...Still thirsty?

Other than passing on the basics of analyzing print advertisements, one of our main goals for this blog is to compare ads based in the Gulf with ads from other parts of the world.

You may notice that advertisers change their advertisement based on the region, but they do not change the product. Let us look into some examples ...

Pepsi uses different advertisements for its target audience

The colors  red, blue, and white symbolized Pepsi and represents the brand image. The layout, logo and of the ads are the same, yet the visual appearance or the model used is different depending on the region  that is been targeted.

Both ad targets football fans and players, however, the geographic location is different. One is targeted for Arab countries, and the other is targeted for West countries.

It seems that Pepsi paid more on the ad of David Bekham than it did for the ad in Arabic, because Bekham is an icon of football that is known globally, and the ad could also be used to target audience globally from all regions. However, the one in Arabic uses icons from Egypt football players that might be known only in the Arab region.

Pay attention to detail!!! Notice that the Arab based one has a group of football players, since most Arabs countries are known as collectivists. The Western based one focuses only on Beckham, even though you can see bodies in the background, they are not important..and this is to support individualism.

Another point to notice is the location of the logo.. First look at the Arab based one, the logo is placed behind the group of football players, but it is still noticable. Now look at the Western based one, which has the a large sized logo beside Beckham.

Also, the Arab based ad is a temporary ad because it can only be used during the African Football Cup 2006 in Egypt, which is the overall theme. The Western based ad doesnt follow a specific theme and it is not binded by a certain period of time.

Pepsi has different ads to be advertised for different segments, and these two ads are targeting football players and fans as mentioned previously. 

Pepsi doesn’t need to sell its product, so the purpose of the ad is to or what is called as an advertising appeal is to remind the audience about the brand and its image.



The same concept is applied for Coca Cola  as it did for Pepsi, yet different audience is been targeted.

Coca Cola used an Arab singer as a model, and in the other ad it used two Indian actors to represent it.

The Arab ad targets the Arab region, while the other ad targets Indians mostly. There is no specific demographic segmentation used for the ad, but the geographic location was segmented. For each area or region, the models changes based on the location so that the audience in that location will recognize the brand and relate to it.

The colors red, white and yellow represents the brand image

Pay attention to detail!! Notice that the Arab based ad uses the standard logo in a medium size, whereas the Indian based ad uses a different logo which is black and a smaller size and mentions a website.

Another difference is the background. The Arab based ad uses the Coca Cola colors, whereas the Indian based ad uses plain white.

Also, the actors in the Indian based ad are dressed casually and seen happy and smiling unlike in the Arab based ad where the singer is shown wearing an evening gown with a sparkling microphone and a serious face expression. 

The purpose of both ads is to remind the audience about the product as Pepsi was doing

Thirsty?

Instead of using one simple print advertisement to show you how to use the 4 steps to analyze….We decided that we should give a brief, overall analysis on the changes in one company’s print advertisements over the years.

The company we chose is Coca-cola!

Why did we chose Coca-cola? Not only because they’re known for their print advertisements, but more importantly because people remember them!!!

This link has all the Coca-cola ad pictures from oldest to latest http://www.dirjournal.com/internet-journal/the-visual-tour-into-coca-cola-print-advertising/

 The link shows the company’s print advertisement from the early 1890 all the way to 2002…

Looking through the ads, there are a few obvious things that you can notice:

• They used illustrated ads that look like vintage paintings from 1890 to 1929
• They upgraded in 1950 to still photos for their ads
• At the beginning they used slogans along with at least a 3 line description explaining the advertisement
• Most of the advertisements feature more than one person, which is a symbol of hospitality, friendship, sharing, companionship ..etc.
• The people in the ads are always smiling to show that their happiness comes from Coca-cola, which also connects friends
• The ads get simpler, more colorful, and less crowded with the years
• The time period that the ad is published in determines the slogan along with the theme (ex: during Christmas time)
• All the advertisements show even the slightest hint of red color, which is the company’s main color. Even though the logo is usually placed in the bottom corner or located somewhere on the actual ad, the advertiser did this to create a memorable brand image
• 1993 they associated their drink to a polar bear. You can tell that this wasn’t appealing since they were very quick to turn around the concept
• From 2002, they began linking the Coca-cola drink to colors, as a way to describe the Coke side of life
• During the 1990’s, Coca-cola used the same strategy that they started out with, and that was to use illustrations, but they updated it by using animations instead
• The advertisers want people to associate the drink with happiness, and feeling good..

