So I was scanning my local paper while eating Rice Krispies and a pear for breakfast (the “snap, crackle, and pop” sound is a novelty that will never fade for me) when I spotted the above in the Cost Plus circular and decided I HAD to scan it for a jocular post.
Firstly, I don’t think Ramune is very new at all considering I’ve seen at local supermarkets for a few years. Secondly, the phrase “Japan is just wild” demonstrates the kind of naive fascination that comprises the average consumer’s perception of the chain. Thirdly, I would rather wait until I go to Japantown to buy Ramune for about a dollar a bottle and instead indulge on an 80-cent bottle of Jarritos that has twice the volume.
On a more positive note, I did learn that lychee was a flavor and (from the back page) that they have 6-packs of Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale for sale, which I am considering trying closer to October. If you care to see the above listing in its full-page context, you can see it after the jump.
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A Call For Better Advance Awareness
May 6, 2008 in Commentary by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 1 comment
Chris Beveridge posted a complaint Monday about the lackluster marketing and solicitation efforts of ADV Films and FUNimation to the broader non-hardcore audience. I personally haven’t had as bad a problem with on-box descriptions but I’ve had more of an issue with minimalistic ads, such as the above from the June issue of PiQ that I got in the mail late last week.
At first, I was like “what the hell is Shattered Angels?” and the one-line copy – “Why Choose?” – wasn’t helping me understand what the hell they were trying to advertise. It took a quick search engine query to divine that Shattered Angels is actually Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora under another name. (I later noticed that the image credit mentioned the production committee in the lower left corner but tiny, grey text on a white background is not very readable to the average eye.)
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Tags: advertising, Anime, Commentary, Manga, marketing