Historic Use of Advertising by a Brand
Advertising Strategy
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Vic Davies
MG601
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Introduction
Models and Theories
History of John Lewis Advertising
Conclusion
References
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Executive Summary
The report will look into the historic use of advertising as a marketing
communications tool by John Lewis and will critically examine models and theories
of advertising such as AIDA, Heath and Feldwick, Ehrenberg and Dagmar.
AIDA looks at how advertising gets consumers to do what they want such as getting
more consumers to shop online. The advertising process using AIDA is to grab the
attention of the consumer, to then gain their interest and create desire which would
then create action, which is for the consumer to do what the advert intended them
to do. If the first three stages in the process aren’t done correctly then the consumer
is very unlikely to take the action the brand wanted them to do. This model is very
old, however it is still relevant as advertising still has to go through the same
process.
Heath and Feldwick feel a new logical approach is needed to the outdated simplistic
information processing model. When John Lewis first advertised in 2007 it used the
simplistic information processing model within its adverts. The Shadows advert was
simple yet effective for a first ad and made the brand stand out. However, John
Lewis realized that using this simplistic approach would not work for its future
campaigns, and have applied Heath and Feldwick’s approach of finding more logical
ways to understand consumers’ needs and behaviors. #MontyThePenguin and the
bear and the hare ads have applied this concept to better connect with their
consumers on an emotional level.
Dagmar Model takes the consumer into account and how they process goods which
then leads them to buy products. The Dagmar model can still be seen in the way
John Lewis market their products today, the only difference is John Lewis introduce a
different stage into the model. The next stage which is used is emotional
engagement which they use within their marketing campaigns and TV
advertisements i.e. Monty the Penguin in the 2014 Christmas add, has been used
within the Christmas advertisement to appeal to consumers senses. This creates
emotional engagement between viewers and the brand as it imprints on their
memory which will stay with them for a long period of time.
Andrew Ehrenberg who was a German statistician that gave the empirical basis to
doubt any number of marketing clichés first derived Ehrenberg theory. Ehrenberg’s
theory justifies the difference between strong and weak advertising. Strong
advertising suggests that it is strong enough to add consumers’ knowledge and
change their attitudes towards a brand, therefore is able to convert people from
non- buyers to become buyers by persuading them, eventually generate sales
(Jobber, 2010). However, the weak theory is advertising that has only inadequate
effect on consumers, consequently it is not strong enough to convert people who
hold different views from those in advertisement and overcome their resistance.
Thus advertising is mainly used to reinforce existing brand perceptions rather than
change attitudes (Moriatry et al 2009). In the case of John Lewis, in spite of its
effective results of advertisement particularly their annual institution from their
Christmas TV ads, it may be considered as a strong advertising. On the other hand,
despite its success it could also be portrayed as weak. Their advertising can initially
arouse some awareness and interests by announcing information which hopefully
leads consumers towards purchasing and reinforcement.
John Lewis advertising has changed over the years depending on the socio-culture
factors and the consumer behavior trends at the time. As technology is now a big
part of consumer’s everyday lives John Lewis now adapts a more technological
approach.
Introduction
This report will critically examine the historic use of advertising as marketing
communications tool by John Lewis and its reflection of its future of advertising. It
will aim to critically identify models and theories such as AIDA, Heath and Feldwick,
Ehrenberg and Dagmar. The Political, Economical, Social and Technological (PEST)
will be applied and reviewed in advertisements that are older than ten years and two
recent advertisements which will then be compared and will draw together a range
of issues to form an evaluative conclusion.
John Lewis opened its first store in Oxford Street in 1864 and now operates more
than 70 John Lewis and Waitrose stores in the UK. It is the third largest UK private
company in the Sunday time’s top track 100 for 2010 (Sunday Times 2010). It also
has the distinction of being the UK’s best high street website after competing with
M&S in October 2010 (Marketing week 2010).
Models and Theories
The following models have been critically analysed and have been applied to
demonstrate how John Lewis have used these models and theories in their
advertisements over the past few years.
