poniedziałek, 10 czerwca 2013

Surprising brand - product association!

Surprising brand - product association! 

Oxfam International published a 'Big 10'- giant infographic depicting the ownership of food brands. Can you imagine that huge amount of brands is owned by very few companies? Have a look at it: 




BRANDS!


BRANDS! 

Brand Identity is a combination of the following factors:

  • Brand Essence - a way of summing up the significance of the brand to stockholders and consumers alike of the brand in one simple sentence
  • Brand Slogan - a public way of identifying the brand for consumers - often associated with a logo
  • Brand Personality - marketeers can describe their brand as though it were a person, with likes and dislikes and certain behavior
  • Brand Values – what does it stand for/against?
  • Brand Appearance - What does it look/sound/taste like?
  • Brand Heritage - how long has it been around? does it have customers who have been loyal to it for many years?
  • Emotional benefits – how it avoids/reduces pain or increases pleasure
  • Hard benefits – bigger? better? cheaper? washes whiter?

The Financial Times published a special report that attempts to quantify brand value for the top 100 global brands. The top global brand remains Google followed by IBM, Apple, and Microsoft.  Coca Cola, McDonalds, and Marlboro are familiar consumer products brands that appear in the top 10 list.






SOURCES: 

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/Advertising/advertising.php?pageID=brands
http://www.rationalwalk.com/?p=6655 

How to write marketing plan...

Hello everyone!
Here comes the time for theory. If you wonder how to create the successful advertisement, this is the best place to get to know it. I will show you how to write a marketing plan. There are three stages which you have to follow:

1. Research and planning 
Understand your customer and the marketing environment, look for opportunities for growth.

2. Developing your marketing strategy
Identify objectives and choose the right path to exploit opportunities highlighted in the research stage.

3. Determining actions and controls
Implement your strategy and track success.

The marketing planning process is summarized in the diagram below:




SOURCE:

http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/marketing-plan.htm#.UbYL1o58Xwt

niedziela, 9 czerwca 2013

Some interesting ads

Hello! This is our objective TOP 20 of interesting and convincing ads. Enjoy!


20. Short, simple and persuasive. Make us want to eat it!



19. With an ellegant, beaufiful actress. Lots of woman will buy this fragnance hoping to feel like her even for a while



18. Nice, original idea. It creates an impression that Wella's hair-dye is really natural and good-looking



17. Simple and impressive



16. Containing good sense of humor



15. Persuasive because it shows a real housewife which knows something about keeping the house, not a glamorous woman looking like a model.


14. Showing a desire



13. Metaphore of positive changes in woman's life; it associates the change of hair cosmetics with a serious change, even new begging


12. Original and funny



11. Pefect for people who like to know what they eat - it creates an impression that this ketchup contains only natural ingridients.



10. Controversial, shocking, staying in mind


9.

Our favourite type of advertising - social ads. It teaches us good things if it is created in a right (persuading) way. It might shock and even frighten us.

8. Eco advertisement


7. Higiene ad



6. Ad convincing us to care about a wildlife - good capture


5. Safety is the most important



4. Convincing enough to quit smoking



3. Metaphorical



2. Next metaphore, convicing to change our habits NOW.


1. Shocking, sad, convincing people to help and resign partly from their daily "delights"


SOURCES:

google graphics

Advertisement analysys

Have you ever analized and advertisement? Did you wonder what's the purpose, choice of language or techniques helpful in persuading you to buy the advertising product? If not, those information may be helpful for you.

Advertisement analysys doesn't really differ from any other analysys. You can see how the ad works by  breaking it down into following parts:


