Research: Target audiences in advertising campaigns

Target Audience: Age 20-25

Google Chrome: Jamal Edwards SBTV

Agency: BBH

Demographics:

• Male and Female.
• 20-25 years of age.
• Interests: Technology, Internet.
• Aspirational – want to follow their dream job.
• Independent young adults.
• Starting their career.
• Educated urbanites, aspiring singles and starting out (based on ACORN’s definitions with UK population).

The advertisers in this campaign would have done a large amount of research to find out about their target audience. As Google is a huge organisation they would have most likely done insight marketing and they can track their audience’s internet usage.

Critical thinking: This advertisement markets the internet in a unique way, it advertises it as a platform for you to achieve your dreams, rather than an internet for personal entertainment. It’s a revolutionary idea for an advertisement for the internet.

Content strategy: They have decided to include the main and exciting parts of Jamal’s career rather than including the boring parts. They have included the exciting filming opportunities but left out the research and organising he must of had to do to get there. There is a theme as Google made a series of these advertisements, not necessarily aimed at the same audience, e.g. The Satchel Company advertisement is based on a mother who starts her own business using Google Chrome. You could recognise the brand from any of these sets of advertisements.

Editorial tone: The tone used in the advertisement is aimed at the young audience, the typing uses slang and very colloquial language.

Hierarchy of information: There is a chronological story to this advertisement and it builds up pace and gets more exciting throughout. They have decided to use the most exciting parts of Jamal’s career to build a picture of the stages he has gone through to get where he is today. They begin with the Google Chrome icon and the name of the entrepreneur featured because it is important information and what the audience needs to know for the rest of the advertisement to make sense.

Powerful and persuasive ‘call to action’: The advertisement is very clear in what it wants the audience to do. They want the audience to use Google Chrome.

Imagery: The imagery used is very creative as it has a layout like a computer screen, although it is a video. It uses pictures, videos (video showing video) and typing effects inside the advertisement.

Best media to spread your message: They picked television as their main platform for this advertisement as it reaches a large audience. They also put the advert on Youtube which proved very successful as it now has over 6 million views. YouTube was a great idea for the audiences age as they are the prime users of the internet and websites like YouTube.

Target Audience: Age 30-35

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftkYPpD4K8M

Department of Health (NHS) – Smokefree Generation 

Agency: Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy (MCBD)

Platform: Television, Radio, Print, Outdoor, PR/Press and Digital.

Demographics:

• Male and Female.
• Parents who smoke.
• Mainly 30-35 years of age.
• Interests: Family, watching television.
• Working parents who like to sit down watching TV after work/ unemployed parents.
• Lower-middle class.
• Secure families, struggling families and blue collar roots (based on ACORN’s definitions with UK population).

To get to know their target audience they may have used focus groups to get to know their audience. They may have possibly used groups from NHS stop-smoking sessions to find out what made them want to give up smoking. They most likely would have used insight marketing too.

Critical thinking: The thought behind these advertisements is very clever due to the fact that they use real children of smokers to come and speak to the camera with their own personalised message. The idea is not highly creative but it is simple and powerful. They go beyond social norms where actors are usually used and attempt to reach their audience directly by making them think of their children.

Content strategy: The advertisers behind the campaign have decided to use emotional material and have most likely edited out anything that would not target the audience emotionally. There is a theme between the adverts and all their platforms, they follow the same conventions so they are recognisable as coming from the same campaign. They reveal the message quickly to take a direct approach.

Editorial tone: The editorial tone in the advertisements, across all platforms, is as if a child is speaking to their parent and then a serious instructive message to inform the audience of how to quit smoking. The advertisers use a instructive tone as it is more likely to be effective as it takes a direct approach and doesn’t ‘beat around the bush’.

Hierarchy of information: The information in the advertisements are displayed so the child’s message reaches the audience first and is followed by the logo and information to quit. This is to get the attention of the audience and make them think about their family before they are told what they can do. The information from the children is shouted as that is how they want the audience to quit smoking and the message from the NHS appears smaller as it is likely to be more effective coming from young children rather than a large, health organisation.