AIDA
Advertising is used to help complete business objects, this could be to ‘sell’
products/ services and to persuade consumers that these products are what they
need. However, for consumers to be convinced to buy these products they must first
see the advert and be attracted to it. This means the advert demands the
consumer’s attention, once the advert has their attention it will then have to create
interest in order to deliver the commercial message. Once the consumer is
interested the advert must then attempt to create desire for the product/ service,
which could then lead to action from the consumer. This model is known as AIDA.
For an advert to be successful using this model the first 3 steps, Attention, Interest
and Desire must be done very carefully, because if any of these fail then it cannot
lead to the consumer taking action. (Mindtools, 2014)
John Lewis’ adverts have been able to grab the attention of the viewers and
therefore have been very successful in the past. They do this through the use of
music. In all of their adverts, music is the main focus of sound, there is either no
speech or very little, in their adverts. Using music in film allows the viewer to
understand the mood of the advert and tells them how they are supposed to feel
throughout and even before the story begins (BBC, 2014). Using loud dramatic music
is a very easy way of grabbing the consumers’ attention. In John Lewis’ Christmas
advert ‘Shadows’ in 2007 they use dramatic music that helps set the mood of the ad.
From the entrance of the ad, the music is very loud and cheerful immediately
grabbing the attention of the consumer. If the consumer is intrigued by the ad they
can then move on to the second stage of the process, Interest.
Creating interest in a customer can be very difficult, especially now in the digital age
and the increase of ‘second screen’ viewing. From recent research done by Thinkbox,
2014, results showed that 77% of viewers admitted to using a second screen while
watching TV. Therefore it is important to find something that the target audience
can connect with for them to take interest. John Lewis is able to achieve interest by
‘telling a story’ in their adverts. Story telling means that the viewer may be able to
relate and connect emotionally to the advert and is a very useful strategy (Marketing
Magazine, 2014). In the advert ‘Always a Woman’ (2010) John Lewis tells a story of a
girl from birth to old age, wearing the same red colour throughout each of the ‘big’
stages and moments in her life. The story is able to gain the interest of the viewers,
as they are able to connect with the woman, and all the stages she goes through in
the advert, emotionally as it may relate to their own life or life of a loved one.
Through the story telling the advert must not only gain the viewers interest but it
must also create desire for the product. John Lewis adverts however, rarely advertise
a product or service of theirs; they mainly advertise the John Lewis brand and what it
means. This is because they are trying to gain the audiences trust. In the 2014 advert
‘never standing still’; celebrating 150 years of John Lewis, they use John Lewis
products throughout different times in history. The advert shows a variety of short
clips from different eras over the past 150 years. But throughout the advert, the
main products used are products that are currently sold at John Lewis or were sold in
that era being shown. This clearly shows the customer that John Lewis has been
there through it all for all its customers while providing them with all the on-trend
products that they may need. This immediately creates trust with the consumer for
the John Lewis brand as the advert shows how John Lewis has always been there for
their customers and will continue to be there for them. This trust could then lead to
the consumer taking action and shopping with John Lewis.
Taking action means the consumer does what the advert intended for them to do.
For example this could be buying the product, visiting the store or signing up online.
This is completely up to the brand and their business objectives. For John Lewis, this
is to create trust and build brand loyalty. In the past John Lewis has been successful
in creating trust and also driving people to shop more with John Lewis. The 2013
Christmas advert of ‘The Bear and the Hare’ was able to accomplish this. The advert
was an animated story following a friendship between a bear and a hare and their
Christmas together. The advert was very popular and reached over 12 million views
on YouTube, while also leading to 500,000 sign ups to the ‘My John Lewis’ cards
(Marketing week, 2014). The advert was credited for increasing sales by 6.9% over
the Christmas period at John Lewis (Marketing week, 2014). This is a good example
showing that if an advert is able to achieve all four steps of the model, then it could
lead to great success for the brand.
Heath and Feldwick
Dr. Robert Heath a lecturer in Marketing and Paul Feldwick wrote the award winning
paper ’50 years using the wrong model of Advertising ‘. Within the paper the two
men question the reliability of the information processing model, which argues that
the message is the most important part in advertising (University Of Bath, 2008).
