Learning Outcomes:
Key words: Polysemic, signifiers, content, UGC, complicity, relationships, identity, surveillance.
Task 1: Watch the clip and read the piece about the Cadbury's gorilla ad below.
A quirky film which features an actor in a gorilla suit playing a famous Phil Collins’ drum solo, “In the Air Tonight”. Launched on the 31st August 2007 during the ‘Big Brother 8’ final, it ran with a sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup, and then until the end of the year.
It was aimed to be seen by 84% of the UK’s adult population an average of 10 times.
The format of ‘Gorilla’ makes it stand out, it is 3 times as longer than a standard ad.
It uses unexpected content; the product is not seen until the final pack shot, in the last seconds.
Far from hard-selling, the ad is a 90’ interpretation of a pure feeling: Joy.
This unusual campaign appealed to a wide audience for a variety of reasons.
The campaign showed an understanding of one of current advertising’s major evolutions:
The increasing importance of content.
ENTERTAIN TO CATCH ATTENTION.
Media advertising is intrusive, but this advert catches its target audience's attention by offering an entertaining content instead of a hard-selling one.
The use of a global cultural reference in Phil Collins’ song, delivered in a quirky way with the unexpected gorilla character, increased the potential of the ad.
INVOLVE TO CREATE COMPLICITY
Had ‘Gorilla’ only been entertaining, people may have watched it just once.
However, it generated quite a buzz and user generated content*.
The ad provides more than entertainment, the key to it's success is creating involvement and consumers now have more tools to avoid advertising they consider to be intrusive.
Therefore, knowledge of audience attitudes, behaviours and interests, becomes more essential than ever, and user generated content is providing a new type of success measurement.
The current (r)evolution happening in media advertising is leading the industry to turn to more entertaining and consumer involving content, but also to adopting more sharply targeted media plans.
CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS
If the ad content is essential, a smart media plan is fundamental to achieve advertising goals. In today’s context, there are two main strategies: finding events broadcast on television that will appeal the right audience (positioning issue), or avoiding mass media and using much sharper targeted channels.
For ‘Gorilla’, there is an interesting use of sponsorship with the Rugby World Cup strategy, which attracted on the whole 26.3m viewers. After a massive prime-time launch on Big Brother 8’s final, the ad aired on the rugby matches, and was tailored for each game - a changing message on the gorilla’s drums. This strategy has been so efficient in involving viewers that the character became a sort of mascot for the game, and most important of all, it got people expecting the ad. This shows that success lies today on the combination of an effective media plan and an involving content.
*User-generated content (UGC) is published information that an unpaid contributor has provided to a web site. The information might be a photo, video, blog or discussion forum post, poll response or comment made through a social media web site.
A DIALOG TO DRIVES SALES
Taking the campaign from the start, here are some recommendations to improve its efficiency on sales. The 3 suggested levels of improvement are organized by priority according to the existing campaign.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
Expressing the pleasure of eating chocolate the ad could suit any chocolate brand, and worse any brand positioned on a benefit of joy. To improve the ad/product relationship, whilst keeping the entertaining and non-hard-selling aspects, the subtle branding can be reinforced by adding milk symbols (the product’s insight!) to the ad: the gorilla could have spilled fresh milk on his chest (leave mysterious the way it happened), there could be some milk on the floor, or the brand’s two glasses somewhere in the room… There are many ways to improve the ad’s branding, but the milk idea seems to be one of the simplest.
ARE ENDANGERED SPECIES DANGEROUS?
The gorilla is central feature of the advert and of the generated buzz: The same film with a human would not have worked as well. But the use of a disappearing species raises a few questions, about the issue of ethics.
Cadburys have chosen what many believe to be an unethical approach by having an endangered species serve the snacking market. Fortunately for the brand, consumers appreciated the entertaining message of ‘Gorilla’.
Task 2:
Summarize the reasons why was the ad so successful.
200 words. Use the key words and apply theory when required.
This emotive advert has provoked strong debate over whether it should have been made. With its cinematic feel and its underlying commercialism, Sainsbury's advert is natural fare for a range of Media Units, across several exam boards. It is one of the most striking adverts ever made, where the competitors: Marks & Spencers, John Lewis, Debenhams, etc. seem tamely anodyne in comparison.
- How audiences are attracted to a text.
- What impacts the way in which different audiences respond to texts
- How texts construct and position audiences.
- How theories can help to understand audience responses, where appropriate.
Key words: Polysemic, signifiers, content, UGC, complicity, relationships, identity, surveillance.
