Beyonce's Performace of "At Last" at Inaugural Ball

Following Beyonce’s performance of the song “At Last” at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, Etta James started a feud with Beyonce for “singing her song.” What seemed like an attack by James on Beyonce for copyright infringement turned out to be nothing of the sort. At a concert in Seattle on January 28th, following the inauguration, James publicity stated, “I tell you, that woman he has singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her ass whipped…I can’t stand Beyonce, she had no business up there singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.”

What was most surprising about James’ reaction to Beyonce’s performance at the Inaugural Ball was the fact that Beyonce had sung “At Last” many times before. Etta James praised Beyonce for her performance in the movie Cadillac Records in which she portrays James, singing many of her popular songs including “At Last.” It seems that James became very territorial over a song that was not even debuted by her. It also seemed to bother James that Beyonce sang “her song” at such an important event such as the Inaugural Ball. James said, “Like I said, she ain't mine... I can't stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day...” James and Beyonce are pictured together below at an event for Cadillac Records.


Had Etta James owned the copyright to the song, “At Last” there could have been a potential copyright infringement case here if Beyonce had not received permission to sing the song. However, James does not originally sing the song. The writers of “At Last” are Mack Gordon and Henry Warren. Some of their ‘40s hits include, “You’ll Never know” and “The More I See.” The tune “At Last” was first performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra in 1941 and later by Nat King Cole in 1957. Etta James considers “At Last” to be her “trademark song,” however she initially sang her version in 1961 and was evidently not the first person to perform the song. After the words were said about Beyonce, James later issued a statement to the New York Daily News saying she “didn’t really mean anything” by it – hard to believe!

The Copyright Act of 1976 states that copyright becomes property of the author as soon as the work is finished. Had James written the song and assumed copyright she could potentially have a case against Beyonce. However, it seems that James was just bitter about Beyonce singing a popular song of hers at the Inaugural Ball! Interestingly enough this is not the first situation like this Beyonce has found herself in. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, Beyonce referred to Tina Turner as the “the queen” and Aretha Franklin brought about controversy because she is known as the “queen of soul.” There was also no case here – Franklin does not have a trademark on the title “queen of soul!”

To read more about the controversy sparked by Beyonce’s performance of “At Last” at the Inaugural Ball, here are a couple of articles:

NBC Los Angeles

Vh1

Nike ID vs. Puma Mongolian BBQ

NikeID and Puma Mongolian Shoe BBQ have both taken advantage of customization with their websites. Customers are more and more interested in purchasing products, sneakers in this case, that they have designed. It definitely taps into their creative side, makes their shoe unique, and assures them that no one else out there will have a shoe exactly like theirs. This gives customers the opportunity to stand out and really showcase their personality through a pair of sneakers. I remember how excited my peers and I were when NikeID first came out and the first person I knew that purchased a pair of sneakers from the site was sure to flaunt them. The Internet allows the process to be quick and simple – with a few clicks an individual can create a sneaker designed exclusively by them.


Nike and Puma’s sites take the same general approach but their themes are very different and brand specific. Nike’s site is very classic and typical of the sneaker company. The site is divided into men’s, women’s, collections and studios. Each tab contains various options to select. The site caters to many different tastes, ages, sports, and need for different types of sneakers. Nike has far more sneaker designs on its site than Puma does. The site allows customers to either begin creating a shoe from a base design or start from scratch. This allows people who like to start with an idea or some direction to build off of what is already there. The opportunity to design a shoe from scratch allows customers to let their imagination run wild and make the shoe completely their own. A feature that I wasn’t aware of on the site is the NikeID clothing/accessories. The design options for the clothing are more limited but it is still fun to order a shirt that is “made by you.”


