Modern Advertising

ELEMENTS OF MODERN ADVERTISINGS

Team Report

February 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF FIGURES iii

Chapter

I INTRODUCTION 1

II WHAT MAKES A TV COMMERICAL MEMORABLE 3

III TIVO DOESN’T MEAN SKIPPED COMMERCIALS 10

IV LOST IN TRANSLATION 15

V CHARACTERISTICS OF TV ADVERTISEMENTS AROUND THE WORLD 21

VI CONCLUSIONS 27

REFERENCES 28

BIBLIOGRAPHY 32

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1 The emotional continuum 4

2 Image of TiVO BMW interactive tag 11

3 Image of TiVO BMW interactive tag when not fast forwarded. 11

4 Burger King advertisement banner seen on TiVO 12

5 Woody Woodpecker 16

6 Vietnam Airlines’ Tupolev-154 with old “Stork and Moon” logo and

white color livery 18

7 Vietnam Airlines’ Boeing 777-200LR with new “Golden Lotus” logo

And blue color livery 19

INTRODUCTION

This report highlights key areas to consider for a successful commercial advertising and marketing campaign. The project will delve into four main points: what makes a commercial memorable, the effects of TiVO on commercial advertising, information lost in translation when products are introduced into the global economy, and what factors should be researched and altered when entering a new market.

What makes a commercial memorable? Recent studies have been conducted that change the ideology of this factor. Sex may still sell, but there is more to consider with today’s consumer. A few elements worth researching and employing when creating advertisements are: invoke emotion, adapt from previous material, “shock and awe” the audience, interject minimal counterintuitiveness, and avoid playing commercials during sexually explicit and violent shows.

The introduction of TiVO (Digital Video Recorder (DVR)) to the marketplace was feared to be the end of 30 second commercial spots as TiVO allows users the ability to fast forward through commercial material. Eight years later, the highly coveted mass market achieved through television commercials has not been eliminated. Advertisement executives through sheer ingenuity have been able to overcome some of the obstacles introduced by TiVO.

When marketing and advertising in a foreign market, much more scrutiny needs to be given to a product on a more basic level. Does the product name and marketing plan translate correctly or will it be lost in translation? The culture of the country needs to be reviewed. There are many examples where not everything was reviewed before introducing a product in a foreign market and the product’s image and awareness suffered.

In addition to the aforementioned, the following research questions need to be answered when entering a new market: what are the advertising practices in a foreign country; are there local laws that have to be abided by that will have an impact on the marketing campaign; what are the interests of local consumers; and what is the norm for advertisement length, intervals, and show times? When expanding to the global market, it is important to conduct the appropriate regional research to ensure laws, customs, and courtesies are properly observed.

CHAPTER I

WHAT MAKES A TV COMMERICAL MEMORABLE

One can draw upon several focus areas to help make a commercial memorable. An advertising agent can choose to play on a person’s emotions (sentimental, laughter, etc.), adapt from previous material, “shock and awe” the audience, or use sex appeal (Lam, 2008). New research has led to the ideology that the level of counterintuitiveness posed in a commercial can also effect how memorable the advertisement is (Upal, 2007). While each of these strategies enhances memorability, they are not usually utilized alone but rather in combination. Aside from the material of the advertisement itself, the genre of the television show or movie also has an effect on the memorability of the commercial that follows (Bushman & Bonacci, 2002).

According to Poels and Dewitte (2006), the most crucial aspect of creating commercials is appealing to consumers’ emotions. Neuroscience studies conducted within the last 20 years show that emotion is directly correlated to cognition. Emotions come first and then play a key role in establishing rational thinking and behavior. “Emotional reactions function as the gatekeeper for further cognitive and behavioral reactions” (Poels and Dewitte, 2006, p.4). Therefore, it is important for an advertisement developer to create a means to trigger an emotional response before the audience is expected to process the stimulus.

Before employing emotional triggers in advertisements, it is important to note the difference between types of emotions and their role in the cognitive process. For instance, emotions and how they occur vary greatly at the ends of the emotional continuum spectrum (Poels and Dewitte, 2006). The first, at the far left of the spectrum, are lower-order emotions like pleasure and arousal, which occur automatically. The second, at the far right of the spectrum, are higher-order emotions. Complex emotions are placed at this end and occur through cognitive processes. Basic emotions like fear, anger, and happiness fall somewhere in the middle. These emotions take place at different points along the spectrum. They can occur automatically