Research Portfolio
​
​
Learning Outcome 1 (U20): Know how existing campaigns embed advertisements across a range of media products
​
Learning Outcome 1 (U24): Understand the products that are produced within and across media industries
P1 (U20): Describe an existing media advertising campaign
Interpretation:
The drinks company ‘Carter Soft Drinks’ require an advertising campaign for their latest canned strawberry drink. They wish the advertising campaign to be targeted at people in their thirties as well as those between 13 and 18. The project is out to tender and the requirements list a billboard advert, magazine advert, and video advert as well as the use of social media, Facebook.
​
The tender bid must contain a research portfolio demonstrating understanding of the different products that are produced within and across media industries and how existing advertising campaigns embed adverts across a range of products.
What is Cross-media and what is a Cross-media campaign:
The term 'Cross-media' applies to the distribution of content such as images, videos, text, music to the media sectors which are, Film, TV, Radio, Social media, print, and publishing distributing the content to the audience.
​
Brands all over the UK use cross-media campaigns because they want to showcase their campaign in as many ways as possible and want to their target audience.
Coca Cola Zero ' You Don't Know Zero, 'Til You Have Tried It' campaign:
The Coca-Cola company was founded in 1892 Atlanta USA by a man named Asa Griggs and ever since then, it has grown and has become more popular over the centuries. Coca Cola Zero was introduced to the market in 2005 with the slogan “Everybody chill” and the product was branded in a white can which turned out to be unpopular.
New Zealand Coca Cola adopted a more masculine black can during the holiday season and according to the Coca Cola website “an innovative on-line teaser and guerrilla marketing campaign called the “Zero movement” generated a strong relaunch which spread through Australia to the USA.
In 2016 Chief Marketing Officer, Marcos de Quinto, changed the slogan to 'Taste the Feeling'. With the drinks company becoming more popular, they wanted to advertise their drinks in as many ways as possible to their target audience, with numerous cross-media advertising campaigns. The advertising campaign that got the audience actively engaged the most, was known as the 'You Don't Know Zero, 'Til You Have Tried It' campaign. The campaign was launched in May 2015, when Coca Cola partnered with Ogilvy & Mather, a New York based British advertising and marketing agency, one of the largest of its type in the world to create a whole cross-media drinkable advertising campaign.
Aims and Objectives:
The aim and objective of the campaign was to increase the consumption of Coca-Cola Zero and increase revenue. It was discovered that the targeted audience were not enthused by the product because of their appetite and taste for sugar which is linked to energy. Despite the absence of sugar its taste was like Diet Coke and Coca Cola. To counter this the company set out by creating and producing a cross-media advertising campaign, which would get the public involved.
​
Coca-Cola wanted to encourage the public to have a sample drink in a fun and engaging way. They designed and produced a 26-by 36-foot 'drinkable billboard (see image) with the words "taste it’.This encouraged people to sample the drink from an innovative advertising media and help overcome the no sugar prejudice.Coca-Cola was able to obtain feedback from the public to enable ideas on how to keep producing and advertising their drinks in a way that would keep the revenue and maintain or increase the reputation of the company.
The feedback received from the public was good and Ms Danielle Henry, head of Integrated marketing communications at Coca Cola North America, in which she said, "It all worked and actually came together". Ever since this advertising campaign, the Coca-Cola Zero drink has become more popular thanks to the aims and objectives of the advertising campaign being met. Coca-Cola Company received increased recognition in America and with greater recognition the more customers and revenue they achieve.
Choice of media:
When Coca Cola was created, placing an advert into a Journal or newspaper was the primary way for companies to reach the target audience for the product. However, today there are many methods of getting an advert out to the public such as Billboards, Film, TV, Radio, Social media, print, publishing and guests’ appearances to help increase the brands recognition. With the revenue of the Coca-Cola Zero not doing as well as they hoped in 2016, the company needed to accelerate the Coca-Cola zero advertising campaign in a bid to get the public involved and to successfully increase revenue.
​
​One of the aspects that the company used was having a 26-by 36-foot 'drinkable billboard' with the words 'taste it' prominently displayed. Coca-Cola Zero was placed in the words 'taste it' and there would be a dispenser at the bottom of the billboard where people can a sample the product. This was a successful attempt to advertise the drink and to get the public involved with the advertising campaign as well. It was not just billboards that the company used; flyers were also a way of advertising the drink in an interactive way as well. The public were able to open a small seal on the flyer in which you could pull a straw out from it and use that straw for the cup that you would be given to drink out of.
