Great ads disrupt people's expectations. Discuss, giving examples of ads that have achieved this.
Great ads disrupt people's expectations. Discuss, giving examples of ads that have achieved this.
According to Dru's disruption theory1, 'Great campaigns are always ruptures with the prevailing advertising language, not only in style but in content'. Does this mean that only shocking and disruptive adverts can be effective, and that all adverts that do shock are good?
A lot of advertising campaigns conform to a particular style depending on the product, adverts for feminine hygiene products always feature a gorgeous young woman saying how she can do anything she wants even at 'that time of month, spots for household products always promise to make our lives easier. Dru's disruption theory is about looking at the conventions of advertising and then finding an idea or an approach that overturns them.
The use of shock or disruption in advertising is a trend which has been growing over the past 20 years, it is widely used initially to make people pay attention to a campaign then create secondary promotion of the product by talking about the campaign.
Playtex took advantage of the idea of using secondary media exposure to increase awareness of a brand or product when they released the Wonderbra under their name in 1994 after winning the rights from Gossard. They had an advertising budget of just £350,000 with which they needed to create awareness, a stronger image of the brand and product and convince consumers to buy the Playtex Wonderbra rather than the virtually identical Gossard Ultrabra.
Image 1 Image 2
Through their marketing research they discovered that the previous advertising for
Wonderbra (under license to Gossard) had been focused solely on the aspects of sex
and sexuality. The target audience appreciated this, however Playtex needed to go a step further with the new campaign. By creating bold, raunchy adverts that were considered by their audience to be clever,
enjoyable and relevant they managed to appeal to the target audience even more strongly whilst at the same time disrupting the foregoing methods of advertising ladies underwear. The adverts (see Images 1 and 2), which appeared in magazines and on billboards (a new advertising medium for lingerie), were very different in both style and content to previous bra adverts as they were much more overt and upfront.
The media storm surrounding the campaign began almost as soon as it was released, television discussions, comedy sketches, editorials, magazine articles, newspaper headlines and cartoons all featured reference to the adverts and the 'Wonderbra Girl'.
After the campaign several experts attempted the estimate of the value of the various coverage received by the Playtex Wonderbra. According to Eurospace2 the cost to buy the equivalent amount of space would have been £4,440,838, but according to the Institute of Public Relations guidelines, the value and potency of the coverage would have cost Playtex over £17 million3. More importantly though, since 'it is not creative if it doesn't sell'4, the sales of the Wonderbra increased by 41% in 1994 during and after the campaign, compared to 1993. This is clearly an example of using disruptive advertising to gain a competitive advantage as Playtex managed to increase sales of the Wonderbra despite stiff competition from Gossard with the Ultrabra.
In 1992 the frozen dessert sector was completely disrupted by Häagen Dazs and their new approach to advertising icecream. This sector in the UK was very underdeveloped with the main focus being on childrens icecream.
Häagen Dazs only had two real competitors in the deluxe icecream market, Looseley and New England, both of which had taken a similar approach to image and advertising, they were sold in delicatessens and premium food shops, and showed beautiful pictures of decanted icecream on the packaging.5 Häagen Dazs conducted extensive marketing research before deciding on their advertising campaign, through this ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
In 1992 the frozen dessert sector was completely disrupted by Häagen Dazs and their new approach to advertising icecream. This sector in the UK was very underdeveloped with the main focus being on childrens icecream.
Häagen Dazs only had two real competitors in the deluxe icecream market, Looseley and New England, both of which had taken a similar approach to image and advertising, they were sold in delicatessens and premium food shops, and showed beautiful pictures of decanted icecream on the packaging.5 Häagen Dazs conducted extensive marketing research before deciding on their advertising campaign, through this research they discovered that Häagen Dazs, described by consumers as being rich, creamy and smooth, was more about mood and emotion than simply the product. So using the sensual aspect of consumer opinions, Häagen Dazs were able to create a campaign with a completely different angle,
'This area offered Häagen Dazs the chance to create a unique advertising language for ice cream.........The idea that Häagen Dazs created a mood of sensual intimacy was a far more interesting area for the brand to carve out and make its own'6
Image 3 Image 4
The adverts (see images 3 and 4) hardly depicted the actual product they were more concerned with showing the mood and sensation connected with actually eating the product.
Judging by the complaints made to the Advertising Standards Authority concerning these adverts, they clearly disrupted the expectations of some of the public who considered the images to be 'erotic'. However, due the to high level of research conducted by Häagen Dazs they were able to prove that the images were based on public opinion.
