Why Advertise on Television?
There are many reasons why television is such a popular platform for advertising companies, possibly the most influential being that it is the best profit generator. Though no campaign is without its synergy, it has been found that television advertisements generate the the highest volume of sales and profit, as well as delivering the best return on investment. TV also has an unbeatable scale and reach, with commercial television able to reach over 73% of people in one day over the enormous variety of channels available. Furthermore, opportunities like 'event TV' can access bigger audiences, sometimes including hard-to-reach viewing groups (e.g. men aged 16-34 are more likely to watch sports events than normal TV), and the consistency of adverts on certain channels can make brands seem bigger than they actually are, adding a level of desirability. Studies show that people are watching television much more than they used to, with Ofcom reporting in 2013 that 'watching live [events] remains the core way in which we watch television.' With this in mind, more events are being broadcasted in real time and the introduction of television on wireless devices like laptops and smartphones means television is even more easily accessible. There are countless other reasons, for example the fact that television can be proved to be the most talked-about medium both online and offline, and the fact that TV ads create almost immediate responses after being shown, which is partly due to the fact that television has transferred very well to the technological growth of smartphones, tablets and laptops. Youth have also been found to be dominantly influenced by television, whether it be on a wireless device or in the traditional way, and are the most likely audience to consume additional television outside of their initial broadcast. Finally, television is known as the emotional medium, with the ability to create deep, long-held emotional brand associations, which has been proven to be the most effective campaign design in advertising.
Forms and Styles of Television Advertising
Different forms and styles are used to appeal to different audiences and show off specific aspects of the product that is being sold. Some have been proven to work better than others, though all have their strengths and limitations when it comes to drawing the attention of the desired target audience of a product.
Forms
Animation advertisements encompasses a huge range of techniques from traditional 2D images, all the way to CGI features. These advertisements are often used to create more fantastical or impossible scenes. Their strength is just this: that there is freedom to create things that you can't in real life, however animations are expensive and take a lot longer to produce.
Mini Fictions is a very popular form of television advertising, with a main protagonist who we often identify with successfully (or sometimes unsuccessfully) going through a situation often with the help of the product trying to be sold. This creates a strong audience connection, but can restrict identification to a certain target viewer and therefore miss out on wider audiences.
Red Car, Blue Car - Milky Way (animation) and Happy End of the World - Lynx (mini fiction)
Documentary advertising is often accepted by audiences as more realistic and believable, and can therefore be effective in convincing viewers. Celebrity or 'expert' endorsement and explanations can reinforce the idea that the information being communicated is reliable, however any media device to get people's attention is wholly true as audiences often become bored by the truth.
Talking Heads is a form similar to documentary, with one individual (sometimes an expert, or a 'normal person') talking directly to the camera. The strengths of these advertisements is how engaging they can be due to the social integration of the seemingly normal individual, although they can be very hard to pull off without seeming fake or uncomfortable.
Christmas Campaign - The Salvation Army (documentary) and Yasmin - Oral B (talking heads)
Most television adverts are stand alones, which advertise a product or service but don't think to any other advertisements from the same brand (though there may be synergy between television and other platforms e.g. print advertisements). A strength for these advertisements is that they have the ability to be more unique as if they don't catch on, there's less risk of a loss for the company. However they often don't create as much of a brand identity for the product or company.
Series advertisements, on the other hand, promote the same brand, product or service, but in a progressive narrative around the same characters. This can make a brand very recognisable and can transfer products well with changing cultures - in some cases these series last for years and so build up a very strong emotional connection with an audience. Although, they can become boring after a while, and be hard to detach from a company after a while.
Cats with Thumbs - Cravendale (standalone) and The Family: Heart to Heart - BT (series)
Style
Humorous adverts can be tongue and cheek, silly or cute and often stick in our minds if done well. They're usually used in alcohol adverts since they're made to be harmless to avoid issues with regulation bodies. However, if done badly the humour is not funny and the advert can be mocked, which can have a negative impact on the product.
Surreal styles are used when a company wants to move their product away from the 'norm' and stand out as different. Because of this they can be very unique and memorable, though they often don't link very clearly to the product, which means that audiences can often forget what they are promoting.
