Background and Context of Advertising - Term Paper Example

Advertising Introduction Any organized human activity, which is done in-group or as a team, most times will be constituted in an ‘umbrella’ like structure, called organization. Therefore, organization is a structure with a ‘collage’ of humans doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader. These workers will be normally apportioned into different departments for better arrangement or streamlining of work. Among the many departments, the marketing department’s role is omnipresent and crucial. Marketing department by using various options including advertisements will only boost an organization, by building a brand image for it, or for its products. This building of brand image and the resultant brand association through advertisements is a multi-layered process. In that multilayer, emotion forms a prominent layer helping in the building up and association of brands. That is, all mentally aware humans express emotions in different situations of their lives, because of which they will exhibit or experience various nice feelings from comfortableness to nostalgia. When these nice feelings flow in the mind anything associated with it, including the catalyst of those feelings will get ingrained into the individual’s mind. Background If there is a reason why all companies set aside a considerable amount for advertising, it is only because they are well aware of the influential effect that commercials can have on its viewers. More specifically, children tend to believe that a particular product can be extremely satisfying based on how attractive the commercial is. When analyzed, we may realize that there are several aspects to the process of making a commercial, which all contribute to the effect that it leaves on its viewers. The advertisement that is under analysis is for the ‘m&m’ chocolate which came out in the 90’s. Considering the fact that its target audience is children and teenagers, the commercial is a cartoon, which then, was quite popular. Cartoon commercials are often considered pleasant and can make the product seem very genuine. This effect has been used in this commercial. Most food brands have slogans to identify their product. This slogan is repeated in all advertisements of the same brand. The use of slogans usually has a considerable influence on its viewers especially children. In all of the ‘m&m’ commercials, it may be seen that there are two lines, ‘melts in your mouth, not your hands’ and ‘open your hands and smile’ used. All products require having something special in order to market their product. Food brands in general, either explain how nutritious the product is or how the product is superior in quality and taste when compared to each other. In this particular product, the ‘m&m’, the product quality is advertised. The aspects that have been discussed include process, context, framework and production elements. Production elements include editing and in case of this advertisement, animating. Context It is a well known reality that people from all walks of life tend to act or react in different situations based on emotions, and not on logic. This truth is also applicable to the advertisements. That is, when common people view or hear advertisements, initially logic will not matter because the human mind will not look for features of the product or services offered in advertisements, but will look at the emotional message it conveys. When the emotional message of the advertisement reaches and entices the viewer’s mind, then only the viewer will look at the features that give benefits to them and make the eventual purchase. Different form of advertisements, be it Television ads or print ads or ads on the Internet will be viewed by the customers any time without set schedule. That is, advertisements shown or heard normally do not follow a schedule like TV programmes, but will be visible or audible to the common people or prospective customers at any time. At that time, customer could in any place, any situation, any mood etc, and if an advertisement with an inbuilt emotional aspect is seen or heard by them, it will surely reach theirs mind. So, the advertisements should need to strike a chord in the human mind by touching on their desires, needs etc and offer solution or benefits to them. If an advertisement does that, the product or service featured in it, will become a brand that the customer will tend to associate. Then, the people will look at the benefits the product or service offers and justify their emotional decision, thus giving importance to the emotional aspect. This concept means that the factual information about the product or service or the logic behind the advertisement will be pushed behind emotional aspect. In a commercial, the context defines the goal of the commercial and what it intends to convey to its viewers. The need for the commercial, the idea contained in it or the statement that is meant to promote the product defines the context of the commercial. In the case of this animated commercial, the idea that is meant to be communicated to the audience is that ‘m&m’ chocolates are better than any other chocolate. The commercial is meant to leave a positive emotional effect on the minds of its viewers regarding the product. This may be achieved by positive visual depiction. For instance, in this advertisement, all the characters are shown to be extremely cheerful and smiling. Even the idea of a camp, similar to a military camp is shown to be a very happy place, where the blobs of chocolate are training to be the best chocolate available. This kind of visual graphics makes the viewer feel positive about the product. It has become very important to understand the needs or expectations of the consumers before creating an advertisement. In the ‘m&m’ advertisement, they have taken note of the fact that consumers are unhappy about chocolate melting in their hands or before consumption. This aspect, which is a disadvantage, has been taken and