Häagen Dazs, like Playtex, did not simply use a disruptive idea for their advertising campaign, they looked at the conventional advertising medium for their market and did not use it. At the time, 87.5% of icecream advertising was on television, so Häagen Dazs decided, in keeping with the idea of their icecream being more intimate and enjoyable, they decided to use newspaper weekend colour supplements.
The example of Häagen Dazs is one that, unlike my other examples, Dru would class as a high level disruption, one that 'occurs when the company, by expressing a new vision, displaces the entire market'7. As the use of a disruptive advertising campaign for the launch of Häagen Dazs in the United Kingdom not only drastically increased Häagen Dazs's market share from around 2% to over 30% in a year and a half but it also increased the dairy market value by attracting new custom. 8
It is fair to say that the disruptive approach adopted by Häagen Dazs resulted in both great adverts and a very impressive growth in sales.
Not all adverts that disrupt our expectations are as obviously effective as those for the Playtex Wonderbra and Häagen Dazs campaigns I have discussed so far. Disruption in advertisements only works successfully when the advert reflects the image towards which the brand is striving, for example with the Wonderbra 'One and Only' campaign, Playtex was updating their traditional image of mature, sensible lingerie and adding younger, stronger and blunter qualities to the brand.
Undoubtedly, the Benetton issue awareness poster campaigns are a real break from conventional clothing advertising. When compared with the adverts from their close rivals such as Gap or Abercrombie and Fitch who feature healthy 'all-americans' dressed in their products, the Benetton posters definitely stand-out amid the clutter of other advertising images, and attract public attention. This is mainly because they never feature the product. Instead we see images of prisoners on murder victims9, people being arrested10, aids
Image 5
patients, people on death row and other equally disturbing pictures. Benetton have achieved this huge break from the norm' by looking at the market in a completely different way, they have thrown out the traditional tools of 'pushing playful pastiches of colourfully cosmopolitan kids prancing around'11 'It is nearly impossible to think differently if you cling to the same conventional tools. However it is difficult to see where exactly Benetton is striving to reach with it's 'anti -sales' poster campaigns created by Oliviero Toscani, they claim to be 'fostering debate' 12 or 'forcing the public to confront the great issues of our time - racism, civil war, Aids and so on'13. Although these campaigns do not overtly promote the company's products, they 'arouse strong reactions - at times ferocious, at times simply curious'14, this ensures that there is always a high level of brand awareness.
Unfortunately the campaign's apparent societal claims are undermined by the fact that the Benetton do not openly donate to or support any of the various charities linked to the causes they highlight. This has given rise to many complaints made to the Advertising Standards Agency accusing the campaign of being 'gimmicky shock advertising, with little or no moral justification'7. They do however foster alliances with charities and agencies such as the World Health Organisation promoting the use of protection against AIDS. Many consumers are becoming cynical of this form of societal advertising, and see though the attempts to highlight current issues, to the simple fact that these
Image 6
campaigns always hit the street around the time of the launch of a new collection and that their real purpose is to increase awareness of the Benetton brand, ultimately selling more jumpers.
Advertisings' sole purpose is not simply to sell a product, it is also used to manipulate people to do things that they normally would not do. Benettons' advertising could be
considered great despite the fact that it doesn't really encourage people to buy the products simply because the adverts accomplish the company's goals. Through their advertisements, Benetton aim to confront people with harsh truths and force them to think, something the adverts clearly achieve, whilst doing this they also increase their brand awareness and win awards. According to a test of Benetton Billboard Campaigns in Switzerland conducted in 1991 by the Société Générale d'Affichage (the General Society of Advertising)15 Benetton adverts had a much higher unaided recall in the 15-74 age group, than other companies such as Levis (Bern: Benetton 33.8%, Levi 1.7%). Another test, conducted by Ipsos Publicité in Paris (1994)16 shows very clearly that although 60% of the sample recognised the Benetton adverts only 14% said that the advert did incite them to buy.
This lack of advertising attributed sales has not stopped Benetton winning many advertising awards worldwide, suggesting that they are definitely considered great by many people in the profession.