Although I do like some Puma sneakers, I had never visited the Puma Mongolian Shoe site before, but thought it was very creative and characteristic of the brand. In a way I did find it a little too out of the box because it is not blatantly clear when you visit the site that it is a place to customize sneakers. However, I do think the concept of a “Mongolian BBQ” is interesting. The site sticks to the theme and goes so far as to make the “What is Mongolian BBQ?” tab an actual description of Mongolian BBQs in the Far East. At the end of the description the three styles of sneakers featured on the site are mentioned, followed by the phrase “Preheat your oven and start cooking.” The site is very user friendly and allows visitors to select from the three different sneakers designs. It offers the same option as Nike where customers can begin creating their shoe from a base design or from scratch. The options for colors and textures are very characteristic of the Puma brand. The Puma site does have a unique feature, which NikeID does not have. It allows you to select a specific Puma store and build your sneaker at that specific location.

I went onto both the Nike and Puma sites and created my own sneaker. I really enjoyed my experience on the Nike site. There were a variety of sneakers for me to choose from and I opted to start from scratch. I have always wanted a pair of Nike Air Max sneakers. I then created a very colorful sneaker; something I have always wanted. I was never sure that I could “pull off” a bright sneaker but Nike ID has definitely made me think about actually purchasing the shoe I designed. Designing the shoe was very easy. After clicking on a certain part of the sneaker, color options and styles appeared that I could select. I found the Nike site to be very straight forward and easy to use. I like how you can instantly see the changes you make on the shoe. The site also provides the option of saving your shoe to your “locker” or making it your wallpaper. By putting the shoe in my locker I am able to save it and make changes later. I also liked how there is an icon that says, “design progress” and displays a number out of ten to represent the stage of completion. This allowed me to always know what stage of design I was at. Below is the colorful Nike Air Max sneaker I created and the link!


My Nike Design

My experience on the Puma site was not as good as on the Nike site. I think this was because I preferred the styles, colors, etc. that Nike had to offer. Despite my favoritism towards the Nike site, I did have a decent experience on the Puma site. Designing a sneaker was simple as the site is user friendly. First, I had to choose from the three styles of sneakers offered and then I decided to start from scratch. I did notice that there were fewer parts to the Puma sneaker thank the Nike sneaker that I could alter. This was another reason I enjoyed making the Nike sneaker better. In the future I think Puma would benefit from offering more styles of sneakers to choose from and more basic, clean colors and designs. I had a difficult time finding a design that I liked as many of them are very funky and bold – not necessarily my style. Therefore, I decided to create a sneaker that has a clean look to it. My Puma sneaker and link is pictured below.

My Puma Design

I found the technology on both of the sites to be very impressive. After I changed a color or style on a sneaker the updated design would almost instantly appear. The technology allowed me to be aware of what the sneaker looked like at each phase and it was very easy to go back and make changes if need be. As I said I did enjoy how the Nike site clearly illustrated the phase of design via a number scale out of ten.

Overall, I had a better experience on the Nike site. This could partly be because I like the Nike styles, colors, and types of sneakers available better. However, Nike does offer many more sneaker options and the NikeID site is very easy to use. I think Puma could improve their site by offering more sneaker styles and being a little more transparent about what the site has to offer and its functions. The Mongolian BBQ theme is very creative; however I do not feel that the actual products Puma is trying to sell (sneakers) are featured enough on the site.

In Summary...

After blogging for an entire semester about coupons, promotions and sweepstakes, I noticed a great deal of trends and patterns. Initially when I selected this topic I was nervous about finding articles to blog about. I knew that there were a tremendous amount of coupons, promotions and sweepstakes out there but I wasn’t sure how much they were discussed on the Internet. Initially I just searched google for articles to write about, but eventually I came across promomagazine.com, which was an excellent source for me. I also found many other blogs besides mine, which write about the same topic; duct tape marketing blog for example. After finding sources, I was able to easily blog about the subject twice a week. After writing about so many different promotions, some obvious trends became apparent to me. The first thing I noticed was that many promotions include a grand prize involving meeting a famous person or winning a vacation relating to whatever is being promoted. Also, the way that people can enter contests was similar on many occasions. It is becoming more and more common for people to enter sweepstakes via the Internet. Lastly, when the holiday season began to approach it was near impossible for me to find a promotion that did not have a holiday theme. Evidently, promotions take great advantage of the time of year in which they are taking place.

