Viewer's Guide to 2015 Super Bowl Ads

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl! For those of you watching the game, studies say that 78% of you will be looking forward to the ads. To increase your viewing pleasure, I've penned a Viewer's Guide to the 2015 Super Bowl Ads.

Read on to impress your friends and critique ads like a marketing guru. And for those of you with an upcoming marketing interview, you can use the examples below to answer that dreaded marketing interview question, “Tell me your favorite (or least favorite) TV ad.”

EVALUATING AN AD 
I have a six-point checklist for critiquing ads. But beer, guacamole, and friends can impair memory. To make it easy to remember, I've shortened it to three and paired it with a football theme, just for the big game:

M EMORABLE 
O H, PRODUCT! 
B ENEFIT

MEMORABLE 
The ad has to grab attention. The viewer is making a choice of whether they’re going to stick around or grab a beer. And if they've stuck around, is the ad memorable enough for them to think, discuss, and tweet with their friends?

OH, PRODUCT! 
Creative types tend to produce tear-jerking, Oscar-worthy ads. But this is the Super Bowl, not Sundance. The point of an ad is to pitch products. It has to provide the viewer an idea of what’s being promoted as well as a clear brand association.

Tablet commercials are my biggest pet peeve. All of them feel similar: inspirational soundtrack and images of a person using a tablet – filled with hope and potential. Heck would I know if it’s promoting an iPad, a Nexus, a Galaxy Tab, or Kindle Fire. Commercials that don’t clarify what’s been promoted won’t drive sales.

BENEFIT 
Lastly, the ad has to explain the product benefit AND produce evidence why they can back up that claim. It’s not enough to say that you've got an ad for Coca-Cola, Camry, or Charmin. An ad should tell consumers why they should choose their brand over the competition.

Take Volvo for example. You buy a Volvo because their cars are safer than others. They invented the seat belt and reinforce their car with the strongest steel possible. If you’re in the market for a safe, family car, it’s Volvo all the way.

ADS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR 
I've scoured the web for 2015 Super Bowl commercials. Keep your eye out for these three ads:

FAN FAVORITE: BUDWEISER’S "LOST DOG" (AKA "PUPPY LOVE 2.0") 
Budweiser's Super Bowl ad commercial last year, "Puppy Love," was the champ with a whopping 56 million views on YouTube. For 2015, Budwesier decided to build on Puppy Love's success with its new ad, "Lost Dog," which features the familiar friendship story between a puppy and a Clydesdale.

"Lost Dog" will be just as popular as last year's ad, driving strong brand awareness. However, it's unlikely the ad will drive incremental sales as the connection between the ad and the beer product is too subtle and vague.

Lewis’ Scorecard 
Memorable: A- 
Oh! Product: F 
Benefit: D

View the Ad

BEST CELEBRITY PARODY: T-MOBILE’S "SAVE THE DATA" 
Kim Kardashian pokes fun of herself, selfies, and public service announcement ads with T-Mobile's 2015 30 second spot on the Super Bowl.

The ad is unforgettable. And the product offering, T-Mobile's new Data Stash feature, and benefit is clear.

Lastly, T-Mobile's use of celebrity parody is particularly on-target, fitting the anti-establishment brand image that T-Mobile began in 2012 with its Uncarrier marketing campaign. Marketers take note: brand and message consistency matters!

Lewis’ Scorecard 
Memorable: B+ 
Oh! Product: B 
Benefit: A-

View the Ad

MOST EFFECTIVE SUPER BOWL AD OF 2015: WIX.COM’S "IT'S THAT EASY" 
Wix.com is not a popular brand name. However, they win my award for most effective Super Bowl Ad of 2015. In the ad, the product is clearly defined: use Wix.com to build a website. And Wix.com's primary benefit, ease of use, is reinforced throughout. Lastly, the product's target audience is easily inferred: small business owners.

Wix.com's ad masterfully uses several football celebrities, including Brett Favre and Terrell Owens, to enhance ad recall and to mitigate Wix.com's obscure brand. And the players' retired status fits the entrepreneurial (life-after-football) narrative well.

Lewis’ Scorecard 
Memorable: A- 
Oh! Product: A 
Benefit: A

View the Ad

Enjoy the Super Bowl -- and keep an eye out for the ads,

Lewis C. Lin

PS One more thing: 2015 is the highest ever average price for 30 second Super Bowl ad at $4.5 million. Also, it's most new advertisers since 2000.

