Free Custom «Analyzing Advertisements» Essay Paper

Advertisement is an extremely important aspect of all marketing systems. Not only does it contribute towards a country's economic development by spurring competition among firms but also inform people of the available products in the market, thereby empowering consumers in those markets.

Thesis statement:

The competitiveness that characterizes today's market is what has prompted the application of all sorts of strategies and techniques. Looking carefully at today's advertisement and especially commercials, one is left with no doubt that almost all commercials adheres to certain principles and techniques which have been confirmed to work for the marketer. In this paper I will be comparing two different commercials for the same product and two different commercial on competing products in an efforts to gauge the applicability of these techniques and principles and their effectiveness. In this regard I will explore two different Nike's commercials that deal with one product in their long range of products before proceeding to compare and contrast one of them with another from Adidas, their bitter rival, which deals with a similar product.

Two different marketing campaigns for the same product: Two Nike ads:

Lebron and Kobe Ad:

Almost all Nike's advertisements are sports oriented, which can be explained by the fact that its products are always sport oriented, something that makes sport personalities and their fans an integral part of their survival. By involving a whole range of sport personalities these Nike sporting ads are normally very interesting to watch, as can be demonstrated by two of their advertisements that we are going to analyze. The first of these two of many Nike sport advertisements is the one that features the basketball greats; Lebron and Kobe, both as puppets. First, we see Kobe donning Nike shoes trying to show Lebron how to jump into a car (Nike, 2009). Something that he does quiet easily ostensibly because he is wearing Nike shoes. The commercial pays a lot of attention to the shoe which is the subject of the ad, showing the influence that the shoe has on this particular jump (Nike, 2009).

Analysis of Lebron and Kobe ad:

By including well-known sport personalities like Lebron and Kobe the ad tries to ensure that the credibility of the products being advertised is achieved. The following and fanatism that people usually accord successful sport personalities and celebrities usually translate to strong respect and therefore trust in their decision concerning anything, this is where credibility, and in extension ethos, stems from. The use of Kobe and Lebron as puppet and the idea of jumping in a car just to show that one can do it make the ad very exciting and hilarious, something that makes the ad appealing to emotion, or pathos, to those who watch it. What the ad is trying to tell the audience is that the use of Nike shoes has the potential of increasing tremendously the performance of a person as far as jumping into a car is concerned which definitely does not appeal to logic, or the so-called logo. This does not however mean that the ad is devoid of logic in its entirety. The use of professional basket ballplayer in the ad appeal to logic, simply because pro will be expected to know better than us the best shoe to use in sport and also to an extent, out off-field.

Didier, Rooney, Canavaro ad:

The second ad that I will look at is the one that feature a number of sporting personalities that include Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, and Canavaro. Football lover will agree with me that this advertisement is not only hilarious but also heart pumping. In course of the first forty seconds of this ad we see both Drogba and Canavaro facing one another in a football match. Donned in an orange jersey, Drogba get the ball at the beginning of the ad and proceeds towards the goal in a bid to score. As he get closer to the goal fans of his side rise wildly in anticipation of a goal. However their cheerfulness is cut short by one Canavaro whose bicycle kick deflects a shot which was otherwise destined to the net. Immediately, the entire scene changes, from a seemingly exciting football match we now see a club of Canavaro-jersey-wearing fans cheering, dancing, and clapping, in what seems like a cerebration of Canavaro prowess in the pitch (Limerhan, 2010). Their merriment is no doubt in honor of Canavaro as is testified by one man who is particular zealous in singing his name loudly (Limerhan, 2010). It is at this point that we see Canavaro watching the cerebration, something that impresses him as can be demonstrated by the smile in his face. Still in this commercial we see another football great, this time Wayne Rooney dribbling forward as time tick on.

Still in the commercial is another scene of Rooney trying to score which is intercepted just like that one of Drogba (Limerhan, 2010). At one point Rooney tries to pass the ball forward to his teammate, a pass that is unfortunately intercepted by Frank Ribery, another football star. What follow are scenes of disappointment which no doubt are a product of that disappointing move from Rooney. Funny enough the disappointment is not only confined to sporting or football arena but also on other seemingly unrelated fields like the stock market. It is only after Rooney steps out and sees a Nike poster that things starts showing up. First, Rooney chases and tackles Frank Ribery who had intercepted his pass, before scoring without committing any foul, something that brings an entirely different future. A future that see him being knighted, the stock marketing recovering and rising even more than before, and a situation where all parents are naming their newborn kids after him.

Analysis of Didier, Rooney, Canavaro ad:

This ad is excellent and especially its storyline which I belief is not only imaginative but also heart gripping. One of the aspects of its imaginativeness can be found in its appeal to the ethos, logos, and pathos. The inclusion of the best football players in the ad and having them don Nike products is an important advertising strategy. This is because sport personalities normally command a lot of respect within and out of the pitch, something that makes the public believe in them more than anybody else. This ensures the credibility and therefore the ethos of their (Nike) products is achieved. There is no doubt that this ad is not only exciting but also hilarious. This can be demonstrated by a host of scene and moves that are slick and eye-popping. One such scene is that where Wayne Rooney is seen trashing Roger Federer, the tennis great, in a game of table tennis (Tovson, 2010). The use of football makes the ad very exciting which combined with the rest of the hilarious scenes makes the ad appealing to the emotions, or pathos, to all those who watch the advertisement.

