Advertising and Promotion - Essay Example

Advertising and Promotion Advertisements whether seen on print, radio, television and now on the Internet offer myriad of ways for consumers to interpret or understand the meaning being conveyed by them (Aaker, 1992; Argyris, 1996; Cameron, 2001; Cook, 2001). To understand the puzzling intentions by advertisers in conveying their message, it will be of value to deconstruct ads on a theoretical point of view. This paper attempts at interpreting three print advertisements and discuss theoretically the meanings being conveyed and the interpretation that consumers may formulate from these ads. This paper then ends with a short conclusion. Nike Print Ad: Zoom Soldier II Nike products are almost always synonymous with strength, stability and durability. Over the years, the company has consistently embedded brand image strategy in all its major advertising campaigns. For its Zoom Soldier II basketball shoes ad, Nike once again employed this Star Power tactics with NBA basketball star James Lebron to give personality to its brand (niketalk.yuku, nikelebron.net, 2010). In a minimalist fashion, the larger-than-life Zoom Soldier II shoe is seen seems floating like a feather as Lebron, with two hands outstretched wide open, figures here blowing first the strips of the description or what the brand new shoe offers, and secondly, the shoe up floating in the thin air. The image impresses that Nike is capitalizing on the big idea that the special signature edition of its basketball shoes called Zoom Soldier II is more lightweight than its predecessor the Zoom Soldier I. The composition and the interplay of the four major layers of the poster from bottom towards the special signature label over the black background looks very bare yet effectively balances the message and the emotional response the ad aims to receive from its audience. The text in the ad reads: “Nike Zoom Soldier II” is written using bold white letters. Readability-wise, this is not just easy to the eyes, but it is impressively easy to understand. The font type used is not the conventional type one usually see in most Nike ad but even so, the quirky feel of the font type is not out of place to the brand image that Nike intends to project in this ad – loose, feather-weight nature – as if all it needs to fly in the air is when Lebron blows air above his head. In sum, the elements employed, from the product concept, message, copywriting, to the visual, the Nike ad for Zoom Soldier II is one of the proofs of the sporting company’s winning legacy in giving personality to its brand. Asic Print Ad: Gel Kayano 15 Immediately noticeable in this ad is the closed-eyed, relaxed feel projected in the face of the male model who sports a brunette hair style. Consumers are invited to feel the transcendental, peaceful state of the mind and although not in a very obvious way, the witty placing of the brand name just on the upper right corner of the ad with the slogan – “sound mind. sound body.” – very cleverly sums up what the advertiser intends the audience to realize when they purchase the product (Asics.com, 2010). Gradually and slowly, the eyes of the readers will be drawn by the sight of the ASICS’s Gel-Kayano 15 model, and down further to the slogan of the copy: “15 years of continuous refinement .. Gel-Kayano 15. Period.” This bold statement reflects stability and durability, implying it has earned such stature over the years’s refinement that passed through long, painstaking labor. This is the best that the advertiser can do to position the company among other high-end and premium brands like Nike, but at the same time create followers who may soon be called “brand disciples.” Looking closely the layout of the ad which involves few simple elements: the brunette-sporting male model, black background, shoes suspended in the air and seen over the chest of the man,and the copy that tells about the beauty of refinement over the years – this may be interpreted in several ways, such as that the brand, like a wine tastes better as it gets older because refinement is a stage needed for perfect bliss or perfection. We can also speak about the voice that this ad have – the ad offers a stark contrast in most ads that promise feeling of belongingness and increased peformance because the model used are in an almost always dynamic mode. The minimalism of the ad seems to acknowledge its brand loyaltists who belong to the more serious and dedicated types of athletes. Scientific innovation is an appealing tool when employed by advertisers in their client’s products. Such is often termed as scientific doublespeak. But what’s practiced usually is that ads does not provide information about what it add to its innovation. Such is true with this ASIC ad. Although it did mentioned that Trusstic can help improve the shoes, ASIC, however, did not explain what Trusstic does, together with other ASIC technologies, in improving the product. By all accounts, the ad may be summed up to have achieved the primordial goals setforth for the campaign. These are – establish ASIC’s brand personality, reach out to core consumers, and establish contact with a group of people not really affiliated with ASICS. The ad also impresses that consumers will be able to connect with a broader group of people, who in effect can be the key to promoting the brand to one’s network of friends or family, and whom one can later invite to try Asics products. Through these strategies employed in the ad through careful copywriting and visual layout, ASICS is able to bridge with its consumers, emotionally