Vehicle Strand Advertising and Branding Advertising and Branding

Vehicle Strand Advertising and Branding

Advertising and Branding Branston & Stafford: history of advertising and marketing, movie tie-ins, influence and objections, regulation advertising and branding: key part of today’s mediated environment Key term: brand

Example: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)

What is a Brand? A mark made by a red hot iron Used on cattle (ownership) Used on convicted criminals (disgrace) Holocaust tattoos to categorise (dehumanising) In some languages: fire (e. g. Swedish, German)

Exercise: Branded Make a list of all the items you have with you right now. Note those which are branded: name, logo, mark, etc Do you have more branded or more unbranded items?

Advertising Traditional view: advertising = persuade people to buy goods successful advertising = more sales e. g. washing powder, car, shampoo

Naomi Klein, No Logo Klein: this is no longer the case Canadian journalist No Logo (2000) Advertising is not about goods at all Specific products are largely irrelevant You don’t buy products, but brands What does Klein mean by this?

History of Branding Mass marketing campaigns: began second half 19 th century Advertised new products: radios, phonographs, cars, light bulbs Advertisements = information and persuasion

History of Branding Traditional staples scooped from bins: soap, flour, oats, etc Uniform, factory-produced staples needed distinguishing Proper names used: Quaker Oats, Campbell’s Soup, Coca Cola, Heinz pickles, Uncle Ben’s rice, etc Beginnings of corporate ‘personalities’

Twentieth Century Early 20 th century: growing awareness of the importance of brand image 1920 s: Bruce Barton (General Motors): role of advertising = for corporations to ‘find their souls’ 1940 s: talk of ‘corporate consciousness’, ‘brand essence’, ‘brand identities’ 1960 s: increased commercialisation and consumerism; affordability; life style

1980 s 1988: Philip Morris (tobacco) purchase Kraft (food) for $12. 6 billion Six times the company’s actual worth Brand name Kraft was the most important part of company A new recognition of the importance of brand names

Exercise: Shampoo Planet Consider the 7 brands of shampoo What qualities and connotations do you associate with each? What is the ‘soul’ or ‘personality’ of each of these brands? How do you know?

Exercise: Shampoo Planet TRESemmè Head & Shoulders Pantene Pro-V Palmolive L’Oreal Asda Johnson’s

Advertising We have an impression of the product without having tried it Advertising informs brand Throughout growth of the brand advertising has increased hugely E. g. : Madmen

New Locations Advertisers desperate to get ads into new places: Gordon’s Gin + juniper berries Calvin Klein perfume strips Scandinavian phone calls NASA’s space stations Pepsi and the moon

Diminishing Returns The more you advertise, the less people take notice Adverts become environmental David Lubars (ad exec): “Consumers are like roaches – you spray them and they get immune after a while. ”

Advertising Brands Klein: advertising isn’t simply about selling products Brand = core meaning (message) of the corporation Adverts = a means (vehicle) for conveying that message

New Corporations Successful corporations of 1980 s: Nike, Microsoft, Tommy Hilfiger, Intel Producing goods = unimportant Passed to oversees contractors Cheaper: lower wages, laxer safety and welfare laws

Tommy Hilfiger Corporations buy goods and brand them Tommy Hilfiger doesn’t produce anything Commission underwear from Jockey, jeans from Pepe, etc. Then add their brand name (or get someone to do that too)

Nike CEO Phil Knight: “For years we thought of ourselves as a productionoriented company, meaning we put all our emphasis on designing and manufacturing the product. But now we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product. We’ve come around to saying that Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool. ” product = a marketing tool a complete reversal

Producing Images Objective: employ and produce as little as possible Big corporations don’t make products They produce images, representations and ideologies

Buying into a Brand You don’t buy a branded product You buy into a way of life, an attitude, a set of values, look, idea, an ideology Nike don’t sell sports products but “enhance people’s lives through sports and fitness” IBM don’t sell computers but rather “business solutions” Microsoft don’t sell software but ask “where do you want to go today? ” Diesel doesn’t sell clothes but rather “a style of life” Apple don’t sell smart phones but rather they “iphone your life”

Summary: Age of the Brand Products are relatively unimportant Advertising is not of products Advertising and products are part of branding Brands = images, ideologies, lifestyles Advertising of brands is set to increase? Even into dreams and classroom? Any Questions?

Shock Advertising Arena: The Fine Art of Separating People from their Money (BBC 2000) Dennis Hopper hosts Shock advertising and brands Warning: shocking images!

Exercise: Shock Advertising (1) Which imagery did you find most shocking? Why? (2) Does the fact that an advert is shocking make it good advertising? (3) Does advertising have a social responsibility? (4) Can advertising fulfil a useful social function as well as promoting a brand?

