THE NATURE OF ADVERTISING

By Corryn Boyes

ADVERTISING AND THE MEDIA

Advertising is used to bring products, services and opinions to public notice.

Adverts aim to persuade the public to respond in a certain way.

Most advertising promotes goods for sale but it is also often used to promote charities, political parties or public services.

Advertising supports the media as it is their main source of income.

Advertising often features in the media and is chosen based on that favored by the advertisers target audience.

MEDIA AND COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE

Traditionally media such as Television, radio and newspaper were used for advertising to reach a high number of consumers

Due to the shift in recent years towards the use of internet for music, news etc the media choice of advertisers has had to change dramatically

The mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first paid downloadable content appeared on mobile phones. This sparked mobile advertising . By 2007 the value of mobile advertising was worth billions.

Mobile ads progressed to include banner ads, multimedia messaging services, picture and vidiomessages, advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns.

A particular feature driving mobile ads is 2D barcode which replaces the need type any web addresses. The mobile camera scans the code and takes you straight to the web page.

Social networking is the focus of a lot of online advertising. This allows advertisers to take advantage of demographic information that the user has provided to the networking site. This allows direct advertising of specific products to reach the exact target audience intended by the company.

ADVERTISING AND THE ECONOMY

• Advertising stimulates the economy and is an instrument of development

•It does not sell goods or services but the benefits derived from them

• Advertising and industrial capitalism treats human beings as consumers only, creating a

psychological desire for products

•Advertising promotes sales

•Higher sales means more production resulting in lower costs and economies of scale

•This creates conditions of lower prices and more sales which offers more employment

•Advertising ensures the growth of the economy

•Without advertising, products and services could not be sold in sufficient quantities so factories and

stores would have to close and jobs would be lost resulting in a crash of the economy

WEBROOT INTERNET SECURITY & RAY-

BANS

I like both of these adverts although they are very different. The illustrative Ray- Bans ad is extremely eye catching and relates well to a young and trendy target audience. The line ‘never hide’ is demonstrated well by the bold and beautiful design on this ad. I think the illustration reflects the image of Ray-Bans and fits well with their brand personality. The ad is kept simple with little copy and no hidden messages which allows the viewer to make their own mind up about the product. I think this ad is more about selling the brand rather than the product, enforcing their brand identity using up to date artistic imagery that their consumers are likely to appreciate. In comparison, the Webroot advert appears quite uninviting. However this is the idea behind the ad as the viewer is faced with long tedious paragraphs of technical web jargon which they probably already associate similar brands with. After the initial glance of the ad the viewer is drawn to the heading and sub headings which state that they only care about the working finished product and not the process to get there. This ad relates really well to the majority of consumers who are likely to be sick of trudging through lots of text, struggling to understand what is best for them. The Webroot ad has used this insight to target everyday people who just want security packages without the fuss.

These two ads are cosmetically very different as one is long copy and the other is illustrative with very few words. However each ad has accommodated to its target audience by using specific designs. The Webroot ad contains all the technical jargon that comforts the consumer, telling them that the product is very technical, whilst sparing them the need to read through it all and relating with them. This is necessary for the product as consumers want to know that the technicalities exist. Ray-Bans however, simply portray an image which is all their target audience need to be reminded of. The Webroot is very product specific whereas Ray-Bans is more brand image focused.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

LEAGUE AGAINST CANCER &

MCDONALDS

I think the McDonalds ad is very successful in getting across one key message in asimple visual. The stack of books is clear and clever in representing the burger, showing its quality status through the choice of books used. The image gives illusions of home cooking and natural produce as well as quality. The line ‘a sandwich for experts’ ties it all in nicely and highlights the so-called expertise that has gone into making the product. The Cancer ad is simple and easy to grasp in a glance too. Manipulating every day objects slightly for this campaign reminds the viewer about health risks. I think this campaign is effective, after looking at the images the viewer might start looking at these objects in their own homes differently. For example every time they pick up their lighter they might imagine the RIP letters in the ad. By using

Common objects, the viewer can relate to the campaign in the same way that they might relate to the McDonalds cookery books which might generate nostalgia.

I think the McDonalds sandwich ad is clever and a visually interesting way to get amessage across. It is quite unique from other product specific McDonald ads which tend to feature a large photograph of the food. However I’m not sure if this ad would be as successful in creating desire for the sandwich as previous ones because books don’t tend to make your mouth water! Therefore if a consumer were to see this ad they would be unlikely to rush out to buy one. Although quite morbid the Cancer ad is powerful and would make the viewer see things differently. Both ads have different objectives, the McDonalds is to raise awareness of the new sandwich and create desire for the product whereas the Cancer ad is to make people stop and think and to make change happen.