Lewis C. Lin's New Book Now Available — Five Minutes to a Higher Salary

It's okay to lose that occasional game of Monopoly or Call of Duty.

But there’s one game you should NOT lose: the salary negotiation game. The average salary increase during a negotiation is $7,000. Stanford professor, Margaret Neale, points out that a missed $7,000 increase is really worth $100,000, when compounded with interest over 30 years.

To help you get what you deserve, I’m excited to announce my new salary negotiation book: Five Minutes to a Higher Salary. Other negotiation books are fantastic for academic theory, but they leave you to figure out what to say and how to say it.

You are too busy to figure it out. And the stakes are too high for trial and error.

Five Minutes to a Higher Salary provides proven email and phone negotiation scripts for over 60 scenarios. You'll use the right words, the right phrases -- the first time, all the time.

The book includes special scripts and tips for raises too.

Purchase the book and email me the receipt by February 14, 2015, and I'll invite you to my exclusive salary negotiation talk. It's a $20 value, and seats are limited.

All it takes is five minutes,

Lewis C. Lin

P.S. Check out our 1 page salary negotiation cheat sheet.

Black Friday Sale: 30% off Lewis C. Lin Books

If you've been wanting to get a paperback copy of either one of my books, today would be a great day to do so. Amazon.com is offering a 30% off coupon.

Use promo code: HOLIDAY30. Ends Nov. 30 at 11:59pm PT. Paperback only.

Decode and Conquer: Answers to Product Management Interviews 
Rise Above the Noise: How to Standout At the Marketing Interview

Wishing you the best this holiday season,

Lewis C. Lin

Don't Leave Any Turkey on the Table: Thank You Gift from Lewis C. Lin

I'd like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you've had a chance to give thanks to everyone you love.

In the Thanksgiving spirit, I also want to give thanks to you -- as a reader and as a supporter. Your help has been invaluable as I build new tools and resources to grow our careers and get the jobs we love.

I want to give you a gift that will help you bring home the turkey. Many of you know that I'm finishing off my third book. It's about salary negotiations. Here's a special offer: get a SNEAK PEEK PREVIEW of my magical ONE MINUTE SCRIPT that will get you more in your next SALARY NEGOTIATION. And for those of you looking for a raise, I've included my magical two minute script to get the raise you want.

Download it now: http://bit.ly/OneMinuteScript

Don't miss out. Preview ends on December 3. After that you'll have to wait for my soon-to-be-published book to see it again.

Don't leave any turkey on the table,

Lewis C. Lin

P.S. One more thing, I am thankful for Roger Fisher, William Ury, Stuart Diamond, and Dale Carnegie. Their classic books paved my early knowledge of salary negotiation. I wanted to share my favorite books from these negotiation thought leaders:

Getting to Yes: Fisher and Ury demonstrated the importance of thinking win-win. Orange peel for the win!

Getting More: Diamond conveyed the value of seeing the situation from the other party's perspective.

How to Win Friends & Influence People: Carnegie emphasized the importance of being well-liked. You can't get agreement with someone you don't like.

Photo Credit: MGF Customs/Reviews

Happy Halloween — plus 11 brilliant can't miss articles

Welcome to the latest edition of my offbeat career newsletter. As always, you'll find my 11 favorite reads for product management, marketing and negotiations below.

And if you missed my earlier note on being a brand ambassador, it's not too late to apply.

Let's go...

Cheers,

Lewis C. Lin

PS Thanks to those of you who sent in your NYC recommendations. My trip favorites: The Meatball Shop (ice cream sandwiches!), Luksus (sour beer!), and the High Line (gorgeous!). Other noteworthy places that I visited, but didn't make the cut list: Eataly, Ippudo, and Carnegie Deli. And for Broadway fans, Jersey Boys is a must!

TOP PRODUCT MANAGEMENT ARTICLES WORTH READING 
Google Ventures On 8 Shortcuts For Better, Faster Design Research 
Good design matters. But can you do it quickly? Google Ventures offers some excellent tips.

My Dream Design Curriculum 
Julie Zhuo shares what she'd take in college to be the ultimate product designer.

Are These the 12 Types of Millennials? 
Having trouble defining personas? Let this list of 12 millenial personas inspire you.