From this we want you to learn that analyzing or deconstructing an advertisement doesnt always mean to uncover the hidden details or meanings. Analyzing is more than that..

The most important parts of an advertisement is to figure out the idea, target, and intention!

Here we go: Step 4

Step 4: Examine the consequences

- Overall  is the ad memorable, persuasive, informative or believable?

- Consequences ( how would individual respond emotionally to the message)

- Will the advertiser accomplish his goal ?

- Customer response about the ad ( what do you think their response will be)

- Restate the thesis ( reason of the ad, is it effective or not, why or why not)

The final step is by far the easiest... It acts as a conclusion to help you gather your final thoughts and observations of the advertisement

Here we go: Step 3

Step 3: Determine the target audience

- Target audience for the ad ( be specific by defining the target audience it terms of:

1. Demographics (age, gender, family size, family life cycle, occupation, education, income race, generation , religion, and nationality)
2. Psychographics ( social class, lifestyle, personality)
3. Geographic location (nations, regions, states, countries, or cities)
4. Behavioral factors ( product usage, knowledge, attitude or responses to a product)

- The benefit the ad promised for the target audience

- Appeal ( emotional or logical appeal used to persuade the consumer)

- Positioning strategy used

- What brand image is being communicated

- Elements used to make the message or the ad memorable

- Creativity or content-driven?

This step requires you to look deeply at what the advertisement is really communicating..

Here we go: Step 2

Step 2: Analyze the ad based on what you think is the advertiser's goal behind the ad

Reminder ! the intention of the ad is always to sell a product!!!

- Product .. include details on the ad’s placement:

- What is being sold?, is the product appealing to you? Why or why not?

- Is there any emotions that the ad is trying to relate with the product presented? Was it successful or not? Why?

- What type of media( newspaper, magazine..etc), Media vehicle ( name of publication where it appeared)

- Timing ( when it ran)

- Present your evaluation of the ad’s effectiveness ( thesis)

- State the reasons that influenced your evaluation of the ad

- The objective of the ad.  think about the ad’s communication goals, what the advertiser’s goal  behind the message)

This step puts you into the shoes of the advertisers.. To get the maximum analysis from this, you have to think like an advertiser!!

Here we go: Step 1

Step 1: Make observations about the ad and its technique

Below we have mentioned all the points that you have to focus on to complete step 1 of deconstructing the advertisement...

- Begin with a statement that helps the reader to understand your approach to analyzing the ad.

- Make observation about the ad and the appeal of the type of product being advertised and the adjectives that describes the ad

- Provide an objective description of the ad ( visual appearance, and the message itself )

- What gender is represented in the ad? What do they look like? ( if any)

- Their facial expression

- Camera angle ( level of the camera: is it above, eye-level, or below the subject) ( close to the subject or far)

- Lighting ( is it natural or artificial)? Why?

- Are there any parts that are highlighted in the ad while others are not? Why do you think the purpose behind it?

- Layout and design (Colors used, check contrast and brightness)

- Text (what kind font, is more than one type of font used, how big is the text, what color is it, one or more colors used) and what does the text say?

- Headline ( does it attract attention)

- Body copy ( length, emphasis)

- Slogan ( relates to the company image or not)

- Company logo ( familiarity and corporate image)

To make it even easier...Think of it in this way, the first step is like your initial apprasial

Easy as 1..2..3..

Here are 4 easy steps to deconstructing an advertisement:

Step 1: Make observations about the ad and its technique

Step 2: Analyze the ad based on what you think is the advertiser's goal behind the ad

Step 3: Determine the target audience

Step 4: Examine the consequences

This is a great way for beginners to start analyzing advertisements! Think about how combining these steps will help make a difference to understanding advertisements.

Still confused?? Wait for more detailed posts explaining each step..