Advertising Effectiveness - Coursework Example

Advertising Effectiveness (Carlsberg) Marketing to an audience which uses beer and alcohol can be risky. This is because it consists of those people who like to see it get promoted and then there are the masses who are simply opposed to the whole idea. The positives and negatives need to be studied with regards to marketing on alcohol. The positives are that it brings a sort of choosing platform for the eventual consumers of alcohol when it comes to brand and the negatives include the wrong target market which is touched upon. The role of society is something that has to be understood in the proper contexts here. It is just not fulfilling its duties with the amount of dedication and devotion it should have in the first place. [Baker, 2004] The society is thus no way close to being a perfect fit for this hopeless situation. The psychological angle related with a patient is exploited when a marketing activity portrays a particular brand of alcohol as being the best one for his needs and wants, in fact the same had ruined up his domestic and social life. Hence the implications to think from social and psychological perspectives are pertinent. Now in such a situation when beer and alcohol are marketed, the society has to bear the brunt for the kind of thinking which is present within it. This means that the liberalists would see this as a step in the right direction and would feel nothing in entirety when they see beer brand promotions. However the hard line opposition groups would exert their pressure and force their way into the companies’ stance related with its marketing, advertising and different promotional campaigns. [The Impact of Alcohol in Society, 2005] Marketing is not a bad thing but then again it should be developed in such a manner that the people who detest consumption within the confines of a society should not get offended. Their relation with the product and indeed the whole concept of alcoholism must remain intact and the negative feelings should be warded off no matter what happens. However this is easier said than done really and in the factual sense becomes a real nightmare for the marketers when they have to get the cutting edge campaign dedicated solely to their primary target audiences. Carlsberg is a famous international brand, brought forward by The Carlsberg Group. In essence, Carlsberg is a brewing company which was founded in the year 1847. Last year marked the 160th founding year of Carlsberg. Carlsberg was established by J C Jacobsen as he coined the company’s name after his son’s name – Carl Jacobsen. [Carlsberg Breweries - Welcome to Carlsberg, 2007] Its headquarters is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The most famous brands coming out from the Carlsberg Group is the Carlsberg Beer and Tuborg. Apart from these brands, it also produces local beers in the markets. At present, Carlsberg is the fifth largest brewery group in the world. It merged with a Norwegian brewery group – Orkla ASA in the year 2001 and thus gained quite a fair share of the world’s brewery markets. Carlsberg has more than 30,000 employees working under its hold. The exportation of Carlsberg Beer initiated in the year 1868 and exactly 100 years later, in 1968, foreign brewing kicked off. This so happened due to an opening of a Carlsberg brewery in Malawi. Carlsberg comes under the beverages industry and its products mostly comprise of beers and lagers. Its revenue in the year 2006 was estimated at 41,083 million. [British brewer rejects new Carlsberg-Heineken bid, 2008] Carlsberg has made an unmatchable name and equity for itself in the world’s brewery markets. Because of this its advertising is made with utmost care and finer details are looked into with precision and accuracy. Add to that huge spending within the advertising of Carlsberg makes more reason that it will continue to survive in a cut throat competition that is marred by competitors of world class stature as well as private (retail) brands and mushrooms thronging the market every now and then. With that there are counterfeits which could mar the whole basis of equity that Carlsberg has built over a period of time and look to dismantle the reputation it has built with the beer drinking people. [Accounting Principles, 2002] The kind of advertising that should be done for a brewing company has to be very precise and pointed towards the right target audiences. This is because it could easily bring resentment from the publics outside of the suggested and selected target markets. This resentment could lead to protests and demonstrations against Carlsberg and thus bring a bad name to its operational basis. Thus all efforts must be planned beforehand by the helm of affairs at Carlsberg to guarantee that the people for whom the beer and lagers are not targeted do not feel negative about the advertising done and the message which goes through the different deliverables of creative execution are hitting the nail on the head. The copy, scripting, art work, headlines, slogans and all other facets of Carlsberg’s advertising needs to be on the dot and a missing link must be removed right from the onset of each and every