Purpose— The majority of ads have a very simple purpose: To convince the audience to purchase a particular product or service. Other types of ads include public service (information) ads and ideological ads such as those for Greenpeace or the National Rifle Association (selling ideas).
Picture —Nothing in the picture is there by accident; Look for a pattern of symbols or images. For example, a champagne advertisement may have a couple walking hand in hand on a moonlit beach (symbols of romance). The key is the association of the product to a certain idea. In other words, advertisements are primarily illogical. They are used to persuade. So, this champagne advertisement will not tell how much the product costs, what it tastes like, and so on. The goal of the advertiser is to get the audience to associate the product with something positive, so champagne = romance. Look for patterns of symbols or images that develop a certain dominant theme(s).
Language— Similar to the picture, none of the words in an ad are there by accident; they are all very carefully chosen, and this includes not only the wording in the ad but also the product name and slogan. Look again for patterns of words that develop certain themes. For example, a computer advertisement will contain words like “high performance,” “powerful,” and so on. Usually, the themes present in the language will echo or reinforce the themes present in the picture.
Audience— There is no such thing as a general audience. Advertisers direct their ads toward specific audiences. Audiences are broken down in such categories as age, race, gender, economic class, region of the country, and so on. The magazine the ad is placed in will give a very clear indication of the specific audience targeted. In other words, Bride magazine has a very specific audience. An advertisement in Business Week will target business people. Cosmopolitan ads target contemporary women. You will not find many Harley Davidson motorcycle ads in Cosmo, just like you will not find any champagne advertisements in Field and Stream. The magazine, the product, the language, and the picture will help to clarify whom the specific audience that is being targeted by advertisers. Try to be as specific as possible when narrowing down the audience.
Techniques The ultimate goal is to uncover the specific persuasive techniques employed by the advertisers to sell their product. The following techniques are generally the most common strategies used by advertisers:
  1. Purpose—The majority of ads have a very simple purpose: To convince the audience to purchase a particular product or service. Other types of ads include public service (information) ads and ideological ads such as those for Greenpeace or the National Rifle Association (selling ideas).
    Picture—Nothing in the picture is there by accident; everything has a purpose. Look for a pattern of symbols or images. For example, a champagne advertisement may have a couple walking hand in hand on a moonlit beach (symbols of romance). The key is the association of the product to a certain idea. In other words, advertisements are primarily illogical. They are used to persuade. So, this champagne advertisement will not tell how much the product costs, what it tastes like, and so on. The goal of the advertiser is to get the audience to associate the product with something positive, so champagne = romance. Look for patterns of symbols or images that develop a certain dominant theme(s).
    Language—Similar to the picture, none of the words in an ad are there by accident; they are all very carefully chosen, and this includes not only the wording in the ad but also the product name and slogan. Look again for patterns of words that develop certain themes. For example, a computer advertisement will contain words like “high performance,” “powerful,” and so on. Usually, the themes present in the language will echo or reinforce the themes present in the picture.
    Audience—There is no such thing as a general audience. Advertisers direct their ads toward specific audiences. Audiences are broken down in such categories as age, race, gender, economic class, region of the country, and so on. In addition, these are the broad categories. The magazine the ad is placed in will give a very clear indication of the specific audience targeted. In other words, Bride magazine has a very specific audience. An advertisement in Business Week will target business people. Cosmopolitan ads target contemporary women. You will not find many Harley Davidson motorcycle ads in Cosmo, just like you will not find any champagne advertisements in Field and Stream. The magazine, the product, the language, and the picture will help to clarify whom the specific audience that is being targeted by advertisers. Try to be as specific as possible when narrowing down the audience.
    Techniques The ultimate goal is to uncover the specific persuasive techniques employed by the advertisers to sell their product. The following techniques are generally the most common strategies used by advertisers:

    1. Name calling— When a company puts down another company or product in order to make itself or its product look superior. When Ford refers to Honda or Toyota as “foreign” cars. 
    2. Bandwagon— The majority is right. If you want to be popular or successful, you need to be using this product, like the popular, successful people in the ad. Very often targeting a young audience, most ads on MTV are bandwagon ads. If you want to be popular like these people having such a fun time, you need to wear the jeans they are wearing. Join the Pepsi Generation is another such ad. Everyone is using this product so why aren't you?
    3. Glittering Generalities Advertisements associating the product with positive language, either in the wording of the ad, the slogan, or the product name. Joy Liquid Detergent, Huggies Diapers, Chevy—The Heartbeat of America are some examples. A recent Armed Services recruiting ad promised “numerous rewards and opportunities in a sophisticated and technologically-advanced atmosphere”—you do not get much more “glittering” than that.
    4. Transfer Advertisements associating positive symbols/images with the product. The good hands of Allstate, the Rock of Prudential, the Statue of Liberty with Liberty Mutual Insurance, the American flag in the background of all NRA ads, bikini-clad women in Budweiser ads.


