OK … perhaps this is a background for (for me anyway) a perfect advertisment for Tuscany….

But is there such a thing as  a ‘perfect‘ advertisment?

If there is, then what might be the principles for creating one?

Why then, do we see so many adverts in the press, on TV and on the internet which are just laughable (I don’t mean they are humourous, but rather that they are pathetic wastes of money because, clearly, they have ZERO chance of convincing anyone to remember the product or to purchase it!)?

I am hoping that we can investigate this by applying communications theory to our reaction to and analysis & evaluation of a number of adverts.

I fear you are going to be shocked by many of these adverts’ lack of ability to ‘move‘ you in the desired direction [unaware to aware, aware to interested, interested to desire, desire to action] – often because of some absolutely fundamental errors.  What amazes me is that someone somewhere [inside the company that commissioned the advertisment] had to ‘sign off on‘ these words and images [approve hem for use] and pay considerable sums of money to creative advertising agencies, production departments and TV and newspapers to carry advertisments that were ‘doomed to failure‘ from the very start.  Why IS this?  How is it possible? Why and how do such stupid mistakes get made …. and, of course, how do we avoid making them in the first place…?

What will be the output?

• you will understand the principles of Communications Theory and Practice
• you should have principles of best practice and tools of analysis to carry away which you can then use and apply to materials that you are asked to create, review or transmit to an audience.

What are we going to do?

1. consider the steps involved in the process of communication
2. identify where, why and how ‘noise‘ can enter the system (i.e. where, why and how a % of the message can get ‘lost‘ between the idea and ultimately the reaction of the potential client who recieves a message…. (and perhaps not the message intended!).
3. each student will be given an advert to consider, with instructions as to how to analyse it (I love the French word ‘décortiquer’ here, by the way!), evaluate it, draw conclusions as to the effectiveness of the transfer of the idea from creator/sender to recipient, and make well-supported recommendations as to what might have made each stage of the process and the ultimate reaction of the recipient significantly ‘better‘ (more effective, efficient and economical).  NB.  Remember these three Es – they ‘come in very handy‘ (useful) when it comes to evaluating – especially when you are in business – as they represent the classic approach to measurement.  Do you know how to differentiate them……?

How do I analyse & evaluate the advert provided?

1. Remembering that this is a professional English course, you will do this in your very best English, having used spellcheck in Word / OpenOffice, Grammarly and Wordreference as appropriate to aid you in the task of proofing (relecture).  Failure to use such tools and to proof-read your work closely will be penalised.  You will NOT, however, use DeepL, Google Translate and other online translation tools – those are agents of plagiarism in this context which will have serious consequences if you use them.

2. Once you have the advert in front of you:

• take just 10 seconds (then turn it over!) to look at it – yes, just 10 seconds: no more.  Record what is your immediate reaction to the first visual impression (remember, as the saying goes ‘first impressions are lasting impressions’). WHAT was it that had some kind of effect upon you  … and WHY? Think of the following scales (PLUS others of your own devising!).  Clearly if you have any, some or all impressions on or towards the right hand side of the bullet-point list below, then the advert will not have delivered all of the effects desired.  Having considered how the advert figures on the list below, you should award it an ‘Instant Impact‘ mark on 10 where 10/10 = perfection / excellence and 0/10 = useless / zero  (or worse a completely negative) impact / a total waste of time, effort and money.  In your report, you must explain and justify this mark.   Dimensions you could use to guide your thinking might include:

• excitement/interest — boredom/disinterest
• understanding — confusing
• shocking/surprising  — predictable
• wanting to look/read more — prefering to turn the page/move on
• pretty/attractive — unattractive / yuk!
• immediate — takes too long to make sense of
• funny / got the joke — tried to be funny but failed / didn’t get the joke
• Sophisticated /stylish  — crass
• etc…….

3. Now turn the advert back over again and look at it in more detail:

• is your initial impression confirmed (whether it was positive, negative or rather neutral) or did your impression change? If so, did it get ‘better‘ or ‘worse‘? Why was this?    NB. The problem is that had you had a neutral or poor first impression – you would probably have turned the page without troubling yourself to take a closer look and find out that you just might have been interested!
• Whatever your impression, try to identify at what stage (or stages) in the communications process things went ‘right‘ or ‘wrong‘.  What does it take, then, to make a success of an advert and how can we make sure we don’t ‘sign off on‘ something that could well result in disinterest, failure to generate sales and little or no return on the amount (costs) invested in the advert. This will take some pretty sharp analysis:
  • what might have been the initial idea/intended message – can  you discern what it was intended to be?
  • How well, in your view, was this intended message encoded in the advert: image, words, content, colour, humour, layout etc etc…
  • Was print the right / the best medium for the transmission of such a message?
  • When you decoded the advert for yourself, did you ‘get‘ (understand) the intended message .. or something else?  If so what ‘message‘ did you receive?
  • What was your considered response to the message you received and decoded?  So, how closely did your response match the response that the company would have wanted you to have? Award the advert an ‘Overall Impact‘ mark on 10 where 10/10 = that worked to perfection / I would have reponded in exactly the way the company would have hoped I would  and 0/10 = useless / I didn’t ‘get’ anything remotely like the message and would not have responded as the company would have wished / a total waste of time, effort and money.  In your report, you must explain and justify this mark.
• Thinking of your responses above, are there principles we can apply here / tests we can use at each stage of the process to make sure the chances of success are maximised? (Remember: you will perhaps be being asked to render ideas as images, words and adverts in all kinds of forms …. or you may well be presented with material that you are told to communicate to the desired audience….. you will perhaps have the opportunity to make things go more ‘right‘ and less ‘wrong‘.  How will you try to influence those directing you – especially when you can see the flaws and the opportunity to correct them?)

Output Required.

1. An individual report (NOT an ESSAY – you absolutely MUST understand the difference), analysing and evaluating the advert you have been given taking into account the above highly-specific instructions.  Hard copy – 2 pages of A4 minimum (not including images) @ 12pt. and 3 pages maximum.  To be submitted to me by email (to tjolley@gmail.com no later than 2nd February 2022.  Please put: « M2 CEN Advertisment Assignment » in the subject line of the email.  ASSESSED

2. Be prepared to share and disuss your findings with me and your colleagues  in an informal manner / contibute to a pleanary session or brainstorm on 8th Feb 2022 in a Zoom session on the principles of getting adverts ‘right’ (producing a good return on investment because they reach the intended audience and produce the desired effect upon the viewer) and reducing the chances of things going spectacularly ‘wrong’ (producing zero return – or worse [TJ Locum, Brighton and airline route launch examples…. culture can come into it!])     Reading of your report is NOT acceptable – you should be able to talk to your colleagues naturally and in English.  .ASSESSED.

3. You might also find it interesting profesionally to choose your own video advert operating online which you believe really works well OR one that just doesn’t work and  analyse and evaluate it/them.  Can one apply the same sort of principles to a video that we have applied to the printed page or should other criteria apply?

TJ