Advertising, News & Public Relations

1. Advertising, News & Public Relations MDAC002 TELEVISION ADVERTISING

2. “80 per cent of [consumers] can not remember the typical commercial one day after they have seen it. Americans receive upto 700 messages a day.” Dyer, G 1996

3. “In a marketplace where there are twenty brands of soap powder, all performing essentially the same function… each brand must take on a unique identity in the minds of the consumer.” Bolland, 1987

4. Strap-Lines “Bread with Nowt Taken Out”

5. “It takes two hands to hold a Whopper!” “You Got It!”

6. “Bet you can’t eat three!”

8. Cars…

9. Cigarettes… “You’re never alone with a Strand”

10. HEURISTICS • Simple cues or rule for solving a problem. • They help us infer attributes. Heuristic assumptions: • The higher the price, the better the quality • Brand names are better than store names

11. SOME CONDITIONS NECESSITATE THE USE OF HEURISTICS… • When we don’t have time to think carefully about an issue • When we are overloaded with information that it becomes impossible to process it fully • When we believe the issues at stake are not very high • When we have little other knowledge or information upon which to base a decision • When a given heuristic comes quickly to mind when confronted with a problem

12. Advertisers spend vast sums of money to link their brand name to a specific proposition – such as ‘Michelob is classy’ or ‘Bud is for the everyday working Joe’” Pratkanis, A et al (1990)

13. THE REAL “Of course ‘real’ is a construct. The makers of commercials do not want what will seem to be real on film. Artificial rain is better than ‘God’s Rain’ because it shows up better on film or tape” Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion “In real life human activity is highly ritualised. People act out and live in social ideals, presenting to the world stereotyped pictures of themselves. In advertising this is even more true… it is ‘hyper-ritualisation’.” Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion

14. ACTIVITY • Draw up a storyboard of a thirty second Television commercial ADVERTISING YOURSELF

15. “Advertising…is an irrational system which appeals to our emotions and to anti-social feelings which have nothing to do with the goods on offer.” (Dyer, G. 1982) “We have a cultural pattern in which the objects are not enough but must be validated in fantasy by association with social and personal meanings”. (Raymond Williams, 1980, p.185)

16. MONTAGE

17. Juxtapose this!

18. 10 Advertising Tips • Picture should tell the story • Look for the VISUAL SYMBOL • Grab attention – first five seconds • Be simple-minded! A good commercial is uncomplicated. • Name of product. Make it easy to remember • People are interested in people • Show pay off – you product does what you say it will do • Reflect brand personality – fun, functional, ecomomic. What personality does Esso, Tesc,Asda, Marks and Spenser, Adidas, Hope University have? • Less is more • Build campaign

19. Involvement is the key! • Provide information that they want. • Present problems to which you have a solution • Present situations they can Identify with. • Provoke appropriate entertainment.

20. “…political candidates must frequently offer themselves as differing brands of the same product”. Nimmo and Felsberg in McNair, B. An Introduction to Political Communication.

21. 4 Simple Dramatic forms/elements: • Demonstrations/“seeing is believing” (Gillette :the best a man can get) • Testimonial “This is the Truth” – Jordan , Nike • Slice of Life – Oxo • Animation – Jaffa Cakes

22. “THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE” Marshal McLuhan.

23. CONSIDERATIONS • Heuristics • Music • Speed of edits • Use of montage • Time/channels of broadcast • Slice of Life/Testimonial

24. ACTIVITY • Draw up a storyboard of a thirty second Television advertisement for the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester • Detail the station/time of broadcast, music, voice over, actuality, editing, overdubbing, catch line, use of language

25. Make a 30 second montage entitled “Imminent Danger” using: • Stills • Music bed • Windows Movie Maker

26. “…political candidates must frequently offer themselves as differing brands of the same product”. Nimmo and Felsberg in McNair, B. An Introduction to Political Communication.

27. Dramatic forms/elements: • Demonstrations/“seeing is believing” (Gillette :the best a man can get) • Testimonial “This is the Truth” – Jordan , Nike • Slice of Life – Oxo • Animation – Jaffa Cakes

28. “THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE” Marshal McLuhan.

29. Propaganda Techniques • Propaganda is a one-sided "news" story. Governments have used propaganda to help sell wars; advertisers and others use the same techniques. It’s often easier to see the techniques at work on older posters and advertising, since they seem more obvious. • Name Calling: giving an idea or person a bad label, and therefore rejecting and condemning it without examining the evidence. Communist, Jew, and Liberal; dirty; hippie; political ads; what else? • Glittering Generality: associating something with a "virtue word" and creating acceptance and approval without examination of the evidence. Freedom; Make the world safe for democracy; and "Things [what things] go better with Coke"? • Transfer: carries the respect and authority of something respected to something else to make the latter accepted. Also works with something that is disrespected to the latter rejected. This transfer technique is often used with images of ideally beautiful people; with cool looking smokers; and with icons like the Flag. Watch posturing politicians and see them standing in front of symbols of authority. • Testimonial: get the good word from a respected authority and transfer it to your product. Also works by getting a testimonial from a hated person to make someone look bad. Examples: whenever you have a famous person pitching a product. Examples: Ed McMahon for the magazine subscription sweepstakes; athletes promoting shoes; the President in grip-and-grin photos with up-and-coming regional candidates; 9 out of 10 dentists recommend this type of toothpaste. • Plain Folks: a speaker or product is good because they are "of the people," the plain folks. Example: the Prime Minister in a hard hat.

30. Card Stacking: involves the selection and use of facts or falsehoods in order to give just one side of an issue. Examples: most political ads about opposing candidates; any ads putting down competitors; most ads which use facts to point out the high points on their products without pointing out the downside. • Band Wagon: "Everyone is doing it" (or at least all of "us") to convince members of a group that their peers accept the program, and that we should all jump on the band wagon rather than being loft out. Examples: soft drink ads with a bunch of handsome young people having fun on the beach; political ads featuring groups waving flags. • Ads use pictures and words, but these may not directly relate to the product or how the product is used. • For example, in Marlboro ads, cowboys ride horses in a beautiful wild Western scene. What does this have to do with cigarettes? Nothing, really (even if traditional cowboys took tobacco, they either rolled their own or chewed). Does this mean if you smoke you’ll be like a tough, romantic, wild cowboy? • The advertiser is trying to ASSOCIATE the image and message of the ad with their product. There are several techniques for doing this, including using words, pictures, and the Propaganda Techniques called Testimonials. Soap and skin care products often use the Association technique to show ideally beautiful young women bathing. Does this mean if you use that soap you’ll look that good? • What about ads that show a lot of people having fun? Soft drink ads often show beautiful young people partying on a beach. Does this mean that if you drink their soft drink you’ll be part of a happy in-group? This is Bandwagon-esque.