Marcus Miller

I really hope this isn't a dumb way to do this:

Multimedia assignment:

“Multimedia” is the New Black

                The
examples of the use of the word “Multimedia” I found most interesting were when
it was associated with corporate initiatives or campaigns that are trying to
modernize a brand name. Although this attempt to capture a youth audience with
“hip” (Levere) marketing tactics is mocked for its dated and out of touch
execution, companies like Pepsi-Cola, Frito-Lay and Levi Strauss in the 1990’s
utilize the emergence and popularity of multimedia as a concept as a buzz word
for their products being “high-tech” when they haven’t actually changed. This
tendency for companies to try and use multimedia or more generally social
trends to market their products to younger audiences through association is
indicative of their attempt to capitalize on any immediate societal phenomena,
regardless of corporate interest or relevance.

                The
articles discuss Frito-Lay’s and Levi’s initiatives to rebrand their products
through advertising campaigns that focus on multimedia and association modern
90’s technology to rejuvenate their older products. The advertising campaigns
are “directed at young adults from 18 to 22” and focused on product
association. Levi’s “Lost but not lost” campaign depicted young people in
“exotic locations” with Sony “portable CD player[s] and digital video
camera[s]” to strengthen the idea that Levi jeans are part of the “equipment
for modern living”. The jeans themselves are obviously not directly related to
modern 90’s technology. The article point this out by saying that the main
difference between “old, reliable Levi’s” are only different from the new line
in their “positioning”, not any sort of functionality or design. Similarly, the
“relaunch of the Doritos trademark and franchise” (Elliot) takes heavily from
the film industry, mimicking the marketing of blockbuster films;
"Frito-Lay presents a Doritos brand production," rated "PG"
for "Profits from great taste". This ham-fisted association with
popular media shows the tendency for these larger corporations to try and
associate their products with relevant social trends as a marketing tactic,
even when the association is obviously forced. Association with multimedia gave
the illusion of modernity to older products, although the implementation only
exposed the ineffectiveness of such a forced relation.

                Both
these marketing campaigns not only associated their products with multimedia,
but used the developing media sphere to distribute their messages. The 1993
Doritos campaign was the largest Frito-Lay had ever done, $100 million dollars
for television and movie placements, give-aways, billboards and their first commercial
spot during the Academy Awards with celebrity endorsements. The distribution of
the product name through multimedia, as well and contextual references and
associations with media at large tries to strengthen the connection between
multimedia and the corporate product, even though Doritos have next to nothing
to do with the film as an art or an industry. As well, Levi Strauss created an
entire web series, following the jean-wearing teens in their exotic adventure,
distributed on lostbutnotlost.com through images and amateur-styled videos.
Their campaign combined “both traditional and new media” (Levere) in an attempt
to tap into the new internet market while still utilizing the more traditional
print ads and spots.

                In both
instances, the corporations stretch the functionality and purpose of their
products to associate themselves with multimedia as a concept in an attempt to
appear relevant and rejuvenated, and utilize the growing media sphere of the
90’s to advertise their products to new demographics and in new ways.

Works Cited

Jane L., Levere. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Levi
Strauss is putting its Silvertab line on               hip
people in exotic places in a multimedia campaign." New York Times, The
(NY) 24
Aug. 2000: 8. NewsBank - Archives. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

Stuart, Elliott. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS -- ADVERTISING;
Taking a chip off Pepsi-Cola's block, Frito-               Lay
gets ready for a multimedia blitz." New York Times, The (NY) 25 Mar. 1993:
21.                    NewsBank -

Archives. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.