campaign. “Probably the best beer in the world” – this is the famous tagline of Carlsberg. The advertising agency behind the tagline was Saatchi & Saatchi, coined in the year 1973. This message was directed towards the United Kingdom brewery markets. [Probably the best lager, 2005] However it was after a decade or so, within the 1980s that this tagline started to make its visibility in the corporate commercials and advertisements and thus made a strong effect on the way the target audiences related itself with the brand that they loved to drink – Carlsberg. As for its featuring in a movie is concerned, Carlsberg has been screened in ‘Ice-Cold in Alex’, a 1958 British film which was based upon the book bearing the same name, penned by Christopher Landon, a British author. [Ice-Cold in Alex, 2008] The lines from this movie gave birth to the well known advertising slogans for Carlsberg – “worth waiting for”. This attracted a sense of longing and craving for the people who loved to have a drink from the Carlsberg drawer. The positive impacts are such that the people who are normal beer consumers would receive thorough know-how of a particular brand of beer as well as have more choices from which they can pick their favorite one. But the downside is that the negative impact is much more lethal. The ethical angle should also be considered since kids, teenagers and non-beer consumers are also attracted to the marketing campaigns. There should be proper guidance for these people and the campaigns must list who must drink and who should abstain from the same. This means that the benefits of choice and the disadvantages of getting to the undesired audiences are both two sides of the same coin. The marketing gurus need to take care of both the social and the psychological constructs before delving any further on their respective agendas. The advertising professionals must always be on high alert when it comes to understanding the emotional values of the audiences under study and there must be no ‘miss’ whatsoever. As for its advertising and sponsorship deals are concerned, Carlsberg will be one of the major sponsors at the Euro 2008. It also was a successful sponsor at the 2004 European Football Championship where its slogan “probably the best beer in the world” was used. Carlsberg was a sponsor in the 1990 FIFA World Cup as well. [Carlsberg ad kicks off. (breweries television advertising), 2006] For the last 15 years, Carlsberg has been promoting the Liverpool F C in a successful manner. Also it has been sponsoring the F C Copenhagen, Toronto F C, Selby Town, Havant and Waterlooville, Montreal Impact, Odense B K and Pirin Blagoevgrad. Apart from these clubs, Carlsberg has been the secondary sponsor for the Republic of Ireland National Football team as well as Tottenham Hotspur F C. [Milman, 2008] The primary sponsor was Eircom. Not only soccer, but also skiing and golf have remained the major sports that are being sponsored by Carlsberg over a long period of time. The advertising of Carlsberg does not end here. It has gone one step further and sponsored the Carlsberg Sky Tower in Singapore. Its slogan is “probably the best view in the world” playing on its earlier successful slogan “probably the best beer in the world” and thus having a direct relation with the slogan that was used before. This puts the consumers, viewers and all concerned with the brand ‘Carlsberg’ in line with the basic objectives that Carlsberg wants to attract them with. [Carlsberg Sky Tower View] These are in essence the consumption of the best beer that they could have if they could entertain themselves with Carlsberg and thus enjoy and have a merry time. Tuborg, another of Carlsberg’s famous brands sponsored the 2007 Download Festival at Donington Park in England. [Tuborg] When it comes to a wide angle understanding of Carlsberg supporting events and the like, one must not forget that Carlsberg supported The Institute of Theoretical Physics, based in Copenhagen, Denmark as it went about developing the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. Carlsberg brewery was thus responsible for making this evolution come to life by being an earnest supporter of the development process during the 1920s and 1930s. The role of Carlsberg in supporting different events, music, sports, public gatherings, scientific research and happenings is immense and credit is surely given to Carlsberg for all these undertakings. For Carlsberg, effective advertising is basically the adherence to catering to the beer and lagers towards the selected audiences in a way that could only be remarked as direct and to the point. There must not be any wastage as such within the whole domain of marketing communications as brought forward by Carlsberg in essence. Thus what is happening within this front is that the target audience is having a clear cut idea of the product which is Carlsberg and there is an adequate enough connection between the company and the selected audiences in a head on manner. This indeed is the efficiency and effectiveness that the aspect of advertising and more so marketing had brought to the whole exercise of making Carlsberg and its products aware to the relevant audiences. This issue is