Download Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)

15/10/2014
Introduction to Advertising (Mark -1192)
Greenwich
university
Topic: Advertising campaign analysis using
the Communication process model
Provide an analysis of advertising campaigns,
using the communication process model.
Based on findings, draw justified conclusions
and make recommendations to the
advertisers, ways of improving the clarity of
their advertisements.
Lecturer: Ian Written | 000835814
Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Table of Contents
List of figures ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
Executive Summary............................................................................................................................................. 4
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Advisement by Leo Burnett Toronto – IKEA, Canada ............................................................................... 6
Advisement by Volkswagen Polo – Automotive, UK .................................................................................. 7
Advisement by Eurocom Panasonic - Home electronics, Israel .............................................................. 8
Advertment 4 by The Royal British Legion - Charities and appeals, UK ............................................... 9
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................. 11
References .......................................................................................................................................................... 12
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
List of figures
Figure 1: Elements in the Communication Process model (Kotler&Armstrong 2013)
Advertisement 1: IKEA – Retail services, Canada
Figure 2: Moving day boxes created by IKEA
Advertisement 2: Volkswagen Polo – Automotive, UK
Advertisement 3: Eurocom Panasonic - Home electronics, Israel
Advertisement 4: The Royal British Legion - Charities and appeals, UK
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Executive Summary
More than ever in this economy today, businesses have to decide on the best form of advertising to justify their
products to the public and gain interest. The wrong type of advertising could leave the target audience (a public)
with the wrong message, leading to a loss of interest and sales to consumers. Competition for customers is
extremely high in almost all fields, so it is crucial that the message being sent in advertising by a company be
portrayed as faultlessly as possible while being interesting and innovative. This criterion is dealt with well in two
of the four advertisements discussed in this report with perhaps using of the communication process model, a
well constructed breakdown on the marketing format of advertisements.
A campaign in Canada was launched by IKEA to sell their products saying that IKEA has the most up to date
furnishings and accessories to overcome all of life’s changes in living situations. This means from leaving home
and moving into your own residence to getting married and having children, IKEA has it all. They planned unique
strategies in marketing with their already brilliant prices of products.
With Volkswagen a real life situation was explained and advertised using the news as the media of
communication in an attention catching newspaper article. A brilliant event happened between an Elephant and a
Volkswagen car for this brand in terms of marketing, it is completely out of the companies control which makes it
a much more unquestionable advertisement.
However in two of the advertisements within this report, the communication process model was not used as
effectively. The Van Gogh poster advertising Panasonic headphones is an interesting way to advertise a product
but the time difference between the Van Gogh’s life and modern day technologies is debated. Is the link made
between these two eras obvious enough to use selling a modern day product?
A shock tactic was developed by a charity saying that Harry Styles died. Harry Styles didn’t die, or at least the
Harry Styles currently thought of when this name is mentioned in Britain. The use of well-known names such as
Harry Styles or Andy Murray on posters has been well thought-out and is innovative, but this campaign involves
input from the public. Would using computers and the internet have been the best way to reach the target
audiences or the older generations in the UK? This is questioned as modern technologies were sold as the most
effective way to broadcast the remembrance but there is again a debate over age differences. Like Panasonics
use of Van Gogh and era differences, has enough logical thinking been put into deciding which media should be
used to broadcast this remembrance campaign? Older generations tend not to use modern technology such as
computers and internet, and so these aspects are also debated.
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Introduction
We have been asked to give a detailed and informed analysis of four poster advertisements and their use of the
communication process model, or CPM as shown in figure 1. This is a model used when deciding what form of
advertisement should be adopted to promote a product or service of an organisation. It’s then aimed to be sold to
a target audience, as its referred to in the marketing industry, or the select group of people within the general
public. A target audience is by definition the main focus of people, perhaps consisting of a combination of factors
(i.e. a female aged 25-30 who likes football so would have certain attributes), that the given product is aimed to
be sold too. Public’s would be the term used for these target audiences outside the advertising industry.
