Lickable Marketing: The Welch Grape Juice Print Advertisement - Essay Example

5 October Lickable Marketing: The Welch Grape Juice Print Advertisement In the February edition of People, it advertised a product, not only for seeing, but for licking as well. While other juices are limited to simply making their ads look delicious, Welch promoted its 100% grape juice by offering a sample through its advertisement. Jib Fowles offers the fifteen basic advertisement appeals that are useful in understanding the intention of this ad and evaluating its effectiveness in using these appeals. The ad uses the appeals to physiological needs, need for curiosity, need to escape, need to feel safe, and need for autonomy. It is trying to sell the image that its juice is so delicious that even on paper, it tastes good, and by using a novel way of marketing through the sense of taste, it improves the interaction between the brand and the consumer, thereby possibly forging a closer connection, one that is based on trust and loyalty. The ploy to increase the connection between the brand and the consumer is effective, once they lick the ad and find it delicious enough to be purchased. The ad is successful in appealing to the needs of curiosity, safety, and escape of consumers, although autonomy may not be successfully attained without the actual interaction process (licking and buying) that can make this ad truly successful. The entire ad is an interactive process that can effectively engage people through their physiological need and curiosity. The ad says that it is 100% grape juice. This sends the message that it is edible as a product, and people have the natural need to satisfy their thirst and hunger. Products that are natural tend to be delicious too. The ad wants to make people see and smell the delicious value of their product through something they can lick and smell at the same time, without even buying the product yet. It is successful on this regard because it becomes the ultimate taste test that can be done anytime and anywhere, as long as people have the ad with them. Near the Welch bottle, it says, “For a tasty fact, remove and lick.” The process of removing the tag stimulates the engagement process, which can eventually lead to licking it, since some people can be very curious. The ad only has to start the peeling process, so that people can think that since they peeled it, they might as well lick it. By placing the licking portion near the Welch bottle, it helps people imagine that they are licking the juice, and not a piece of paper. Since this is juice, it somewhat removes the “icky” factor. Furthermore, choosing a pristine white background for the ad provides a sense of cleanliness. It makes the ad appear hygienic to clean, thereby reducing the “icky” factor. Thus, the interactive process and background can effectively push consumers to taste the ad. Welch ensures the cleanliness of its ad by promoting its ingredients and other factors done to guarantee an edible ad. The ad contains the ingredients and other factors that can make people feel safe in tasting it. People have a need for safety that the ad wants to respond to. It wants to tell customers that they can lick the ad and nothing bad will happen to them. Furthermore, the sense of safety is increased by focusing on the actual product. The ad stresses that the lickable part stands for the product itself. If the product is safe and delicious, the ad will also taste just as good. Welch sells the naturalness of its product, which is why it adds “natural” on the label. The word “natural” evokes positive images of a good health and a long and enjoyable life. It aligns with people’s need for safety in their future, a future where they can live long and healthy lives. Furthermore, Welch focuses on its “natural antioxidants” to send the message that the product is good for people’s health. People, who are familiar with what antioxidants are, know that these are good for their body. It can protect them from cancer and early aging. With the positive values of the words “natural” and “antioxidant,” the consumers can connect Welch and the natural need for safety in the long run. At the same time, these positive emotions and images encourage them to try the ad in a physical sense. If the product is so good and healthy, the ad must be good too. Thus, the ad connects safety needs with the compulsion to taste the ad. The lettering size and font of the advertisement seek to appeal to the “child inside” all consumers. The size of the font of the Welch name stands out and the next fonts that are near to its size is the line that says: “For a tasty fact, remove and lick.” The size is crucial to connecting the act of licking to trusting the Welsh brand. The lettering is playful with shadow effects. The ploy is to engage the consumers’ childlike side, so that they will be adventurous enough to lick it. The shadows seem like the shadows of children playing and having fun. For any first time licker, the act of licking is very personal, but as a child, it becomes easier to do so. A child, after all, does not find anything disgusting in licking things. Children suspend the idea of hygiene because of their curiosity and active natures, and these are attitudes that the ad wants to incite among readers. They want people to forget their hygiene norms and become fully participant in the ad process. In addition, the childlike countenance of the ad can be seen as encouraging adults to escape. The need for escape is important to adults because it helps them forget their multiple responsibilities and roles in life, as well