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Conclusion

I decided to shape my blog to the industry of advertising and media specifically because I wanted to gain insight and more in depth knowledge of the sector, which has prepared me for my future in a career in this field.

Writing this blog has been stimulating as I am used to writing long essays which is a completely different process to this style and format of this task. Over the course of my blog I gained understanding and explain some key case studies in current affairs which links with my topic.

Of course, linking the lecture topics to the blog has been critical and has made my thinking more broad and analytical. The material in lectures has been beneficial not just for the blog but for an introduction to business awareness and has furthered my interest even more. It provides a original kind of work ethic for me, which has been very refreshing.

To conclude, this blog has made me more conscious of the business world and developing my skills that will apply to my transition into the workplace.

Reputation- Top Trump

The branding and social media has led to some of the most surreal moments in recent political history, but in the political season it has been hard to keep their reputation when it comes to current affairs.

After the world waking up to another dissatisfied campaign from the US the ad industry wondered where it had all gone terribly wrong. As we spectated over the 5 months, Hillary Clinton outspent Donald Trump on advertising by nearly $100 million when it came down to the competitive campaigns.

So where did it all go wrong for the media strategy?

Trump was not the straight and narrow either when it cane to his media strategy and had the issue with a lack of ‘sophistication’ whereas for Clinton showed traditional emotional advertising. However the reliance on celebrities like Beyonce and Jay-Z- may have not been figures in favours of voters.

Taking into consideration her massive expenditures on advertising could have exacerbated those issues, President and CEO of Edelman comments: “In this election, it was seen as a way of trying to buy voters as opposed to earn their trust”. Trump, however was consistently involved in social channels trying to create as much buzz as possible. Trump’s relatively small ad spends and dependence on Twitter became hallmarks, resulting in his image as an authentic challenger voice. Unilever brand associates for Ben&Jerry’s released a light relief after the political rallies of the differentiating campaigns. As did the beer brand Corona play on the infamous building the wall having a jab at Trump days before the election.

Involving politics into ad campaigns is a difficult business and often hard to execute well.Their reputation is crucial but it is difficult to find a balance between finding a new but also effective way of making a campaign that works when involved with politics.

HRM-You’re Hired not Fired

To succeed at everything from creative and innovative marketing to recruiting to benefits of talent and diversity it is not a walk in the park. Understanding what worldwide brands do to see how they can outsmart others and create a culture that people can excel in and be proud to be able to work there is crucial when it comes to HR.

Many advertising and marketing companies are looking for talented, creative and active individuals. But with the increasingly competitive and dynamic strategies have they been able to understand the most human capital strategies to have top employability rates.

“The challenge for HR professionals today is living up to the high expectations that come with a seat at the table- expectations to drive business results through people and culture”- Bersin Harris
Not only is it about the companies’ strategy but also it’s attracting the right employees that suit the style
and ability of the job. Heineken released a internship as which advertises a fun and new way of attracting people.

“Heineken revolves around the personality of their employees and they want these personalities to thrice. That’s the main message that had to come across in a way that stands out from all other HR campaigns”- Wefilm Lennart Verstegen

Having interned with a media advertising company in the summer, specifically working alongside the HR team there is more than just a good CV. I think that Lennart Verstegen hits the nail on the head when it comes to advertising and media roles within companies. It is crucial to be able to attract the right people for a specific brief. In this case it is a complex and alternative drive in the advertising and marketing industry.

Sales, marketing and planning- John Lewis leads the Christmas spirit

 

John Lewis are notorious for their Christmas TV ad which draws in a high number of customers. Every year, the agency Adam& Eve must meet up to the high expectations of the public obsessed eye.

After a long silence in 2007 they broke their silence by releasing a heartfelt, emotional story that John Lewis this Christmas would help people find the perfect present for the people they love. Craig Inglis who was newly appointed customer director became more aware of the brand’s advertising. Thus in 2009 they made their hit debut. This effort helped rise Christmas period sales increase of 12.7% on the previous year.

Further development in advertising John Lewis was recognised by Inglis’ promotion to director of marketing. The strategy paid off and with their more imaginative and pulling heartstrings made a success online with 1m mark online and sales went up 9.3%.

This years ad takes a more light hearted approach of Buster the Boxer. The campaign has explored further into its technical and digital ability with having filters on Snap chat and Twitter. The new ad has already hit 28.5 million hit in 24 hrs. The brand has been mentioned 230,000 times on twitter compared to 103,000 last year with the ‘man on the moon’.In addition to the success of the video itself they have also sold over 1,000 Buster the boxer soft toys which cost £15 each and includes 10% donation to the wildlife trusts the charity supported the campaign.

Diversity- Mad Men and Invisible Women

There is no hiding when it comes to drawing the attention that the marketing, advertising and tech industries have gender issues. When I did an internship with a media advertising agency called Initiative there was an obvious division in the company. Majority of the senior positions were male. Even when speaking to the MD she had no explanation for this clear diversity within the industry. Following the leading diversity in the industry there was talk of this issue on International Women’s Day, where people spoke to women working in these industries, asking what needs to be done to close the workplace gender gap.
It has come to the attention of HR that perhaps they need to do a better job at attracting women into the industry. Although this is not easy when they lose women due to maternity leave, concerning an issue with perhaps inconsistency resulting in men moving up in the industry into higher roles.