Knitting Nanas - Shreddies (humour) and David Lynch - PlayStation (surreal)
Shocking or dramatic adverts are often used as tactic to appeal to the our kinder (or sometimes guilty) side usually by showing us something (as the name implies) shocking that catches our attention and makes us think that whatever is being promoted must be important if we're able to feel so strongly about it. A downside of this style is that it can sometimes be off putting or even upsetting, so can get into trouble with regulation bodies or just not achieve the promotion in the first place.
Sex is a more controversial style when used directly, especially when it comes to adhering to regulating bodies, however is one of the most frequently used techniques. Sexual implications can be very hard to ignore and often relate to personal identity and desires, and this style is often used in various ways when it comes to cosmetic or visual products. However it can be controversial if not done subtly, and can be offensive.
Road Safety - DOE (shocking) and Angels Will Fall - Lynx (sex)
A popular style in big brands is celebrity endorsement, as it can transfer an already-existing fan base over to another company, and can also make people believe that they can reach a level of superstar status by purchasing the product being advertised. This can also help people remember brands, but can be incredibly expensive, and if there's a scandal surrounding the celebrity being used it can potentially affect the brand as well.
Parody/Intertextual styles make references to existing texts and often makes fun of the original subject matter. These can be very humorous and enjoyable for audiences that are familiar with the original and understand the 'in-jokes', however it can be alienating or confusing to viewers who don't know what the advert is referring to.
David Beckham Bodywear - H&M (celebrity) and Wacky Races - Vauxhall Corsa (intertextuality)
Nostalgic adverts, like intertextual ones, can create a feeling of fondness in its references. However this style can appeal to people who don't necessarily remember the 'original' events, and can instead refer well-known things and a progressive growth through a product or brand. They also create a feeling of long-lasting quality in what its advertising, though can sometimes feel dated and get boring in the long duration needed to show time development.
Through the Years - Hovis (nostalgic)
Regulations on Television Advertising
Regulations are in place in the advertising industry in order to protect audiences from potential issues such as misleading information around a product or possible offence. There are associations that set and monitor these regulations; some are entirely independent in order to ensure reliability, and others are funded by governmental or advertising bodies in order to keep the industry going without misuse of their platforms.
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) represent the main industry bodies (advertisers, agencies and media owners), and are the organisation that write the official Advertising Codes which the industry must abide by. Their aim is to ensure advertising does not mislead, harm or offend and is socially responsible. These include rules stating that 'ads must not portray or represent children in a sexual way,' 'ads must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence,' and 'marketing communications for alcoholic drinks should not imply, condone or encourage immoderate, irresponsible or anti-social drinking' to name a few. However it is the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) that monitor UK advertising and make sure these standards are being met, with the aim to ensure all UK advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful. ASA is an independent operator, unconnected to both the government and advertisers to ensure reliability. If even a single complaint is reported to them about an advertisement, they might investigate and respond to this either with justification for its meeting the Advertising Codes created by CAP, or by implementing changes on the advertising company. This could include alterations to the advert itself, a restriction for where and when it can be seen, or even completely banning the advert from being shown. An example of this would be the Coco Mademoiselle television advert featuring Keira Knightley. ASA found this Chanel commercial unsuitable for children after receiving a single complaint from a viewer after the advertisement showing the actress unzipping her clothes was shown during a daytime showing of Ice Age 2. The advertisement could then only be shown during adult programming.
Other regulation bodies in the UK include the Broadcasting Committee of Advertising Practice, who aim to ensure that television and radio advertising is not misleading, that they do not cause harm or offence to viewers (and listeners), and that they stay within the boundaries of 'taste and decency.' Likewise, Ofcom is a independent but government-funded regulation body that monitor all UK communications to allow people to get 'the best from their communications services and [be] protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive*.'
Audience Theories
Audience theories are various ways at looking and analysing the way people react and live both in everyday life and in response to advertising. These theories can make it clearer how to appeal to a target market and make sense of how their everyday needs and behaviour will lead them to react in positive ways to certain marketing.
In 1960, McCarthy created what is called the Marketing Mix, and it's three Ps, which breaks down the four areas of importance to be considered when it comes to appealing to a target audience: product, price, promotion and place. Likewise, theories such as The Persuasion Process (or AIDA) with its steps of attention, interest, desire and action, and concepts like Unique Selling Points (USP) and Brand Identity, are all key to understanding the way in which audiences approach advertising as a whole and how they are likely to react during and afterwards. By having consistent unique selling points and brand identities, products become more recognisable and desirable to consumers amongst competitive markets; AIDA creates almost a step-by-step guide of what to get consumers to do in order to make them buy your product.