and visually. With careful balance of the copywriting works and graphical art works for the ad, brand slogans are able to reach people in ways unexpected. Louis Vuitton Ad: Father and Daughter Coppola The print ad shows the two world-famous Coppola's, two filmmakers at the peak of their filmmaking careers, enjoying each other's company in what looks like a rural setting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the sun setting down offering a deep, quiet glow. The ad further shows the father, Francis Ford Coppola, sharing with his daughter, Sophia, who is very intent on listening, what looks like a beautiful story or a story for film (Bumpus, 2008; Hackley, 2005; Kitchen, 1999; Popcrunch.com, 2010). Neatly packaged in this delightful visual ad is the Louis Vuitton bag right beside the lying right leg of the Sophia. Her body is pressed in the grassy land, together with that bag, a wooden table and the wooden armed chair where his father seat. The bag is lying just there and it not where one expects this famous label’s product will be seen because previous engagements showed most of its model donning the product in closed-door setting or a studio. Stuffed with several pieces of notebooks, the Louis Vuitton bag, though not named in the ad, is hard to confuse with other brands because of its signature look, color and assured standing in the fine line of clothing and apparel brand. Then as if the ad tells nothing at all, but like a scene in a film that the two talented filmmakers have directed, the ad put a very short and vivid caption below the image: “Inside every story, there is a beautiful journey.” This is most fitting when read along with the image that shows the graceful, unpretentious tableux of the father and daughter set in a grassy piece of land. As a whole, the ad offers consumers a very rare glimpse of what it feels like to own that bag – to belong with some of the greatest talents or thinkers of this generation in the world like Francis Ford and Sophia. In general, the advertiser is consciously and intentionally projecting the brand image of Louis Vuitton, linking the metaphoric meaning of the ad metaphorically with the high-class, high-minded fashion, and high-society sensibilities it aims to project. To reinforce this belief, the Louis Vuitton ad is more frequently seen published or bannered in the high-society pages of glossy magazines to reach its intended audience: affluent and fashion-conscious individuals who have disposable income of not less than US$5,000. Nike, Asics and Louis Vuitton Ads, compared Using the theoretical models learned, it is in the Louis Vuitton brand the covert meaning or metaphoric meaning was very subtly and cleverly structured (Aaker, 1992; Argyris, 1996; Cameron, 2001; Cook, 2001). While in both Nike and Asics product ads, the ostensive approach was applied because it is the fastest way to introduce a new product to its audience. The appeal to emotion as employed in Louis Vuitton products was based on the feeling self-worth afforded by owning one luxury bag or product, eschewing the rational appeals in favor of the intertextual visual, aural and textual references that draw more complex meanings into the ad and the brand (O'Donohoe, 1994; Maslow & Lowery, 1998; Parthasarathy, Rittenburg & Ball, 1995). Contrary to the Louis Vuitton ad, the two sporting apparels’ ad also use the covert approach to imply and suggest that for just being an owner of the Asics and Nike product, the customer will already belong with one of the very few stable and well-grounded brands (Asics) and top sportsmen in the world today. The two ads is also an exemplification of the the think-feel-do hierarchy model for combining rational and emotional appeals in the ads, this is made evident by the indistinguishable application of the approach, whether it appeals to emotion or the mind (Aaker, 1992; Deci, 1991, Elliott & Beckmann, 2001). Conclusion It is said that advertising is a method used by companies to suggest, imply and hint to the consuming public what it intends them to do or act (Hackley, 2005). However, by equipping the consumers with enough skillsets in deciphering meanings of ads, it will help them judge whether they only need or want a product or service. However, this may be a challenging work given the business of advertising and promotion to consciously and consistently study the science, psychology and art of making their work appeal to its intended audience. Reference Aaker, D., Batra, R. and Myers, J. (1992). Advertising Management. 4th edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Argyris, C. and Schon, D. A. (1996). Organizational Learning II, Reading. Mass: Addison Wesley Asics to Launch New Advertising Campaign ‘The Cleansing Power of Sport’. Asics.com. Retrieved 20 April 2010, [http://www.asics-shoes.org/news.php?tid=19] Bumpus, J., (2008). Family Affair. Vogue.co.uk. Retrieved on 20 April 2010, [http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/080604-the-coppolas-in-louis-vuittons-lat.aspx] Cameron, D. (2001). Working with spoken discourse. London: Sage Publications. Chase, D. R. Finding Hidden Meaning in Mass Media through Critical Discourse Analysis and Implications for Language Teaching. Retrieved 20 April 2010, [http://www.hpu.edu/images/GraduateStudies/TESL_WPS/6_1_05Chase_a24078.pdf] Cook, G. (2001). The Discourse of Advertising, 2nd edn. London: Routledge. Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In R. Dienstbier (Ed.). Perspectives on motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. 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