The most common grand prize for the promotions I wrote about was a vacation or opportunity to meet a celebrity or professional athlete. Promotions do an excellent job attracting their target market. For example, the Gillette Video Contest I wrote about had a grand prize of meeting a professional football player. This directly targeted the appropriate market as men who use Gillette razors and men who are interested in football are most likely one in the same. I did notice that since not all people would want to meet a professional football player, Gillette is limiting its response level to men, but I think this is necessary as they are the main consumers of the product. Essentially, product promoters realize that it is not necessary to target secondary markets with their promotions, as secondary markets are solely consumers, not people who would be likely to participate in a promotion related to the product. In the case of Gillette, and secondary market may be wives purchasing razors for their husbands. It is unnecessary for Gillette to gear their promotion towards this secondary market as woman are most likely not as interested in meeting a professional football player as men.

I noticed the same trend with promotions that included a grand prize of a trip – they were very focused on their target market. For example, the Home Depot promotion included a grand prize of a trip to the Super Bowl and Modell’s contest had a grand prize of a trip to baseball spring training. People who typically shop in Home Depot are older men; the same people who would love a trip to the Super Bowl. Those who shop at Modell’s (a sporting goods store) would definitely welcome a trip to baseball spring training. Once again these promotions do not target any secondary markets but the promoters have realized it is unnecessary and not worth the money to do so.

Another trend that came to my attention when blogging about contests was the method consumers use to enter into the contests. Almost every contest I wrote about can be entered via the Internet. McDonald’s monopoly, the Dairy Queen Promotion and the NBAstore.com promotion (just to name a few) all have a specific Web site to enter their promotions. It is the age of the Internet and this was made clear by the promotions I read about. Even coupons are now electronic. This is why it was not difficult at all for me to find promotions being discussed on the Internet and I was not surprised when I came across a number of blogs out there that discuss promotions, coupons or sweepstakes.

The last thing that was impossible not to notice was the plethora of holiday themed promotions. I was definitely expecting this but I was not expecting it to be a struggle to find a non-holiday themed promotion during this time. I think it is a great tactic for promotions to incorporate the holiday theme, as people will be more inclined to participate because the promotions will play off their mood – being in the holiday spirit. Some of the holiday promotions were very fun, such as the KFC one where people compete for the best photo or video of holiday decorations.

I really enjoyed blogging about coupons, promotions and sweepstakes this semester, as it was a very interesting topic. I think that as the semester went on I became more comfortable with adding personality to my blog and getting away from just summarizing the articles. I would definitely like to continue this blog in the future or create another one, working on establishing my voice.

Modell's Sweepstakes

When searching for my next promotion to write about it was hard to escape all the holiday promotions but I finally found a sweepstakes for Modell's that is not holiday related to switch it up a bit. An article I read discussed how Modell's Sporting Goods is running a sweepstakes for "a spring training trip with a novel teammate spin to build its customer database." People can register as a team captain and submit the name and e-mail of a prospective team member on the Modell's Web site starting this past Friday. The captain will then receive a positive or negative response from the teammate and in the case of a positive response, Modell's adds another name to its database.

The winners receive a weekend trip for two to see a Major League Baseball spring training game in St. Petersburg, FL. I think this sweepstakes will receive a very positive response as it is very interactive. Also, almost all promotions that have to do with sports succeed. There are many people who would love to win a trip to spring training - I know I would! Modell's states that their goal is to build traffic to their Web site and database. I think they will be very successful in doing so.

I actually do not have a Modell's in my home town so I have never been there. But I have heard great things about it and after visiting their Web site they seem to have a wide variety of sporting goods. If you are confused about the whole "team" concept as I was at first, visit the portion of Modell's Web site that explains the concept. It is really a great idea!

The article discussed was found at: http://www.modells.com/corp/index.jsp?page=teamweek&clickid=body_teamweek_txt

KFC Holiday Photo/Video Contest

A tremendous number of promotions at this time of year try to tie in the holiday season. Doing so is a great way to attract people to promotions because it helps get them in the holiday spirit.  I recently came across another article discussing a holiday promotion sponsored by KFC.  Not my favorite choice of a meal, but many Americans love that greasy fried chicken!