When it comes to audience itself there are several concepts to help understand the differences between groups of people, which can therefore help determine how to appeal to the 'group' you want to buy your product (your target audience). The NRS Social Grade separates people into social status (effectively a class system) from A to E based on occupation: doctors, lawyers and individuals in professional occupations are called in the A grade or Upper Middle Class; at the other end are pensioners and individuals who rely on the state for income are classed as E or Unemployed/Receiving Benefits. This gives the media an idea of markets with disposable income and the culture they are likely associated with. Similarly, the Grass target audience concept allows a company to consider the ways in which they are reach their target audience with familiarity, through categories such as gender, race, age, sexual orientation, social class, religious beliefs etc.
Young and Rubicam's 4Cs (Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation) filters audiences into seven personality types by pinpointing what they are concerned with in their lives, and how this affects the way they react to advertisement. For example, The Resigned are a group of people predominantly identified as older, with unchanging values in society; Young and Rubicam thought their brand choices were driven by a need for safety in the economy, and familiarity, because their basic aim is to survive. Contrastingly, they believed that The Succeeders were individuals who were self-confident with strong life goals; when it came to brands they would seek out the best and those with prestige, because they felt they deserved it - through they felt happy with 'protective' brands, as their core need was control. The idea of categorising humans into categories was also shared by the Life Matrix (MRI and Roper), which laid out ten positions, such as the Dynamic Duos (hard-driving, high-involvement couples); Priority Parents (family values, strong media dominance); or Struggling Singles (high aspirations, low economic status).
Both of these 'personality' categories can be simplified down by Mills' concept of The Power Elite (1956): identity, aspiration, instruction and escapism are ways in which every human being can be swayed by the media, though they each look for different things in each category. This is again reinforced by Blumer and Katz' Uses and Gratification (1974), which state personal identity, information, entertainment and social integration is what audiences look for in media texts, and is therefore what advertising bodies should aspire to achieve for effective selling. Maslow also developed the Hierarchy of Needs that applies to all humans in general, identifying what qualifies as basic physiological and safety needs, up to psychological needs like love/belonging and self-esteem, all the way up to self-fulfilment needs like self-actualisation. Humans often aim for things they can no yet achieve, and so by using advertising fulfilling the highest of these goals, it implies that a product can reach this for the individual that purchases it. In many ways these theories are about appealing to an audience's personal desires and subconscious, however as these things are different to each person experiencing them, a good advert can use them to reach their preferred target audience.
Young and Rubicam's 4Cs (Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation) filters audiences into seven personality types by pinpointing what they are concerned with in their lives, and how this affects the way they react to advertisement. For example, The Resigned are a group of people predominantly identified as older, with unchanging values in society; Young and Rubicam thought their brand choices were driven by a need for safety in the economy, and familiarity, because their basic aim is to survive. Contrastingly, they believed that The Succeeders were individuals who were self-confident with strong life goals; when it came to brands they would seek out the best and those with prestige, because they felt they deserved it - through they felt happy with 'protective' brands, as their core need was control. The idea of categorising humans into categories was also shared by the Life Matrix (MRI and Roper), which laid out ten positions, such as the Dynamic Duos (hard-driving, high-involvement couples); Priority Parents (family values, strong media dominance); or Struggling Singles (high aspirations, low economic status).
Both of these 'personality' categories can be simplified down by Mills' concept of The Power Elite (1956): identity, aspiration, instruction and escapism are ways in which every human being can be swayed by the media, though they each look for different things in each category. This is again reinforced by Blumer and Katz' Uses and Gratification (1974), which state personal identity, information, entertainment and social integration is what audiences look for in media texts, and is therefore what advertising bodies should aspire to achieve for effective selling. Maslow also developed the Hierarchy of Needs that applies to all humans in general, identifying what qualifies as basic physiological and safety needs, up to psychological needs like love/belonging and self-esteem, all the way up to self-fulfilment needs like self-actualisation. Humans often aim for things they can no yet achieve, and so by using advertising fulfilling the highest of these goals, it implies that a product can reach this for the individual that purchases it. In many ways these theories are about appealing to an audience's personal desires and subconscious, however as these things are different to each person experiencing them, a good advert can use them to reach their preferred target audience.
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