Figure 1: Elements in the Communication Process Model (Kotler&Armstrong 2013)
The sender is the starting point of all advertising. It’s the organisation passing on information concerning
something that is to be sold. The encoding is the method of communication selected by a particular sender
thought to be best suited to provide best coverage of its target audience for the given product. This could be done
in a number of different ways, from a twenty second advert on the television to a billboard on the motorway.
Message: The set of symbols that’s trying to be transmitted by the sender – the actual advert itself.
After an advert has been made and shown to whoever the sender thinks to best sell their product, the decoded
message is how the audience, or receiver, personally interprets it.
When everything to sell a product is in place, with all the efforts for advertising it are being used, anything that
might interfere with the encoded message trying to be transmitted is called “noise” in the marketing industry. Be it
the products from competing firms, the situation with the economy and people’s disposable income. Or even the
culture and environment in which it’s being sold, noise is a key factor that companies must take into account.
(Kotler&Armstrong, 2012:434-435)
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Advertisement by Leo Burnett Toronto – IKEA, Canada
The target audience for the poster of an IKEA catalogue is young couples perhaps furnishing a new home or
adding to/updating a current residence. The poster makes clear the relationship between the catalogue and these
couples in order to promote the IKEA catalogue. Using a poster is a reasonably good idea as it relays the
message quickly however where it’s placed would be a key element when using this form of communication. This
advert is a play of society’s view of shopping for the average man opposed to that of a woman using humour as a
selling point. You could interpret this in many ways, offensively towards male gender where it in short says that
women are better at furnishing homes, or just understood in a light hearted manor taking into account that
perhaps some women have better taste and judgement with furniture. It is none the less quite comical bringing
with it a sense of humour and stimulating discussion.
Figure 2: Moving day boxes created by IKEA.
This advert was part of a larger advertising campaign for IKEA in Canada. They have a very innovative and
creative way of marketing their brand in which they explain using numerous adverts together, saying they’re able
to accommodate any living changes life has, and give you the tools to overcome home lifestyle obstacles. The
way IKEA has designed this campaign is very eye-catching for a customer in order to intrigue their interest in the
design of the advert itself. Customers learn how IKEA are marketing products out of curiosity because of how its
innovatively designed, and are unintentionally looking at IKEA’s products themselves. An example of this would
be the July 1 moving day in Quebec when IKEA designed special moving boxes. These were given to all
customers each year instead of regular ones, printed and sized to resemble the IKEA storage units. This is to
show, once moved in, how the units looked in someone’s home as inspiration to buy the real thing.
The entire campaign, this advert included, is definitely a well thought out and very creative form of marketing
used by IKEA. Noise created by other competitors would be very un-influential because of this ingenious
campaign as well as the price at which IKEA sells its products at.
(Leo Burnett, 2014)
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Advertisement by Volkswagen Polo – Automotive, UK
The elephant’s “that time of the month.” This periodic condition is called the “musth” happening only in male
elephants, where testosterone levels soar up to 60 times higher than usual. It causes this giant animal, which
weighs between four to seven tonnes, to be more agitated and aggressive leading to this overly frisky encounter
with a Volkswagen Polo. (National geographic, 1996-2014) This couldn’t have been a more perfect incidence as
far as advertising for this brand goes. It accentuates Volkswagens attributes and reinforces the selling points that
the advertisers were using to begin with. These were of being a strong little vehicle so promotional stories such
as this one, fabricated using real life evidence does truly give this impression.
As one can well imagine, after having a giant monster of an elephant sit on this little Polo, it was left with four
blown tyres, a broken chassis, shattered windows and a dented rood. The vehicle was completely broken beyond
recuperation however the two occupants inside, even if a little shaken up, survived completely unscathed. This
event in the Pilanesburg National Park of South Africa actually happened making this advertising more credible. It
was not an experiment or testing made by the company so no precautions with the car or its occupants were
taken beforehand. Is this sort of thing what a car is supposed to protect you against? However implausible this
story may seem and wouldn’t happen frequently in everyday life, if this car can withstand this kind of punishment,
it asks the question what else it can protect you against.