They argue that the i
nformation-processing model is not up-to-date because it provides simplicity and
transparency amongst advertising professionals and consumers. Heath and Feldwick
recommend that a new logical approach based on realism is needed in order to
understand the effects advertising has on consumers behaviours (University Of Bath,
2008).
The traditional information-processing model consists of three main components;
sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory. The sensory memory
processes information for brief periods of time with its main purpose to analyse
incoming stimuli and process the ones that are the most relevant. After this process
they are either forwarded to working memory or deleted, this information is given
meaning, linked to other information and essential mental operations are performed
(Education.com, 2013). Lastly the role of long-term memory is to provide unlimited
storage for all the facts and knowledge in memory (Education.com, 2013). This
model is good because it is easily structured which can be reliable in finding
important information on consumers, however as discussed in Heath and Feldwick’s
theory, it can be seen as too simple and perhaps an outdated model of advertising
strategy. It has also been found that consumers have become more informed than
ever before, resulting in traditional methods of advertising and marketing no longer
being efficient (Economist, 2004), thus linking to Heath and Feldwick’s argument that
the information processing model is no longer up-to-date with current trends.
John Lewis which is fairly new in the advertising industry, with its first advert
launched only in 2007 has applied Heath and Feldwick’s theory over the past 7 years
through its advertising. The first Christmas ad ‘Shadows’ launched in 2007, was
about establishing the brand. The brand was looking to distinguish themselves from
other competitors (The Guardian, 2013), and so created an ad that formed a shadow
of a girl and her pet dog through the brands products. For a first advert this was
incredibly successful and stood out from the crowd (The Drum, 2013). Its use of
simplicity made it easy for consumers to understand what the brand was about and
had applied the information process model theory. However over the years John
Lewis have begun to use Heath and Feldwick’s theory, making its adverts much more
complex to meet the consumers advertising standards, and have therefore moved
away from the traditional information processing model. The brand’s adverts begin
to tell stories as shown by its three most recent adverts; ‘The Journey’, ‘The bear and
the hare’ and ‘Monty the penguin’.
In the 2013 ad the bear and the hare, it is free of the brands products and uses
animation to portray its message, which is completely different to that of its
previous adverts. Similarly with the 2012 Christmas ad, which showed a snowman
making a journey to find a scarf and gloves for his frozen girlfriend (The Drum, 2013),
it too was given an animated feel. The absence of human actors in both adverts has
enabled John Lewis to create an ongoing story in its Christmas ads that have now
become a tradition for its consumers. The brand understands that people would
rather watch a story as appose to an advert selling them something, thus making
people more willing to pay attention to the ad. John Lewis have also understood that
people are harder to please when it comes to advertising and have used storylines
that connect to these consumers on an emotional level thus using Heath and
Feldwick’s theory. It’ new 2014 advert ‘Monty Penguin’ has used this concept but
have brought back human actors. The advert shows a young boy playing with his toy
penguin that appears to be real, however he begins to notice his pet penguin looks
sad when he comes across couples, so the young boy gets a companion for
Christmas for his pet penguin Monty. The ad is able to tug at the consumers’
heartstrings, finding new and complex ways to connect with them.
John Lewis has clearly understood that consumers are a lot pickier when it comes to
what information they choose to process and are also harder to target. John Lewis
has resolved this through creating adverts that relate to consumers on an emotional
level and thus interpreting Heath and Feldwick’s theory on finding more
philosophical ways to use advertising to target these consumers.
DAGMAR
‘Defining advertising goals for Measured Advertising Results’. This Model was
originally developed from Russell Colley, for setting advertising objectives and
measuring the results of customer communication that leads the consumer to
purchase goods. The Dagmar model entails that to understand and reach the
ultimate objectives of advertising communications; the consumer must be taken
through four levels of understanding. The levels considered are as followed below: Awareness – The consumer must be aware of the brand company and the
product.
 Comprehension – The customer must have a comprehension of the product and
what benefits it offers to them as an individual.