raised all more so often when advertising and its different nuances are properly aligned with mechanisms like measuring the manner in which people actually came to understand the message put forward by Carlsberg as well as the way in which Carlsberg’s advertising started to create the much needed recognition and recall within them. [Randen & Lunde, 2006] This indeed is a proper measuring point between the implied domains of success and failure in the truest sense. For Carlsberg, the message needs to be in such a manner that it is reaching out to the audience in much the same manner as it was devised for, by the marketing communication team and the advertising agency recruited for completing the advertising norms and procedures in the most effective manner possible. “Probably the best litter in the world” campaign This above-pasted advertisement was created by Carlsberg in order to make the people aware that Carlsberg did not believe in littering the world. Hence the copy and the artwork for this creative deliverable was in line with “probably the best litter in the world”, which suggested that if Carlsberg would litter the world, then it would shower the world with money notes of 10 and 20 pounds each. This is exactly what Carlsberg did in the end. It dropped more than 5000 pounds worth of money around the streets of London with 10 and 20 pound money notes. [Philpott, 2008] All of these notes had a removable sticker on them which read that Carlsberg does not believe in littering the world and if it ever did, this is the best manner that it finds feasible. Moreover the saying was directly from the mouth of the Queen of England, which in essence meant that Carlsberg had done its homework in advance. Carlsberg knew that the people adhered to what the Queen had to say and they would staunchly believe her sayings. Thus it gave Carlsberg all the more reason to attach their own selves with the Queen and get the message endorsed by her. In a way, this was advertising in an effective manner yet the ethical concerns could be raised by all and sundry since different sections of the English society would not approve of the Queen being associated with a brewing company in any way, especially the parents who would not like their young ones to try beer at such a young age. However one should believe that the advertisement was somewhat successful in delivering a message in a peculiar way and it did create the effect that it was looking for, in the relevant circles. The advertising agency for this Carlsberg advertisement was again Saatchi & Saatchi, London, United Kingdom. [arc, 2006] This kind of advertising is in the form of ambient media where certain advertising deliverables are dropped from the air so that the impact could be heavenly in nature. Carlsberg played on its approach of attracting the varied segments of people but looked at dropping the money notes on the streets of London and not in any rural or sub-urban area lying in close vicinity of London. It wanted to create an impact on the people who mattered most and who would actually go about and make decisions as per the advertising and awareness-creating programs that were undertaken by Carlsberg itself. One can also understand that Carlsberg has continuously lived on with the “probably the best beer in the world” slogan for a long period of time and it is attaching itself too much in close company with ‘viewing’, ‘litter’ and so on. However one should comprehend the fact that it is this strong association with the slogan “probably the best beer in the world” that is bringing recall for the brand itself and thus in essence it is rightly adjudged as one of the leading brands when it comes to the brewing industry, not to forget social awareness in one way or the other. [Beale, 2007] Carlsberg has direct competition with Budweiser and Heineken and it is for this reason that Carlsberg’s advertising ratings are measured in close alliance with that of Budweiser and others. The interactive television advertising campaign conducted within United Kingdom showed that more than 200,000 households within the country had considerable reach for brewery advertisements – presented forward by both Carlsberg and Budweiser in essence. This suggests to the whole related industry of brewing of which Carlsberg and Budweiser are just a part that the industry has a lot of potential to tap the related market however what is needed is to discern a proper way through which the potential and existing consumers of beer could be reached in the most effective and productive manner possible. What this research within UK showed that consumers and more so the viewers used to dedicate more time on the advertisements which had creativity embedded within their commercials to a greater extent than the ones which lacked the same or had little elements of creative execution. [Anheuser Busch] This eventually formed a huge part of the manner in which people perceived advertising to be undertaken by Carlsberg and Budweiser, as well as a host of other competitors – big or small, however related with the brewing business and the related industry. When it comes to pure statistical data, Carlsberg campaign reached 429,000 household interactions