you down with p.o.p. yeah you know me

It was a quiet Thursday night, and good ole Cox Communications decided to stick it to us with a cable outage in our neighborhood, so my roommate and I headed over to Hollywood Video to see what kind of entertainment we could drum up.  I know, who goes to a video store anymore with redbox and netflix available, but we were in search of entertainment higher than a movie.  We needed something to activate our carpel tunnel syndrome.

As we entered the store (it had been months, if not a year since I rented a video game) I couldn’t help but take notice of all the great product packaging and point-of-purchase displays.  Even though most of the games seemed lame or not my style, I was sucked in by, A: the audacity that there was such a video game, and B: the great design used in product packaging… Then again, it may just have been my passion for how awesome ninjas are, but that’s a completely different blog post

While perusing the aisles, I noticed every wall, corner, nook and cranny had some sort of advertisement for video games.  I entered with the intention of renting “MLB The Show 09” and getting out as fast as possible, but I quickly became distracted by video games relating to television, movies, music artists, etc.  Did you know the TV show “Lost” has its own video game?  How about 50 Cent?  Clearly, the big marketing execs know what they’re doing to get America’s younger crowd hooked in more ways than one.  I was impressed with the way brand standards were followed when transitioning from television, movies and music to product packaging for video games.  With just a glance, I knew I had seen it before.

What blew me away even more were the P.O.P. displays throughout the store.  I have and always will hate the game “Halo,” (thank my college buddies for that one) but the four foot tall cardboard cut out with awesome graphics stole my attention within seconds.  Everywhere I turned there was a static cling, magnet poster or P.O.P display for a video game staring me down.  Hell, even Hollywood Video did a great job with their signage to entice America’s youth to rent multiple games and receive a discount.  Whether the consumer is paying attention or not, these ads were for the most part unavoidable and well placed.

The moral of the story and inspiration for this post: Good Design Goes a LONG Way.  No matter what your product or service is, your initial impression on the consumer can be easily won by communicating a message effectively.  Just ask ME.  I went in with the intention of renting one game (I even called ahead to make sure they had it) and ended up walking out with not one, but four video games.  What can I say, even as an Advertising Junkie, I’m still a sucker…