Marketing Communications Theory & Practice - Case Study Example

Marketing Communications Theory & Practice Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Is the advertisement successful 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Bibliography 11 Introduction Guinness is the name of a special blend of Irish beer. The characteristic of this blend is that it is made from roasted barley. The beer was first made in the breweries of Arthur Guinness. It is known as one of the most successful of all the beer brands that exists in the world. The breweries that make Guinness are located in about 60 countries all over the world and the beer is marketed in about 120 countries across the world. A particular and distinctive feature of the product is the burnt taste that it has. The burnt flavour of the beer is derived from the roasted unmated barley. However this particular flavour of the beer is a relatively new addition and was introduced in only the mid 20th century. In the year 1997 Guinness merged Grand metropolitan in order to form one of the largest multinational alcoholic drink s company known as Diageo. The advertisement that is talked about in the following pages was used by Guinness in the year 2007. It was in this year that Guinness sponsored the Irish Rugby team. In order to celebrate this event Guinness created the poster. The company has used over time various objects carefully in order to depict a pint of Guinness which is recognized as a dark glass with a white foamy head. In the following pages this advertisement is studied in detain using the semiotic theory. Discussion Semiotics is the learning of science. This science was proposed in the early 1900s by the Swiss linguist and the American linguist and the American named Pragmatist Charles Anders pierce (Chandler, 2014). Sessure argued in his theory that there was no necessary relationship in between that which carries the meaning that is the word signifier and the actual meaning that is the signified (Chandler, 2004). For example the word car may not mean cars. It is just so that in English the cars are meant by the combination of the symbols C, A, and R. Pierce’s idea on semiotics on the other hand distinguishes in between three different kinds of sign icon, index and symbol (Bignell, 2002). Whether a sign belongs to one kind of category is dependent on the nature of its relationship in between the sign itself which is called the referent and the actual meaning (Crow, 2002). For example icon is the sign that stands for an object by resembling it. The examples are pictures maps, diagrams etc. The thing that links icon to its object is similarity (Manning, 2012). Index is referred to the object not by a similarity relation but by an actual causal link in between the sign and its object. For example smoke is an index of fire (Martin, 2006). A mark of fever on thermometer is related to body temperature. The relation between the sign and the object is actual in that the sign and the object have something in common (Beasley, and Danesi, 2002). The object refers to the sign. Finally Symbols are referred to the object by virtue of law, rule or convention. All its proposition and texts are obvious examples in that no similarity or causal link is suggested (Danesi, 2007). Signs can be considered by the sign users in unlimited way independent of any physical relationship with the sign user. This point is of crucial importance and lays the foundation for semiotic view of cognition in humans (Leeuwen, 2005). The particular ad by the Guinness was used by the company at a time when the company sponsored the Irish rugby team in the recent Rugby world cup in 2007. The Guinness pint is recognized as a dark glass with a white head. The glass of the bear is symbolized as a dark glass with a foamy leathery top. The company uses this symbol of the glass in most of the advertisements. The glass shown in different advertisements of the company is depicted by different symbols. The particular symbol that is depicted in this advertisement is that the rugby player is used in this advertisements is shown with a white bandage in his head. The rugby game is attached with violent play and that is why the player shown in the advertisement is shown with a bandage on his head. The different factors of the advertisements that are focussed on by the advertisements are: Colour: The advertisement used by Guinness uses colours effectively by making the imagery of the dark face of the man to depict the dark body of the bear glass by Guinness. The white colour of the bandage is used cleverly to depict the white foam on top of the bear glass. The combination of colours in the advertisement by Guinness uses a brilliant mix of different glass so as to depict the bear glass. The colour combination used in the advertisements serves two purposes. The first purpose is to depict the bear glass. The second purpose is to depict an injured player of rugby. The combination of different colours in the advertisement goes well with two aspects of the advertisement goal. One of the goals of the advertisement is to project the pint of the bear and another goal is to depict the association of the company with the game of rugby and the fact that the company is promoting the game. Imagery The company has used very simple imagery to advertise the product. The imagery used in this particular advertisement is the face of a rugby player who has bandage on his forehead. From the figure and the face cutting of the man it is quite evident that he is associated with a sport or an athletic event. This is evident from his broad structural frame. From the bandage on his forehead it is evident that he is associated with a rather violent sport. The tagline below further elucidates the point where the company says that they are proud sponsors of the Irish rugby. The context of the advertisement is also an important point to be noted over here. The company traces its origination back to Ireland. Additionally the bear that the company produces is very famous with Irish people both in Ireland and