The source, or the Volkswagen brand, marketed this using the news and newspaper coverage as the encoding
format. The actual message being told was very eye-catching and where this advert stands out from numerous
other automobile advertising campaigns. Most people in society also read the newspaper as part of their daily or
weekly routine so targeting a specific audience was also not an issue.
(Dailymail, 2014)
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Advertisement by Eurocom Panasonic - Home electronics, Israel
This pair of headphones are so good that even Van Gogh is trying to glue his own ear back on so he can use
them. Using a piece of recognised artwork, this is the impression this advert gives using this painting as the main
image in marketing these headphones.
This Van Gogh painting is the main focus of this advertisement, shadowed by the actual product itself and the
advertising agency. The poster being organised in this manor forces potential customers to wonder why this is
the case that van Gogh losing his ear is so important. The actual product being marketed is put on the left handside of the poster making reasonably certain that it’s the second element in the poster seen. The left hand side is
where sentences in many languages begin and is the natural reading direction making this subconsciously where
most consumers would look.
The advertiser’s are using a high contrast in colours to make sure the two secondary parts of the poster are
highlighted and noticeable but are small enough so as not to make them seem like the main message trying to be
portrayed by it.
Frank W. Baker (2014)
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Advertisement 4 by The Royal British Legion - Charities and appeals, UK
The communication process model was used very effectively in this poster in an attempt to raise awareness of
this charity. It is one amongst a campaign of similar advertisements put on view to the public, i.e. newspapers,
magazines, television ads in support of ex-service men and women who gave their lives in World War One.
Harry Styles today is a famous pop singer/songwriter, who auditioned on a British Television series the X factor
and later becoming a member of the English boy band ‘One Direction’. Using a private from the Second World
War with the same name as this celebrity, would gain the initial interest of the public and cause them to pay
attention to this advert. In turn this would raise awareness of these fallen soldiers, the 1,117,077 lives in British
Empire claimed in this conflict over 100 years ago. Different famous people’s names were used to target all
different areas of the public. For example Harry styles name was used to target the younger generations in the
UK, so perhaps this name was put as a poster page in a cosmopolitan magazine aimed at young girls. The same
reasoning would be used in using Andy Murrays to target tennis enthusiasts, which name and were it was used is
crucial in this campaign. The death of Harry Styles might not be very important to an adult supporting a family, if
this person would even know who this celebrity is, but might to a young adolescent.
(Brand republic, 2014)
A public website has been made in commemoration of these ex-service people, giving the general public in the
UK the chance to add the biographies of their lost loved ones. This was made available to the entire population
through the internet, in an effort to make sure that everyone in this great tragedy is remembered.
An extremely high contrast of colours in the title and background was used in the layout of a tombstone, making
what the main focus of the poster obvious. The message of this poster wasn’t made on the poster itself, but
rather it lies in what most people in the UK would hopefully know through common knowledge.
(British Legion, 2014)
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Conclusion
Through the analysis and deconstruction of four advertisements of different companies, how well the use of using
the communication process model was applied is discussed. This gave a brilliant opportunity to research into the
thought patterns of advertisers and also gave a good opportunity to see how to tackle marketing a product
globally. This was seen through these four given advertisements from numerous countries, leading to a much
boarder view on the marketing industry. The use of communication process model is deconstructed for each
advert giving an accurate account of how it has been used. This gives a good description of important elements
in advertisements as well as factors that need to be taken into consideration when creating one.
The most important elements of this model are the encoding method of communication as well as the message
itself. The first step should be that the advert as a whole has to be creative enough to catch the attention of
publics and to over-shadow competing products. But providing a good product isn’t enough, how it is marketed to
the public is equally as important. So a good advertisement needs to show the major benefits of the given
product advertised, while being broadcasted efficiently enough so seen by the majority inside the target
audience.
