UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
ASSIGNMENT 2

ANUPRASAD (6099525)
5/4/2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 3

MC DOWELL’S SIGNATURE ............................................................ 4

BAJAJ PULSAR ................................................................................... 6

DIESEL ................................................................................................. 8

REFERENCE .........................................................................................10

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INTRODUCTION

Advertising is a branch of mass communication, which is used to create

awareness, attract and influence audience to take an action. Today advertising
has become an integral part of our life and nearly everyone in the modern world
is influenced to some measure by this form of communication. Moreover,
customers tend to judge the quality of the product based on the cost and quality
of the advert (Kirmani.1990). “Of the various advertising medium, print ads
provide more comprehensive product information and dynamic presentation
along with beautiful visuals, graphics and colours” (Kazmi & Batra 2004,
p.340). Attractive and appealing print ads give audience the opportunity to
create their own outlook about the advert, which result in purchase decision.

Every single ingredient that appears in the magazine advert, such as colour,
symbol, character, theme is not a coincidence, it has a definite purpose of
communicating and creating awareness. The copy of the ad should be easy to
understand and relate with the customers (Jacob et al, 1982). Themes are
designed depending upon the product and its brand reputation & value and
make it simple to attract customers and deliver the message more effectively.
The visual appearance of the ads is highly influenced by the type of product
(Cutler et al .1992). Today advertisers use emotion to produce a positive
response in the customer’s mind, which in turns gives the product a competitive
advantage in the market place. As argued by Richard & Dennis (1986) emotions
increase the impact of the messages in audience mind because they can relate it
to own life experience and visualize themselves.

Objective of this paper is to analyse and report message communicated by print

ads by Mc Dowell’s Signature, Bajaj Pulsar & Diesel.

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SOURCE: TRAVEL PLUS, JUNE 2007

"Mc Dowell’s Signature" is a scotch whisky, an iconic brand of UB (United

Beverage Group) introduces the product in this advertisement as a choice of
successful, stylish young people. The advert is placed in the second page of the
travel plus magazine, which gives details of different travel location across the
globe. The caption “success keeps you away from home” placed in the
advertisement makes perfect sense and appealing in this scenario (Freeman,
2005), as this is a travel magazine which is preferred by people who want to
travel and are interested in knowing more about travel location .

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Setting: The advertisement is pictured with five models on a wonderful
yacht, riding away from the coast in a calm sea. This suggests the relaxing tone
of the picture. The product is not shown here, only the name “signature” is
shown on the right side corner along with the campaign tagline “success is good
fun”, interpreting the product as an inevitable part of celebrating success . The
golden colour of the font represents a premium whisky as it signifies the
premier class of people.

The meaning of the drink “signature” can be interpreted as achievement or

success as the word signature means a mark of an individual’s existence and is
quite distinct in its own way. A company can achieve competitive advantage
only when its product creates a successful brand identity, which is a powerful
image generator in customers mind (Kotler and Keller, 2006). The product
“signature” succeeded in creating a brand identity by positioning itself as drink
for people who are successful in making their mark or who are in pursuit of
success.

In the poster we can see a few young people travelling in a yacht, the aesthetic
are intrinsically associated with trendy dress code of modern-day young people.
The mode of address is not straight, because the models are not looking towards
the camera .But still it conveys a clear message of pleasure and joy to the
readers. The expression (smile) of the models can be related to the pleasure
evoked form having the product .The female presence in the poster makes the
product gender neutral. The way the person , who is riding the yacht
symbolically connotes the concept of “always looking forward” which is the
quality of successful people ,in order to convey this message clearly, the
advertiser intentionally highlights him by giving a contracting dark blue colour
costume against the background colour of light greenish ocean and sky (Ball,
1965) . The message behind the poster is clear and easy to understand, and at
the same time looks interesting and refreshing.

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Source: Fast Track, August 2007

Bajaj is one of the top motor cycle companies in India. It is held responsible for
shifting motorcycling trend among youth by introducing “pulsar” bike into the
Indian market. This ad highlights the new Bajaj “pulsar 200” in a wholly new
light, enhancing the sporty character. The tagline “start free-biking” is
articulated very creatively. It is trying to empower the young and the enthusiasts
towards a completely new experience of biking. This ad is placed in the fast
track magazine to attract Indian bike enthusiasts. As the readership of fast track
is appreciated by the automobile lovers.

Setting: This ad is shot with a single model, who does not reveal his identity,
riding the new red colour pulsar 200 cc bike into the stairway. The caption
“start free biking” goes very well “when the road ends the ride begins”, both

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reveals the similar message of, create your own road & ride as you wish. The
target audience of this advert is teenagers, who wants something more than just
fun from their first bike. The aim of this ad is to portray the macho performance
quality of the bike and what this bike is capable of doing.