Powerful and persuasive call to action: The advertisements make it clear that they want you to stop smoking and give you the information to stop by trying to get you to pick up a stop smoking kit or to call a helpline. The campaign message is very clear to the audience.

Imagery: The imagery used in the advertisements appear simple but have been carefully constructed so the audience only focuses on the child and they use close up shots to show the children’s emotion which aims to touch the viewer’s feelings.

Best media to spread your message: These NHS advertisements use a number of platforms to target their audience everywhere. For example: when they are at home watching television, when they are in their car on billboards and the radio, when they are online on their computer and when they are reading the newspaper. This is very effective in reminding the audience of the message wherever they turn. Using this many platforms achieved them reaching “90% of the target audience were aware of the campaign” (according to smokefree.nhs.uk website).

You can view the series of television advertisements here: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/thework/938082/Department-Health-real-kids-Miles-Calcraft-Briginshaw-Duffy/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

Target Audience: Age 60-65

http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA5634

Fixodent – Apple Bobbing 

Demographics:

• Male and Female.
• 60-65 years of age.
• Interests: Family, outdoor walks and eating out.
• Retired with children and grandchildren.
• Elderly people who like leisurely activities.
• Most likely married couples.
• Middle-Upper Class.
• Affluent greys and settled suburbia (based on ACORN’s definitions with UK population).

To find out information about their target audience they would have most likely used a focus group in the case of this audience. The audience is harder to reach online so therefore would have been more likely to be reached by actually speaking to the audience. Census data may have also been used.

Critical thinking: The advertisement may not be an extremely creative advertisement but it is very well thought out for the audience, targeting them by the use of family and love to allow them to relate to their own life.

Content strategy: They decided that the content should include a family event with an elderly couple at the centre of it. The characters are relatable to the audience. They do not reveal the product until near the end so they audience are intrigued to find out how the dentures look so realistic. The last shot shows the couple with what appears to be their grandchildren, to show they understand their audience.

Editorial tone: The editorial tone that this advertisement uses is professional, well-written language but it is simple and easy to follow. The music used is traditional to fit with the target audience.

Hierarchy of information: The important information is shown at the end of the advertisement because it aims to interest the audience into finding out what is being advertised. They begin by setting up the scene of the advertisement showing an apple and then going on to show perfect smiles. They decided to put the important words in bold to highlight what the advertisement is about.

Powerful and persuasive ‘call to action’: The advertisers make it clear that they want the target audience to buy the Fixodent product. They aim to be powerful persuaders by focusing on things that their audience will be able to relate to, e.g. their grandchildren.

Imagery: The imagery used in the television advertisement is simply filmed and not too flashy. The audience are more likely to relate to something simply filmed accompanied with basic on-screen-graphics.

Best media to spread your message: They use a television platform to reach their audience which is a wise platform to choose for the elderly audience. An internet or social media platform may not be appropriate as you would only reach a tiny amount of the targeted audience. The advertisement showed above is the short television version of the advert but there was also a longer version of the advertisement. Using the two lengths of adverts can be effective because if you play the long advert to begin with and then progress on to the shorter advertisement, you are reminding the audience of the product that they have already seen advertised.

Stereotypical Advertisements

The media portray an extremely unrealistic representation of not only women, but men too. We could think of tons of advertisements that objectify, airbrush and portray a false reality of women. However, people forget that men are always edited and shown to be unlike the average man. Advertisements can make people feel very inadequate. The average female is size 16, 11 stone and 5’3 and the average male is 5’9 and 13 stone. These averages are very different than what is represented in the majority of advertisements.

Examples

Paco Rabanne – ‘Invictus’ by Alexandre Courtès

This advertisement is shocking in every way. The male is represented to have the ultimate powerful, to be the best and the females become the man’s objects. They are dressed in white to symbolise innocence connoting virginity and the advert implies the man is going to take control of them. The male is clearly edited and has perfect skin, an extremely muscular body and attractive face; the sort of representation which will make almost all men feel vulnerable about themselves.