The communication process model does provide a good framework in building an advert or campaign and offers
an effective summary of an adverts structure when analysing them. This is because it takes into account all
aspects of what is needed for a good advertisement as shown through examples in this report.
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Introduction to Advertising (MARK-1192)
October 15, 2014
Recommendations
This is being written to give the advisers of the campaigns above more appropriate directions when designing
advertising posters or campaigns, giving feedback of shortcoming on these current ones. These are two
advertisements given that should have be revised more before being shown to the public as they weren’t seen as
brilliantly constructed.
When it comes to Eurocom’s poster, advice to the advertising company would be that The Van Gogh painting
was made for completely different purposes and while this is an ingenious way of using the image, it may also
distract viewers from the real purpose of selling headphones. Mixing old images with new products may not be
the best selling angle, it’s hard to see the connection between this aged painting and the modern product.
Reasoning behind this is that it isn’t outright obvious what the message is because the time difference between
the manufacturing dates of the two components in this poster. Van Gogh has been dead for centuries never
having lived in modern society, so the public at which this product is aimed to be sold to, might find it difficult to
see the connection this poster is trying to make. A modern day image with modern technologies in it may be a
better direction the company could use. Perhaps something more recent like the Evander Holyfield and Mike
Tyson’s boxing match. This was where Mike Tyson bit a chunk off Evander’s ear and would be a lot easier to see
the connection. This would have been a more effective story to use even though it was also quite a few years
ago, publics could see the relation more easily because it happened more recently when these technologies
existed.
A recommendation for the British Royal Legion is not within the thought processing for the posters but rather the
campaign as a whole. Modern technology used by the “everyone remembered” campaign could be something to
be criticized by people giving a critical analogy of this venue. Unfortunately the modern technology that is the
main focus for this campaign, computers and the internet, isn’t most commonly used by people with helpful
knowledge from this war. For example an eighty-year-old person is most likely not going to understand well
enough how a computer works.
A short-coming of this advertisement is the actual design of this remembrance campaign itself. People within the
population today who knew these soldiers would have to be quite aged themselves, and using modern
technologies such as computers and being the main focus of message delivery, could be beyond them. This
would lead to the campaign being pointless as information which is the intended for everyone, wouldn’t be
available because these technologies just aren’t used by the most knowledgeable within the general public.
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References
Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong (2012) Principles of marketing 15th edn.
Daily Mail (2014) That's some heavy petting! Tourists stuck in their hatchback as amorous elephant
gets frisky on South African safari newspaper article available at; Mail Online,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2717919/VERY-heavy-petting-Tourists-stuck-hatchbackelephant-gets-frisky-South-African-safari.html
National Geographic Society. (1996-2014).African Elephant Loxodonta Africana. Available at;
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-elephant/
Leo Burnett Toronto (2014) IKEA Available at; http://www.leoburnett.ca/our-work/
The Royal British Legion (2014) The Legion calls on Britain to remember every man and woman
lost in WW1. Available at; http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/news/remembrance/the-legioncalls-on-britain-to-remember-every-man-and-woman-lost-in-ww1
The Royal British Legion (2014) every man remembered available at;
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/ww1-centenary/every-man-remembered
Brand Republic (2014) The 'deaths' of Harry Styles and Andy Murray commemorated in Royal British
Legion ads available at: http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1306691/
Anibal Quevedo (2014) Deconstruction of van goghs glued ear by Panasonic available at;
http://anibalquevedo.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/deconstruction-of-van-goghs-glued-ear-bypanasonic/
Frank W. Baker (2014) Media education consultant available at;
http://www.frankwbaker.com/checklist.htm
Clow, K. & Baack, D. (2012) Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. 5th
edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Ogilvy on Advertising (2007) I hate rules.
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