Advertising: Principles & Practice - Literature review Example

Berlei: Ad Analysis Advertising is defined as promoting a product or brand in the right target audience in relevance to the media vehicle which is most accessed by the target market of the brand or product. Print media is amongst the most widely used modes of advertising from electronic, which includes TV; digital advertising, incorporating the interactive social media, websites etc. It is advertising which helps marketers communicate a product’s Unique Selling Proposition and establish an image for the brand. It is important how a brand is perceived after a certain advertising campaign is rolled out for the target market. An effective advertisement must establish robust brand awareness, create a recall and an accurate image for the brand which the marketers want the consumers to believe (Moriarty et al, 2012; Kotler et al, 2009; Wells et al, 2006). For an advertisement to be good, it must present a certain unique aspect whether through creativity, by its imagery or by the brand or product which it is featuring. Besides this, the basic objective of an advertisement is to educate and inform an audience of the presence of a product. In some cases, it is just to create a buzz in the market so as to refute competition. Each type of ad suits different situations which a brand or a product is facing. Some advertisements are persuasive while others tend to be just informative. Some ads aim to trigger fear (such as public service messages to discourage use to demerit goods) while some ads aim to boost sales. However, not all advertisements’ aim is to promote a product or to leverage sales. Some advertisements’ objective is to create a brand out of a product. This is done by designing the elements of an ad in such a way which is relevant to the target market’s preferences (Moriarty et al, 2012; Kotler et al, 2009; Wells et al, 2006; Keller, 1998). The attached advertisement is of a brand called Berlei which deals in ladies undergarments. Berlei belongs to the Berlei Group which is operative in Australia and is a division of Pacific Brands. The brand’s USP is the comfort which it provides women from wearing Berlei. All of its communications highlight this Unique Selling Proposition. The attached print ad will be critically examined and the elements which are included and promoted in the latter will be reviewed (Berlei (N.Z.) Ltd., 1950). From the attached ad, it can be observed that the target market which Berlei has selected is females in the age group 18 to 35 years. This is done because the market of Australia do not like associate themselves with an aging brand. Because of this fact, along with threat from competition, Berlei had to reposition itself to use females from the above mentioned age group. The market of women underwear is categorized in two classes, the first being the women who prefer comfort over anything else. These women can be categorized as somewhat introvert but however, are at ease with themselves. The second category of the market is women who fashion conscious and will even compromise comfort over fashion. The target market of the brand is women who give priority to comfort over fashion. Research shows that women own about 8 – 10 bras out of which, four to five bras are kept for regular and everyday use. Berlei sees this market as with the most lucrative potential as for everyday use, Berlei’s bras would be perfect as the technological support which the company has to produce bras which are most comfortable, will compliment Berlei’s objective. The target market can also be gauged from the style of the bra itself which does not seem fashionable at all. This goes on to imply further that the market of Berlei comprises of women who want to feel comfortable and not get uncomfortable with stitching, dug-ins, wire supported fishbone support etc. Moreover, the ad has appeared in an issue of Harper’s Bazaar Australia which itself is positioned as a fashion magazine for “women who are first to buy the best from casual to couture”. The magazine is targeted towards the upper class and the upper-middle class with the readership by women aged from 18 – 3 years from which, it can be deduced that the brand Berlei is meant to be for SEC A, B+ and B and women who are aged between 18 – 35 years (Advertising Federation of Australia Limited, 2002; Kilbourne, 1999). The woman in the advertisement is shown in a natural environment with the ad-copy saying “Feel super natural”. Here, inference to Berlei being comfortable is strongly made. It suggests that by wearing Berlei’s bras, women would feel as if they are wearing nothing or in other words, the comfort of wearing Berlei’s Wowfit bras is as good as being naked (Berlei (N.Z.) Ltd, 1950). The ad-copy can be divided into five parts where the first will be where the audience is being told that Berlei’s Wowfit would make the consumer feel very comfortable. The second part features a puffery statement which implies that that bra would provide adequate support and at the same time, make the consumer feel light, bringing out the best shape. The second part of the copy would start from ‘With Out Wire’ which explains the sub-brand of Wowfit. In essence, the