Advertising is a common form of communication, set out with intentions to persuade a selected audience to generate a sense of need for what is being advertised: whether it’s a brand, service or product. Jeremy Bullmore raises a thought-provoking point with his statement expressing his opinion on how he considers advertising to work:
…”Advertising doesn’t sell things; all advertising does is change the
way people think or feel”…
More often than not, advertising relies on endorsing its audience with the impression that along with this product if you purchase it, your life will automatically be more like this ‘ideal’ lifestyle, or you will fit in more within the genre of people that is represented throughout its advertising campaign. They do this by making them envy what it possesses, leaving them with the feeling that what they already have is inadequate in comparison – therefore leaving them wanting to purchase it.
…”Advertising’s central function is to create desire that previously did not exist. Thus advertising arouses our interests and emotions in favor of goods and more goods…it is thus the advertiser’s task to try to persuade rather than inform.”… (Dyer, 1982, p6)
The advertiser sets out with intentions of creating a branding for a product that usually involves the repetition of an image, message or product name, which should in time create an idea of related qualities to the brand in the mind of the audience. An interesting example of this is the message that Dove allocates to their soap for women with dry skin, promising to ‘leave your skin soft and smooth – without the dry feeling caused by soap’. This promise was first allocated to the product well over 25 years ago by copywriter David Ogilvy, and is still used within their advertising campaigns today – along with other promises such as the ability to firm skin, quoting in one of their more recent ads ‘Let’s face it. Firming the thighs of a size 8 supermodel is no challenge’.
Something that is vital when advertising agencies begin any new projects is to research: to fully understand what it is they are promoting. Most times the client would provide a sufficient amount of research relevant to what they are wanting, but then it is down to the advertisers to fill in the gaps: to look at the more meticulous details about the product to generate ‘a clear understanding of the brands current position’ such as what the consumers already ‘actually think about the product, as opposed to what the client believes that they think’. This way it ensures the campaign can be as effective as possible.
…”Now comes research among consumers. Find out how they think about your kind of product, what language they use when they discuss the subject, what attributes are important to them, and what promise would be likely to make them buy your brand.”… (Ogilvy, 1995, p12)
As well as the research aspect, the message that the campaign is going to have is decided upon within the early stages to give it more of a directed focus: therefore proving that the main intention within the campaign is to create envy towards it. This entails them to consider factors such as the target audience it is intended to appeal to, and the background of them and so on.
What’s interesting is the people’s choice of what brand they ‘choose’ to consume from a variety of different ones, all fundamentally for the same product.
…”Take Whiskey. Why do some people choose Jack Daniels, while others choose Grand Dad or Taylor? Have they tried all three and compared the taste? Don’t make me laugh. The reality is that these three brands have different images which appeal to different kinds of people. It isn’t the Whiskey they choose, it’s the image. The brand image is 90 per cent of what the distiller has to sell.”… (Ogilvy, 1995, p15)
Looking at the advertising for two different brands of lager: such as Carling and Budweiser, it is apparent that a similar thing happens with their advertising strategies. They both are proud of the countries that they originate from and this reflects well within their ads, and each have a distinct audience they want to target.
Carling is a British lager that derived from the mid 1900’s after a team of British Brewers came together and discovered a way of involving the flavor of ale with the refreshment of continental lager. It is made from ‘only the best British barley’, and is proud to have this as the main aspect of one of their recent advertising campaigns.
Budweiser is an American lager, ‘perfected in 1876’ by Adolphus Busch. This exact recipe, brewing process and taste has remained the same for more than 133 years, and will be staying the same for a long time as they believe this is what has made the product so successful. The fact that the lager is American reflects clearly throughout their advertisements with it coming across to the audience that the brand is better and brighter than others, which is also a good representation of something American.
After watching a recent television advert for these brands, the target audience that they are reaching towards is apparent. The Carling advert has a group of English friends in their twenties out together in the middle of no where, with one providing the Carling from the nearest source – this insists their target audience is adults who like to have a laugh and go out to have a good time and stick together. Where as the Budweiser advert is of a hectic stadium of people all having a good time together; which insists their target audience is the type of person who likes to be in the middle of the action and not miss out on something ‘amazing’.
Throughout the whole 30 seconds of the Budweiser advert, apart from the general noise from the stadium, there is no voice at any point that says anything about the product. There is just the end where the logo appears on the screen and underneath it has the strapline ‘this is beer’. By doing this, as well as having thousands of people all together in a huge place suggests that the product is that successful and popular it can speak for itself with its quality and status. Having the stadium so busy and showing that everyone is having a good time suggests that by drinking Budweiser it brings all sorts of people together as though it has its own community or is in a league of its own. This will create desire and envy for wanting to be there in the middle of what is happening amongst the targeted audience. The imagery shows the crowd all in sync holding coloured boards above their heads each in the right order so that when it is seen from above, it shows a Budweiser bottle being opened and poured into a glass, and after being drank. Immediately thereafter the whole crowd at once throw their heads back with huge grins on their faces doing the ‘ahhh’ sound people make after finishing a refreshing drink they enjoyed.
Unlike this, the Carling advert is more relaxed by having just a few close friends in the middle of a dessert with the weather conditions being very hot, and one of them goes out of his way to find them a lager. When he returns it turns out he has forgotten one and insists on going back to get another, suggesting that Carling is worth all the time and effort. As well as the fact that people who drink it stick together and would do anything for each other in whatever situation. The whole scene could come across as a metaphor of something that could happen anywhere in the world, and can always be made better with Carling. The end of the advert has the sentence ‘You know who your mates are’, followed by the logo and strapline saying ‘Tastes great, every sip of the way’. Even by this it shows that Carling are intending on aiming their advertising towards someone who values their friends more than anything, and it can make these friendships stronger. What Carling is promising to its target audience in order to persuade them to buy their brand is stronger friendships with those that matter, and would do anything for each other, as well as the enjoyment of a well-needed refreshing drink anywhere in the world.
In all, I do believe that advertisings main purpose is to influence the targeted audience into feeling the desire to purchase the product being advertised, by making them envy the status and lifestyle it embodies. I agree with what Bullmore articulates; that fundamentally all it does is ‘changes the way people think or feel’, but without this raises the question as to whether advertising would work at all without these feeling involved.
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