​
​Viewers who were watching the advert at home on the TV or through the radio were still able to interact with the advert with the help of the sound listening app Shazam, where the voiceover for the ad would say "your TV or radio is about to pour you a Coca-Cola Zero" Shazam would recognise the sound and would take the person to a page with a glass drink on it. A few seconds later the glass would start filling up with Coca-Cola Zero. Once filled the person would then get a voucher so that they could get a Coca Cola zero for free.
​
​Coca-Cola wanted customers to be interactive with the ad whilst they were on-the-go. This was achieved by using Social media such as Twitter and Face Book. The idea being that the American Public could go on and tweet or send a post on Face Book the words that are made when a person pours a drink of Coca-Cola. When the tweet or Face Book post is sent out, a scannable code will appear on the screen which the public can use to get a free Coca-Cola Zero.
Target Audience:
The overall target audience for Coca-Cola Zero was originally aimed at the male population and more specifically young men, with the drink being nicknamed as "Bloke Coke". They would be the ones to drink more of Coca-Cola Zero than women did. Men would link the 'Diet' drinks primarily at women. In 1995 Coca Cola New Zealand changed the original white can to an all-black can with red and white writing due to the New Zealand Rugby Team (All Blacks) being Sponsored by Coca-Cola and further enhancing the Male association which lasted until December 2015.
​
The video for the Coca-Cola Zero cross media advertising campaign was released in June 2015, 6 months prior to the New Zealand Rugby Team departing ways from Coca-Cola.
​
The video produced for the 2015 cross media advertising campaign departs from male orientated marketing and specifically focuses on a cross gender theme with many shots focusing on female inclusion making it clear the target audience in today's world for the advert and for the drink is aimed towards everyone, no matter your gender, race, age, religion, or disability.
The key Message:
The key message that the company have aimed towards since it began is to keep things simple as proven by their previous slogans such as 'Happiness' and 'Enjoy'. Even though Coca-Cola is known for its global success and world wide reputation, the company don't want to over do it because if a advert goes wrong then the reputation of the comapny could go down. However, Coca-cola wanted to give a message in which the public will nenevr forget and this was within the drinkable advert. The hidden message in the advert is to never judge anything unless you have tried it and this message got to the Americna publicity as the revenue of the Coca-Cola zero drink in 2017 increased heavily compared to previous years, thanks to the message that was portrayed and the engagement of the advert for the public.
Approach:
Coca-Cola typically advertise their media product using traditionall advertising such as magazines, billboards and flyers. However, they decided to use Guerilla marketing in which they advertsied the Coca-Cola Zero drink in a unique and creative way. This was done using interactive billboards, flyers and radio where the target audience were able to get involved with the cross-media campaing itself. The public were able to get a free drink from the billboard, as Coca-Cola Zero was flowing through the words "taste it" resulting in the liquid coming out at the bottom of the dispenser. Furthermore, Coca-Cola used radios to get the public engaged and interacting with the campaing. The US company were able to do this by getting someone to tell the listeners that the advert was an interactive advert where the listeners could use the shazam app to record the sound of the drink being poured into a glass which would result in the public getting a coupon where theywere able to buy a Coca-Cola drink for free.
​
Other interactive methods that were used during the cross-meida campaign was the flyer and the TV. Coca-Cola Zero didn't use any celebrity endorsements as they wanted to use the public to advertise their product. Reasoning for this is because the company wanted to get honest reviews about the product and to show the audience that the drink isn't as bad as people say it is. It would also cost more money for the company to use celebrity endorsement as they would havje to pay the celebrity to promote the drink for them.This could be another factor that Coca-Cola could've brought into account as they want to be able to spend the least amount of money as possible whilst having a good enough campaingn that would gain the audiences attention.