brand of Wowfit itself promotes an important or rather a unique attribute of the bra having no wires as support like other bras do. This is followed by another line which says “Seeing is believing”. This invites the consumers from trying it out themselves. Hence, the claim of Berlei providing the best of comfort is made more believable by the copy “Seeing is believing”. The next important part of the copy is the lines which are promoting the attributes of the brand to support the claim of high performance which is consistently advertised throughout the advertisement. As the whole idea of the ad revolves around informing the audience that Berlei’s Wowfit is a highly comfortable undergarment, this ad also integrates the big idea of providing comfort with a bra which is so light that it “defies gravity” and also, makes the consumers feel “super natural”. Other than that, the line “Patented cup technology’ ensures the uniqueness of Berlei’s Wowfit and this line is used in order to intrigue the consumers who would then associate Berlei with a high level of specialty in the category of ladies’ undergarments. Including this in an ad would say the brand of Berlei is serious in the business and is determined to provide a great experience to the ladies who would buy and wear Berlei. After that, the last section of the whole ad copy mentions the different sizes in which Berlei’s Wowfit are available (Jefkins et al, 2000) . As mentioned above, the brand of Berlei stands for the level of comfort which it promises to provide the consumers. All the brand extensions of Berlei provide comfort and ease either one way or the other, depending on what women prefer to wear. This ad in particular, depicts Berlei’s Wowfit as the ultimate product which would provide a light feeling to the consumers besides giving the best shape of the bust. To complement this, the imagery of a farm is used which is portrayed as a natural environment and a lady dressed in underwear in the latter setting is portrayed as living in the natural environment. The logo of Berlei is places at the top right aligned position highlighted in red which seems to promote the corporate brand of Berlei. Organizations often use this strategy of Brand proliferation to cash on the corporate brand which is already established. This goes on to suggest that the brand of Berlei must have been present in the market long enough for the consumers to become aware of the values which Berlei offers. This way, as soon as the consumers would come across the insertion, they will be more receptive to the imagery. Also, the image of the female in her underwear with an attractive body, along with the brand of Berlei, would have a strong stopping power as the latter would also be taken as an icon amongst the target audience (Wells et al, 2006; Jefkins et al, 2000). As mentioned above, that women will not associate themselves with a brand that has an aging image, using a young model like this advertisement has, would tend to be more attractive than showing mannequins (Advertising Federation of Australia Limited, 2002). People would be able to relate more to the imagery which has been used here. However, the phrase supernatural has two meanings. The woman in her underwear in the middle of a farm or cultivation might be taken as somewhat daft by the audience. On the other hand, the essence of the advertisement is to highlight and promote the fact that wearing Berlei’s Wowfit would be so comfortable that it would feel like as if one is wearing nothing. To see whether the ad has served its purpose or not, research such as focus groups will have to be conducted in order to gauge that whether the ad was rightly perceived or ignored or taken as insensible (Kilbourne, 1999; Chevalier et al, 2008; Corbellini et al, 2010). References ADVERTISING FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED. (2002). Berlei: Sitting in a Very Comfortable Position. Advertising Federation Of Australia Limited. 2002. Online. 7th May 2012. Available on BERLEI (N.Z.) LTD. (1950). Berlei beauty: a contribution by Berlei to the beauty of womankind. Auckland [N.Z.], Carlton-Carruthers Ltd CHEVALIER, M., & MAZZALOVO, G. (2008). Luxury brand management: a world of privilege. Singapore, John Wiley & Sons (Asia). CORBELLINI, E., & SAVIOLO, S. (2010). Managing fashion and luxury companies. Milano, Etas. JEFKINS, F. W., & YADIN, D. L. (2000). Advertising. Harlow, Financial Times Prentice Hall KELLER, K. L. (1998). Strategic brand management: building, measuring and managing brand equity. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall. KILBOURNE, J. (1999). Deadly persuasion: why women and girls must fight the addictive power of advertising. New York, NY, Free Press WHITE, A. (2007). Advertising design and typography. New York, Allworth Press. KOTLER, P., & KELLER, K. L. (2009). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson Prentice Hall. MORIARTY, S. E.,MITCHELL, N., & WELLS, W. (2012).Advertising & IMC: principles & practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall/Pearson. WELLS, W., BURNETT, J., & MORIARTY, S. E. (2006).Advertising: principles & practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson/Prentice Hall Read More