KFC is asking consumers to send in their most "eye-catching" photos and videos of holiday decorations.  The contest is called "Festive Fanatics" and runs through December 14th.  Entries will be judged based on creativity, use of props and lights, and appropriateness to KFC's image. You can fill out a registration form at KFC.com and then upload videos to youtube.com.  Start taking pictures and videos and enter the contest!  I think I would have a shot - my family puts up tons of decorations for the holiday season - maybe I'll enter!

 only can you enter the contest, you can vote on your favorite video or image from 12 finalists starting December 20th.  The grand prize winner receives free KFC food for a year (I would probably give that prize away haha) and payment of their December electricity and credit card bills - I'll take it!  KFC's Web site's home page is decked out with a holiday theme. Visit the site, it is very interactive!

I think this promotion will be very successful in gaining a large number of entries and many people are very into the holiday season.  Also its hard to believe but holiday decorations are something people can get competitive about - who has the best Christmas lights on their house or the most perfect Christmas tree on the block??  I would be very interested to see who wins this contest!

The article discussed was found at: http://promomagazine.com/news/kfc_holiday_photo_

video_contest/

ABC Family Christmas Giveaway

The holiday season is not complete without all the Christmas movies that air on TV. My personal favorite is "A Christmas Story" and I am very excited to watch it this year. An article I read discussed how ABC Family is tying in a promotion with its Christmas movies. ABC Family is the network that I watch Christmas movies on all the time because they have a great variety! I think a promotion for ABC Family's 25 days of Christmas will be very effective as it will raise awareness about the Christmas movies shown on he network and portray ABC Family as the channel to watch for Christmas flicks!

The promotion took place on Black Friday - a great day to reach a tremendous amount of people. There were street teams dressed in a branded red fleece, hats, and scarves handing out reusable shopping bags that contain tune-in information for ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas" and a cookie scented ornament - what better way to get people in the holiday spirit! The teams targeted popular shopping areas in Chicago, New York City and Boston. There were about 60,000 bags distributed and the promotion will take place again in those locations on December 1st and 2nd.

As ABC Family has improved its campaign from last year, I think it will be very successful. It is very important to get people in the holiday spirit in order to create a desire to watch a Christmas movie. I think the Christmas themed bag and ornament will do a great job of that. People will then read the tune-in information and get excited about the holiday movies to air on ABC Family! I am definitely excited for ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas."

To learn more about ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas" visit their Web site at: abcfamily.com

The article discussed was found at: http://promomagazine.com/eventmarketing/news/abc_family_christmas_programming/

Launch of NBAStore.com

What better way to relaunch a Web site than with a sweepstakes. It attracts immediate attention to the product and entices people to get involved right away. I think NBA pairing the relaunch of its Web site with a sweepstakes is an excellent idea. A recent article I read discussed the details of the promotion. The sweepstakes entails a total of $10,000 dollars worth in prizes. The grand prize is Spalding's new "beast" 60-inch glass portable background system which will be delivered by former NBA star Clyde Drexler. Drexler will also provide the winner with a rack of Spalding NBA game balls and NBA practice apparel. Who wouldn't want to meet a former NBA star? The fact that the winner receives the opportunity to meet Drexler will definitely draw more people to the sweepstakes.

The contest is called "Drexler's Slam Dunk Delivery and can be entered by making a purchase on NBAStore.com by January 15. There are also lesser prizes including a four-game NBA video package, a $500 shopping spree in the online store, and one of 50 $150 NBAStore.com gift cards.

This promotion is an excellent way to draw people to the Web site. People will be able to experience the convenience of shopping online and the new features to the site. The article also states that the online store now offers a larger selection of NBA products. I visited the Web site myself and it's pretty cool! The graphics are excellent and it is very easy to navigate through. If you are looking for a sports related gift for the holidays I suggest visiting NBAStore.com and you could be eligible for a number of prizes by shopping there!

Here is a video of Clyde Drexler's top ten dunks - it's pretty fun to watch!

This video was found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvjJA93Xy9Y

The article discussed was found at: http://promomagazine.com/news/nbastore_sweepstakes/