Lynx  – ‘Billions’ by Swan Media

Lynx play on a very similar idea to the Paco Rabanne advertisement above; their product will attract women and make you powerful. However, the man has not got a six pack but is not unattractive and has most likely still been edited. The representation is meant to represent a more ordinary man to attract the audience to be interested in the product. The females in the advertisement are extremely thin and beautiful which is enough to make any woman feel inadequate.

Save the Cod Idea

 

This advertisement was made in class this week to attempt to save the cod. This was a quick pair task and we came up with the idea of switching the roles so fish are fishing humans. We wanted the audience to think would they like being fished into a net? This was a brief, quick campaign idea which could be taken further.

Subversive Advertising – Adbusters and Guerrilla Girls

“It refers to the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements. Subvertisements may take the form of a new image or an alteration to an existing image or icon, often in a satirical manner.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvertising

Subversive advertising is rarely the advertisements you encounter day to day but there are tons of adverts which take a twist of an original and give it the opposite meaning. They tend to be extreme and make people think about what is actually being advertised at them.

Adbusters is an activist group who focus on spreading their message of anti-consumerism and pro-environment. They have a magazine, organise their own campaign and feature spoof ads.

Guerilla Girls are “feminist masked avengers” who “expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture with facts, humour and outrageous visuals.” (http://www.guerrillagirls.com/index.shtml)

Examples:

From www.adbsuters.org

This adbuster carries a strong message of what alcohol adverts are persuading audiences to buy. Instead of attracting the audience it aims to repulse them.

From http://www.guerrillagirls.com

This Guerrilla Girls campaign is to make people realise how little of the art in museum’s is made by women but features naked females. The message is direct and attention-grabbing to get the message straight across.

From https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

Buy Nothing Christmas and Buy Nothing Day are campaigns ran by Adbusters to protest against consumerism. They try to not only get people to change their buying habits for a day but forever.

Thinking About a Campaign

• Use critical thinking.
• Push your ideas.
• Know your audience/demographics.
• Hold a good conversation – visually and spoken.
• Content strategy – timing, teasers, the big picture etc.
• Editorial tone – who are you speaking to?
• Hierarchy of information – what information is most important and how is it displayed/delivered?
• Imagery – use of photography, illustration, graphics etc.
• Medium – what is the best medium for your audience? TV, billboards, print, social media etc.
• Press and PR – how do you get people excited about the campaign? Use of press launch, PR agency, celebrity endorsements etc.

AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire and Action

Attention: In advertising it is essential to grab the audience’s attention. This makes creative concepts, great imagery, catchy slogans, rememberable music and effective colours, essential to attract people you are targeting.

Interest: Once you have the audience’s attention you need to think about how you will keep it? Make the relevant messages clear with headers, subheads, colour etc.

Desire: After you have the audience’s interest it is important for the audience to have a want or need for what is being advertised. This links with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (as shown below). Where does your product/brand/idea fit into Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Action: This is where the audience become active, whether it be buying your product, visiting a website, calling for information etc. It is important to make it clear what you want the audience to do. 

 

5 P’s to Consider In Marketing

PRODUCT: everything which is tangible; quality, colour, size, smell and purpose.

PRICE: of goods and profit.

PLACE: how and where you buy it? The distribution, expectation and experience.

PROMOTION: advertising, public relations, events, word of mouth, social media, Facebook, twitter etc.

PEOPLE: your customers, your supporters and your market.

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR: understanding attitudes and motivations, market research- secondary and then primary, what makes people different? and why do people fail?

Robert Shore’s 10 Principles of Advertising

1. Know your audience.  For example: if you were targeting a young adult age audience it would be effective to use social networking sites to advance your campaign. An example of this is the Nike #findgreatness campaign, launched during the 2012 London Olympics, where their hashtag accompanied their billboards. According to searchengine.com there was 16,000 tweets associated with the hashtag in a week period.2. A great creative concept is key. For example: the Coca Cola ‘Share a Coke’ campaign has been hugely successful and that was a creative, original and personal concept to attract a huge audience.

3. Less is more. For example: the simple KitKat advertisement featured below. It is effective because everyone recognises the KitKat and it reminds the audience of the chocolate bar.