‘Women and men respond to entirely different stimuli when viewing and evaluating advertising messages’. (Popcorn& Marigold,2000). Men respond positively to male imagery and women respond positive to female imagery. Hence when an advert for a men’s deodorant they wouldn’t be showing girls shoes, they show muscular males using the product. Although strategic advertising for women will use products  with a masculine appeal and respond positively to imagery.

Overall, I think fewer women get higher roles because it’s competitive and women are often discouraged from being competitive. In digital it is seen that there is a false perception that women aren’t skilled enough.

33% percent of women who completed a survey said that they have failed to receive crucial assignments or promotions because of their gender and 42% percent claimed to have been excluded from key decision-making processes because of the same gender-based discrimination.

Change- Sky high: UK advertising revenue dips

There has been a recent report on a rise in sky’s revenue, which surprisingly has rose by 5% despite the impact of Brexit. Sky also gains around a third of its business to countries such as Germany, Italy and Austria,which has a huge impact with the recent political movement. Brexit has hit a lot of companies hard however, for Sky they have seen an increase within the time that the shocking political scene changed.

Although advertising revenues are down by 3% within a result of Brexit, Sky profits posting increases. The decreasing viewers and expanding advertising demand has guided to some astronomical airtime increase, gaining 10% for ABC1 audiences and 15% for young target market groups. “Sky reported there increase to £11.3 billion in the last few months and pre-tax profit increased 6% to £1.2 billion’.

Sky has taken onboard this change and perhaps the reason for this increase of revenue is the result of using AdSmart systems to target household owners. Compared to their main competitor itv’s billing as a demand for advertising surging even as audiences decline. Compared to Sky its audience has grown and is taking a data-led strategy to upgrade ad revenues, which is resulting in an expansion financially.
The most successful platform for advertisement is TV, this is for any form of brand or company hence there is “category wars” whether its social media, supermarkets, clothing brands etc.

It added nearly one million sky customers in the UK taking the total to more than 12 million. Sky Media’s revenue increased 5 per cent to £510 million for the year. Chief executive Jeremy Darroch said that Brexit “doesn’t really change our thinking” in any aspect of Sky’s marketing strategy, because what do people do when they can’t go out to dinner and spend money? They stay in and watch evening television, which is why Brexit hasn’t managed to knock confidence out of the Media branches.

People and Skills-Media Migrants

There has been a vast amount of media coverage on the subject of immigrants, a lot of it negative and focused on numbers coming in to Europe. This took a dramatic turn with the death of the small child Alan Kurdi when the publication of pictures of his body on a beach in Turkey hit the press. It was at this point when editors and press realized the extent of human tradegy and loss within this surge of chaos.

“It is not just a lack of humanity on the news agenda or a matter of luck or a matter of caring more about some people at the expense of others. We need a broader lens to see what really is going on” – Jan Egeland, Refugee council.

Almost every media coverage of migrants includes a picture of women and children to pull emotional strings. However, 80% of migrants are male which having witnessed in France was surprising contrasting the divergence between the reality and media’s perspective on it.

I have examined different types of source used by the media and there is a huge contrast of terminology: “ migrant, refugee, illegal immigrant, asylum seekers” this to many the term migrants was not enough to describe the distress of humanity. It demonstrates that the way the UK media has reported about the immigration debate has changed and is becoming increasingly “dehumanised” by using certain terminology.

“Around the world, media coverage is often politically led with journalists following an agenda dominated by loose language and talk of invasion and swarms,” said Aidan White, EJN’s director. Perhaps this is a reason why many have been frustrated on the hot topic and cannot see through to many of the media’s reports.

Despite the enormous amount of media coverage on this matter of immigration there aren’t a lot of scholarly input or analysis. It is ultimately up to the individual to understand and react in their own way to this event.

Competition: Specsavers go for gold

We all know that advertising for competitive companies need bright, initiate and diverse ideas to go far in that notoriously tight hierarchy to grow and stand out from other companies. The current market for eyecare is estimated at around £ 2 billion, bearing in mind that half being small independent companies. Two thirds of the adult population wear glasses or use them in day- to- day life. An ageing population centrally influencing the optic market. Nearly 90% of us will require corrective vision by the age of 60.  Relating closely to Henry Mintzberg’s five p’s strategy that we touched on in our lecture this was a clear step that the renowned Specsavers took to reveal values of opportunistic advertising.

This tactical move on press advertising by Specsavers in 2012 at the Olympics gained a big lead on other eye wear competitors certainly while viewers were glued to their screens.
They used their famous catchphrase “Should have gone to Specsavers” in Korean relating to the “mix up” by the Hampden officials showing the South Korean flag ahead of the South Korean Women’s football team.

This strategy was to gain opportunistic advertising and displayed their ad on different platforms including digital and print. That incorporated 10 different newspapers on next day release. Resulting into a raise in appointment bookings and beating other competitors such as vision express who didn’t release an ad until after the Olympics.

In 2014, Specsavers also reacted quickly to the footballer Luis Suarez biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in a world Cup match through a comical titter tactical ad. It was tweeted 30,000 times.

‘We’re constantly on the look out for great Should’ve Gone to Specsavers moments and I’m always amazed at the speed with which our creative team are able to react to incidents like this. They’ve worked closely with the marketing department to make sure this hit the newsstands today.’– Richard Homes.