used in favor of the company, saying that they use candy-coated milk chocolate which enhances the taste as well as keeps the chocolate from melting. This is the context under which the ‘m&m’ commercial has been created, creating a large emotional impact on its viewers with the cheerful and enthusiastic cartoon characters with bright voices. It gives the viewer a good and positive feeling as they watch the cartoon characters cheerfully moving and in song. It can have a very strong impact on children specially, which makes them choose that particular product over several others that may be available in the market. Framework Framework generally refers to the simplified description of a complex entity or process such as the process of making an advertisement. The framework of a commercial includes aspects such as gathering information, deciding the genre of the advertisement, the method of implementing the idea contained in the advertisement and so on. First, it is necessary to gather information regarding the product and how the product has been welcomed by its customers so far. This will have an effect on the way the idea is presented to its viewers in the commercial. For instance, if the product to be advertised is already popular, the commercial has to reuse the central theme of that has been followed in all of the commercials of the particular product. If the product has only been introduced, it may be better to come up with an idea that will instantly grab attention, bringing to the notice of its viewers the new brand. However, the commercial under discussion is of a rather popular chocolate production company. In this case, it is only necessary to reuse the theme of animated characters of chocolate blobs in a storyline that implies that the chocolate brand has and always will be the best when in comparison to any other product. Next is the decision of the genre of the advertisement. The advertisement may be serious, reaching to the emotional or psychological factor of a viewer or may be funny or cute, aiming to reach the sense of humor or appreciation of art of its viewer. In the ‘m&m’ commercial, there has been no serious approach. Although many products use the comparison technique and compare its own products with other products of the same category to prove that they are better, the advertisement under discussion has not used this technique as they follow a specific pattern. The method of implementation is also an important part of the framework. The idea that has been formulated needs to be effectively conveyed to its viewers by standing out among many other commercials that may be viewed by them. The method of implementation determines the capacity of a commercial to hold the attention of its viewers for a span of at least thirty or forty seconds. In this advertisement, the method of implementation chosen was visual art. Development of the storyline, which is a part of the advertisement making process, is previewed while setting the framework. A number of ideas or storylines are put forward and decisions are made based on viewer preference and the target audience. Once the genre, storyline and implementation process has been decided upon, the next stage is the processing. It includes a number of steps. Process The development of this advertisement includes a number of stages and processes, which includes, the formulation of the idea, the dialogues, the cartooned representation of figures, and the appropriate use of slogans. In the case of this advertisement, much importance has been given to the formulation of this idea, taking into consideration the target audience The first step is to decide on the best message that they could deliver to their "target audience" to attract them. This means that it is necessary to know which group of viewers the advertiser requires to address and to analyze which method may be used to effectively motivate the target group to be interested in the product being advertised. This is generally known as the "strategy" of the commercial. In the ‘m&m’ commercial, the strategy or idea used is promotion of product quality. They promote the fact that the chocolate does not melt unless consumed. The next step is to create the commercial in terms of words and drawings. Before beginning with the making of the commercial, the advertiser needs to decide upon the words and images that are needed for the advertisement. This part of making a commercial is what requires creativity. Based on the exact needs, scripts need to be developed into a storyboard format. This will include key frames, video and audio details. In this commercial, a small storyboard has been created where there are chocolate blobs undergoing a ‘chocolate training camp’. This idea made this commercial rather successful. The next step involved is the assembling of the required things for the commercial. In this step too, planning is an important aspect and several elements need to be decided upon. This includes scenery, music, actors and other elements. In the case of this commercial, which is an animated commercial, the artist begins with working on the drawings and images. Other participants are given work assignments on separate processes such as converting the images on paper to computer designs, also known as building computer images. This part of the process is very important in the case of this commercial since it is animated. The dialogues need to be ready before the drawing process begins so that the artist can produce the appropriate drawings that will synchronize the sound. Sound and image synchronizing has a very important aspect, timing. Each syllable and drawing frame is marked on an exposure sheet. The more the movements in the commercial, the more the number of drawings to be created. This stage requires the storyline to be implemented perfectly, without which the charm of the storyline, no matter how creative would not appeal to its audience. In the “90’s ‘m&m’ commercial” that has been chosen for analysis, all these aspects have been carefully