The Buzz: February 4, 2013

The Buzz: The executive summary of the top things to be aware of this week.
 

1. The Super Bowl of Advertising

   1) It’s impossible to avoid all of the talk about the Super Bowl and Super Bowl commercials today. So here’s my quick two-cents:

   Wins:
       •Samsung
       •Budweiser Horse Story
       •Dodge Ram God Made A Farmer
       •Audi Prom
       •Tide Montana Stain
       •E*Trade (I just love the E8Trade baby)
       •Best Buy Amy Poehler
       •Blackberry Z10 (yes, I actually liked this one)

   Bad:
       •I’m hesitant to even spend a moment to acknowledge the GoDaddy ad, but I wonder how much that nerdy kid got paid to do that spot. At least it was on brand…
       •Coke – big disappointment
       •Bud Light – I loved the superstition ads, but the Stevie Wonder (huge fan) ads didn’t do it for me
       •Gangnam style – I wonder how many brands got pitched this idea and turned it down
       •Oreo – meh…
       •VW Get Happy – I didn’t like the overall concept, but didn’t have an ethical issue like some people did

   Watch all of the ads

2. Facebook Tests Suggested Pages

   • Facebook is testing “Suggested Pages” in news feeds, giving brands extended reach outside of those who already Like their pages.
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3. Microsoft Surface Pro Releases This Friday.

   • The Microsoft Surface Pro is much more of a laptop that the RT (which has a lot of limitations, namely that it can’t run all the same software that a PC can run). I think it will do better, but there’s a lot of competition in the Ultrabook market right now.
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4. Tax Season Heats Up

   • We may think of Christmas, elections, and 3-day weekend holiday sales as big advertising events, but we may not think of tax season as being a huge advertising event, but it is. A lot of money dumped into the market in a short period of time, and the battle is heating up. Even if you’re not in the tax space, the increased demand can increase prices and hurt performance.
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5. Apple Pushes Forward Despite Being Ablaze
   
   • Despite everyone seeming to think that Apple is going out of business (I don’t get the fuss), Apple just surpassed Samsung and is now the #1 smartphone manufacturer in the US. In related news, Samsung killed it at the Super Bowl yesterday.
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