Marketing Communication Assignment - Essay Example

John Doe Prof. Richard Roe Marketing Communications 13 April 2006 Marketing Communications Assignment Toyota's "Happy Together" ad is a humorous and crazy commercial promoting the new Toyota Rav4. It starts off in a bright sunny morning in the suburbs, as a young couple wakes up still holding hands. The wife first gets up, hurriedly and not wanting to wake the husband. She steps into the shower only to find a plugged hair dryer in the bath area. As expected, electricity and water do not mix, and the wife is thrown some feet away from the bath, twitching and hair frizzed up and smoking.

It is at this time that the husband emerges from the bed with a smile on his face, stretches, and then opens the window to adore the brand new Toyota Rav4 in the driveway. Suddenly, the window falls right on his head and he discovers that the cable holding the window up had been cut. The wife and husband meet up in the hallway, trading fake pleasantries and smiles. The morning continues with more craziness as the couple continues to do harm to each other whilst completing their morning chores before heading off to work.

The wife gets hit on the head with a strategically placed bowling ball. The husband sets fire to his hair and then takes a bad tumble down the stairs. Eventually, the husband ends up driving away leaving the wife in the house just as a large explosion is caused by the well placed metallic pan in the microwave in tandem with the open gas from the stoves. There are no voiceovers, only the sounds of chaos to the classic song of the Turtles, "So Happy Together." A tagline ends the ad with the message, "Rav4.

A car to make your own." Pepsi's "Pepsi Grip" commercial begins with a horizon shot of a busy metropolitan city on a hot day, then focuses on a high-rise construction worker taking a sip out of a Pepsi bottle. A whistle from another worker gets the bottle passed along by drops, swings, throws and tosses in a daring way. Suddenly, someone misses a catch, and the Pepsi begins its freefall. A few stories below, a capable worker puts himself on the line by jumping off the scaffolding, hanging by his hands and caught the Pepsi with his feet.

The ad ends with "New Pepsi Grip. Easy To Hold." Dial's "Happy Dog" ad starts off with a face shot of a dog happily drinking out of the toilet bowl, and continues to do so, as he does seem quite thirsty. Suddenly, he bursts into motion, running across the hall and down the steps, just as the mother and her son arrive at the front door. The son runs off into another room, but the mother stays to receive a loving greeting from the dog, with licks all over the face, lips and shoulders of the mother.

Voiceover and tagline simply say, "You're not as clean as you think." The ad ends with a shot of Dial Antibacterial soap in the shower and a voiceover, "Aren't you glad you use dial."Advertising Appeal and Execution Style Upon a good analysis of the ads and based on the textbook, I am of the opinion that the ads abovementioned have a good way of getting their message across. As a spoof-type ad, the Rav4 ad does not seem to warrant a clear cut definition among the advertising appeals.

It satirically portrays love and romance and does not clearly show how fun and pleasurable having a Rav4 would be. But it is very clear the this ad fits in perfectly in the category of Vanity and Egotism, as it seems to elaborate on how and to what extent a person would go to be able to drive the car, putting ownership of the Rav4 as a lavish priority. As for execution style, I find that this ad is a combination of three styles, fantasy, humorous and musical. It is fantasy through its portrayal of the action and animosity between the couple centered on the car.

It is humorous in a very slapstick way and the fact that the song "So Happy Together" adds to the overall irony and humor and adds the musical style to it. The Pepsi ad is one that falls squarely in the category of convenience advertising appeal. Although most of us would not find ourselves in the position where we dive out of a skyscraper and catch the Pepsi with our feet, it does get the message across that the new Pepsi grip will make it easier and more convenient to take the Pepsi wherever you go.

As for execution style, this ad is clearly executed through demonstration, albeit in an uncommon situation. Dial's ad is one that keeps in tune with its target market and product, focusing on health and using it as its advertising appeal. It adequately focuses on the product "saving the day" in keeping the consumer clean and free from harmful germs that were transferred from the dog. The execution style is slice-of-life, showing a very usual situation where the family returns to an empty home and the dog is all too happy to have his family return, showing the love and affection.

Effectiveness As for effectiveness, the ads do differ in ways. I purposely chose those ads because they were effective in making the ads memorable. However, in terms of actual effectiveness that results in increase in sales, there are quite a few areas for consideration. For the Rav4 ad, I think that for a lengthy 60-second ad, the focus was almost 99% on the battle between husband and wife and only 1% really focused on the product itself. Even in terms of airtime, I recall the Rav4 being focused on around twice during the whole commercial.

I did enjoy the commercial and it indeed was effective in making it a funny and memorable ad, but it didn't make me want to go out and buy the new Rav4. The ad showcased too much of the slapstick Flintstones-type of comedy, but did not place the car and its internal or external features on the spotlight enough. I feel that I would have been able to get the message across in the first 45 seconds about the battle between husband and wife, and used the remaining time to get into the reasons why the car was so sought after in the first place.

Perhaps a shot of the husband driving away with such power and speed that the wife could not keep up, showing a versatile and capable Toyota engine, and more shots of the lush interior. The Pepsi ad is also somewhat farfetched, but it is very effective in 2 ways. First, it showcased the product on a hot day, perfect to quench that thirst. Second, it showcased the new feature, the easy grip bottle. It successfully presented the product, its use on a hot day, and the new innovation all in the short ad, plus in a manner that continues with the trend of the daring and fearless "Dare for More" campaign.

Honestly, I would not change a thing, as to me this ad has perfectly accomplished its goal and presented the convenient use of the innovative new grip. The Dial ad, in my opinion was very effective. In few words and only 30-seconds it made me want to buy a bar of the antibacterial soap. Indeed, face licking is a sign of affection from dogs and other pets, and some of us see it as a nice gesture, coming home from a long day to the wagging tail and licking of the loyal family dog. Then reality sinks in, and you remember that dogs do some unclean things like drinking out of the toilet bowl.

If I had to make some changes, I would probably show more of what unclean things a household pet does during the day. Maybe a shot of the dog sniffing other dog behinds, checking in trash bags, digging in mud, and drinking out of the toilet bowl, only to transfer that unmitigated cacophony of germs to the face of the owner.Works CitedDial Corp. Dial Soap "Happy Dog" Advertisement. Pepsi Inc. Pepsi Cola "Pepsi Grip" Advertisement.Toyota Corp. Toyota Rav4 "Happy Together" Advertisement.