Print Ad - Sony Ericsson

As promised, here is the first ad I will be evaluating:

1. Communication Objectives: The ad’s primary communication objective is to grab the consumer’s attention to raise awareness about Sony Ericsson’s new mobile phone and its ability to take exceptionally high quality pictures. Secondary objectives are to spread knowledge of the phone’s other major advantages, create a positive attitude, and encourage trial. When creating this ad, Sony Ericsson probably also knew or hoped that the ad would go semi-viral, which it did.

2. Message Strategy:

The ad primarily targets low involvement consumers through an emotional appeal, but also caters to above-low involvement consumers / central-route processors with more rational feature appeals, by providing clear evidence of the phone’s ability to take good pictures, as well as information about the phone’s most important technical information in the copy (the main body of text).

This approach works well in context of the magazine. The ad was placed in FHM (For Him Magazine), whose reader base is predominantly men and who are mostly low-involvement / peripheral route processors.

The ad also works well in context of the product category. Consumers interested in a camera phone want a phone that can take good pictures. The ad shows that the phone is capable of doing this through a rational appeal by physically demonstrating the phone’s ability to take good pictures, but also uses an emotional appeal by using sex in the actual content of the ad.

3. Evaluation of Creative Execution:
The ad does a very good job getting the attention of low involvement consumers and appealing to the consumer emotionally by using sex: it uses an attractive model displayed very prominently on the page. Sex appeals increase attention to the ad, and emotionally appeal to the consumer through attraction. Sex appeals can have a polarized response, but given the context of the ad - a men’s magazine which displays women similarly - this is not much of an issue. At first glance, the reader may actually think that the ad is part of the magazine’s spread or editorial. As with many ads that use sex appeal, the sex appeal in the ad can be distracting so it’s easy to walk away from this ad without remembering what it is advertising. This ad minimizes this by strategically placing the headline and phone very close to the focal point of the ad: the woman’s chest.

Overall, the ads tactics are very appropriate for its involvement level and emotional vs. rational appeal strategy. It uses sexy visuals to emotionally appeal to low involvement consumers (its biggest audience) as well as a 1-sided argument, and lots of examples in the copy to appeal to its peripheral route processors. To cover its bases and also appeal to its above-low involvement and more rational consumers who may want to find out more, the ad uses demonstration, evidence, and important information in the copy to create a very effective ad that is also smart.

4. Source & Appeal: The source used in the ad is an attractive model meant to capture attention and increase likeability for the source and product through appearance. The appeals used are mostly emotional but slightly rational too as discussed earlier. Both are appropriate for the message strategy (to capture attention, raise awareness, etc). Both are also generally appropriate for the mobile phone product category; consumers who want a camera phone typically want a phone that is capable of taking attractive pictures, is attractive itself, and would not mind having additional features. Actually buying a phone is a much higher involvement/effort decision, but the purpose of the ad is not to induce a buying decision. At most, the ad encourages the reader to find out more about the product or to try one out as stated at the end of the copy.

5. Layout: The headline, “Picture Perfect” is on the bottom left, followed by the subhead below it and the copy to the right. The caption is an extension of the headline and is in the upper right. Product and brand logos are present (ie. on the product itself) but are small. Overall, there is a good sense of movement and composition that went into the design of the ad.

Print Ad Series

As a student studying both Marketing and Fine Arts, one of the things that I can really appreciate is a well-designed print ad. A lot of print ads out there have all the right information but aren’t creative enough to break through the clutter – a phrase thrown around in the advertising industry way too often - and actually communicate this information. On the other end of the spectrum, a lot of print ads out there are creative and do break through the clutter but don’t actually communicate anything meaningful. Of course, the most effective print ads are those that are both creative enough to break through the clutter and informative enough to communicate something meaningful. These ads are rare, but they do exist.

As part of a series, I’d like to start closely examining some really great examples of effective print ads and explaining why they’re effective from a semi-academic standpoint. For those outside of the advertising world, I will do my best to explain the underlying advertising concepts and terms as they come up, while still staying true to how print ads might be more formally evaluated in an academic/work setting.

Stay Tuned.

P.S. Check out Ads of the World in the mean time to get your Print Ad fix.

UPDATED 02/23/10

Here’s a quick breakdown on how I will be breaking down each ad as well as a quick primer to some of the terms used in the advertising world:

1) Communication Objectives: What is the ad trying to communicate?

2) Message Strategy: Who is the ad targeting and how? Is the intended audience a high or low involvement consumer? Does the ad use an informational or emotional appeal?

3) Creative Execution: How does the creative execution achieve the ads communication objectives?

4) Sources & Appeals: How are the sources and appeals used to achieve the communication objectives?

5) Layout: Why is the ad laid out the way it is?