Representation:
The public are repsented in a postive and cheerful within the video, which can be seen from their facia and body expressions. Coca-Cola didn't want to falsey advertise the product and force the public to put a smile on for the camera. Furthering on from this, the advert came out in June 2015 meaning the media product was targeted to come out in the summer of 2015 in which the public that were involved with the advert would have been positive and full of life, to show case that the drink came out in the summer. This would attract the audiences attention because of how much energy the public have within the advert. It isn't. just the people in the video that are presented in a positive way, the places that the company filmed at face a good representiaont of the media product and the advert itself. In one of the scenes, there is a huge crowd in which they look like they are at an outside food and drink festival where the media product is being launched. This would be suitable place for a company to shoot their Tv advert as the correlation between the food and drink festival and the Coca-Cola zero drink would've been strong. With Coca-Cola wanted to promote their campaign in as many days possible by using interacting media products, they went to go and shoot the scenes in the apropiapte areass such as filming the TV scene in a living room and the radio scene being shot in the kitchen, to represent where the public would be when the advert is being played.
Campaign logistics:
The cross-media campaign was released around the time of the Tv advert, which was the 15th June 2015, making the actual product come out around August time.This is becasue Coca-Cola Zero is a summer drink and is predominantly used drunk in the summer when people are on holiday. Furthermore the viewing figures of the campaign would've been higher due to the fact that schools would have been finished for thesummer and more people would be at home when the advert comes on. Even if people were out and about during the day then the interactive methods for the cross-media campaign woul've been seen and used as well.
Call to action:
The target audience and the public that got involved with the cross-media campaign, would go to their local shop and supermarket and would procced to find the drink and buy it. This is because they would've had an addiction to the drink when trying it out during the campaign with out realising it. Furthermore, Coca-Cola Zero drinks don't quite quench the first therefore having to drink more until the person is satisfied that they are not thirsty anymore making it another reason for the public to continuously carry buying the drink.
Legal and ethical issues/regulatory bodies:
One of the issues that Coca-Cola Zero faced was trying to meet the regulations of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). This means that all companies have to follow a set of rules handed out by the ASA so that nobody was either offended or hurt when seeing the cross-media campaing. Coca-Cola Zero had to ensure that no rules were broken in which they were successfully able to do. From the video you are able to clearly see that there is a mixture of girls and boys, however, the company don't hint about any relationships whether that is a opposite sex relationships or same see relationships, which could affect that specific group. The whole point of the advert is about promoting the Coca-Cola zero drink and Coca-Cola iteslef, not about relationships.
Adidas 'Ready for Sport' Campaign:
Adidas is a German manufacturer of shoes, clothing, and accessories. It is the second-largest sportswear manufacturer in the world. The Adidas group also comprises well-known brands and institutions such as Reebok sportswear (2006) and an 8.3% stake in Bayern Munich football club.
The company was started by Adolf Dassler (Adi Dassler) and his brother Rudolf and was initially called “Gebruder Dassler Shuhfabrick”.
In 1949 the brother’s relationship broke and Rudolf departed to create “PUMA” while Adolf created “AdiDas”.​Adidas products can be identified by the distinctive logo of three stripes. Dassler made a statement describing the German company as "The three stripes company", the brand was purchased in 1952 from a sporting company in Finland, called Karhu Sports. Adidas purchased the branded logo for the equivalent of €1,600 and two bottles of whiskey.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
There have been 3 main marketing campaigns by Adidas 2004, 2011, and 2015 with a further campaign in 2020.
​
The 2004 campaign was called "Impossible is Nothing" and was developed by 180/TBWA in Amsterdam who create ideas for brands and include Apple, McDonald's, and Nissan as clients. Major improvements were made to it in San Francisco by TBWA division TBWA\Chiat\Day. Adidas decided to create a specific campaign aiming towards the 2006-07 NBA (National Basketball Association) season and the slogan used for this was "Believe in 5ive".
​
On 14th March 2011, a new global campaign, the biggest in the brands' history with the slogan "Adidas is all in". The slogan became one of the most memorable and became a marketing strategy from a global perspective. Adidas wanted to bring sports, fashion, music, street, and pop culture all together within their brands representing Adidas sports performance, Adidas originals, and Adidas sport style sub-brands, which they were successfully able to do. Famous sports ambassadors from football, NBA, and pop stars showcased products. There is a play on words in the slogan "all in". The two words can also be related to the word "exhausted" which links into Adidas because it is a sports company and uses of the product get "Exhausted” from sports and exercise.
​
"Creating the New" was launched in 2015. It was a 5-year strategic business plan having three strategic aims, Cities, Speed, and Open-source. Speed for how we deliver, Cities for where we deliver and Open source for how we create.
