The Importance of Teaching Students Marketing and Advertising
Media Literacy
No matter how you look at it, teenagers are the prime target of advertisers. Therefore, people between the ages of 13 and 18 need to know how they are being manipulated by television, radio and print mediums. They need to be aware of the techniques utilized by advertisers in order to become better consumers. However, in knowing these techniques, students will also become better self-promoters of their own ideas. They will learn to "work the system that works against them." Many of the standards set forth by local, state, federal and international institutions apply to media literacy in order to better educate the populace of the role of the media.
The basics of advertising are simple. Get the consumer to consume. Buy this product, not because you want it, but because you need it. You need it in order to be happy. "Advertising manipulates our needs, our longings, and our insecurities." (Krueger, 28) Advertisers use many ways to hook the consumer.
Glittering generalities, testimonial, plain folk, bandwagon, and card stacking
are all ways advertisers sell their products. Glittering generalities is "speaking in broad sweeping terms without qualifications: 'Clinical studies prove that four out of five people lost weight successfully with Dexatrim.'" (Krueger, 22). What study? Who did the study? Can the results be duplicated. (Ironically, this is not a very scientifically sound use of advertising, but the technique does sell Dexatrim.) A testimonial is just that: a famous or well-known person testifies to the veracity of the product. The plain folk method uses plain folks, just like you and me, to sell the product. This shows that it is accessible to the public. Everyone can own a Moto-Yacht. Hop on the bandwagon because if you don't, you will miss out. The bandwagon method uses the "you snooze, you lose" mentality. Don't be left behind, says the bandwagon. All cigarette and alcohol ads use the card stacking method (Ibid), which emphasizes only the positive while de-emphasizing the negative. There are other methods advertisers employ to sell products, but the above mentioned are the most common and most identifiable. Students need to be aware of these techniques and should be able to identify them readily.
Looking at Great Ad Campaigns
One way to begin to identify advertising techniques is to look at a few successful ad campaigns. Nike, Apple Computer, and Absolut Vodka have had terrific marketing strategies. These products are all readily identifiable. Nike has used a simple slogan, "Just do it" to catapult to the largest sports brand in the world (Ind, 171). Using sports celebrities to hawk their wares, Nike employs the testimonial technique to a tee. "The teenagers who represent the core of the target market buy Nike because it's the brand worn by their sporting heroes and because the advertising reinforces the image of the brand as the style leader." (174) Apple Computer, on the other hand, uses plain folks to sell their computers. Apple Computer touts itself as people-friendly, not corporate Big Brother. "Apple advertising, like the product, is designed to be accessible." (208) People could relate to the new advertisements for this computer because in the past, most computer ads were beyond the intellectual reach of every day folk. Apple brought the computer down to the level of plain folks. Absolut Vodka used a simplistic card stacking method. Actually, the company used a minimalist approach to advertising. Absolut Perfection is written under an Absolut Vodka bottle with a halo above it. In the mid-eighties this began a campaign that still flourishes in its simplicity. An altered bottle on a page with a catchy two to three word slogan always started with Absolut. "A lot of competitors are trying to duplicate the Absolut style of advertising, but they haven't worked out what the one thing in the Absolut advertising is that works: it's the quirkiness of the visual and the humour of the line." (30) No negatives of alcohol are mentioned, just the positive of humor. Just like all great advertising, it truly sticks in your mind.
Marketing the Object of the Project
Marketing, according to Peter Drucker a famous management learder, is "the whole firm, taken from the customer's point of view." (Hiam, 19) A marketing strategy combines many things in order to sell a product. For purposes of this unit this section is going to focus on defining the message, creativity and print advertising because these are the basics of marketing that will be developed later in the student's career. In other areas of their academic lives students will be asked to write to a specific audience, take a position and support it. A side note: The CAPT (Connecticut Academic Performance Test) asks students to do just this in the Inter-disciplinary Test.
When marketing a product, a target audience needs to be defined. It would not be wise to sell breath mints to recluses. But it would be wise to sell them to corporate coffee drinkers/smokers. These are the people who would need this product; therefore, it makes sense to market breath mints to them. Students need to be able to define who their product is targeted to and create a campaign that does just that.
In creating the campaign the advertising techniques need to be taken in to account. Who or what is your audience going to listen to? "Creativity is making nonobvious connections between things or ideas." (56) Bartles and James used the plain folks technique in a very creative manner. They had two older men sitting on a porch holding wine coolers. The end tag was "Thank you for your support." One would not naturally connect older gentlemen, country porches and wine coolers, yet this creative ad became an icon for wine coolers. The men were non-threatening and no busty blondes were used to hock the light tasting beverage. People generally want visually stimulating copy that makes them want to buy the product. It is about "building relationships between your brand and your prospects." (65)
This creativity comes from thinking outside the box. Brilliant marketing ideas don't just appear out of nowhere. Thinking about the product, how it is used, and by whom is all part of a good advertising campaign. Brainstorming, wishful thinking, analogies, pass-along, classic questions, and competitive teams are all suggestions made by Marketing for Dummies by Alexander Hiam. Playing around with words, colors, and layout will add to the message that we, as consumers, need this product.
Print advertising has been around for a long time. For local and regional markets, it is the most highly desirable way to market a product. It is "the most flexible and effective all-around advertising medium." (125) Print advertising can range from a simple brochure to a full page magazine ad to a catalogue selling the wares. They need to be, above all, visually stimulating. The layout needs to be clean and easily accessible to the target audience. Think about a layout targeted to teens that has too much writing. It won't work. Teens, as do most of the general public, want the easy way out. "A picture is worth a thousand words." There are many parts to a print ad: headline, copy or body copy, visual, trademark, and slogan.
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1. Headline
: The large-print words that first attract the eye, usually at the top of the page;
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2. Copy or body copy
: The main text, set in a readable size such as might be used in the main text of a book or magazine;
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3. Visual
: An illustration that makes a visual statement.
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4. Trademark
: A unique design that represent the brand or company; and,
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5. Slogan
: An optional element consisting of a short phrase evoking the spirit or personality of the brand. (126-127)
All of these combined, create recognizable and long-lasting images in our minds. They make us want, need, to buy the product.