The black colour theme is intentionally adopted to highlight the visual

attractiveness of the bike and its new added features like front disk brakes, alloy
wheels and new exhaust. As pointed out by Kotler (2000) rational appeal is
based on logic and products are sold by highlighting it characteristics and
quality. The angle in which the photograph is taken gives the bike a sportier
look. The body posture of the biker when riding the steps gives an impression of
bikes stability and high performance in broken roads and curves. There is a
strong relationship between the picture and the wordings that appear both
provide identical message of free biking. The extreme stunt presentation by the
rider creates excitement in the mind of the reader, and there by create emotional
association with this brand (Aaker, 1997). This poster also delivers a
meaningful message to society, to make sure of their safety by showing the
model-wearing helmet in this extreme performance.

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Source: www.advertolog.com

Diesel is a top fashion brand, responsible for creating new trends in the fashion
industry with their creative advertisement. An exclusive campaign pitched to
attract masses “human after all” was introduced to promote their new denim
collection.

Setting: The frame shows a futuristic world full of new gadgets, floating
buildings, ultramodern transporting machine and gives us feel of an urban life
style. The two models appearing in this ad wearing diesel costumes look trendy
and stylish and appear to be lovers, the male expressing his love when she is
about to depart. The concept of this ad is that, no matter how much the world

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change human nature and feelings will remain the same. The campaign
statement “human after all” supports this concept.

The background colours like blue and white, gives the picture a rich look and at
the same time relaxing. The blue and red light trail in the background seems to
be fast moving futuristic vehicles, representing busy urban life. Even though the
background appears to be futuristic, the models are wearing present century’s
trendy diesel costume, which represents diesels success full existence in the
future to serve the need of young customers. The female model looks half-
disappeared inside the white bright portal, giving us an impression of being
transporting to another place. The advertiser intentionally uses the romantic
appeal in the advert to suggest the observer that by using this product will have
a positive impact on your romantic life (Ambekar, 2009). Futuristic urban setup
looks quite impressive and targets to catch every one’s imagination. The brand
name diesel is appearing on the right side corner in red colour, which is
intentionally adopted to get people’s attention (Bellizzi and Hite, 1992).

Conclusion

The above three ads use emotional appeals as a successful tool to attract
audience and create a brand impression. In the Signature & Diesel advert, a
pleasurable experience is shared with the viewer by showing joyful experience
of model riding the yacht. In addition, emotion of love is shown in the diesel ad
to let the viewer relate their own personal experience and can make it more
memorable, where as in pulsar advert, the rider exhibits a sense of excitement
by the way he rides his bike into the stairs. All these ads tend to appeal the
masses by reflecting their creative visuals along with the suitable taglines that
join to make an impact in the minds of the people.

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REFERENCE

Amna Kirmani. (1990). The Effect Of Perceived Advertising Costs On Brand

Perceptions. The Journal Of Consumer Research. 17 (2), pp 161-171.
Ashwini Ambekar . (2009). Different Types of Advertising Appeals. Available:
http://www.articleswave.com/advertising-articles/types-of-advertising-
appeals.html. Last accessed 23 April 2010.

Ball, V.K. (1965), "The aesthetics of colour: a review of fifty years of

experimentation", Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 23 pp.441-52

Bellizzi, J.A, Hite, R.E. (1992), "Environmental colour, consumer feelings, and
purchase likelihood", Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 9 No.5, pp.347-63

Cutler, B., Javalgi, R. & Erramsilli, M. (1992) The Visual Components Of Print
Advertising: A Five-Country Cross-Cultural Analysis .European Journal Of
Marketing, 26(4), pp. 7–20

DIESEL (Image) 2006, Retrieved April 4, 2010 from

http://www.advertolog.com/diesel-wear/print-outdoor/human-after-all-189522/
Jacob Jacoby, Margaret C. Nelson And Wayne D. Hoyer. (1982). Corrective
Advertising And Affirmative Disclosure Statements: Their Potential For
Confusing And Misleading The Consumer. Journal of Marketing. 46 (1), pp.
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Jennifer.L.Aaker. (1997). Dimensions of Brand Personality. Journal of
Marketing Research. 34 (3), pp. 345-355.
Kimberley Freeman. (2005). Creating strategic taglines. Strategic Direction. 21
(10), pp. 3-4.
Kotler,P.,Keller,K.,L.,(2006), ‘Marketing Management’, 12th Edition, Pearson
Education, Prentice Hall
Philip Kotler (2000). Marketing Management. 10th ed. New York: Free Press

Richard W. Mizerski, J. Dennis White. (1986). Understanding And Using

Emotions In Advertising. Journal Of Consumer Marketing. 3 (4), pp. 57-62.
S.H.H. Kazmi, Satish K. Batra (2002). Advertising & Sales Promotion. 2nd Ed.
India: Excel Books. pp. 340-351.

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