4. A picture is worth 1,000 words. For example: the Evian ‘Live Young’ advertisements featured adults wearing t-shirts to make them appear as if they had a child’s body. This is an effective and creative use of imagery to tell the story. Words are not needed to accompany the advert.

5. Originality is just copying with a twist. For example the Durex advertisement during the 2012 London Olympics (pictured below) copied the olympic ring structure but replaced it with condoms to get people’s attention and used the fastest runner as a pun.

6. The medium is important. This links very much with audience and the medium which is best for your target audience. For example the use of social networking sites may not be the best medium for an elderly audience but television between a popular programme for that age range may be effective. Referring back to the Nike advertisement in the first point, the advert uses the correct medium for their audience and has successful results.

7. There’s no such thing as bad publicity. Bad publicity can still be good publicity because it attracts attention which is hard to be forgotten. For example, Miley Cyrus has had a large amount of bad publicity in the press and online but her music videos have gained views because of the bad press.

8. Restrictions will set you free.

9. Once is never enough. For example: Nike repeat their logo over and over again and sometimes do not even need to use their name to be recognised. In the advertisement featured below they use their tick to make people think of their brand to persuade them to exercise.

10. Ignore all rules. Don’t be afraid to be controversial  and break conventions as it could pay off. For example: the NHS ‘Get Unhooked’ advertisements are shocking and make the audience want to look away but have an effective message.

Group Task – Creating a Social Media Campaign

Brief:

• High street fashion retailer
• Promoting autumn/winter collection
• Aimed at 25-35 year old male audience
• Interests: food, films and latest technology

Retailer:

• Urban Outfitters

Campaign idea:

• Online competition based on Instagram.
• Picture competition where customers try on clothes from the new collection, take a picture and upload it to instagram with the hashtags ‘urbanoutfitters’ and ‘stayhotthiswinter’.
• The picture with the most likes wins.
• Photo booth featured in 5 flagship stores including props and backdrops to
• Creating an Instafilm from the pictures of the new collection, photo booths, customers queuing and featuring the winner.  The video will be played in cinemas and on youtube.
• Prize: The outfit from the picture, a pair of cinema tickets (aimed for a date) and to feature in the advert to be first shown before the film.
• Slogan: Stay hot this winter.
• Advertise competition on facebook, twitter, YouTube and posters around stores.
• It’s an effective way of getting a large amount of people to view the new collection.
• People trust public more than advertisers so seeing people wearing them is more likely to boost sales on the collection.
• Attracting the audience by the competition being on latest technology (Instagram app), interest of film and playing on the idea that they can appear cool if they feature as the winner on the video.

Successful Social Media Campaigns

Comedy Central: Key and Peele

Creative Agency: Comedy Central Brand Creative
Media: Horizon
Upload date: 9/9/2013
Views: 1,210,172

• This a cheap and easy way of advertising to reach your audience.
• People who have searched for the programming get an advertisement within the clip they want to watch. “We know you like watching Key and Peele on YouTube but you’ll love watching the whole show even more on Comedy Central”.
• It is a clever way of getting the audience’s attention on the clip as they are about to watch a clip of the programme you are advertising, you keep their interest by playing the clip from the show. Their desire should be created by enjoying the clip and hopefully causing them to carry out the action of watching the episodes on TV.

Coca Cola – Personalised Road

• This video really stood out to me because it is a really clever use of technology and a way of personalising the advertising to your customer individually.
• Coca Cola Israel took the “Share a Coke” campaign which has gone global and created a personalised road by using interactive billboards. They got people to submit their name to an app which used locations to recognise when that person was going to pass the billboard and they would see their own name on the billboard. They also received a notification to tell them their name was going to appear.
• Successful due to the app reaching number 1 in the app store and 100,000+ downloads of the application.
• This technique of advertising should create trust and loyalty between the consumer and the product.
• Coca Cola grabbed the audiences attention with the idea of their name appearing on a billboard and got their interest by submitting their name. The desire is fulfilled when they see their name on the actual billboard and the action the brand would want is that the customers continue to buy their product.
• This advertisement stands out as it is revolutionary, nothing like this has been done before.