Task 1: Watch the clip and read the piece about the Cadbury's gorilla ad below.
Cadbury's Dairy Milk Ad (2007)
'Gorilla'
A quirky film which features an actor in a gorilla suit playing a famous Phil Collins’ drum solo, “In the Air Tonight”. Launched on the 31st August 2007 during the ‘Big Brother 8’ final, it ran with a sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup, and then until the end of the year.
It was aimed to be seen by 84% of the UK’s adult population an average of 10 times.
The format of ‘Gorilla’ makes it stand out, it is 3 times as longer than a standard ad.
It uses unexpected content; the product is not seen until the final pack shot, in the last seconds.
Far from hard-selling, the ad is a 90’ interpretation of a pure feeling: Joy.
This unusual campaign appealed to a wide audience for a variety of reasons.
The campaign showed an understanding of one of current advertising’s major evolutions:
The increasing importance of content.
ENTERTAIN TO CATCH ATTENTION.
Media advertising is intrusive, but this advert catches its target audience's attention by offering an entertaining content instead of a hard-selling one.
The use of a global cultural reference in Phil Collins’ song, delivered in a quirky way with the unexpected gorilla character, increased the potential of the ad.
INVOLVE TO CREATE COMPLICITY
Had ‘Gorilla’ only been entertaining, people may have watched it just once.
However, it generated quite a buzz and user generated content*.
The ad provides more than entertainment, the key to it's success is creating involvement and consumers now have more tools to avoid advertising they consider to be intrusive.
Therefore, knowledge of audience attitudes, behaviours and interests, becomes more essential than ever, and user generated content is providing a new type of success measurement.
The current (r)evolution happening in media advertising is leading the industry to turn to more entertaining and consumer involving content, but also to adopting more sharply targeted media plans.
CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS
If the ad content is essential, a smart media plan is fundamental to achieve advertising goals. In today’s context, there are two main strategies: finding events broadcast on television that will appeal the right audience (positioning issue), or avoiding mass media and using much sharper targeted channels.
For ‘Gorilla’, there is an interesting use of sponsorship with the Rugby World Cup strategy, which attracted on the whole 26.3m viewers. After a massive prime-time launch on Big Brother 8’s final, the ad aired on the rugby matches, and was tailored for each game - a changing message on the gorilla’s drums. This strategy has been so efficient in involving viewers that the character became a sort of mascot for the game, and most important of all, it got people expecting the ad. This shows that success lies today on the combination of an effective media plan and an involving content.
*User-generated content (UGC) is published information that an unpaid contributor has provided to a web site. The information might be a photo, video, blog or discussion forum post, poll response or comment made through a social media web site.
A DIALOG TO DRIVES SALES
Taking the campaign from the start, here are some recommendations to improve its efficiency on sales. The 3 suggested levels of improvement are organized by priority according to the existing campaign.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
Expressing the pleasure of eating chocolate the ad could suit any chocolate brand, and worse any brand positioned on a benefit of joy. To improve the ad/product relationship, whilst keeping the entertaining and non-hard-selling aspects, the subtle branding can be reinforced by adding milk symbols (the product’s insight!) to the ad: the gorilla could have spilled fresh milk on his chest (leave mysterious the way it happened), there could be some milk on the floor, or the brand’s two glasses somewhere in the room… There are many ways to improve the ad’s branding, but the milk idea seems to be one of the simplest.
ARE ENDANGERED SPECIES DANGEROUS?
The gorilla is central feature of the advert and of the generated buzz: The same film with a human would not have worked as well. But the use of a disappearing species raises a few questions, about the issue of ethics.
Cadburys have chosen what many believe to be an unethical approach by having an endangered species serve the snacking market. Fortunately for the brand, consumers appreciated the entertaining message of ‘Gorilla’.
Task 2:
Summarize the reasons why was the ad so successful.
200 words. Use the key words and apply theory when required.
Sainsbury's Christmas Ad 2014
This emotive advert has provoked strong debate over whether it should have been made. With its cinematic feel and its underlying commercialism, Sainsbury's advert is natural fare for a range of Media Units, across several exam boards. It is one of the most striking adverts ever made, where the competitors: Marks & Spencers, John Lewis, Debenhams, etc. seem tamely anodyne in comparison.
Task 3:
How does the Sainsbury's Christmas ad 2014 appeal to audiences?
Compare to the Cadbury's gorilla ad. Do some research and identify UGC if you can.
Compare to the Cadbury's gorilla ad. Do some research and identify UGC if you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment