Ambiant advertising

Whilst researching ambiant placement and techniques for a Lee jeans campaign for my Black sheet (D&AD inspired) brief I came across an advert for Nike for their 'run gear' a simple message, "don't sit when you can run" but the ambient placement and simplistic design give a mundane idea a powerful punch in the real world. No copy is required to make this advert work, often I believe that this demonstrates a better understanding of the intentions of the brand than a print or video advert with the same message. When products are presented in real terms they are understood and appreciated far better by the public.
I hope to emulate this effect in my jeans advert in order to create a similar effect and make the demographic reveal for themselves, the message I am trying to promote. Lee jeans are harder to crease than other types because of their thicker denim.

Dissertation initial proposal

Dissertation proposal

'The effect and influence of colour throughout advertising history.' As I have chosen to take the role as a copy writer this may seem to be a peculiar choice for my work. However the intial reason why I was put off being an Art Directer is because I am colour blind, obviously choosing the right colour is a fundamental part of creating any artistic work for adverts. However I am very interested in the subliminal and subtle messages that colour can convey and what it means to different audiences, also how it effects thier purchasing and reception of a brand or product.

Coca Cola Icons

 

             I have chosen Coca Cola as the brand that |I have focused on when considering iconography. After all there are very few more widley recognised figueres that Santa Claus, oviously from different places and regions his name, outfit and traditions varied due to the customs, beleifs and heritage of that country or reigon. However whatever and however he was refered to he is more or less the same person. In 1930 this vagueness about who he was, what he did and how he did it would all change. The Coca Cola Company took this icon and made him more iconic by giving the fairy tale an identity. By associating him with thier brand this is one of the most effective uses of iconography to sell produce. This image became Santa Claus across most of the world, however it bears very little resemblance to the original ideas of his costume (which was green). Therfore it is fair to say that this icon was created and employed as a strategy by the company in order to demostrate messages they could not include in the product description but they had a character convey them. These were qualities such as; kindness, Christmas spirit, generosity and joy that are then, all associated with the product.

I have also chosen this Coke Zero advert that demostrates the opposite of iconography, the stereotyped suave sophisticated 'real man' is replaced by a comedic, more femine and more spontanious every day man who jumps to the rescue of the iconic beautiful 'Bond Girl' who is seductive and alluring to any man. Therefore this advert shows both an icon and also how an illimination of certain icons can make a product more desirable and appealing to a modern audience.

Coca Cola 70s and Present day

The brand that I have identified, to compare adverts from the 70s and current day is Coca Cola. In the 70s people were less health conscious therefore the product is displayed with a well balanced platter of fruits and cheeses. The semiotic connotations behind this advert are ones of sophistication and elegance to promote the brand. The cheese and fruit platter is a continental sign of class to be had after or during a meal, this implies that coke can be enjoyed any time. Also that it is a sophisticated beverage as an alternative to alcohol for adults, it is sophisticated and refreshing in a chilled glass bottle that is perspiring like wine out of an ice bucket. 'It's the real thing. Coke.' This tag line implies that the product has been copied, but that nothing beats the original for sophistication and refreshment. Lynx 2012 however conveys very different messages. With the consciousness that Coke is bad for your health they have focused on refreshment and associations with this. In this case it is ice and polar bears this conveys a very clean and pure image for the super bowl advert. That makes the accusations of Coke ruining the planet seem somewhat better. The polar bear praises its refreshment and cherishes it as people should should do with their Coke.

Favorite 60s advert

'Anacin Offers Fast! Fast! Fast! Relief!' - was the campaign I found most interesting whilst reviewing 60s advertising. Both in its copy and in its design. The advert is typical of 60s advertising with over dramatic and familiar three part imagery. It copies the three frame style of magazines and short comic strips of the time, (such as Mad Magazine.) The product translates briefly and effectively,"Hey! Buy my product and you will get this whiz-bang benefit from it!" It is jolly and upbeat, lifting spirits from the end of the War, with connotations of taking all pain away. It was a successful campaign in post WWII America. The rule of three works perfectly in tune with the image in order to promote the idea that all three effects work in unison to achieve the same goal, like the troops working together to overcome the hard times of War for the survival of the business man, running the country back home whose worst problems can be solved by aspirin. It is a pleasant multi part simplistic campaign that has become the basis of the modern pharmaceuticals adverts such as 'Gavisgon' who use two parts, but using a fireman (another industry that works better with multiple people) in order to promote the message that like many industries products work better when their parts or components work together.

War Time and its Effect on Advertising

After Reading Man Appeal Advertising, Modernism and Menswear by Paul Jobling (2005) summarise the evidence suggesting this was an important period of time in advertising history. 

1914 to 1939 was the time period that would determine the survival or destruction of advertising. With the First World War on the horizon all civilian utilities and resources were cut in order to produce the items that were needed for the fighting men over seas. In particular wool and other cloths for clothing manufacture and paper. The restrictions of paper to ‘600 square inches’ meant that advertising was not only limited by technology but also by the context of War time and rationing which was rather engulfing, as nations struggled for survival. The  Daily Express divulged to advertisers that the set backs in paper allowance meant that ‘we cannot accommodate all advertisers at present.’ These restrictions in the economical climate and manufacturing industry threatened to destroy advertising through war time (at the very least).  People had to try and sell lower quality goods at higher prices. Therefore innovations had to be made in order to advertise to a greater span of people for a lower cost. For example ‘Sydney Presbury & Co. promoted the use of manufacture lantern slides in music halls and cinemas’ they advised their customers that altough the expenditure would be greater than posters, the amount of people to see the adverts would be far greater than most poster adverts to come before them. This attitude to overcome the seemingly hopeless financial and manufactural climate made advertisers change their tactics yet again in order to survive in a world that would have readily forgotten them in the whirlwind that was the First World War. 

The ideas about where to advertise were not the only reinventions of the time ‘Sidney Garland (adverting manager of Selfidge & Co 1919)’ demonstrated a very important point. That advertising became about ‘quality and individuality immediately after the First World War.’ Adverts had always focused on quality and style in the past but individuality was a new dimension which shaped the industry with a particular focus on mens clothing and tailoring to make suits specific to the wearer. This identification of a new era in advertising made the ideology particularly influential on the history of advertising as if out of the ashes of the war advertising had not diminished but reinvented its message to suit the needs of the new man that was created as a result of it.

From; Man Appeal Advertising, Modernism and Menswear by Paul Jobling (2005)

An example of a Butchers lantern slide advert for Attwells Butchers.

New York World Fair & Bernbach

New York World Fair (1939 Flushing Meadows- Corona Park)
 
The 1939 New York World Fair was the second largest American World fair of its time spanning over 1939 to 1940. The fair included many participating countries and over 44 million visitors to various exhibitions over the course of two seasons. This was one of the first chances where citizens of the time could view the futuristic interpretations that artists gave of "the world of tomorrow" (according to the provided pamphlet.) A majority of the artworks broke all the  conventions of the time with their simplistic and yet flawless designs, in many ways the fair redefined more what art could be that what it was, as the whole exhibition was set as if it were taking place in the future.
In many ways Bernbach reinvented creativity in the advertising world and the dynamic it had within an agency. Therefore to promote an event that would be larger than any agency at work in the sense that the event would have far more power to sway and manipulate the future Bernbach could continue his work on a grander scale people would associate his creativity and innovation to create scenes before they happen and shape the future in all manners to his work in advertising.
The ways that the New York World Fair was like the millennium dome is in two different ways. Firstly structurally all the revolutionary spherical and cylindrical shapes, although they are not spatially conscious or practical as a square or rectangle they seem to demonstrate a revolution in design throughout the century even right to the end. It is probably because of their lack of practicality and their clinical white colouring that people question them so greatly and in doing so they accept that there is much about the future that they are not yet meant to understand. By doing so they are in awe of its seeming evolution from what they know around them. Secondly 'the world of tommorrow' idea was replicated from the New York World Fair to the millennium dome. By using cutting edge technology of the time to simulate artistic vision the creative people of each era could simulate a justifiable world in which the people may one day form a part. In many ways the concept behind the two is identical the technology just improves.

50s and 60s DDB

Read Chapters 4 of The Real Mad Men, write a summary of the aesthetic and social context of the 50s and 60s that surrounded DDB ads.