            (...)


    E. Emotional AppealAdvertisers associate their products with emotional elements like family, country, children, and animals. For example, the golden retriever puppies in the Red Devil vacuum cleaner commercials, the little girl in the Pepsi commercials, the Coca-Cola Polar Bears. This type of strategy could also use scare tactics, such as protecting your family from intruders in security system ads.

    F. Stereotypes —Be aware of the stereotypes, especially gender, in ads. The advertising world is somewhat trapped in the two-parent, suburban, white picket fence, wood-panaled station wagon world of the past, where the father goes off to work and the mother raises the kids and cleans the house. Domestic and cleaning products are usually pictured with women, while tools and other outdoor equipment are associated with men. Some advertisements are starting to appeal to professional women, but overall the ad world is slow to change in this respect.


    SOURCE:

    http://nccei.org/teaching/adanalysis5.html

Pregnant nun ice cream advert banned for 'mockery'



Hello! Today we are going to highlight an article which appeared on BBC.CO.UK in 2010. As some of you know, on Wednesday the 5th we were talking about an controversial advertisement of ice cream. Its creators tried to make it stay in our minds by showing a lot of strange, opposing elements. What was the result? Troubles… Take a look


"An ice cream company banned from using an advert displaying a pregnant nun has vowed to position similar posters in London in time for the Pope's visit.
Antonio Federici's advert showed a pregnant nun eating ice cream in a church, together with the strap line "immaculately conceived".
The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered it to be discontinued, saying it mocked Roman Catholic beliefs.
Antonio Federici says it will now put up new posters near Westminster Abbey.
Pope Benedict XVI will visit Westminster Abbey on Friday, before holding Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.
Antonio Federici, a UK-based company, has yet to reveal what image will be portrayed in the new advert, saying only that it would be "a continuation of the theme".
A spokeswoman for the company said the new image intended to "defy" the ban from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
She added: "We are in the process of securing a series of billboards close to and along the planned route of the Pope's cavalcade around Westminster Cathedral".
A spokesman for the ASA said its rulings "must be followed and we are taking steps to ensure Antonio Federici do so".
He added: "We do not comment on the likely compliance of ads that have not yet appeared.
"However, we are continuing to conduct work behind the scenes, including with the advertiser, to ensure they comply with the rules."

Start Quote

To use such an image in a lighthearted way to advertise ice cream was likely to cause serious offence to readers, particularly those who practised the Roman Catholic faith”
Advertising Standards Authority
Defending the banned nun advert, Antonio Federici said the idea of "conception" represented the development of their ice cream.
It added that the use of religious imagery represented its strong feeling towards its product.
The firm said it also wished to "comment on and question, using satire and gentle humour, the relevance and hypocrisy of religion and the attitudes of the church to social issues".
The banned advert was featured in editions of The Lady and Grazia magazines.
The ASA said in its ruling: "We considered the use of a nun pregnant through immaculate conception was likely to be seen as a distortion and mockery of the beliefs of Roman Catholics.
"We concluded that to use such an image in a lighthearted way to advertise ice cream was likely to cause serious offence to readers, particularly those who practised the Roman Catholic faith."
The publishers of The Lady said it had received eight complaints and that it had been a "misjudgement" to have published .
Grazia said it considered that the advert was lighthearted and did not mock any religious groups.
The ASA banned another advert for Antonio Federici in July 2009 that showed a priest and a nun appearing as if they were about to kiss."