Mothers Get Social on Smartphones 
Trying to understand how mothers spend time on their smartphones? This market research give a detailed look into this use case.

Affordances matter 
Geoff Teehan goes clinical and tells us how something as simple as a "Shift" key on a smartphone can be redesigned.

TOP MARKETING ARTICLES WORTH READING 
Sex, Lies, and the Art of Commanding Attention 
Advertising legend, David Ogilvy, once said, "“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” If you believe Ogilvy, then you better read this article.

How To Write Seductive Sales Copy Like Apple 
If you believe in the power of headlines, then you probably believe in marketing copy. Read how the best do copy.

A Glimpse Into Marketers' Social Media Strategies 
What are the top questions, priorities, content shared, and platforms used by social media marketers? Market research firms share the numbers from their poll of 2,500+ marketers.

The Psychology Behind Costco's Free Samples 
Dan Ariely explains why free samples drive Costco sales.

KitKat Has the Best Response So Far to Apple's #Bendgate Scandal 
Top social media marketers leverage Internet memes, and KitKat did it best during Apple's recent iPhone 6 launch.

TOP NEGOTIATION ARTICLE WORTH READING 
Become a Master Negotiator in 4 Easy Steps 
4 timeless tips on how to get better at negotiation.

Photo credit: Nomadic Lass

You'll Never Guess What I Did This Summer

This summer I looked for money. For YOU.

Being focused on career management, I found the easiest way to get more money is to raise YOUR individual salary. For both new and current jobs.

But getting a better salary is not easy. So my wonderful research assistant, Christine, and I did lots of research. And finally we cracked the code. We came up with a solution to get a better salary in just 5 minutes -- for 72 different scenarios. And it's going into a upcoming book called Salary Boost.

I want YOUR help. Become a Salary Boost brand ambassador. That is, review an advanced copy of the book. And tell your friends all about it.

Here's what you'll get: 
* An electronic edition of the book, before it publishes 
* A private, exclusive one hour event with me, along with other brand ambassadors 
* Thank-you web link from my professional website

If this is something you'd enjoy doing, I'd encourage YOU to apply! 
Yours,

Lewis C. Lin

P.S. I'll be in New York City on October 18, 2014. You catch me at General Assembly. I'll be talking how to best prepare for the product management interview.

P.P.S. I'll also be at Columbia Business School on October 21st for an exclusive 5 hour interview prep workshop.

P.P.P.S. Got restaurant suggestions in NYC? Email me.

Photo credit: Ingrid Taylar

Can't meet me in Seattle?

Football season is back! And that's a good reminder to tackle our career challenges head-on. To kick things off, I've got two online webinars to help you get some career momentum.

Tomorrow, September 9 
How to Stand Out at the Brand and Marketing Management Interview - FREE

Wednesday, September 10 
How to Ace the Product Management Interview - $10, Kellogg Alumni Only

For those of you who prefer meeting me in-person, I'll be speaking in Seattle at the Product Management Consortium later this month.

Thursday, September 18 
Decode and Conquer: Preparing for the Product Management Interview- $25

As always, you'll find my favorite reads for product management, marketing and negotiations below.

Crush and Conquer those Interviews,

Lewis C. Lin

TOP PRODUCT MANAGEMENT ARTICLES WORTH READING 
12 things product managers should do in their first 30 days at a new company 
Ever get that dreaded interview question, "What will you do in your first 30 days as a new PM?" Former Google PM, Ken Norton, tells you exactly what you need to say and do.

Google: 6 Reasons Why Nobody Uses Your App 
Google's UX researcher, Tomer Sharon, explains why nobody is using your smartphone app.

3 Reasons Better Products Don't Always Win 
Maybe marketing matters after all.

A Brief Rant of the Future of Interaction Design 
Bret Victor shares his fresh approach to thinking about interaction design. And he argues why the iPhone swipe gesture doesn't make sense.

This Mobile Microwave Will Make You Want To Eat More TV Dinners 
How would you redesign the microwave? One designer rethinks this legendary 1940s invention.

TOP MARKETING ARTICLES WORTH READING 
How Facebook Sold You Krill Oil 
Even skeptical big brand marketers have to admit that Facebook may have more marketing potential that they first realized.

Toyota Sees 45% Boost in Traffic Through Targeted Mobile Ads 
Want to target your competitor's customers? Try this tactic from Toyota's playbook.

