Advertising is a way of promoting a product; it only shows
the good points of the product that is being sold to the public. Adverts
are powerful tools for large companies, charities and organizations. There are
various forms of advertising. Some of which are magazine adverts, television, Internet
and posters. They have the power to influence us because you are able to
associate the audience to the advert. Within our reports we are aiming
to show how adverts make you want to buy their product and how it attracts/aims
towards a certain audience. We are going to include an analysed print advert
and also a TV adverts. We are going to write about what is shown on the advert
that helps the product to sell and the history behind the brand that is being
promoted. The sources I am going to collect information from is the Internet.
Using websites and YouTube to find the information I need. The product I am
researching is a Nike Air Max Courtballistec 3.3 trainer.
The print advert I chose
to do is for the Nike brand, promoting their trainers: Nike Air Max
Courtballistec 3.3. On the front of the advert the first thing we see is the
tennis player Rafael Nadal. He is shown on the advert because Nike is his
official sponsor but also because people see the shoes as something that could
give them the power to make them professional.
His facial expression is very serious; this shows us that he doesn’t see
tennis as a joke but as a profession. The tennis player also has a powerful
strong look; the audience want to gain his strength. Body language shown by the
tennis player shows that he has just finished playing the sport because he is
all sweaty. However he still looks energetic. The brand makes you want to carry
on. It gives you the motivation to keep going.
The angle shows him and the audience have equal power
because he is eye level. The image of the tennis player is the largest image on
the advert; this is used to draw the audience in. Showing a Mid-shot of the
person shows what type of clothes he is wearing. Lets us know he is an
athlete. The colour on the print advert
is important because it relates to what the product is. Using the colour yellow
suggests a sporty product, makes it standout against the black. The print
advert uses a lot of white. It is a calm colour and is bright so the slogan is
contrasted against it. Helps the slogan stand out. It is a very bright image. The
Wall background behind the tennis player is white so we can see his shadow just
behind him. It makes it look like he is having his picture taken. Being put in
the spotlight. The slogan is large on the advert.to help it stand out. It also
uses the word ‘Power’ twice to make the reader want it. The product is shown to
give the audience an idea of what the shoes look like so they know what they
are looking for if they go to buy them in a shop. The costume that the tennis
player is wearing, matches the pair of shoes, suggesting to us that he wears
them.
I chose to analyse two
TV commercials for Nike. The first commercial is from 1987 called ‘Nike Air
‘Revolution’’. The reason I chose this
advert is because it shows how Nike shoes have developed over the years. In
this commercial, they have selected footage that shows people doing lots of
different sports and activities whilst wearing the Nike Air trainers. This
gives a message across to the audience that anything can be done. However the
song ‘Revolution’ by The Beatles created a bit of mayhem when the advert was
released. Although The Beatles were very popular at the time, people complained
that the song should not have been used to advertise the product. On the other
hand people did argue that the song did have some preference to the commercial
as the Nike brand became a ‘revolution’ over a short period of time. The second television
commercial I chose was released more recently. In the commercial there are many
different athletes that star in it. The commercial has a comic affect to it
that draws the audience in. The commercial is saying that the athletes air is
pumped into the sole of the shoe. This helps sell/advertise the product by
suggesting to the audience that you are in the atheletes shoes. You are them.
This will make the audience feel more powerful and stronger about themselves.
The use of athletes being in the commercial, shows to the audience that many
sports stars wear them. Letting them know that the shoe is of professional
standard. Also celebrities are used to help draw the audiences attention to the
commercial because the audience my be a fan or might enjoy what the celebrity
does. The athletes are relevant to the commercial because it is a sport brand.
Nike
was first created in 1950 by Bill Bowerman who invented new shoes for his
students to wear whilst he was coaching at the University of Oregon. Phil
Knight, a track runnner at the University, tried to contact a variety of shoe
manufctuers in Japan, but however there was no reply. Knight became a
distubutor of tiger running shoes in the United States. In 1960, Knight and
Bowerman became partners and formed a new company called Blue Ribbon Sports.
Every pair of shoes they made, runners at the University of Oregon test ran
them to see if they were good enough to sell. The first person to work for Blue
Ribbon Sports was Jeff Johnson, he created print adverts, product broshures and
shot photographs of the shoes himself. In 1972 the first line of NIKE footwear
was established and in 1985 World known basketball player, Micheal Jordan,
helped promote and boost NIKE footwear. The slogan ‘Just do it’ was stated in
1988. Their ‘Bo knows’ ad campaign was used to help make their Cross- training
become popular. In the years after 1990, NIKE started to sponsor football
teams, this helped them get noticed more and made them what they are today. Not
only do NIKE make trainers, they also make clothes for women, men and children.
A
target audience is something a company uses to help them pick out an audience
who they think will be interested in the product and who is most likely going
to buy it. A target audience can be variefied by age, gender, socio-economic
status, geographic area, race and religion. A company having a target audience
is important because it makes it easier to single out who thy are aiming their
product at. NIKE has a target audience that is aimed purely towards enegetic
sportsman. Their clothing is made to help sports players train easier and have
comfort whilst playing. Although it’s mostly men who are athletes, there are
also women who play sports. NIKE is aimed at mixed gender audiences. This is
good because then they have a vast audience so more people will purchase their
products. NIKE’s products are more Working to Middle class items. Although a
variety of people wear their products, they can be quite expensive.
NIKE’s
advertising campain helps with picking out their target audience. Although
their first adverts were mainly men based (Micheal Jordan wearing NIKE air
trainers) over the years their adverts have developed to more mixed gender
because more women have been getting involved with sports. Towards the olympics
they try to advertise more by sponsoring athletes. Also in recent adverts they
use a lot more celebrity endorsments. This helps sell their product because
people can see that they make you more powerful, giving you the strength to be
like an athlete.
The
brand itself is one of the most successful company’s in the world. They have
created more and more products over 63 years and have been promoted by famous
athletes to make them even more popular. NIKE is worth $31 billion. I think
NIKE is successful because they are well known by everyone and also have a very
wide range of products that are made for all ages.