 Conviction – he or she must mentally process the decision of buying a specific
over various others.
 Action – This is the final level which is the process of the consumer buying the
product
(Slideshare 2011)
The final level of the DAGMAR Model is considered the most significant as it is seen
to be high-involvement in the sense of “learn-feel-do”. As advertising and marketing
goals changes over time, they are deemed distinct and can be defined specifically
which through this can therefore be tracked and measured. To add the DAGMAR
model can help to determine the long-time effects of advertisement towards the
consumer and its success to attract the customer to a brands product. Marketers
within the advertising industry have used the DAGMAR model over the years to
define the target market or audience of a product that can therefore be applied to a
brand advertisement (Marketing communication models 2008).
John Lewis has succeeded in building a successful and valued brand for nearly 100
years. The strategy in the way in which John Lewis communicates with its customers
over time has changed in many different ways. One of the styles in which this brand
uses to connect to consumers is through emotional advertising. Connecting
emotionally with consumer through advertising and marketing has become a major
feature of John Lewis enabling the brand to build a strong emotional trust
relationship with the consumer of many years. Through the use of advertising;
particularly advertisements John Lewis has strengthened the success of products and
the band through the use of emotion making the brand more memorable. For
example John Lewis is known for their iconic Christmas advertisements that help to
build this emotional connection between the consumer and the brand.
Furthermore John Lewis Christmas commercials are an anticipated part of the
season – The 2011 Christmas advertisement for this brand featured a young boy
wishing the days away to Christmas, when he would be able to give a gift to his
parents. The intention of this ad was to show the process of giving no matter a
customer’s age and as a brand they encourage this moral. As a result from this
advertisement campaign during this season raised a large discussion and brand
awareness on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This awareness of the
John Lewis brand is the first level of engagement that is considered in the DAGMAR
model, which has been clearly implemented into the company’s brand marketing
strategy.
Ehrenberg theory
Andrew Ehrenberg who was a German statistician that gave the empirical basis to
doubt any number of marketing clichés first derived Ehrenberg theory. From the
importance of brand loyalty to the relevance of market segmentation to the idea
that advertising can persuade people to buy something to the notion that mass
marketing is dead to the assumption that social media should be valued differently
from other media (Creamer, M 2011).
Ehrenberg believed that the methods of the physical sciences are also applicable to
social science; he demonstrated that even in marketing a field supposed to be
dominated by people’s impulses to buy. He stated that one reason for failure to find
laws in the social sciences is that people rarely expect there to be law like
regularities in social science and therefore dismisses them (Bound, j N/A).
What makes a successful advert? It is the impact an advertisement has on receivers,
in particular how consumers react to the communication message, which carries the
advertiser’s desired response (Moriatry et al, 2009). Ehrenberg’s theory justifies the
difference between strong and weak advertising. Strong advertising suggests that it
is strong enough to add consumers’ knowledge and change their attitudes towards a
brand, therefore is able to convert people from non- buyers to become buyers by
persuading them, eventually generate sales (Jobber, 2010). However, the weak
theory is advertising that has only inadequate effect on consumers, consequently it
is not strong enough to convert people who hold different views from those in
advertisement and overcome their resistance. Thus advertising is mainly used to
reinforce existing brand perceptions rather than change attitudes (Moriatry et al
2009). However, it might be argued that the first role is not always the case, for
example, when the customer already knows the brand. Likewise the second role may
not be achieved where there are small, or no differences to sell between competing
brands, for instance most ‘fast moving consumer markets’ (Ehrenberg, 1998).
