and is doing all these things, this ad is showing Chewy's is my place to go so that I can get some products and dog food and other things and hopefully keep the dog from chewing up my sandals. That's a commercial that's out there that I think is pretty darn good.
Speaker 1:You know recent ads, that kind of play on YouTube. You know they're testing a longer ad cycle On YouTube. They're testing a longer ad cycle. I mean 30-second ads are being added to the existing mix of 6-second bumper ads and 15-second unskippable ads. I know that's annoying. I know that's annoying, but you know what? That's also why they annoy the crap out of you wanting to buy or pay for YouTube. This is a platform that's just, over the years, has lost more money than I don't. I don't know, I don't know if they, according to their reporting, I mean they're doing okay, but other than that, I don't think they're making money. Um, so, you know, you go from monetization to okay. Well, the ultimate monetization is doing a Netflix model where we charge people for YouTube and then you can bypass ads. I don't think that'll happen, because I kind of see all the money that generates from advertising.
Speaker 1:Somebody's going to sneak in an ad somewhere. If you have a streaming service, just try it. Try watching something and then pause and see if an ad comes up. Or does the video just pause, because on some networks, like, for example, peacock, they have intermittent. I guess interstitial ads is what they call them. Anyways, there are ads that are there if you're pausing the programming and we can place ads into those areas for our customers. So it's a decent thing, right? It's like ah, I got to go on a pee break, pause, and then there's kind of an ad, that kind of loops, you know, or maybe it's just a graphic with a QR code so that you can just pick your phone up and there you go, I'm going to get that thing or learn more about that product. It's great because we've all got to figure out.
Speaker 1:The entire thing is like there's a war between advertisers and ad blockers and people can get annoyed with ads and we get it. I get annoyed with them, but you know, I'm in a business of ad, of advertising and and, um, that's sometimes I like watching ads and watching how people react to ads. I think it's very interesting. I just I can't help it. I'm a psycho that way. I suppose.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, right now on YouTube there's a playlist of commercials, um, you know, and there's in there in different volumes. You can go have to Google 2025 commercials, but you can kind of see. Um, you know, you've got 2025 commercials. Uh, one of the volumes is, uh, you know, comedy central, fxm, discovery, free form, adult swim in MTV promotional spots, um, you know, for for toys, I mean the fantastic four film and all the different things and all the advertisement for that. I mean, you talk about a thing that was advertised that everybody misread and thought was going to be something that wasn't. As far as a film goes, that's that one. Um, maybe it happened in post editing, I don't know, but I'm hearing really good things about it, that that Marvel's trying to actually, you know, get back to, you know storytelling, and so that's awesome. Um, because, uh, yeah, we uh been rough and rough for Marvel and, you know, dc seems like they got a good one on their hands with Superman.
Speaker 1:So I'm glad to see that all that advertising paid off, because when you drop a quarter of a billion dollars on advertising, you kind of want to make sure that the damn thing makes money, right, I mean, I know I'd like to see success happen when people run an ad. I don't want to see somebody fail or anything, because it's really hard to make an ad. I don't want to see somebody fail or anything, because it's really hard to make an ad, you know, and the whole Sidney Sweeney thing, it's like it didn't happen in a vacuum and one person said like, oh, they knew this would go viral and it would cause this or that. You know, unless somebody comes out and makes a statement yeah, yeah, that was the plan, then I'm going to reserve on the side of like, no, like most agencies, like ours, we're not thinking about how to go viral, we're not thinking about how to cause, you know, social disruption. We're thinking about how to get the ad done, what to do, and then when we do it, boy are we praying to God. It works Because, yeah, we've done our homework and all. So it's not like we don't know what we're doing or it's being shot off into a vacuum, but it's like, at the end of the day, you don't know how people are going to respond to you what you say. I don't know how people are going to respond to this podcast episode, with me coming out being like I'm sorry, but I just don't think Sidney Sweeney's a Nazi. That's stupid. Sweeney's a Nazi, that's stupid.
Speaker 1:So you know, I've seen so many Jean ads. I mean, I grew up in the era of Calvin Klein. I mean, honestly, that was weird, that was weird, but the ladies liked it because Mark Wahlberg was wearing underwear on a billboard. It's fine. So, at the end of the day, don't read too much into ads, don't let social media turn your brain into a raisin, because you know, somebody said something about an ad and made an assumption about it or whatever, and overthought it and over sensationalized or outraged over it. Because, quite honestly, ads aren't married. They're not made to make you outraged. They're made to sell products, they're made to elevate brands and to hopefully provide a perspective on things. Um, you know, I don't think I've seen a jean or clothing commercial in a while that has created such outrage, and I know there has been others.
Speaker 1:Um, so I don't know why we have to be so focused on those things. I love making ads, I love working in advertising. Mitch does too. It's why we've done it for so long. Uh, but I can guarantee you that, like you know, I can't speak for the agency that made the ad, but we don't sit around thinking about those things that everybody else is talking about after they've seen the ad. It's always after. That's literally.
Speaker 1:We don't start with the process of what happens in the end. I don't read books backwards and I don't watch movies backwards, and I'm assuming my audience doesn't either. So when we make an ad, we don't start with oh well, what are people going to think? We'll get to that part before we deploy it. And if we think that it's still worth it to deploy it, we're going to freaking do it, because it takes a lot of effort to do what we do. In any advertiser, in any industry, it takes a lot of effort. I mean, you know there's been times during COVID where we were very like. You know we're not going to put that message out right now. It just seems very tone deaf. And then we didn't. But you know you got a global disaster happening, so it's kind of warranted. But you know you got a small audience, small amount of people that are upset, and next week they're going to be upset about something else. If not, by the end of the day, something else, then that's fine.
Speaker 1:You know fast food ads. Let's briefly talk about that. What's going on with fast food? I know y'all noticed it. Look, I will say I like Burger King, but I don't want brisket on my Whopper. I'm sorry, that just doesn't look appealing. I kind of I like my barbecue with my barbecue and my burger with my burgers, and I just why is Taco Bell making fish, not fish tacos, but they're going instead chicken? I don't know, but everybody is selling everything under the sun. Did you know Arby's has a burger, like you? I don't kind of. If arby's wants to ever send me anything, or any of these people that I'm mentioning will send me anything, I'll eat it and I will give you a fair rating, but I'm just not convinced about buying it. And then you look at places like chick-fil-a that are just rolling out commercial after commercial right now and they've got their people talking about dipping chicken tenders and I think it even inspired Popeyes to make a chicken tender dippy commercial, where people are dipping and singing and stuff and it's like it's more active and energizing than the Chick-fil-A ones.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, you do what you do really well. Do that when you start looking across the aisle what the other ones are doing, and you get distracted and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm a taco place and I make tacos. Really well, I'm going to have to make some chicken things. No, make better tacos. That's just my opinion, though I don't know what yours is. I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you like it, you know where to find it. Subscribe, blah, blah, blah all the things and remember, keep your nerd brand strong.
