Advertising Assignment
Selects an advertising campaign created by an external (not in-house) advertising agency for its client that is a national or international product, brand, service, company, or organization. The campaign must be current and will have run in the media within the last two year (2016-2018). The campaign must be in the English language.
An advertising campaign is defined as a series of related ads that are based on the same theme, message, and offer. The Snickers series commercials "You're Not You When You're Hungry," is a good example of a campaign. It was created for the Snickers brand by ad agency BBDO. Another good example is Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign created for Dos Equis by ad agency Havas.
The advertising agency must be an external agency, not an in-house agency owned or controlled by the brand or manufacturer. The campaign must have been placed and appeared in at least two different media (e.g., TV, magazine, radio, newspaper, digital, social media, etc.).
Here is the assignment:
Deconstruct and analyze the selected campaign and present your analysis in a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation of 14 slides plus an introductory, title slide and a sources slide (for a total of 16 slides). The first slide (introductory) must include your name, the advertising campaign and the advertising agency selected. Slide 16 is the Sources slide that will reference any source material or texts that you include in the body of your presentation. Sources in the slide must be in APA format. Information from the Wells Library on how to develop and write sources is at Pages.
Your analysis in the PowerPoint or Prezi will include the following:
1) Copy and paste (for print, outdoor, Web, social media) or embed or provide a link (for TV, radio or video, digital) in the PowerPoint for at least two of the ads.
2) Present a thorough description of what you believe is the target audience for the campaign, including demographics, psychographics (attitudes, values, and lifestyle - VALS). Answer the questions: a) Does the campaign in your opinion demonstrate understanding and empathy for this target audience? How? b) Does the advertising "connect" emotionally with the target audience? If so, how?
3) Answer these questions succinctly in your PowerPoint: a) What is the business problem this ad campaign is solving for the product, brand or company? b) What is the advertising communication objective of the ad? c) Is this a new product being introduced, or is this a reintroduction of an existing product? d) Is this campaign building brand awareness and identity, or is this a special sales promotion to move the product by price incentives?
4) Based on your analysis: a) what is the creative strategy of the campaign? b) what is the "big idea?" or what is the major promise of the campaign? c) what emotional "connection" has been created between the brand and the consumer? d) does the ad use some memorable creative device to communicate its benefits to the consumer? Examples of memorable creative devices are the Gecko character in Geico; or the duck in Aflac; or the Old Spice "man."
5) a) What are the key consumer benefits of the brand that are communicated in the campaign? b) what are the rational benefits communicated? c) what are the emotional benefits communicated? d) are there supporting reasons to purchase or try the product? e) is there a "call to action"-- asking the consumer to do something specifically like go to a Website, redeem a coupon, call a toll-free number, come in for a test drive?
6) Is there anything that you would do to improve the ad to make it better, more effective?
7) What measurement do you think is necessary to determine if the campaign is successful in accomplishing its objectives?
8) Do you think the ad is ethically and socially responsible? Why or why not?
9) Develop an overview of the advertising agency that produced the campaign - this will require research through sources. Specify the ad agency name, size, (number of people and/or revenue) location, clients, awards, reputation, and advertising specializations.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.