In the case of John Lewis, in spite of its effective results of advertisement particularly
their annual institution from their Christmas TV ads, it may be considered as a strong
advertising. Their first Christmas commercial was in 2007 where they were looking
to distinguish themselves from other retailers; as a result they did not only
accomplish that but also had consumers highly anticipating their Christmas
commercials. John Lewis’ 2014 Christmas advertisement of “the bear and the hare”
sent an overdrive upon its release and items associated with the advert sold out in
minutes online. As well as their previous year a 90 second ad featuring a snowman
on a quest to a John Lewis store to buy gifts for his snowman girlfriend that racked
up more than 3.5 million views on YouTube (Spary, S 2014). This demonstrates that
due to its strong use of medium it changed consumers’ attitude towards the brand
and gained a prestige reputation. This is simply because the brand adapted to
behavioural attitudes of real life occasions such as the Christmas buzz of buying gifts
to loved ones with the absence of human actors and by using personifications in
animals and objects like a snowman. Indicating this, has enabled John Lewis to add
sentimentality in the atmosphere of Christmas without too much mawkishness, this
merely means that John Lewis ‘gets’ Christmas.
In the 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert, presents a young boy who counts down the
days till the big day eagerly wanting to give his present to his parents, this focuses
not only on the diverse target market but also focuses on the theme of giving rather
than receiving, again John Lewis got it right, pursuing on the purpose of Christmas as
well as taking emotional limits. This is strong advertising as Ehrenberg rejected the
notion that advertising is capable of changing attitudes on its own and proposed that
it usually worked by reinforcing opinions formed from what are often high levels of
consumer knowledge and experience (REF). Therefore, relating to a consumer’s
experience and affecting their emotional lateral is directly targeting them. Ehrenberg
found that brand users held consistently stronger attitudes than non-users, thus
having an effective storyline each year, re awakens and strengthens brand
awareness, which then guarantees sales effects.
On the other hand, despite its success it could also be portrayed as weak. Their
advertising can initially arouse some awareness and interests by announcing
information, which hopefully leads consumers towards purchasing and
reinforcement. However, throughout the process, some consumers may disagree
with the ‘hype’ of a brand and interpret the brand to be assertive. For example, as
previously stated by the Marketing Magazine that consumers think ‘that this brand
might be getting a big too big for its boots” (Sparcy, S 2014) which indicates that
some consumers may feel like they are being nudged into buying the brand more
often or enforced to choosing it over competitive brands. Thus in this sense it
appears that unlike the hostile nature of the strong theory, the weak theory is more
defensive in its spirit, yet still an effective force (Ehrenberg 1998). This constant
theme of advertisement may be depicted as ‘repetitive’ and envisaged as
‘reinforcing already developed repeat buying habits’ (ADMAP 2006). The power of
reinforcement advertising was characterized as a ‘weak’ theory of advertising, which
contrasted with the traditional strongly persuasive model. The difference was that
strong theory sees advertising as a dynamic force; its main aim is to drive sales and
category growth, whereas reinforcement identifies an important additional
defensive role, especially for repetitive advertising.
History of John Lewis Advertising
John Lewis started using TV advertisement seven years ago, before that John Lewis
only used print advertisement to induce their consumers to buy their products.
However, the reason for this is because people were more concerned about the
product back then as opposed to today’s consumers who are more attentive about
the brand loyalty, which explains why John Lewis’ Christmas advertisements are
more emotional. Looking at 4 different adverts over the past fifty years, it is clear to
see the influence that socio-culture factors have on advertising and how these
external PEST factors can help brands such as John Lewis to understand their
customers.
1966 This is a print advertisement for Peter Jones, advertising the brand being sold at John
Lewis.
Britain’s economy remained strong with low unemployment into the 1960s, but
towards the end of the decade this growth began to slow and unemployment was
rising again. There are no details on John Lewis economy during the 1960’s.
However, the UK economy started to improve due to the propaganda of the World
Cup. The sixties were a decade of technological progress. The Telstar satellite was
launched in 1962, making possible global communication and the mobile-rich life
that is led today. In one of John Lewis’ chronicles (Vol 11, No.27, 1966) on the World
Cup Final it described that ‘a thousand to one a television set would be sold whilst
the match was on’ (John Lewis 2014). It described that during the world cup,
customers would come into the department store and watch the match. This
obviously was a new and exciting time for this era viewing the world cup on
television for the first time which increased its sales.
