LESSON SEVEN: APPEALS I

Another aspect to consider when talking about advertising is APPEALS.

Appeals are similar to "messages/images" used in ads, but keep in mind the difference. Appeals specifically influence the way consumers think  of a product or service.


Some advertisers categorize appeals according to 2 main categories: informational/rational appeals and emotional appeals.


Examples of ads using informational/rational appeals:

Examples of ads using emotional appeals:

                                                               Emotion: self-esteem & pride

                                                          Emotion: joy, sentiment, & pleasure


Some ads incorprate BOTH informational and emotional appeals:



LESSON SIX: The World of Luxury Advertising

In the last post, we talked about images and messages used in advertising. These messages are what is generally used. Specific products require specific types of messages.

We will now look at advertising in the luxury market. I attended a talk by Mac McClelland, who is president and CEO of the Luxury Marketing Council in the Middle East.

He talked about how luxury brands advertise themselves through stories (i.e. messages).




I've compiled a list of some of  the different stories McClleland talked about in his presentation:



1- STORY OF SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE

Rolex ad

2-  STORY OF SOPHISTICATION

                                                             Patek Phillipe Generations ad




3-  STORY OF COLLABORATION

Lacoste & Zaha Hadid ad

5- STORY OF INNOVATION

Swarovski crystallized elements ad

6- STORY OF HERITAGE

                                                                 Breguet Napoleon ad




7- STORY OF PROVENANCE

Dunhill ad - Great Britain

LESSON FIVE: The Truth about advertising....

What does advertising ultimately seek to achieve?

PERSUASION

Yes! That's it. The true function of advertising is to persuade us that that product/service is the best, and we should pay money to have it!

Since saying that clear and out loud has become old and does not work on consumers today, advertisers are challenged everyday to create new means that will attract consumers.

Ads disguise themselves as:
Art
Cultural Jams
Entertainment

What kind of messages or images ads try to convey?
Desire
Envey
A better life
Prestige
Tradition
Authenticity
Wealth
Family
Belonging
Exotcism

If we look at envy in ads. This type of advertising takes an average person who is most likely dissatisfied with his/her life. Then comes the product that will change that person's life. That person is transformed into a more glamorous self. This will stir envy in consumers who are also dissatisfied with their lives, who then will try to emulate the transformation seen in the ad.

Fair and Lovely ad

This ad is trageted towards women (or men) who suffer from brown spots or skin discoloration. Envy is a major part of this ad. First, we see Lama (girl in the ad) graduating from college on her way to start a career. HOWEVER, she is faced with difficulties. As she says "The obstacle to obtaining my dream job was my skin." After using the product, Lama gets ahead in her career PLUS she gets the guy!!

Al Wataniya (telecommunication company) ad

This ad was one of my personal favorites the past Ramadan. It played on a number of messages/images. First was tradition, most Arab families get together regualarly with their extended families during Ramadan. The second image was of family. The song accompanying the ad was like narrative of a person talking about his different family members and what made them special. Those family members and images can be found in almost any family: the little neice who suddenly is all grown up, the aunt who is happy playing hostess, the cousin whose plate is always piled with food... The final message of the video os the message of belonging. Those 3 message/images overlap and come together to create a unique message aimed at the average Arab consumer. We might relate to the ad, but that doesn't mean there isn't chaos, problems, or misunderstandings when families get together. Ads idealize the family setting, and present them as an image of security and harmony. In the world of ads families have NO problems that cannot be solved by a product or service.

LESSON FOUR: MEANING

In the previous blog post, I mentioned how you might decode an ad differently than I would have. This is because it is not the producer of the ad (or any other media) who decides the meaning. Meaning is decided by the viewer.

We all go through the process of socialization. Socialization is what we learn from the people around us and our environment. Socialization decided who we are, what we wear, and how things are supposed to be done. A child raised in family who value honesty and reinforce it daily is less likely to lie than child whose parents lie to him/her frequently.

Every viewer individually assigns meaning to media texts. The meaning a viewer assigns to a media text is less likely to be the exact same meaning the producer intended for it to be.

Different people assign different meaning to a text. Is there a dominant meaning? No one really knows! We can say that they are many possible meanings. Even within the same country or social group meaning will vary.

This idea can be really tried and tested with ads. Have you ever seen an ad that everyone thought was funny but you just didn’t get it? A great example here in the UAE is that many ads are imported from different countries. The Emirati viewer was not considered in the making of these ads, hence the meaning the Emirati assigned is more likely to be extremely different than the intended meaning.