as the stress they experience at work and home. To escape means to be free. In the process of interacting with the ad, some people can suspend the reality of their lives and focus on it. Through a novel experience, the exhilaration of escaping can be fulfilling in itself. It is as if the adult is a child once more without any troubles in life. And it is all because they took some time to read the ad, peel it, and taste it. Hence, the lettering approach is effectively designed to increase the connection to childlike behaviors, which can justify licking ads. Connected with the need for escape is the need for autonomy, which the brand promotes through giving the power of choice to consumers. Consumers can peel and lick the ad, or not. They can resist their curiosity if they want. The sense of autonomy is not that authentic however, but for this ad, it may seem real to the audience. If consumers connect the health values of the ad with their need to independently make health choices, then they might feel independent by purchasing the brand. By buying this product, they are saying that they know how to choose correctly for their health and lives. Nevertheless, the appeal to autonomy might backfire. Consumers might not be interested in licking paper, even if it is made to be edible enough for licking. They might focus more on their autonomy to not lick, thereby reducing the positive connection with the product. Without the licking process, the ad does not actively engage consumers and attain the goal of making customers understand the delicious quality of Welch. Still, another way of affecting the customers is making them buy the products. They might not want to lick the ad, so they might be encouraged to buy it. The curiosity for the taste may be so high that the actual buying process is started. These are some activation processes that positive feelings with a new ad can stimulate. The ad effectively deals with the limitations of print ads for food and juice products by engaging multiple senses. Print ads embodies distinctive challenges for marketers because they cannot offer “sound or motion,” the two elements that ads can attract consumers, according to Paul Caine, president of Time Inc.'s Entertainment Group (Vranica). To integrate taste can be a unique way of making the ad interesting for people (Vranica). People are bombarded with all sorts of advertisements that affect their senses. They hear, see, and look at ads all the time. With the advent of the Internet, print ads are losing opportunities to engage their consumers. As a result, they have to think of something new that can entice customers, and one of the best ways is through the element of taste for food and drinks. Taste cannot be separated from smelling, as well as feeling. Once the customers taste and smell the juice, they might have positive experiences that personalize their relationship with the brand. They might think more intimately of the brand, since they tasted it. The true effectiveness of this ad can only be measured by actual purchases, although the licking part enhances the purchasing behavior. A cognitive scientist, Lisa Haverty, underscores the link between licking the ad and connecting with it: “It's hard to forget whose brand you are licking (Vranica). However, the actual taste of the ad matters a great deal to its success. Haverty reminds marketers that people will never forget a bad taste experience: “If the taste is unpleasant or not good, the ad could flop worse than a regular ad” (Vranica). The element of tasting can shape the overall brand experience. If the taste experience is bad, people will spread word of mouth of their bad experience. This can harm the image of the product in the long run. More so, if people got sick, the more that the product will have bad brand associations. However, if the brand tastes good on paper, it sends the right message that can help the ad attain its marketing goals. Something that tastes good on paper cannot possibly taste bad in real life, at least some people will think of it this way. In addition, it is important to have a brand that tastes as it is in the ad. Even better, the product should taste better in real life. This way, the product exceeds customer expectations. Otherwise, the established trust will be lost and the brand loyalty may be gone forever. Welch experiments with a new form of advertisement by changing how people see print ads. It tries to engage customers by adding the sense of taste, which can impact the sense of smell and feeling. Some people might not be interested in this ad, but Welch takes significant measures to assure the hygiene and taste of the ad. It knows that the taste of the ad can make or destroy its product. Furthermore, it is the kind of advertising that tries to make the ad a more physical experience, an experience that can enhance customer engagement. It appeals to people’s childlike attitudes, so that they can overlook their hygiene and eating norms to taste the ad. The engagement, if successful, can lead to trust, especially when the needs for safety, autonomy, escape, and thirst are met. Licking is an intimate process that serves important emotional connections between the brand and consumers. Without licking however, there may be no buying. Or, the ad might be so novel that customers might want to buy the product in the first place. Overall, the ad successfully creates interest to its product, which can extend from the ad to the actual buying process. Work Cited Vranica, Suzanne. “Marketers Salivate Over Lickable Ads.” The Wall Street Journal, 13 Feb. 2008. Web. 2 Oct. 2005. Read More