while the competitor, Budweiser had 197,000 household interactions. Same is the case with the competition in Chinese brewery markets as well. [Madsen, 2006] Another competitor, Carling had 105,000 household interactions to its advertising that was measured through the commercials which were produced over a period of time and run exclusively within United Kingdom. The respective response rates for these campaigns had Carlsberg in the lead – at 1.5% higher, while Budweiser and Carling were at 0.5% and 0.4% respectively. Thus it can easily be gauged here that Carlsberg was able to make an effective advertising statement within the UK market domains and that it played a quintessential part in making its advertising objectives clear to one and all. Advertising could only be termed as effective if it properly reaches the target audiences, UK being as a case in terms of providing an example, where the people sit up and take notice, weigh this product in line with the competitors and eventually reach out to the places where it is sold and consume it to satisfy their need, want or desire. This indeed is the sole objective behind advertising and that too for a brewing brand which has made it big with the passage of considerable time. Carlsberg surely knows that it is hitting the right tangents to make its own self heard and that too in a big way. Now is the time for its competitors to be wary of its existence, its potential to shake the market vigorously and to create ripples within it on and off. Thus advertising effectiveness in the end could be remarked as a significant feature of the whole advertising ball game. It brings to light the aspects which have not been touched upon in the past and looks to exploit the strengths that were present within the earlier campaigns of the product, Carlsberg in this case as well as look to maximize the opportunities that could be had from those strengths in the first place. Beer and alcohol consumption is indeed a very fine line between mediocrity and excellence and all efforts need to be incorporated so as to touch this significant premise. [Carlsberg (Denmark), 2007] One last thing of importance here is that doing advertising for a major brand like Carlsberg is indeed easy but the manner in which it reaches out to consumers and potential ones is what exactly advertising effectiveness is all about and this is the solitary aspect that requires quintessential importance within the realms of comprehending what advertising indeed is all about. Bibliography Author Unknown. (2007). Carlsberg Breweries - Welcome to Carlsberg. World Cruise Network. Found Online at: http://www.worldcruise-network.com/contractors/food/carlsberg/ Author Unknown. (2007). Carlsberg (Denmark). Found Online at: http://www.mind-advertising.com/dk/carlsberg_dk.htm Author Unknown. (2006). Carlsberg ad kicks off. (breweries television advertising). Grocer. Found Online at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5245/is_200604/ai_n19854945 Author Unknown. (2006). arc. Found Online at: http://www.advertising-research.com/about_arc.htm Author Unknown. (2005). Probably the best lager. DIAGEO Ireland. Found Online at: http://www.diageo.ie/brands/carlsberg Author Unknown. Anheuser Busch. Budweiser. Found Online at: http://company.monster.co.uk/anheuseruk/ Author Unknown. (2005). The Impact of Alcohol in Society. DIAGEO. Found Online at: http://www.diageo.com/en-row/CorporateCitizenship/Theimpactofalcoholinsociety/ Author Unknown. (2002). Accounting Principles. ORKLA. Found Online at: http://www.borregaard.ru/aarsrapp/engelsk/accounts/principles/1_1_amp_print_true.html Author Unknown. (2008). British brewer rejects new Carlsberg-Heineken bid. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Found Online at: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1385764.php/British_brewer_rejects_new_Carlsberg-Heineken_bid Author Unknown. Tuborg. Carlsberg Group. Found Online at: http://www.carlsberggroup.com/brands/Pages/Tuborg.aspx Author Unknown. Carlsberg Sky Tower View. Found Online at: http://www.pbase.com/jameslclarke/cstview06 Author Unknown. (2008). Ice-Cold in Alex. IMDb. Found Online at: http://media-imdb.com/title/tt0053935/ Baker, Frank. (2004). Analyzing Alcohol Ads & Marketing. Found Online at: http://www.frankwbaker.com/alcoholads.htm Beale, Claire. (2007). Claire Beale on Advertising. The Independent. Found Online at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/claire-beale-on-advertising-446770.html Madsen, Jesper B. (2006). Developing in the Chinese Beer Market ---- The Perspective of a Global Brewer. CEIBS. Found Online at: http://www.ceibs.edu/knowledge/ceforum/16110.shtml Milman, Oliver. (2008). Carlsberg plans blitz as minnows set up Liverpool tie. mad.co.uk. Found Online at: http://www.mad.co.uk/BreakingNews/BreakingNews/Articles/ddf9fe2ba6704f7f9d7da081eb38d164/Carlsberg-plans-blitz-as-minnows-set-up-Liverpool-tie.html Philpott, Tony. (2008). Adland. Found Online at: http://www.marketing.ie/mar05/article2.htm Randen, Kari & Lunde, Trine S. (2006). Marketing without Limits. The Globe. Found Online at: http://www.ias.org.uk/resources/publications/theglobe/globe200204/gl200204_p9.html Word Count: 3,044 Read More