Obviously the most prominent piece of context surrounding the 50s and 60s was the aftermath of WWII although this had crippled England, and its economy by comparison America was relatively untouched, I believe that this factor was the reason for the creative revolution. As the Real Mad Men states there was a surge of foreigners arriving in the US, many of which had escaped prosecution from neighbouring countries such those in Italy and Poland. The Italians in particular, who under the ruling of Mussolini had sided with the Nazis throughout the war were a frowned upon segment of Europeans. However, many of the population who initially fled to America, aimed to avoid the conflict of WWII initially and were completely uninvolved with the negative repercussions of their stigma from WWII. However, racism does not often take account for rationality. However with the arrival of, especially the Italian immigrants the advertising market began to change substantially for the better with DDB being the focal point of the change. Bernbach remarked 'You always have to work in the idiom of the times in which you live.' The 'Creative Revolution' that took place throughout the 50s and 60s was undoubtedly a positive reaction to the hard times that the Wars and previously the recession brought about as a result of financial stability. The context of the time however is all about beginning a new in creative sectors. The Guggenheim museum is a perfect example of this; the new and almost space age structure of this building was one of the many advances of the the time period that coupled technology and design perfectly with one another in the same way as the advertising business did with fresh ideas and designs brought about by current ideas, conventions and new perceptions of the business, instigated by the arrival of the foreigners to the business. With this revelation in the context of the country so too came revolutionary ideas in advertising that made the adverts unique. Within DDB Bernbach revolutionised advertising in order to promote it as a creative discipline, by creating the art directer and copywriter dual collaboration. This insured that creative people were given a particularly large role in advertising whereas before his influence advertising was solely managed my accountants and seen as a monitory focused business. Bernbach also eliminated the phoney and false general style of adverts and began using real people and cunning innovation to create his adverts rather than simplistic data graphs and polished stereotypes.

Explain why the ‘think small’ campaign epitomises the creative revolution’

The 'think small' campaign epitomised the creative revolution for one reason. It was bold. This did not come from showing a powerful agreesive 'home- built gas guzzler' at a beutiful camera angle with various motifs and linguistic techniques that inspired adrenal reactions like others of its time. It was 'small, basic, ugly' and most important in context to when it was released, it was foreign, which after the Second World War and its patronage from Adolf Hitler was a particularly despised trait of the company in general. The campaign took negative traits like the unappealing looks and the unchanging design of the car to make it appealing as an icon rather than a product, people wanted to be part of the revolution rather than own the product but they had to own one to be a part of it. The car was not made appealing but the simplicity behind it was. The creative revolution was quite simply a change of perspective from what something was to what it could be. In this instance 'ugly and never changing' became constant and iconic. This is just what the working man (the demographic) desired from a world that appeared to be changing to fast for them to handle with glimpses into the future like the New York World Fair 1939.

The idea of using Helmut Krone as the art directer (German American) was a risky choice made by Bernbach. However I believe that because of this bare knuckle advertising technique, whereby the car was not glorified or embellished in anyway coming from Krone made the nation rekindle its trust (to a degree) in Germany and its engineering. This advert was the acceptance and beginning of change in all creative mediums.

Finally here is the most famous of my three adverts the 1998 Guinness Surfer;

Disruptive WWF

                Usually the most disruptive or shocking adverts are on television as they are far more complex that print media, however I found this series WWF adverts to be very corruptive of the usual, especially in comparison to previous adverts made for the company. In stead of sad posters of endangered or injured animals or habitats only the end-line divulges the true seriousness of the problem that the advert addresses. The images are almost comical and therefore convey the attitude that the majority of the world's lack of enthusiasm to 'save the planet' is juvenile. The advert mocks the audience with guilt messages that imply that like the people who are in trouble in these images no one has come to the aid of our Earth, which is in just as much trouble. The advert is hopeful that prospect of the loss of human life may put this in perspective for people in order to help them to see the bigger picture.

Johnnie Walker- Not just for the Brittish Gentleman

A modern advert that corrupts the usual in order to disrupt or shock the viewer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKRJJxLK0o

             Produced by Bartle Bogle Heggarty, in 2011 for the Keep Walking Campaign this is the first country specific advert ever made for Johnnie Walker Whisky. It is a two company collaboration between NEOGAMA and BBH in order to highlight Brazil's economic growth of the past few years and sell the product to one of its largest target markets.
             In a similar fashion to Magritte's surrealist techniques this advert shocks the observer by taking a familiar environment to its target audience and reinventing it in a manner that the audience could never predict. This gives a powerful disruption to the advert, conveying a message derived from the slogan (Keep Walking) that the land itself wants to be part of "Johnnie Walker Movement" and attitude. If the earth itself lifted and "kept walking" in the name of Johnnie walker shouldn't you at least try it? This is very similar to the message of the 'Glass and a Half' productions by Cadburys. Not only this sense of disruption is present in the advert but also one of fun like the Cadbury adverts, the land starts a fresh existence therefore the advert takes boring rock and gives it a sense of freedom and individuality along with its purity and tranquility (despite its disruptive effect nothing is damaged and no one is injured) these are elegant and admirable qualities that Johnnie Walker aims to inspire in its target market with this advert.