outside. Also the game of the rugby is very popular amongst the people of Ireland (O’Brien, 2014). The company thus uses a dual pronged strategy in devising this advertisement. On one side the company through this advertisement appeals to the sentiment of the people of Ireland. In their advertisements the company has tried to capitalize on the sentiments of the people of Ireland. One hand they have shown the face of a rugby player with a bandage on his head. On the other hand the company has cleverly advertised their product that is the beer. Through the use a cleverly designed advertisement the company has focussed on both the aspects that are the game of rugby and selling the glass of beer at the same time (Guinness, 2015). Typography Typography is an essential part of any advertisement. This is primarily because people have very little time and they give very little time to an advertisement (Rabinowitz, 2015). In fact there is such large no. of advertisements that exists now days that is it is very difficult for the people to actually remember each and every advertisements they encounter (Gill, 2013). It is thus essential that the advertisements that the company designs appeals to the people or have a lasting impact on them in the brief amount of time that they spare for the particular advertisement. For this to happen, the typography of the advertisement or the text used in the advertisement is very important (Lewis, 2007). It is important to look after the typographical aspect of an advertisement as because chances are if the slogan of the advertisement is not catchy, people will tend to forget the advertisements. In this particular advertisement by Guinness, the company uses the head of the rugby player along with the bandage on his forehead as a clever depiction of the symbolic glass or rather a pint of Guinness. Text used in the advertisement is very less. The text used is just the logo of the company and the associated text that informs the viewers of the advertisement that the company is proud sponsor of the Irish Rugby team. Through the brilliant use of these small texts the company is able to associate the pint of Guinness with the game of the Rugby and there by reconfirming their association with the people of the Ireland or rather the Irish who are the largest customers of the company. Is the advertisement successful Before the advertisement by the company including the TV advertisements that is put out and the sponsorship of rugby event was fast falling for the company. The product that is the pint of the Guinness bear is a major contributor to the profit of the company and so a slight decline in the sales of the bear leads to a major decline in the bottom-line of the company. The no. of pints that were sold in Ireland was flat in the second half of 2007 and had fallen by 7% previously. For the past 10 years the sale of pint of Guinness has declined constantly. In UK the sale of the Guinness has increased by 3%. Diego reported a 5% increase in the profit post the advertisement. The company post this advertisement posted that there was a rise in 7% in half year net sales to about £4.3 billion (Bowers, 2008). For the full year the company expects that it will have 9% operating profit for the full year. Conclusion After analyzing the advertisement of the company from different parts and points from the view of the semiotics it is found that the particular advertisement by the company is very successful. The advertisement appeals to the emotions of the people of Ireland and successfully links the advertisement of the pint of Guinness with the game of Rugby and also tries to increase the sale of the pint of Guinness at the same point. The effectiveness of the advertisement lies in the fact that uses very simple and effective symbols to increase the sales of the pint. The upper body of the rugby player with a bandage on his head is used quite effectively in order to increase the sales of the bear along with promoting the game of Rugby at the same time. References Beasley, R., and Danesi, M., 2002. Persuasive Signs: The Semiotics of Advertising. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Bignell, J., 2002. Media Semiotics: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Bowers, S., 2008. Domino effect works on Guinness sales. [Online]. Available at < http://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/feb/15/diageobusiness.foodanddrink > [Accessed 22 April 2015]. Chandler, D., 2004. Semiotics: The basics. NY: Psychology Press. Chandler, D., 2014. Semiotics for Beginners. [Online]. Available at < http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem01.html > [Accessed 22 April 2015]. Crow, D., 2002. Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics in the Visual Arts. London: AVA Publishing. Danesi, M., 2007. The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice. Canada: University of Toronto Press. Gill, E., 2013. An Essay on Typography. London: Penguin UK. Guinness., 2015. The beer. [Online]. Available at < http://www.guinness.com/en-gb/thebeer.html > [Accessed 22 April 2015]. Leeuwen, T.V., 2005. Introducing Social Semiotics. Oxon: Psychology Press. Lewis, J., 2007. Typography: Design and Practice. NY: Jeremy Mills Publishing. Manning, P., 2012. Semiotics of Drink and Drinking. NY: A&C Black. Martin, B., 2006. Key Terms in Semiotics. NY: A&C Black. O’Brien, B., 2014. Rugby closes on GAA as soccer still most popular sport. [Online]. Available at < http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/rugby-closes-on-gaa-as-soccer-still-most-popular-sport-302892.html > [Accessed 22 April 2015]. Rabinowitz, T., 2015. Exploring Typography. London: Cengage Learning. Bibliography Aston, E., and Savona, G., 2013. Theatre as Sign System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance. London: Routledge. Elam K., 2003. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. London: Routledge. Krampen, M., Oehler, K., Posner, R., Sebeok, T. A., and Uexküll, T. V., 2013. Classics of Semiotics. London: Springer Science & Business Media. Read More