decided and managed. In commercials, which target children, the selection of voice is very important. It may be noticed that in this commercial, the voices given to the cartoon characters are mainly by teenagers and children. The bright voices with a cheerful tone can make the advertisement all the more attractive. Most kids would even enjoy singing along or repeating the words of popular cartoon advertisements. This is the reason why the words have been given a tune and turned into a song in the case of this commercial. The wordings such as, “ who is made of rich delicious absolutely unique milk chocolate (we are sir!) and whose is covered with a colorful thin candy shell ? (we are sir !) “ (youtube.com) attracted children very easily. On having completed the parts involving the creative storyline making, animation and synchronization, the next step is the “production” stage. This stage may be subdivided into pre-production, production and post-production, all of which are equally important for the success of a commercial. Production elements Production elements include camera shots, framing, lighting, sound and effects, narration, slogan, security, comparison, persuasive techniques and emotional appeal. Other elements that also contribute to the overall effect are connotative image and gesture. In the ‘m&m’ commercial, animation has been used, hence being a positive advertisement which does not talk of the negativities in other products. In the process of pre production, the creative and production teams will meet to finalize locations, and production schedule. If casting is required, the advertising company will require to research and select actors for each role. Primary and backup selections are also made accordingly. In this commercial, however there is no need for the selection of actors since all the characters in it are animated. Next will be the shot listing process along with the production estimate. In this part, a detailed description of the script is given and an estimate for the production of the advertisement is drawn up. This step also involves other aspects such as deciding upon shooting venue and time. Most companies produce advertisements are regular intervals, always showing that the product has improved. It may be a span of six months or a year. After the pre production, the first step involved is shooting the commercial. All commercials, irrespective of their genre need to go into filming, video recordings, or computer assembling of images. This can be a very long process or may turn out to be a matter of hours. Either way, it is a tedious process that requires skill and patience. Shooting is a group effort, which includes all members such as the director, producer and crewmembers. In an animated advertisement, shooting becomes secondary and digital imaging becomes more important. It is solely the work of the artist to do the part of creating image and synchronizing them. This makes it necessary for the artist to understand the theme behind the advertisement. The next step involved is the editing. This is where the pictures, the sound, the text and the advertisers identification are all assembled. In the shooting of many commercials, this process may rove to be tiresome. It may take several hours and is common to all kinds of media communication. The next step is known as postproduction editing, intended to prepare a rough draft for preview. It is a completed form of the commercial with chosen music, narration and graphics. Based on the outcome a final draft is created using color corrected live action, animation, finalized titles, special effects and dissolves. Once the final version of the commercial has been made; the commercial is perfected and duplicated for use. Commercials have become a very important part of television, marketing and everyday life as well. Almost all consumers make decisions based on the advertisements that they see. It has become very important to understand the needs or expectations of the consumers before creating an advertisement. In this phase where advertising has become important to both the producers as well as the consumers, it is becoming important for the advertiser to put in a lot of effort. “Making commercials that looked good wasn’t always easy, but the cost of airtime was so great that production costs were never as problematic as they had been for programs. The idea was to get the commercial right. Most of the time the struggle wasn’t about time or money for production, but about craftsmanship and my own creativity. “ (Cury). It is true that making an advertisement is now more about ideas and creativity, for it becomes necessary to come up with newer ways of saying the same thing or conveying the same idea. It becomes necessary to give the viewers something new in order to gain their attention and interest. Commercials have become a form of business too since it requires lot of planning and effort. We see that the making of commercials is getting more and more expensive. This means that the person who wants to advertise his or her product will approach an advertising company. This often leads to stuffing. In the words of Ivan Cury, “It’s better to choose one point and make it well, Unfortunately, if the creator/production company is to get the job and the charge is to “say everything” they may acquiesce and then create what’s demanded, The client then gets fulfilling commercials that are too stuffed, too busy, and not very effective.” (Cury) This may be the reason why only some commercials stand out among many others and why some commercials are just not effective. The ‘m&m’ commercial from the 90’s did a great job in every aspect including over stating, making sure that it was effective. The advertisement was very popular in its time and they still make commercials, which are highly effective. Reference Cury, I. (2005). TV commercials: how to make them, or, how big is the boat? Elsevier Inc youtube.com. 90’s M&M’s Commercial. 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