In the 1960’s there was an explosion of pop culture and teenagers were the most
important buyers of fashion. The youth of the 1960s had a different mindset to older
generations and questioned everything from education methods to gender roles in
family. This explosion resulted in the growth of rock ‘n’ roll and more open-minded
and modernist film and literature causing controversy (Synonym, 2014). Marketers
were targeting teenagers using pop music, street fashion and sports.
The modernist literature such as ‘The Feminine Mystique’ motivated women to gain
their own sense of identity and take on a feminist perspective. In 1964 the Civil
rights Act was changed to stop any gender discrimination. Women wanted to be
seen as individuals and not just as ‘wives’. In the above advert for this brand sold at
John Lewis the three women presented look very confident, stylish and independent.
Using this type of imagery can attract these young women who want to feel exactly
how those women are shown in the poster.
1998 –
The UK economy in 1998 slowed down dramatically with interest’s rates rising
further from their previous 7.25% level due to the high costs of borrowing,
overvalued sterling and tight fiscal policy. However, the reports provided
contradictory forecasts about the likely levels of consumer spending, prospects for
consumer demand remained high (BBC 1998). The retail industry, the second largest
industry in the world, in terms of number of establishments and number of
employees, enjoyed unprecedented gains in the late 1990s and through 2000. In part
this was due to strong consumer confidence, low interest rates and high
employment levels. Between 1994 and 2000, the retail industry grew rapidly.
Consumers were showing a preference for discount shopping and a shopping format
that allowed them to buy all their goods under one roof for example, clothes
housewares, electronics, personal items and food (WARC 2011). At that time the
retail industry was much smaller and less well established and did not have the
sector spread that it currently has now, but this decline was much greater than that
seen in the economy as a whole. In that same period, the advertising industry also
saw a major contraction of just over 20%, so it is clear that marketing services was a
major casualty at the time (WARC 2011).
In 1998 there was an increase in the number of dual-household earners, more active
recreational lifestyles and an increase in transport mobility. All these changing
factors affected consumers attitudes towards shopping and this meant that time
became scarcer than money. This meant that consumers were looking for quicker
shopping experiences, where they can find all the things they need in one place
(Dallaert et al, 1998). John Lewis was known for catering towards all family needs
offering solutions in household goods, family clothing and entertainment with a
guarantee of good value. In the 90’s consumers were very cynical about good value,
good value to consumers meant good quality products at a low prices. John Lewis
has always been known for its good quality products and brands they sell (Warc,
1999; John Lewis, 2014), therefore having a clearance sale, as advertised, shows that
they clearly understand exactly what their customers want attracting consumers
looking for a one-stop shop with good quality and low priced products.
The ‘it’s like a sale, only better’ slogan, which they repeat in the description below it,
gains attention of these consumers and showing the picture of the store makes it
more welcoming. In the description below the slogan they also give the audience the
directions to reach the store, this also makes the store appear more welcoming as it
looks like they are inviting customers to come in.
The advert reinforces John Lewis’ convenience by offering their customers the
option of home delivery ‘across a wide area’ giving customers the option of getting
what they want how and when they want it for their own convenience allowing the
customers to make their own decisions creating a relationship between John Lewis
and the customers. Therefore they do not have to try too hard in communication
with their customers as they have already started a relationship (Warc, 1999).
2007 – Shadows
First Christmas TV ad for John Lewis
In mid-2009 john Lewis was struggling in a challenging financial climate, due to the
financial downturn that has driven consumer confidence to record lows and the
impacting on retailers with reliance on home related categories. Its existing
advertising was ineffective and a new approach was required. Therefore John Lewis,
decided to use highly emotional advertising to connect with its consumers.
Particularly on TV, generated a huge amount of interest in the brand. It resulted in
more shoppers, visiting its stores more frequently and increased the average spend.
The campaign generated overall £1074m of incremental sales and £261m of
incremental profit in two years (IPA 2012).
John Lewis had an outstanding year in 2007, with retail gross sales up by £356.1m,
10.6%, to £2.7bn and most categories gained market share. And again, technology
has made a huge impact to the market as John Lewis’ star performer was Electrical
and Home technology which achieved sales growth of 22.8%, but there were also
excellent performance in the homeware and clothing directorates (John Lewis 2007).