With the business plan having ended in 2020, Adidas's latest campaign "Ready for Sport" was created in response to the cancellation of all sporting activities due to COVID-19, hoping that the German company would help inspire athletes and the sporting public. An audio-visual was made which showcases how we must wait patiently as well as how the stopping of sporting actives might have affected our mental and physical wellbeing. The campaign also included a section called 'The series', where famous sports stars such as Patrick Mahomes, Mohamed Salah, Mikaela Shiffrin, Donovan Mitchell, and Garbiñe Muguruza talk about their sporting lives and how they are fully prepared for the return of sport again.
​
At first, the campaign was released/launched by Adidas, which was a first as they would normally partner with another advertising company who would release the campaign for Adidas. There was no support from athletes or any supporting groups, and no money was made through paid media. Yet when the campaign was released on all Adidas media channels at the same time such as Twitter, Instagram, and website, athletes and began to recognize what Adidas was doing. Once athletes began to engage with the campaign themselves by adding stickers onto their Instagram stories and by hash-tagging on Twitter, the campaign became a success and Adidas received the reputation they wanted, as well as the public benefitting.
Aims and Objectives:
Adidas's aims and objectives are to help give athletes the best performance that they need and be able to reach the top level with the use of the company's product that they bring onto the market. Additionally, they want to be able to get the sporting population more involved, which they have done by setting up more than 100 adiZones in the UK. The idea of the adiZones, is that it gives people a chance to have a healthier and better lifestyle, whether that be physically or mentally, through the use of sports. The company wants to make the best long-term decisions possible with the use of its values, which are "Performance, passion, integrity, and diversity" and these have been used by the company for several hundred years now.
​
With the 'Ready for Sport campaign', the aims and objectives it was to lift the spirits of the sporting public and make them aware that sports will not be forgotten about and it will return after COVID-19 has ended. Whether it is a flyer, video, billboard, or on Social media the company wants to show how that sports will be even better than it was originally and how we should all be ready when it returns. Furthermore, the campaign is getting the public to have a positive mindset and to inspire them whilst sports have been suspended till further notice.
​
Another objective that Adidas is aiming towards is the rise in their revenue, and with the help of the 'Ready for Sport' campaign, they are hoping that customers will be persuaded by the campaign to go onto the Adidas website and purchase some of their clothing, ahead of sports being able to start again. With the use of persuasive language from one of the media sectors, the company is hoping that the public will be attracted to Adidas and that they forget about other sporting designer companies such as Nike or Umbro. Back in 2015, Adidas released a strategy statement saying "Adidas Group aims to increase their sales by 60% while growing their net income by 15% over the next 5 years, by combining technology and design to provide the best footwear to their customers, which are both professional and those "inspired by sports".
​
The 2015 campaign "Creating the New" help backed up that statement, as the campaign ran for the same length of time as the target that the company had set itself. The net sales that Adidas managed to get in 2015 was €16,915 (sales in million euros), with 2019 net sales at €23,640 (sales in million euros), Adidas was just shy of their 15% target for net sales income, However, there was some positive as there had been a large increase within the 4-year gap. With the "Creating the New" campaign ending, Adidas wanted to go that extra mile and up their revenue even more with the "Ready for Sport" campaign, in which they have kept on increasing their net sales income since.
Choice of Media:
Adidas promoted the 2020 'Ready for Sport' campaign with flyers/posters, billboards, Social media, and an advert that was on the TV and YouTube. With the company being a global brand, they needed to reach out to as many people as possible, so that the countries' populations could see they were raising awareness on how sporting activities will return and that the public should keep a positive mindset whilst being in lockdown.
​
A large billboard was placed on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, with the words of the campaign 'Ready for Sport'. The same was written on the right-hand side of the billboard but in their own language. Adidas wanted to respect equality in Dubai so decided to only have women on the billboard, more specifically "young female Emirati athletes". One of the company's collections was also being advertised with the phrase "Shop the new HEAT.RDY collection in-store and on adidas.com". The HEAT.RDY collection is a specialized fabric that is designed for hot weather.
​
Adidas also used social media to promote the campaign. On the 6th of August 2020, they released a video of the advert both on Twitter and Instagram, where the public was able to like, retweet, and even share the advert to friends, family, and millions of other people online so that everyone will be able to see what Adidas had achieved with the promotion of the campaign and the future aims and objectives.