Here are some western ads that were transplanted in the UAE media:

  Pizza Hut Dot Commercial dubbed in Arabic

             Pepsi commercial - In the Arabic version Amr Diab (Egyptian singer) played the role of the roman emperor while in the western version it was played by Enrique Iglesias

Questions to ask yourself:

- What was the meaning YOU assigned to each ad?

- Do you believe it is different from the meaning intended by PRODUCER of the ads?

- How might a WESTERN audience decode this ad differently?

LESSON THREE: MEDIA TEXTS & SEMIOTICS

Media text is any form of media; print, audio, and/or video. It can be a photo in ad, the written words in an ad, an article in a newspaper....

Since we are focusing on ads, the media texts we will be talking about will be the words in an ad, the photo, the video, and sounds.

Media texts are used for purpose of analyzing the media. A way to better understand the messages sent to us through the media. How do we do that? We understand the semiotics and codes present in the text. Another way to put this, imagine media as a language with its own set of signs and codes just like any other language. To understand the language you must learn its signs and codes.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that the signs and symbols in media texts are not uniform messages. They depend on the culture of the person deciphering them. The way I might decode an ad is different from how someone else from another country might.

LESSON TWO: COMMUNICATION MODELS II

In lesson one we looked at the Shannon-Weaver and Lasswell's communication models. These models are pretty basic and simple. There are a lot more complex models, and here's my pick of the bunch.


1- Berlo's Model of Communication (usually called Berlo's S-M-C-R):

S = Source , M = Message , C = Channel , R = Reciever

Berlo's model is an adaptation of the Shannon-Weaver model. However, it does include many additions. First, the model recognizes that the sender/reciever isn't always human hence the word "source". Second, It also recognizes that the messages are not always verbal. Third, it recognizes the different channels a message can go through.

2- Dance's Helical Spiral Model:

This communication model is perhaps the most fun to look at! This model illustrates communication as a process. What we communicate in the past is most likely going to affect what we communicate in the future. It shows that the communication process moves forward and is contineous.

3- Becker's Mosiac Model:

This is one of the more complex communication models. It shows how complex communication can be. The whole cube is a representation of the communication environment. The little mosiac tiles are the messages. Basically, the model is telling us that a message can have various elements that relate to different things or occurances. It also shows the message's exposure which can be superficial or in-depth.

There many other communication models. You can visit this website to learn more.

LESSON ONE x THE REAL WORLD

This is the fun part! I found 2 ads for bottled water. Both bottled water brands are products of the Coca Cola Company, excpet one is marketed here in the UAE and the other is marketed in Latin America.

We will look at both ads using the Shannon-Weaver and Lasswell models to see how they apply in the real world.


Ad #1: Dasani - MUEVE TU WATER (roughly: move to water)





LASSWELL:

Who? Dasani water

Said what? Move to water

To whom? The average consumer in Latin America

By which channel? Print ad

With what effect? I can't possible answer the question on behalf of the average Latin American consumer.

SHANNON-WEAVER:

 Most of the questions are answered through the Lasswell model above. The encoding part can only be determined by the person who copywrote the ad, and the decoding depends on the reciever of the message (my own decoding: our water is cool like hip hop music you should buy it). As for noise, I mentioned it could be internal like your thoughts. Noise can also be external (e.g. people talking to you, or the many other ads a person is bombarded with). Feedback can be in the form of a letter the consumer sends to the Coco Cola Company, or it could be his/her opinion of the ad which won't necessarily reach the sender.

Ad #2: Arwa - Drink Arwa dialy... 70% of our body is made up of water

LASSWELL:

Who? Arwa water

Said what? Drink water dialy

To whom? The average consumer in the UAE

By which channel? Print ad

With what effect? Since I am Emirati I can answer the question based on the personal effect this ad had on me. It reminded me how important water it, and lead to making a mental note of drinking more water.

SHANNON-WEAVER:

Most of elements of model are clear since they are also present in the Lasswell model above. The encoding of the message into words an images was done by the sender. The decoding was done on my part as an Emirati: water is important! Noise depends on the reciever and the environment the reciever is in.

The two ads above are of products from the same company. However, the demographics of the target audience of each brand of water is what made each ad different. We must also keep in mind the encoder of both messages are different people form different countries and possibly from different age groups. Communication models helps us put that in prespective. They make us think about the ads in a way we might not have before. The process of how we look at ads is just one step in analyzing and decoding ads.