However, 2007 saw john Lewis return to TV after a three year break from the
screens, with its biggest ever seasonal campaign, sales soared past the £100m for
one single week for the very first time, up 7.7% on the previous years, online sales
experienced their highest ever single day of trading posting £2.8m in just one day
(Marketing week 2013).
2014- Monty the Penguin
John Lewis customer profile shows that they are typically in ABC1 socio-economic
group and usually fall between 25-55 years old, covering a wide number of life
stages. The John Lewis customer is demanding, house-proud, they make careful and
considered decisions, fashionable and they are value conscious rather than price
conscious.
The 2014 Christmas advertisement #Montythepenguin uses a ‘story telling’ strategy
to connect emotionally to the consumers as over the years these adverts have
resulted in an increase of sales for John Lewis, especially online sales. IPA conducted
research showing that emotional advertising is the most powerful. Econometrics
shows that since John Lewis started using story-telling strategies in their advertising
their sales have increased, especially online sales (Warc, 2013).
The advert praises those who put more thought into the Christmas gifts they are
giving and how they present it. This matches with the John Lewis customer profile of
those customers who choose to make careful and considered decisions.
Using emotional content means the target audience is more likely to connect to it
and therefore remember the details (Marketing, 2014). The advert does not push
any John Lewis products or branding to their audience as it may affect the
authenticity of the ad and consumers may see it only as an advert to increase sales
rather than connect to the advert (Marketing week, 2014).
Through undertaking research in 2013 Thinkbox have found that 77% of users
admitted to watching TV and using the internet through other devices at the same
point (Thinkbox, 2013). Common second-screen activities include use of social
media, further discovery around a subject or product and online purchase of
something viewed on the TV. It has also been discovered that individuals like to talk
about and share what they have viewed on TV (Thinkbox, 2013).
John Lewis have understood that this is a common trend and have applied it to the
2014 Christmas advert #Monty the Penguin. At the end of the ad it mentions the
brand and goes on to say, in store, mobile and online with #Montythepenguin
underneath. The brand is trying to target these consumers that use their mobiles
when watching TV and are aiming to encourage them to use social media in order for
them to interact more with the brand. John Lewis have also set up a twitter account
for the star character of the advert Monty the penguin, this is a good tactic of
keeping the consumers actively involved with the brand through different media
platforms. The use of an internet-connected second screen device means that
advertising impressions can be acted upon instantly following the ad (Thinkbox,
2013), making it more likely that the consumer will turn to social media to discuss
what they have just watched. John Lewis have used this concept well with their
current advertising campaign by targeting these consumers using second screen
devices.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is safe to say that consumer behavior is continuously changing and
their attitude towards advertising is also changing. Consumers are now a lot more
cynical about advertising than before and do not necessarily believe what they are
being told. Technology also plays a huge part of cultural and social values in
advertising. However, technology will develop over the coming decade, focusing on
users and platforms and leaving aside regulatory issues and legislation. Social
changes created by technological change are getting faster, as technology becomes
embedded in everyday life. As mentioned above, due to the distinctiveness of
advertising in the 1990’s consumers only cared about what the product offered
rather than its relationship with the brand, therefore advertising may have been
considered easier than today as consumers today are more demanding with the
social changes created by technological change.
At the time, John Lewis was trusted but not loved, now days john Lewis chooses to
position itself as the home of more thoughtful gifting, celebrating those who put
more care into what they choose. As consumers are now more cynical towards
advertising John Lewis chooses to use more emotional advertising instead of
focusing on products.
References
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Bold, B (2013) John Lewis’s epic journey: the evolution of its Christmas campaigns
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ID Number
Work
21201376
Ehrenberg’s theory, Economic section of PEST,
Part of the conclusion
21128396
AIDA theory, Social section of PEST, Part of
conclusion
211268389
Heath and Feldwick Theory, technology
section of PEST, Part of conclusion
21209734
DAGMAR Theory, Political section of PEST, Part
of conclusion