Myth and semiotics

Roland Gérard Barthes, French literary theorist, linguist, philosopher and semiotican, frequently interrogated in his book ("Mythology") specific cultural materials in order to expose how bourgeois society asserted its values through them. For example, the portrayal of wine in French society as a robust and healthy habit is a bourgeois ideal that is contradicted by certain realities (i.e., that wine can be unhealthy and inebriating). He found semiotics, the study of signs, useful in these interrogations. Barthes explained that these bourgeois cultural myths were "second-order signs," or "connotations." A picture of a full, dark bottle is a signifier that relates to a specific signified: a fermented, alcoholic beverage. However, the bourgeoisie relate it to a new signified: the idea of healthy, robust, relaxing experience. Motivations for such manipulations vary, from a desire to sell products to a simple desire to maintain the status quo. 

source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes#Semiotics_and_myth

Paradigms and Syntagms


Hello! This is a short description of Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic analysys, based on short associations


Paradigmatis analysys:

- vertical

- metaphor

- selective / associative

- bipolar oppositions

- meaning by context (media, genre)

- based on dissimilarity




Syntagmatic analysys:

- horizontal

- metonymy

- combinative

- composed on paradigms (paradigm: a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model)

- narrative

-based on similarity


sources: 

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aSGuest122943-1291064-paradigmatic-and-syntagmatic-analysis/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm




Denotation and connotation




In this post, we will try to explain two new terms: denotation and connotation. In general, they are figures of speech (def: The various rhetorical uses of language [such as metaphor, simily, hyperbole] used to depart from the customary construction, order or significance).

So what's the difference between those two figures of speech?
  • Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles¡Khaving a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."
  • Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.



The process of conocation was admirably explained by Judith Williamson in her book "Decoding Advertisements" on the page 100. She discusses a series of advertisements for Chanel beauty products with an image of the actress Catherine Deneuve. At the first level, the advertisement associates the products with Catherine Deneuve, and at the second level, we get the connotations of Catherine Deneuve in the context of beauty products as a signifier: she connotes the classy, chic lifestyle of a mature and sophisticated woman.


sources: 

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/112688428/Connotation-vs-Denotation---PowerPoint---PowerPoint
http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/figuresterms.htm
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/terms/denotation.htm
http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_03/connotation.htm
https://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/judith-williamson/decoding-advertisements/_/R-400000000000000675917

Semiotics and advertising



Have you ever wondered what the hidden signs in advertising are which help persuade us to buy a product? Semiotics is the science which has a big role in this process. Semiotics can be traced to the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure as well as the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. 

Ferdinand de Saussure is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics and together with Charles Sanders Peirce, one of two major fathers of semiotics. 

What is semiotics in general? It is the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.

Ferdinand de Saussure's definition of the sign: 
"The sign is the whole that results from the association of the signifier with the signified. The relationship between the signifier and the signified is referred to as 'signification'."

While Peirce's Sign Theory, or Semiotic, is an account of signification, representation, reference and meaning. For Peirce, developing a thoroughgoing theory of signs was a central philosophical and intellectual preoccupation.

Semiotics is very helpful for advertisers - it helps advertising to easily identify the advertisers target market. They mostly base on Cultural knowledge, common references, etc to be relevant to the target consumer. Then it is easier to impact on a consumer. 

For instance, ads which focus on a retro look and references to perhaps a Doordarshan era news reader and black and white ambience would be targeting a 30 something target audience who was a child in that era and could recall the era to get the context of the advertising. 

For the audience, awareness about semiotics and its use in advertising is helpful in order not to fall into a trap and to decode the hidden meanings behind an ad. Designers and creative teams working on ads must necessarily keep semiotics in mind while working on campaigns, across all media. Symbolic semiotics is most common in advertising. A symbol stands for something, and is meaningful by association. Using expression, background, clothes, etc. In advertising, semiotics attaches positive feelings, moods and emotions when associated with visual imagery and the logo of the brand. This comes with the pictures used, the colours, the setting, the context and in case of logos,  all serve to impact the image of the brand that the consumer carries with them. 

Thanks to the work of semiotics in advertisement, the term of oversale has been created. (to oversell:  to use excessively aggressive methods in selling) We buy things we don't really need, persuaded by advertisors. 


To sum up, we must be aware of semiotic "tricks" which are used to tantalize us and make us spend money on stuff which is not useful and doesn't fulfil the promises contained in beautiful, cheerful advertisement. 


sources: 
http://theadvertisingclub.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3287:semiotics-and-advertising&catid=144&Itemid=175
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure
http://www.citelighter.com/communications/communications/knowledgecards/signsignifiersignifiedreferent
http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/sem02.html
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oversell