Disturbing or unsettling advertising is not only used commercially to help sell consumer goods, it is often used by charities, as with Playtex, to compensate for a small budget by gaining media coverage. Until recently the use of shock tactics in advertising was only considered an appropriate method for charities or government agencies to use in an attempt to demarket certain behaviour. However now that companies such as Benetton use disturbing images to promote products, the charities are being forced to increase the level of shock tactics used in their campaigns, few of us will forget the recent government anti drink driving campaigns with Dave having 'just one more', which finished up with Dave being fed baby food by his mother who was trying to persuade him to have 'just one more' spoonful; or the campaign to encourage people to fasten their seatbelts in the back of cars, where the child in the back broke his mothers' neck as he flew forward when the car crashed.
Nobody would argue that these charity campaigns are shocking but, since they tend to follow a set formula, few of them are actually disruptive, or in the words of Dru none of them 'signify at once a break with the past, a leap in relation to the present and a step towards the future'17. One of the few of these charity campaigns that do, in my mind, break with this formulaic approach is one of the recent television campaigns about cancer by the Macmillan Foundation. The most poignant of this black and white series showed three young girls playing in a field, the audience was then told the futures' of each of the girls using simple text next to each of them. One was going to be a lawyer, one a teacher and the other was going to have cancer. The way the advert was shot resembled the kind of soft focus and scenery used in a perfume advertisement; this made the reality more disruptive as it was totally unexpected.
So far all the adverts that I have looked at have been disruptive campaigns that can easily be considered as great advertising campaigns. This however does not mean that all great adverts are disruptive. Companies such as Boddingtons, Dulux, Heinz have all made adverts which despite following conventional ideas of advertising have appealed to their target audience and have found themselves in the stuck in the minds of consumers. Who could think of Boddingtons as anything other than the Cream of Manchester, or see the word Dulux and not think of the Dulux dog, or thinking about baked beans and not thinking that, 'beans means Heinz'?
According to James Webb Young an advert should essentially do five things for the consumer, familiarise them with the product, remind them of the product, spread news, overcome inertia and add value to the product18. It is not absolutely necessary for a campaign to disrupt convention and expectations in order to fulfil these five objectives. As the saying goes, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it', why try to change a successful, tried and tested formula until it stops manipulating the consumer, if it does then the use of disruption could give the brand a new lease of life.
This suggests that although many companies such as those discussed in this essay, but also Ikea, Nike, Sprite, Levi's and Peperami have successfully broken away from standard advertising practices, it would not be fair to say, as Dru does in his Disruption Theory, that 'Great campaigns are always ruptures with the prevailing advertising language, not only in style but in content'19. Clearly in today's incredibly consumer orientated society in which we are constantly bombarded by advertising images, any method which helps an advertiser break through the clutter of different sales messages and reach the target audience is a good thing. Obviously disruption is a very successful method of getting through the some of the consumer cynicism that exists. Some audiences, such as the over 55's may not react so positively to a complete disruption of their expectations as they are highly unreceptive to change. There are many other methods of reach the consumer including the use of repetition, sex and humour in adverts; it is up to the advertising agency to find the most appropriate strategy and execution for each individual product and audience.
Dru,J-M (1997) Disruption John Wiley and Sons
2 Jackie Cooper PR
3 Advertising Works 7 Chapter 10 Häagen Dazs
4 Quoted in a lecture by Mary Hargreaves
5 Advertising Works 7, Chapter 10, Häagen Dazs.
6 Advertising Works 7, Chapter 10, Häagen Dazs
7 Dru,J-M (1997) Disruption John Wiley and Sons
8 Advertising Works 7, Chapter 10, Häagen Dazs.
9 See Image 5
0 See Image 6
1 Saunders, D (1997) Shock in advertising Batsford
2 Lippert, B (2000) Capital Offense Adweek 28/02/00
3 Mills, D (2000) Why I'm repulsed with P&G's tie-in with Benetton's 'cause'. Campaign 02/10/00
4 Benetton Advertising: A story of prizes and controversy (courtesy of Nullo Ricotti @ Benetton)
5 INSEAD - CEDEP 'United Colours of Benetton' case study Exhibit 11
6 INSEAD - CEDEP 'United Colours of Benetton' case study Exhibit 10
7 Dru,J-M (1997) Disruption Chapter 4 John Wiley and Sons
8 Albion, MS (1981) The Advertising Controversy Auburn House Publishing Company
9 Dru,J-M (1997) Disruption John Wiley and Sons
Great ads disrupt people's expectations. Discuss, giving examples of ads that have achieved this.
Bethany Mepstead
