Blog #1

Blizzard Entertainment (http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/)
1. Blizzard is a game developing company that has been around for close to twenty years. The company has released only 3 franchises over its course (Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft) which each has been highly successful, and currently has the worlds most popular MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) with over 11.5 million subscribers. For me they are one of my favorite gaming companies for the quality of games they have released over the years.
2. Although Blizzard hasn't really stated itself as being #1 in online games, one of its products World of Warcraft has boldly claimed "The #1 online game". At this current point in time it is superlative for the fact that they have backing to claim with over 11.5 million subscribers it is in fact the largest online game.
3. For this fact of having the backing with their product I don't think you could put any other company on their label. Rival MMORPGS such as Mythic Entertainments Warhammer Online has no where near the amount of success that World of Warcraft has recieved therefore no other company could make such a claim.
4. The only ads are for World of Warcraft when it comes to Blizzard, and even though it uses famous actors and part of the catch, the product is very much the star of the ads for it is bringing this whole idea of an avatar as being you and having these abilitys on the virtual landscape to be something you are not. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoHey6rGnkc&feature=related)

Pepsi (http://www.pepsi.com/)
1. Pepsi is one of the leaders in soda. To be honest though I just prefer the taste of pepsi over coke, and really those are the big two soda companies.
2. Pepsi's latest advertising campaign is "Refresh Everything" along with it they changed their entire look, although keeping the same blue, red and white circle thing to make it look sleeker. This advertising is to say each generation refreshes new outlooks on life, etc. Beyond the fact that Pepsi has backing behind it and it is a top tier soda to being a household name I don't nessisarly think "Refresh Everything" is superlative its very broad, and if someone just said refresh everything without any sort of logo or indicator I would have no idea what they were talking about.
3. Like with what I said above the reason that you know pepsi would be the only way you would not be able to replace the companies name, because it is the cola that doesn't have the bite that coke does. But with refresh everything, any company could just do what they did by changing all the designs of their products and put the same tag line, and you would not see the difference.
4. The only reason the product is the star in these commercials is because a logo that we once knew shifted and changed and in every single instance you are bombarded by this new image that pepsi has (of course at this point in time we've all seen it), but other than the fact that its a shift from what we know as a house hold brand its memorable, but if it wasn't such you would have no idea what the ad was about and I would walk away going what the hell. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDix0VvrV1g)

Guinness (http://www.guinness.com/)
1. When it comes to beer, I've always been partial to stout although there has always been something about guiness that keeps it as my favorite beer brand. For Guiness there is the distinctive full bodied drink, to the dark color with the creamy head with the drink. All of this along with pouring the perfect pint help add to ambeinance around the drink.
2. For Guinness their advertising is very superlative for the fact most if it says nothing, or has any sort of tag line but is more about sensation of waiting in anticipation for this perfect drink poured watching the black, browns and whites make this perfect head to the beer. For this sensation Guinness has positioned itself as the stout to wait for this craftmanship and almost ritualistic pouring that the drinker enjoys.
3. I don't think any other company could use the rich imagery of these abscract things being used to emulate the sensation of the drink being poured because the public has such strong relation to the drink being the ritual of waiting and enjoying this as yo wait to take your first sip of the drink.
4. The product is definately star of the ad, it does help that Guinness is a household name for beer, or more specifically irish stout but I think when it comes to stouts even though the pouring process is similiar it seems Guinness was the first to really corner out the niche in the market for it.

Twinings Tea (http://www.twinings.com/home.php)
1. So aparently I'm just going to be on a drink kick....although Twinings Tea is a bagged tea that you can find at most grocers, and I just happen to drink it alot just because there black teas have been pretty tasty.
2. To be honest I had to dig a bit to find advertising for Twinings as I haven't seen any sort of ads for it but the tag line for the tea was "Try Something Different, Try Twinings". In some ways you could argue that it is superlative for its saying that its the underdog of the tea buisiness, although I don't really think it says much about the tea itself, although the commercials do an awfully good job at describing the tea from its aroma, color, and "hints of citrus".
3. I think though overall you could replace Twinings with any other tea brand, or for that matter really anything else if you change the context of the commercial. After all it is tea, and its not offering any sort of revolutionary ways of making tea or any sorts of new flavors that have not been tried.
4. I think for the most part with the commercial the tea itself is the star as they try to paint a picture in the mind of the viewer, and give it the rich flavor it describes. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyQa0kIWBQ0&feature=related)