Google's First Superbowl Ad - Revisted

UPDATED 02/17/10

Since Google's Super Bowl Ad first aired on TV, the commercial has received over 3.6 million hits on Youtube. Google's Super Bowl Ad was personally my favorite ad of the Super Bowl so it's hard for me to look at it from an objective point of view, but here's my attempt at constructing a pros-and-cons list:

PROS:

• Proves that some of the best commercials are simple and inexpensive to make
• Stands out from other Super Bowl ads that focus on cars, beer, humor, and scantily clad women
• Connects with the audience on an emotional level; something Google hasn't really done in the past
• Sends a strong message that Google is still King (vs. Bing who has 11% market share and is prepared to spend $100m on advertising this year)
• Makes a strong positioning statement that Google is ultimately still about Search; Google is about searching and finding things in life that matter, and moving forward in life through search
  

CONS:

• Doesn't perfectly align with Google's prior beliefs about advertising
  
• Waste of money - commercial could have been used to advertise other Google products facing greater competition
• Requires reading and above peripheral route processing - something Superbowl fans may not do or want to do
• Content of the commercial may not be relevant to football/American audience; France, football, and Google don't go together

What does everyone else think? Feel free to add to the list in the comments section.

Google's First Super Bowl Ad - A Blogospheric Conversation

Two months ago, Google released a video on YouTube called “Parisian Love,” which tells the story of an American who falls in love with a French woman while studying abroad, through a progression of search queries. According to Google’s “Search Stories” channel on YouTube, “Parisian Love” is part of a series of videos that are meant to “show that anyone can do anything when paired with the power of search.” John Batelle, who has predicted that Google would have to start brand marketing itself for ‘some time’ now, believes that “Parisian Love” and Google’s “Search Series” is very well done and is be part of a serious branding campaign.

In a post two weeks later, on the day before Super Bowl XLIV, John reveals that he has a reliable source telling him that Google’s “Parisian Love” ad will air during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. John comments that this would be a true turning point Google, who “for nearly 10 years, dismissed brand advertising as a waste of money… and built its entire fortune on turning the advertising model upside down.” John emailed Google for comment and looked up CBS’s lineup of advertisers but could not find a secondary confirmation. In an update, John posts a screenshot of Eric Schmidt’s (Google’s CEO) twitter, which reads: “Can't wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said ‘Hell has indeed frozen over.’)”

Despite theses clues, Pete Cashmore believes that there is reason to be skeptical about Google running an ad during the Super Bowl since: 1) a French-themed commercial would be unfit for an all-American sporting event 2) USAToday’s list of Super Bowl advertisers does not include Google and 3) “Super Bowl advertisers are working closely with Google to promote the ads on YouTube for voting after they air.

Jessica E. Valcellero of WSJ blogs, comments that Google has actually purchased a tiny number of TV ads in the past and has been spending more on print and billboard ads recently, but that this would be the first time that the company would do something of this caliber if John Bastelle is indeed correct. She speculates that “it is interesting that Google is choosing to make a splash in Internet search, an area where its brand is firmly entrenched–as opposed to seizing the slot to promote one of the lesser-known products it has been trying to marketing more heavily, like its software business.”

During the third quarter of the Super Bowl, Google does indeed air “Parisian Love” on national television in front of 90 million Americans. Minutes later, Jason Kincaid of Tech Crunch confirms that John Battelle’s predictions were correct and comments that Google’s ad takes a different approach from all the other ads that focused on cars, beer, and busty women, by telling a love story through a series of search queries, and “showcasing Google’s technology in a way everyone can relate to.” Skeptic Pete Cashmore posts shortly after also confirming that the rumors were correct.

The truth about the Apple iPad

via 9GAG

Heinz's New Ketchup Packet

For over 40 years, there was only one way to use the ketchup packet, and complaints about it for nearly as long: too messy, too small, too hard to open. Today, Heinz unveiled a new ketchup packet with two openings, that allows for both dipping and squeezing. The new packet costs a little more than the traditional ketchup packet but also holds 3x more ketchup.

Although this is Heinz's first major packaging change to its ketchup packet, the concept behind the packaging is not completely new. The design seems reminiscent of the Sweet & Sour packets (or whatever flavored packet you like to dip your McNuggets in) already available in McDonalds and even more reminiscent of the jar-shaped Nutella packets sans 2 different openings.

Completely original or not, Heinz's new packaging is absolutely brilliant and an excellent example of great marketing and design. Now you don't have to grab 10 ketchup packets at once and look like a complete jerk, or worry about getting ketchup all over yourself while carefully opening to corner of a regular ketchup packet. The new packet is in test markets and currently only available in the Midwest and Southeast, but should be more widely available in the future. Visit Heinz's facebook page to find out more and become a fan to show your support.