Organigramm of an advertising agency

An advertising agency is organized as follows:

The Chief Executive Officer  (CEO) leads the agency and is supervised by the Board of Directors. The six departments lead by the CEO are named Media Department, Research Department, Account Management Department, Creative Department, Financial Department and Internal Services Department.

The Media Department is responsible for the coordination and collaboration with media agencies to spread the content effectively. The Research Department analyzes consumer behavior whereas the Account Management coordinates the work of Copy Writers and Art Directors and represents the company in front of the clients. The Creative Department is responsible for creating the Compaign, in order of strategy and positioning, content and visualization. The Financial Department is responsible for the financial management of the firm whereas the Internal Services Department deals with Human Resources, Logistics, IT Infrastructure, Facilities, etc.

Ogilvy on Advertising - How to make TV commercials that sell - Some Thoughts

When I read the chapter and the categorization in “good” (above average performing) and “bad”  (below average performing) TV commercials i figured out that the most important ingredient for a good TV commercial is to deeply understand its psychological effect on the consumer. In order to change the brand preference of consumers you need to establish a connection to them and this can be reached via several ways.  Starting from humor to demonstration TV commercials. However I doubt that using static types of TV commercials which have performed well in the past only is a good strategy. In the following paragraph I want to elaborate a little bit more on this point.

First of all I think that TV commercials reflect the cultural values of a society at certain point at time. TV commercials are influenced by the needs and perceptions of the consumers and of course this is also true the other way round. There is a continuous adaption of what is considered appropriate to change the brand preference and what not. What didn’t seem to work in the past could do well in the future. One example is the mentioned (under average performing) TV commercial type of testimonials by celebrities. If you take a look today’s TV commercial landscape, a lot of commercials involve celebrities recommending certain products. I for instance have never seen a Gillette TV commercial without any sport stars (e.g. Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, etc.). And companies like Gillette wouldn’t follow such a strategy over years if wouldn’t generate enough revenues.

Of course keeping fundamental psychological tools (repetition, show the package, close-ups, etc.) is important. But I want to make the point, that you shouldn’t only rely on historic well performing TV commercials, but additionally analyze carefully your consumers needs and perceptions and adjust the TV commercial if necessary.

Advertising Self-Regulation in Germany

Although Germany has a wider regulation of advertisements there exists a self regulation organization called “Deutscher Werberat”. On the one hand companies and agencies and can check their ads through the “Deutscher Werberat” in order to identifiy critical aspects which are socially not accepted. On the other hand consumers can protest against ads and express their opinion through the “Deutscher Werberat” for free. Another important role of the “Deutscher Werberat” is to develop central guidelines for social responsible advertising.

Examples of illegal advertising

1 ) Violates the dignity of constitutional rights of women

2) Subliminial Advertising (Cruxification, Agression, War, etc...)

Pepsi vs. Cola ad - General and specific objectives

General Objectives

The 3 key marketing communications objectives are to inform, persuade and to remind.  From my point of the advertisement is mainly designed to remind people in a humorous way that Pepsi is superior to Cola because even the straw doesn’t want to go into the Cola can. 

Specific Objectives

According to the "Hierarchy of Effects Model" of Lavidge and Steiner the advertisement has to be located at the affective stage since Cola and Pepsi have a great percentage of awareness and knowledge. More precisely, in the affective stage the ad wants to create consumer preference for the Pepsi product through humor.

Mapping the ad to the Communication Effects Pyramid would also result in the Preference level. The advertisement addresses the feelings (humor) of the consumer in order to raise consumer preference for the product.

Classification of an advertisement: Pepsi vs. Cola

Let's try to classify this advertisement with the help of six categories:

1) According to message content: Product advertising (consumer product)

2) According to the nature of the advertiser: Corporate

3) According to number of advertisers: Individual

4) According to the message intent: Comparative

5) According to the argument used: Emotional

6) According to media used: Print

Recent Levi's advertisement.

This advertisement shows two people, a man and a woman standing on a high platform above a city. This ad combines several characteristics which should be associated with the product. The height of the platform and the dark sky as well symbolize a kind of wildness, lust for adventure and the attribute of overcoming limits and boundaries. Both persons, especially the man are wearing mostly jeans which attracts the viewers attention. A possible association could be that levi's jeans are making you to an adventurer. The phrase "stuck on you" is ambiguos, since it could relate either to a person, the platform or the jeans itself. This gives a note of irony and humor to this advertisement as well.

Although the relationship of a man and a woman is illustrated, this ad adds new elements compared to the advertisement of 1979. Especially the focus on danger/adventure and the ironic phrase is new and makes it more complex.

Levi's advertisement from 1979

This advertisement shows two people talking to a girl in rollerblades. The girl obviously speaks to the boy wearing the levi's outfit whereas the other one looks envy. The message is that wearing the levi's clothes attracts girls to you and makes you more interesting. Another interesting fact is that this happens on a "normal " street. This creates as well the image that levi's jeans make your everyday life more attractive.