Looking back on the things I have bought in my life I can say that I am really only 'loyal' to two brands; Valve's Steam (a digital distribution system for games) and Dr. Pepper. They are two wildly different brands and my reasons for being loyal to each are also just as different. For Steam my reasoning is very much logical. In its field, Steam is far and ahead the leader of the pack. The impending release of the platform and plethora of award winning games for the Mac operating system is expected to single-handedly kick-start Mac OS gaming. The company's products are top quality; the support is great, and the savings are comparable to or better than competing digital distribution retailers, so I've never been tempted to switch. As for the other brand, Dr. Pepper, loyalty is purely a matter of personal taste.

In "The Persuaders", which I viewed here, I was most interested when they mentioned a series of BMW short films starring Clive Owen. I myself have watched all of these short films and I enjoyed them all. These films definitely altered my view of BMW as a company despite having no need for a BMW's performance or luxury, I would love to own an M5 like the one used in "Star". I cannot explain where this fondness comes from, I just like the look of BMW's cars and the films made the cars appear even more sleek and refined. If I could ever afford a BMW I would probably purchase one, so what does that say of the effectiveness of that particular campaign, which is now several years old.

The form of advertising used for the campaign is referred to as branded content which fuses branding and entertainment, and was first performed in an episode of Jerry Seinfeld concerning a box of junior mints. This form of advertising is the most effective in my opinion. I have always hated traditional advertisements such as commercials; if I can't skip one I usually mute it because I find commercials annoying. They often offer little information on the actual product, and are filled to the brim with emotional appeals, loaded language, and hyperbole. I think it much more prudent to simply get your name as popular as possible and to associate it with the product being sold. For instance, I often think of Starbucks when I think of coffee, not because I like Starbucks (I don't even drink coffee) but because every time I smell coffee, I usually see someone holding a cup with the round, green Starbucks logo on the front. The brilliance of BMW's short films was that it basically equated BMW to cars, and then the rest is entertainment to keep you drawn in and thinking about the product. To me it is an unobtrusive and non-offensive form of advertisement.