Environment Strand Environments and Anti-Environments

Environments and Anti-Environments Key term: anti-environments first: environments media = extensions + environments

Extensions “All media are extensions of some human faculty – psychic or physical” (Mc. Luhan and Fiore 1967, p. 26) wheel = extension of the foot book = extension of the eye clothing = extension of the skin electric circuitry (computer) = extension of the central nervous system all enhance some human faculty (i. e. extend us)

Environments “Any technology or extension of man creates a new environment” (Mc. Luhan 1969, p. 31) extensions lead to a change in our relationship with our surroundings we understand world differently we act and behave differently

Example Environments Clothing: extends our skin we experience the physical environment very differently, e. g. thermals, wet suit Alphabet: extends our visual sense shifts us from acoustic to visual space TV: extends sight and hearing the new global environment, i. e. ‘village’

Invisible Environments environments are imperceptible (invisible) we don’t notice that people are wearing clothes: “nice jacket” not “clothes today? ” we don’t notice our acoustic, cool, global village: we notice particular TV shows (content) not TV itself (medium) Any questions?

Mc. Luhan’s Fish “One thing about which fish know exactly nothing is water, since they have no anti-environment which would enable them to perceive the element they live in. ” (Mc. Luhan and Fiore, 1968, p. 175) what is an anti-environment?

Anti-Environments we are shaped by our environment but the environment is imperceptible we don’t notice the far reaching effects that environments have on us how can people be made aware? we need new strategies of “attention and perception”: we need to create anti-environments…

Anti-Environment: Definition an anti-environment is anything that draws our attention to the environment in which we live, which would otherwise remain invisible, affecting us without our knowing it 3 examples (linked to vehicle strand) Mc. Luhan starts with art…

1. Art as Anti-Environment art can train our perception onto the environment e. g. Pop Art: 1960 s (c. Mc. Luhan) incorporates elements from popular or mass culture Pop Art uses everyday objects anti-environmentally an example…

Andy Warhol started out as a designer and migrated to advertising famous as an artist in early 1960 s: started painting household products ‘Campbell’s Soup Can’, 1964 (same year as Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man)

Why Soup? 1964: 80% soup = Campbell’s ubiquitous in American shops, supermarkets and homes stacked on shop shelves Mc. Luhan: “The world of modern advertising is a magical environment constructed to produce effects for the total economy but not designed to increase human awareness. ” (1966, p. 111)

Why Soup? Pop Art reminds us that ordinarily our artefacts and images don’t train our perception or awareness soup cans in a gallery: draw attention to our environment we are surrounded by soup cans i. e. by commercial branding good or bad? just there

Anti > Environments Mc. Luhan: anti-environments must constantly be renewed we get used to anti-environments, and they become merely environments Warhol postcards, key-rings, teapots: all now part of the ‘Warhol’ brand Warhol-inspired range of soups…

2. Graffiti as Anti-Environment Mc. Luhan: artists tend to be considered enemies or criminals of society ‘Banksy’ is a criminal: “An Exterior Paint Specialist” (i. e. graffiti artist) creates ‘anti-environments’ around London & Bristol designed to make you pause and notice your environment …

Banksy More: http: //www. banksy. co. uk/ Created an anti-environment at the Museum of Modern Art in New York Installed an image of his own…

‘Discount Soup Can’ Warhol’s soup can become environmental What does Banksy’s ‘Discount Soup Can’ show us? Art has become merely environmental? Art galleries ≠ anti-environments; for selfsatisfied elites? Limits of what you can do in a gallery? Removed soon after

3. Adbusters Anti-Environments Adbusters = global network of activists (based in Canada) Concerned with “the erosion of our physical and mental environments by commercial forces” Opposed to physical pollution by corporations, but also the pollution of the ‘mental environment’ by branding

Culture Jamming What do they do? Engage in ‘culture jamming’: Free up the mental environment by creating anti-environments: (1) magazine (2) campaigns Magazine…

Adbusters Magazine Slick, glossy, well-designed magazine Where The Face and ID are environmental, Adbusters seeks to be anti-environmental Articles, probes, and spoof ads…

Campaign: TV Turnoff Week Runs most years, end of April Goal: “to shake up routines and get people questioning the role of TV in their lives” “It's about cleaning up the mental environment. Like our oceans and air, our shared mindscape is littered with pollutants -- distorted news, manipulative ads, violence and top-down culture. ”

TV Turnoff Week Buy a ‘TV-B-Gone™’ Turns off every TV within a few metres Not anti-TV per se Show own adverts (subverts) Want people to think about the TV environment we don’t even notice Passive spectator > active participant

No Future? Mc. Luhan: anti-environments provide “early warning systems” If we don’t notice what media do to us, we will be controlled by them: “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us” (Mc. Luhan, 1964) cf. The Matrix – controlled by technology

No Inevitability “There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening. ” (Mc. Luhan and Fiore, 1967, p. 25) Creating anti-environments: contemplate what is happening, refuse to let our tools take control

Case Study guidelines Module handbook (on Moodle): Section 8. 3: Description Section 8. 4: Assessment criteria Submission deadline: Monday 8 th December, 1 pm (week 12) Paper submission via a post-box (outside the refectory, Harcourt Hill Campus) Electronic submission via Turnitin (Understanding Media Moodle site)

Case Study guidelines Proportion: 50% of overall grade Length: 1500 words Cover page information (see Section 8. 3) -module name/number; student name/number; essay title; word count.

Before Next Week Review this week’s reading (Ch. 11) of Branston & Stafford Read David Starkey, ‘Chasing Shadows’ (collect photocopy now)