There are a number of scenes that definitely do not appeal to logic, the so-called logo. For instance, despite the popularity of football in the world there is no way it would have the kind of influence that the ad would like us to believe. There is not way stock market can crash apparently due to a football loss or person (Wayne Rooney) can be knighted ostensibly for stopping an opponent from scoring, as is happening in the ad, this simply shows how the ad has failed to appeal to logic (Tovson, 2010). However the use of pro athletes in the advertisement has some logical connotation. This is because you would expect pro athletes to use logic in making the decision on what to wear or use within or out of the field, either through experience or learning, two important component of logic.

Similarities of the two ads:

There are a number of feature that the two ads share. First, the two ads seem to have preferred using sport personalities or celebrities, a strategy that advertisers normally use when targeting a certain audience or markets. The use of sport personalities in both cases is motivated by the need to reach certain market segment, which we might construe to be sport fans globally and the youthful people who are known to worship successful personalities. The second target of these ads is the people who watch TV.

Common ideology linking the two:

By showcasing sport personalities who wear Nike's range of products both ads illustrates the importance of sport in the world while indirectly showing the positive influence that Nike has on their success. What the Lebron and Kobe ads tries to show is that Nike shoes enables a person perform seemingly impossible task like jumping into a car. The Didier Drogba, Rooney, Canavaro ad on the other hand tries to shows how Nike product increase the performance of a person without which such performance might be hard to achieve. The advertisement of this idea prompts people from all over the world to not only purchase Nike merchandise but also watch the respective sports where the two groups are involved.

The two ads tries as much as possible to appeal to the three rhetoric appeals namely; pathos, logo, and ethos. First, the appeal to pathos can be found in their inclusion of seemingly exciting and hilarious scenes that no doubt appeal to the emotion. Second, the appeal to logos is better found in the use of elite personalities in their respective field, something that stem from the assumption that they are better placed to make decision on the things that the ad is putting across in the advertisement. Lastly, appeal to ethos can also be found in the use of pro athletes because of the respect that translated to authority on the matter at hand.

Two different marketing campaigns for competing products: one for "Adidas" and the other for "Nike"

Nike and Adidas are two of the greatest sport wear manufacturers whose name have since become synonymous with sport wear. Their huge size has of late come to be replicated on their competition for market dominance as can be seen in their high-end commercial. Competition between the two has been so stiff such that looking at the commercials of the two manufacturers one is left with a feeling that they have been copying one another, as far as their advertising is concerned. In exploring this concern we are going to compare and contrast two of the respective ads. In this regard we are look at Adidas' and Nike's commercial featuring; Dwight Howard, the Orlando magic star and Slim Chin; and Kobe Bryant and Lebron James respectively.

Adidas' Dwight Howard and Slim Chin Commercial

This is one of the many Adidas commercial featuring sport personalities. This ad tries to promote an Adidas shoe by the name "the beast". Other than Dwight Howard and Ken Jeong as Slim Chin in the ad we also have a cheetah which has been included to represent the "beast" which is the name of the shoe in question. The inclusion of a Cheetah which is one of the fastest animals in the world signifies the superb performance of this shoe. The name "the beast" that has been given to the shoe has been reinforced by the inclusion of a Cheetah in the ad, the absence of which would most probably have created other different meanings that might as well have had a negative effect on the shoe's marketability.

This superb performance of this shoe is demonstrated by Howard mock slam, which can be seen in the attention that the shoe attracts in course of that slam. In fact Slim Chin is there beside Howard to attribute that perfect slam to the shoe, "the beast". This shoe is expected to be Howard signature shoe which is a perfect adverting strategy that works perfectly especially with the youths. The fact that Howard is considered NBA "superman" makes him the ideal candidate to promote this shoe brand.

By including a professional athlete like Howard, who is well-known, admired, and respected especially by basketball lovers, Adidas just like Nike in their commercial featuring Kobe and Lebron, attempts to give credibility to this shoe. This is because like I have observed in the paper, celebrities of whatever genre are revered and trusted by the masses, something that translates to authority over potential customer, the so-called appeal to ethos, which if exploited by advertiser can go along way in improving the product. In the ad we can see a number of strong and exciting images, like the heap of money at the beginning of the commercial and the docile Cheetah that is naturally aggressive, images that evoke emotion in those who view the commercial, the so-called appeal to pathos - just like the car in the Nike's commercial.

The mere presence of Howard in this ad makes potential customers assume that the use of the shoe is a well-thought or logical decision. This is in the belief that Howard must have thought wisely about this shoe before deciding to use it, it is even possible that he is familiar of a number of secret regarding the strengths of this shoe that an ordinary person might not be familiar with. This is what is referred in marketing as appeal to logo which is important in marketing any product or service. However a closer a closer look will reveal that there is no logic in the belief that a shoe can makes a person perform better in any endeavor.

Effectiveness of the commercials

The effectiveness of the two ads can be seen in their use of the three main advertisement techniques namely testimonial, bandwagon, and repetition. They integration of bandwagon in either of the ads can be found in their use of a host of elite players in their respective sport specialties, in persuading people to use Nike products because they are using them . For instance, in the first one we have Kobe Bryan and Lebron James, two of the greatest basketball names, while in the second ad, we have Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Canavaro, and Frank Ribery.

The use of testimonial by lining-up famous sporting personalities in the two ads goes far in reinforcing reliability in the products that are being advertised, which as consequence goes along way in persuading potential customers to purchase these products. The integration of repetition in both ads demonstrates the effectiveness of the two ads. In this regard we have repeated images and scenes of Nike products in both ads which perpetually remind the viewer that the sport personalities in either ads use Nike product which ostensibly is the reason why they are that successful in their sporting endeavors.