Bellow is a list of the production team of the advert;

Agency:

NEOGAMA/BBH

Client:

Johnnie Walker

Creative:

Alexandre Gama

Production House:

Zohar Cinema

Production House:

Gorgeous

Director:

Peter Thwaites

Producer:

Isabelle Tanugi

Producer:

Anna Hashmi

Photography:

Joost Van Gelder

Editing:

Bill Smedley

Marks in Time pt2

Name The classy setting for the Autumn 2007 advert, explain why it was selected and what meanings it expresses?

3)The classy setting for the M&S Autumn 2007 advert is aboard the Orient Express Train. I believe that the choice of this location to film the advert was to demonstrate the exotic and lavish materials and services that the far east of Asia has to offer. Many of the fabrics from these countries are the necessary to produce a majority of M&S clothing. Also a high percentage of of food stuffs and labour for M&S companies is situated in the Orient. The beautiful women aboard this legendary locomotive empowers M&S due to its respect for the environment and preservation of the original birthplace of all of its commodities, whether they be workers or produce.

 Describe the target audience of 'Your M&S' and what the view is based on?

4)The target audience for ‘Your M&S’ advert is women, most probably in the age group of late middle thirties to middle sixties most of whom are either ‘housewives’ or do the shopping for themselves or a family. I have based this prediction on the ages of the models who are involved in the shoot. The youngest is Myleene Klass; 33 and the oldest is Twiggy ; 62, these are women from a greatly varied age group. However this particular advert unlike many of the ‘Your M&S’ before glorifies women of this particular age group as chique and beautiful by showing them indulging decadently in the environment of the Orient Express along with alcoholic beverages and M&S clothing and lingerie. This is a very appearance conscious demographic in Western society, the advertisement creator has taken this into account and chosen to use the brand to empower this demographic that often feel under appreciated or taken for granted as housewives and recreates them decadent figures of beauty as they wish to be seen.

Marks in Time pt1

What are the five M&S core principals?

1)The five core principals of M&S are; Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust- Marks & Spencer.

Describe how the 125years of M&S advert represents the core ideas through text and image.

2)The new M&S advert that celebrates 125 years since the store began. The advert uses juxtaposition between the previous revelations that made the store such an expanding success story and the determination to tackle current issues that sway the spending of the contemporary audience. this is achieved by using five major principals; Value, Innovation, Service, Trust and Quality, that are imbedded in the type and image throughout this advert.

Value is highlighted as a major selling point for M&S as a brand, this is clearly indicated in the company slogan ‘ Quality worth every penny.’ This fact is reinforced by the creation of M&S as it evolved from a ‘Penny Bazar’ todays equivalent of a pound store. In many ways, Value the most relevant principal particularly in the modern economic climate. It is very fitting that this slogan or end- line is the last text that the audience sees, therefore preserving what is arguably the most appealing and enticing core principal of M&S to a modern audience. 

In this advert Service is not identified in an blatant manner that recognizes shop assistants of M&S whom everyone would associate with the core principal of service. The advert instead diverts the audiences’ attention to the farmers and agricultural specialists that provide the food that is sold by M&S, by using the term ‘fairest possible price’ and showing pleased third world farmers, the advert immediately divulges that the M&S company has a proud and devoted set of morals where fair trade is involved. Ignorance of this issue has been a pressing problem throughout third wold economies for many years and by highlighting the fact that the food is paid for with the ‘fairest possible price’ demonstrates that although value is important to us in the first world, by purchasing M&S goods the audience are not promoting poverty for their own personal gain. 

Innovation is the theme that runs constantly through this advert, M&S are supposedly always looking for the next “Big Thing” in order to please their customers. This is demonstrated by the revolutions that made the demographics’ lives easier. These are demonstrated by the images of tumble dry suits and drip dry fabrics.  The advert is predominantly focused on the innovations throughout the history of M&S that have helped the consumer overcome everyday chores with ease and inspired elegant new fashions and exotic dishes that have assisted or ‘liberated’ housewives in particular.

Trust is inspired in the chosen demographic (predominantly middle aged house wives) through the choice of spokes person for the advert. Twiggy, is not only a glamorous figure from when these women were growing up, but also has become a ‘house wife’ therefore she is the perfect candidate to inspire trust in the brand. Twiggy glorifies M&S as a place where the more glamorous and tasteful housewives would shop as she is both a domestic and fashion icon.

Quality is probably the least prominent theme throughout this advert, besides the lavish and decadent images of ‘perishable’ foods. However, the celebratory style in which the ‘125 years’ text is displayed would lead the audience to believe that, not only has the quality of M&S produce increased but also that the anniversary of the stores creation will spur the motivation to keep increasing quality as demands for new technologies and produce from around the world is constantly rising.