Johnny Manziel Gyrates From Hunger in Latest Snickers Ad 
Capitalizing on Johnny Manziel's popularity, Snickers cleverly reinforces their value proposition in this humorous and timely ad.

How to Run Your Marketing Team Like a Startup 
Hubspot, the leaders in content marketing, shares a novel approach to get things done.

TOP NEGOTIATION ARTICLES WORTH READING 
How to Negotiate with Someone More Powerful than You 
Six tips and two case studies on how to negotiate with someone with more power. And the best line: “Negotiating is a little like dating. If you are too interested, you lose power. But if you can remain calmly interested but still detached, that creates power.”

Why Women Don’t Negotiate Their Job Offers 
In a negotiation, either as a man or woman, in addition to explaining why a proposal is good for you, it helps to explain why the proposal is important for them.

Photo credit: Daniel Hartwig

Getting a BOOST. Plus 15 Articles You Must Read.

Hi there,

In this newsletter, I've included my ten favorite reads for product management and marketing. And today's newsletter has a special bonus: FIVE NEGOTIATION ARTICLES WORTH READING.

I've included the new section to celebrate a new business I've launched: salaryBOOST. 

salaryBOOST is a salary negotiation service. We'll get you more money. It's simple and easy.

We're confident that you'll get your money's worth (literally) that we've backed it with a risk-free guarantee.

Check out our website and sign up for our FREE one-page salary negotiation cheat sheet.

It's never to late to have a BOOST,

Lewis C. Lin

PS Thanks to those of you who came out to see me during my Bay Area book tour earlier this week. I was absolutely stunned by the turnout. We had some crazy fast learners and some incredible out-of-the-box thinkers.

PPS A special shout-out to Christine Ko, salaryBOOST's general manager extraordinaire, for all her amazing work launching salaryBOOST.

FIVE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT ARTICLES WORTH READING 
Fun Friday: Things We Hate About Email 
Good product management starts with understanding customer problems in detail. This blog post exemplifies the depth necessary.

The design decisions behind the tech industry’s beloved anonymous Secret app 
Purple ghost, red owl, fade into blur -- Secret's head designer explains these "non-design" decisions in Silicon Valley's hottest app.

How Xiaomi Beats Apple at Product Launches 
Does Apple have the ultimate innovation playbook? These two authors explain why Apple's way might not always work.

The Guide to Wireframing 
An incredible 110+ page guide how-to-guide to wireframing. And yes, it's free.

The Anatomy Of A Winning Product Critique 
Need to critique a product? Julie Zhuo of Facebook offers 14 questions you need to ask.

FIVE MARKETING ARTICLES WORTH READING 
Coca-Cola Invents 16 Crazy Caps to Turn Empty Bottles Into Useful Objects 
Coca-Cola reinforces a key corporate value with a clever packaging innovation.

Cannes Lions Recap: See All the 2014 Grand Prix Winners 
Whether it's for your next marketing campaign or job interview, get inspiration from the top TV ad winners at Cannes.

Kids Point to British Airways Flights as They Pass Overhead on Magical U.K. Billboards 
This interactive billboard reacts when planes fly above.

Netflix Looking To Pursue More Native Advertising 
See how Netflix partnered with the New York Times on native advertising, the new marketing trend in 2014.

Social Media Fail to Live Up to Early Marketing Hype 
Only 5% consumers report that social media "has a great deal of influence" on purchases. This article discusses what's next for social media marketers.

FIVE NEGOTIATION ARTICLES WORTH READING 
Level II Negotiations: Helping the Other Side Meet Its ”Behind the Table” Challenges 
Have a negotiation that's stalling? Your counterpart might have trouble getting buy-in for the agreement.This article discusses how to solve this.

How A Warm Drink And A Hard Chair Can Improve Negotiating 
Scientific studies show how negotiators improved outcomes with the use of these seemingly inconsequential props.

Even Small Negotiations Require Preparation and Creativity 
Force yourself to come up with seven or eight different negotiation proposals. Unrealistic ones are okay too. You'll be surprised how seemingly impossible options lead to more viable ones.

Don’t Let a Negotiation Ruin Your Relationship 
Afraid of asking for what you want during a negotiation? This article shares how you can speak up.

2014 Dice Tech Salary Survey 
Rule #1 of negotiation: find out what your worth. Dice's 2014 tech salary survey tells you current market rates for top skills.

Photo credit: 401(K) 2013