Understanding Advertising Messages - Essay Example

Understanding Advertising Messages There are continuous criticisms, recognition, and perception met while listening to radio, watching television, reading newspapers, magazines, billboards and all other forms of advertisement. This piece of writing offers scrutiny of some of these accomplishments of advertising to realize the significance of these publicity issues. The success of advertisement has been questionable since, at times, the messages do not use the intended group at the right time hence leading to the loss of advertising purpose. There are numerous media used in advertisement such as print media and broadcast advertisements. I am intending to study two magazines and two television programs for a period of two months to verify their effects by going to the magazine publishers and the respective media that air the TV programs. Magazines, which are widely used by most firms due to their ability to access a specific target group with high quality presentations and the fact that they accommodate design options, prestige, influence, believability and long shelf life. (Shimp 367-369). I will consider the models used in different basis such as the number used, gender, facial expressions and their evocation. The setting of the scene, its implications to the moods or emotions and the relationship between the setting and the model is important to be analyzed. I will further consider the possible omissions by regarding not only what has been evidently shown and said but also what is omitted and the implication of leaving such issues. The issue of audience cannot be avoided since it is in fact the reason for advertisement. The strategies used in advertisement should be geared towards persuading the customers or support the product, service or a project. It is therefore important to consider the persuasiveness of the advert in the magazine. I will also confirm if the information being passed is ethical and honest as per the company’s claim. The overall effect of the advert on the customer’s feelings, emotions and the degree in which it attracts the customer is similarly an important issue to reflect on while considering the analysis. I will ask the consumers and the entire public on their take on the magazines advertisement by using questionnaires or verbally interviewing them (Shimp 367-369). Considering the TV advertisements, I will access the ability of the advert contents to appeal to the public. I will intend to check on what the advertiser has done to make the product attractive to the audience by regarding the color, music on the background used, and the models or people involved in the advert. I will scrutinize the targeted audience of the advert and the ability of the advert to reach the audience as anticipated by the company. I will reflect on the statements used and their credibility about the product VHS vs BetaMax The world of entertainment has since changed greatly since 1975 when Sony single handedly revolutionized the manner in which we watch TV, movies and even the approach used in scheduling our evening hours. However, it is unfortunate that the Betamax format cannot withstand the VHS format in the market simply because of advertisement and promotional techniques employed by VHS. BetaMax had very sharp bits, small cassettes that are very much portable, and the hi-fi sound tracks that do not interfere with high-speed duplication compared to the JVC, which did not have same technological advantage as BetaMax.  Several issues affect the technological associated industries such as video formatting which result to a firm’s loss of market share or even closure. Consumers usually concentrate on features that comprise user friendliness and the degree in which utilization knowledge fits into their needs. Businesses should be geared towards meeting the unmet needs of the customers in addition to the already met needs. High tech markets are regarded as vibrant and multifaceted, thus resulting into a varying target market over a period and the complexity of the product also affects market acceptance in different ways. The Complexity of high tech products require a tireless effort by the firm’s marketing department to sufficiently convey the essential information to the consumer to digest the product information and awareness. Complexity and sophistication in the video formatting industry require thorough consideration of the target market and it should be noted that requirement of better consumer education is not predestined to imply an uneducated consumer but to develop an intimate acquaintance of the consumer in order to ensure that the offering captures what the customer considers to be desirable. Being an originator or discoverer in business may not create any difference into any market as far as marketing is concerned. The inventor of a product may eventually become second or third, as long as the initial loyal consumers may compare the pioneers technical abilities with the other new entrants. Subsequent firms may use pioneers technology and disadvantages to neutralize its lead while the pioneer still enjoys the benefits that come from being an inventor such as set of great assets in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. VHS used this technique in overtaking BetaMax despite technological advantages and bigger market share enjoyed by BetaMax. The inventors had vast information about consumer preferences after monitoring their reactions for a long period hence would have taken advantage of the market situation by even improving their inferior advertisement approach as shown in appendix B. Time required to create a dominant standard may be so great that first-mover advantages are minimal and later entrants can maneuver to establish a sustainable winning position before the game is decided, as was the case between the VHS and BetaMax. Each of them had meticulous strengths and weaknesses related with their choices and the level of dedications. BetaMax had several advantages over VHS in different aspects but the VHS advertisement and market strategies overwhelmed BetaMax. Sonys BetaMax, was regarded as a better machine such as a very powerful recording capability compared to the VHS but unfortunately lost the market to the VHS format videocassette player mostly due to inability to satisfy consumer needs and poor advertisement as indicated in appendix A and B. VHS used some of the best strategies in advertising and marketing for their products such as targeting a particular market. Target marketing is a critical factor for firms introducing high tech products since clearly targeted products diffuse more rapidly than non-targeted products. BetaMax mainly targeted the rich who, in most cases are the minority in the society unlike VHS, which primarily targeted the middle class households. VHS recognized the importance of identifying and outlining an object market as well as appreciating the fact that the target market desire may change over time hence adopted flexibility strategy. VHS used various techniques of advertisements in introducing the new video format. VHS used varieties of advertisements to reach their target market, which later built the firm’s goodwill and customer loyalty. VHS introduced product advertisement that was aimed at promoting the video formatting product’s sell with an intention of competing BetaMax. VHS successfully communicated their brand to the target market until they achieved consumer loyalty and awareness. They further convinced their consumers on the importance of their products which increased the sales of the VHS thus leading to sustainability and increase in market share. VHS entered into relationship with many companies that used their brand, which eventually helped it in marketing the VHS products. The smaller players that joined VHS played a bigger role in marketing and promoting VHS. The intense concentration in advertisement of the VHS made BetaMax’s market share to decline from 100% to 28%. VHS have concentrated on their strong points while advertising compared to the Betamax as shown in appendix A and B. Apart from the superiority of BetaMax, all the competitive advantages it had over VHS were not included instead Sony concentrated on their market dominance ability and other features which were not that important. Appendix A-JVC advertisement JVC VIDEO HOME SYSTEM—THE FIRST THREE-HOUR HOME TV RECORDER Appendix B-BetaMax advertisement Works Cited Shimp, Terence A. Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. Mason Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Read More