cct356+Ad+critique.

The two Ad campaigns that would be critiqued in this paper are the following.

1) The Agent Provocateur Lingerie Ad starring Kylie Minogue that was broadcasted on the Internet in 2006.

2) It is a Russian matrimonial Banner Ad ( [] ), found on a website that serves interest of cricket lovers. [|www.webcric.com] : and [|www.extracover.net].

The reason behind selecting the above-mentioned ads that are of different nature is to shed light on different marketing strategy used in them. The common ground between the two campaigns is that both have used “sexuality” to promote their brand or product however one has been extremely successful in doing so where as the other one has been a big dissapointment.

First Ad. Company: Agent Provocateur. Aired: 2006.

This ad has most of the ingredients that are required to make an ad campaign successful. I do not remember exactly when I was exposed to it but I do remember clicking on it as a YouTube related videos at the time when I was searching for a song by Kylie Minouge.

This advertisement caught my attention instantly because of it’s overall appeal, the use of colors, and the music played in the background with Kylie. So till now everything is synchronized and well gelled, in my opinion. However the highlight of the campaign is that it is extremely interactive, probably the most interactive campaign that I have seen so far. The ad shows singer Kylie Minouge in very appealing lingerie (wearing Agent provocateur) riding a velvet bucking bronco and the ad claims that viewers themselves are going to reaffirm and prove that it is the best product, and this is done in a very witty and humorous way that gets you thinking.

The designers have effectively used the concept of “sex sells” to the extent that some argue that they have done it to the extreme. However the popularity of the ad is itself an answer to all such critiques since it has now generated more than 360 million views and still in counting. Furthermore, it has also been named the best viral advert of 2009. (Daily record)

The video was originally meant for a cinema audience, but due to the nature of the content and overtness it went viral and started spreading aggressively over the Internet. (Times online)

However, Agent Provocateur has a reputation of provoking such controversies, and in this regard, the ad is in complete harmony with the company’s corporate vision. The ad campaign has used the concept of Mass selling in order to promote the product since its evident in their marketing strategy that being a UK based company, they hired a Australian singer and made the ad video viral over the internet to attract a global audience. The content of the ad reveals that they are targeting a audience that ranges from young adults to adults (18-35). Another striking feature of the ad is that they are also targeting a male audience for a female product (lingerie). What they are trying to invoke is that men for their female counter part should buy this product since it would make them look very attractive. This is done in a way where the male audience is directly addressed in the video,

The another feature of ad that in my opinion is very important is, the time duration it took the designers/company to put the message across. The duration of the ad is 1.35 minutes that reinsures that the audience interest is kept alive.

Other than the above mentioned strategies, they have also used some intriguing techniques to make this ad such a success. Techniques such as use of “wit and humor,” providing audience with a simple solution by the help of “ Weasel words”. Furthermore they have given a “Snob appeal” to the product and this feature is put into effect by featuring a famous personality such as Kylie Minouge to endorse the product which also exposes the audience to the sense of “Glittering generalities”; The use of words and images etc makes the product look superior.

Conclusively I would like to say that the use of sex and humor, the classic overall appeal, the controversies it raised and the weird old woman at the back makes it a very effective ad campaign in my opinion.

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 Another Ad campaign that caught my attention is of a different nature then the former one. It is a banner ad of a Russian matrimonial ( www.dream-marriage.com ) website found on not one but two cricketing websites; www.extracover.net and www.webcric.com.

I get exposed to this ad whenever I was searching for a live streaming of a cricket match involving Pakistan and to be honest the ad really annoys me. The reason this ad caught my attention is not linked to its creativity dynamics; it’s not even because of the use of sexuality. Instead, this ad caught my attention because it completely ridiculed me for various reasons, which would be discussed shortly. 

In my opinion, the company has put a much-failed attempt in using “sex appeal” to promote their service/product. The strategic planning of the ad is totally unclear and vague due to the following reasons.

Firstly, what they are trying to promote is a matrimonial service yet the ad that they have used makes it look more like a porn site. The use of “sexuality” is definitely required but catch phrases such as “Bus*y Russians waiting for you” is not going to attract someone who is looking for a bride. That is going to attract a very different kind of audience.

 Secondly, I find it extremely stupid that they are themselves attempting to limit their audience to no effect by saying “Russian women are in particular attracted to western men.” The confusion here is who are they trying to address, are they targeting white native Americas or the whole of western community. For arguments sake if they are trying to target the whole western community then one thing they fail to realize is that by now it has become ethnically well diverse and by putting such catch phrases they are absolutely getting nowhere. But let’s just say even if they are targeting the “Native white Americans” not any other ethnicity, community or race the question here arises is, why they would place their banner on a website that mostly serves the interest of cricket lovers. I mean you will hardly find any white Native American who would be interested in cricket; it is usually followed religiously in South Asian communities. Therefore, what and how they are approaching to their target audience is something I fail to comprehend.



Further moving on, there is not much to analyze on the advertising techniques applied by the company since I believe that they have not even done justice to the basic tactics. However, in my opinion they have tried a failed attempt on the following ones.

Indeed the Internet has shifted the power to the customer and to make the most out of it, may be what they are trying to do is create a “velvet rope” by focusing on a particular audience in order to capture the niche. But it is a miserable attempt in doing so since broadcasting a message for everyone is not going to get them there, probably in this regard a better strategy would have been targeting their audience via e-mail by using internet cookies. 

They have used the “weasel words” to give audience a sense of trust by claiming that “ studies reveal that Russian women are highly attracted t western men “ but these words sound really shallow since they have provided absolutely no backing for such a statement.

Perhaps they should totally reconsider the design of the ad as well as the outlet they post it on otherwise in my opinion this Ad campaign is a complete flop and should be removed immediately.  file:///Users/Daria/Desktop/sd%20copy.bmp

Bibliography:

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N.p., n.d. Web. .

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/weird-news/2009/11/02/kylie-minogue-s-racy-agent-provocateur-web-video-tops-ad-chart-watch-it-here-86908-21791731/ >.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.bhswebdesign.com/articles/online-advertising.html>.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">Film. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHood00sNJU>.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">Web. <http://www.extracover.net/>. <http://www.extracover.net/>.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">Web. <http://www.webcric.com/>.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.dream-marriage.com/>.