KEY TEXTS

Campaignlive.co.uk

Is a daily update of news in the ad world, recent campaigns, job opportunities, reviews and advice from some of the industries most admired faces. The weekly newspaper for the ad industry.

Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

In his book David Ogilvy covers the basic principles of modern advertising including how to create advertising that works, how to run and agency, how to write successful copy and what the future holds for the industry.

Brandrepublic.comJust as important as campaign but more diverse content and less specific to advertising. Covering

advertising, marketing, PR and media this site is a hub of essential information and inspiration.

SteveRubel.comSteve Rubel is a Director of insights for Edelman, the worlds largest PR firm. He helps clients identify

emerging technologies and trends that can be applied in marketing campaigns. This blog is a stream of insights on innovation, emerging media and digital culture

No Label by Naomi KleinThis book about branding is a history of marketing and a sociological thesis rolled into one. An

interesting insight into the birth of brands, bringing soul to mass marketing and making the product subservient.

COMPARING OLD AND NEW

VW

The old design is in a newspaper format making the advert look quite formal and serious.

There is dense body copy that tells a story about the size of the car as well as several other propositions.

The new ad focuses on one proposition and communicates it in one simple image.

The old ad is in black and white which makes it less eye catching.

There is a story to each but the new one allows you work it out yourself.

New ad sells the brand more than the product itself.

Both have logo

Second does not feature product and is less about the product as a whole.

The modern advert has minimalist art direction making it easily understood in one glance

OLD AND NEW

Old ad is quite patronizing towards consumer, stating Einstein's name on the ad, presuming the consumer will not know the face

Concept for old ad is quite abstract with no sort of reasoning behind why or how Mentos give you great ideas.

Imagery supports the strap line but requires no thinking on the consumers behalf, a very straight forward ad but quite unconvincing

New Mentos ad challenges the consumer to think for themselves, using imagery that does not obviously relate to the strap line used.

The concept is based around a true attribute of the product but requires a certain level of intelligence to understand.

By leaving the consumer to figure out the ad themselves they feel less conned into buying the product. The consumer has more respect for the product because they are not being patronized or told what to do.

The new ad is not claiming to have any specific benefit on the consumer but is just using imagery to highlight the new colour packs in a fun and engaging way.

Both ads use a product pack shot but the Mentos in the old ad get a little lost in the design

The imagery in the new ad could be effective in conveying their message without any words at all allowing the consumer to understand the idea in just one glance

Mentos

COCA COLA

The second ad has far more white space and is a very minimalist design in comparison to the old one.

It concentrates on one main message about the effects of the product rather than the product itself.

It has no body copy so ad can be understood in one glance.

Modern press ads tend not to feature people using product as intended as shown in the old Coca Cola advertising.

Both feature product and logo

Type face used in second ad reflects brand personality and is far more relevant than the generic font used previously.

Old The ads tells a story which engage the reader and make the ads believable, however they seem

to contain more blatant selling copy which is the case with many adverts of this era. I fear with

these adverts though that unless the reader already has an interest in the product then they would

be unlikely to take time to read the copy as it is quite lengthy.

New These ads convey a message in one simple image that does not need any body copy

to accompany it. These would appear more successful as the viewer can understand

what is being advertised in just one glance. The viewer is likely to feel less like they

are being told what to do and more like they are making their own mind up about the

brand. This image is far more likely to stick in a consumers mind than a paragraph of

body copy like in the old ads. The pictures support the line whilst conveying other

messages in one simple format.

MEASURING SUCCESS AND FAILURE

It is difficult to measure the exact success rate of an advertising campaign as there is no precise way to measure the how much money is generated by each pound you spend on advertising. There are however, methods that can indicate how much impact the campaign has had.

Monitor traffic coming into stores before and after the campaign to see if there has been a substantial increase.

Compare sales before, during and after the campaign bearing in mind that the effectively of advertising usually as a delayed effect.

In print ads, include a coupon or voucher that customers can use in store this will be a good indicator of which ads generated the best results.

Compare pre- and post-advertising traffic on your website. Your Web host logs the hits on your site and should be able to provide you with daily, weekly, or monthly reports.

Use dedicated phone lines for each ad to track orders placed