​
The company went on to use flyers/posters which included an athlete which have got involved with the campaign. The posters were sent to the athletes themselves as a small gift from Adidas. Additionally, posters were put around cities, so when people walked by they would be able to see that Adidas had created a campaign about how sport will continue after COVID-19 has been controlled. The posters also gave the hint that the British population should start to think about buying clothes on the Adidas website ahead of the return of sports. Flyers were either put into magazines or dropped off through the letterbox of people's homes, which gave the same message as the poster did.
​
On the 8th of April 2020, the German sports designer company released an advert for the campaign on YouTube. Adidas used a voiceover, where she explained the current situation that all athletes and sporting individuals were in when everyone was in Lockdown. Gradually, the voiceover uses persuasive language to convince the viewers who are watching the advert, that they just have to wait patiently and to keep a positive mindset until the return of sports. The images and the short clips that were portrayed in the video were of sporting moments and of sporting individuals training.
Target audience:
Adidas hasn't got a specific target audience for their campaign, however, looking at the video and the print adverts it seems that the target audience is anyone from the age of 16-33 years olds. The reason for this is because they are the most active age demographic range there is. Additionally, the company has stated clearly that both genders can buy and use Adidas clothing as they want to be respectful of both genders. Disabled people are able to use their clothing as well, as Adidas makes their clothing ad gear suitable for them as well.
Key Message:
The Key message behind Adidas 'READY FOR SPORT' campaign was 'Joy, optimism and resilience. Several companies were quick out of the blocks when it came to making an advert to help keep the global population positive during the COVID-19 pandemic and Adidas was not going to let the opportunity slip away from them. The company decided to use this time to promote their clothing and gear ahead of the return to sports in the summer, in the hope their revenue and sales would increase to give them an even bigger budget. Multiple aspects of the campaign were able to showcase Adidas message to the audience, such as the voiceover of the TV advert gave hope to the sporting people of the world as well as celebrities getting involved so that the audience would look up to someone during the difficult times that the world endured.
Approach:
Unlike Coca-Cola, Adidas decided to use traditional advertising methods when promoting their clothing and gear. These methods included posters, TV advert, magazines and billboards. Additionally, the use of viral marketing was used as the target audience shared the cross-media campaign to family and friends as well as on their social media accounts too. Celebrity endorsement was used on the posters and billboard adverts in the hope that the company would grab the attention of the intended target audience and the rest of the global population. This, however, could be seen as a bad thing as Adidas would've had to pay the celebrities to showcase the clothing and gear of the company, resulting in Adidas having to pay more for the campaign to be released.
Representation:
Adidas is a global brand and is recognized by people all over the world, meaning that they have to be professional in what they do. This involves the way they represent people and locations when producing a cross-meida campaign especially when it was during a global pandemic and families were losing their loved ones. The company made sure that any person involved in the campaign would have been treated equally and fairly no matter their ethnicity, gender, religion or disability. The reason for this is because Adidas want their intended target audiecne and the rest of the global population to see how well the company treat celebrities and other members of the public within their cross-media campaign. This would heavily affect how Adidas would treat their customers as they would expect the staff to be professional and respectful towards people entering their stores.
Campaign logistics:
As stated in the paragraphs above Adidas decided to launch their 'READY FOR SPORT' campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic whilst the trailer was released on the 28th April 2020. The reasoning for this is because Adidas wanted to give the general public something to look forward to when the resticiotns had been eased. Additionally, the company wanted to get people motivated and for them to stay happy during those unpresidented times, meaning that people were still able to do exercise but with limited access.
Call to action:
With Adidas producing a cross-media campaign, the target audience was able to give their honest opinion, in which there were multiple ways of doing this. The first being that they could comment on the advert which was posted on youtube, where Adidas themselves were able to see the reaction from their target audience and the rest of the public. Furthermore, people were also able to either like or dislike the video, if they didn't want to express their thoughts and feelings through words. The same could be said when the company used social media to advertise its 'READY FOR SPORT' cross-media campaign, people were able to like or dislike the posts that were being sent out by Adidas themselves as well as raising as much awareness as possible of the camping by sharing stuff on Instagram stories or by retweeting the original tweet.
Legal and ethical issues/regulatory bodies:
The German company has focused heavily on the legal and etichal issues. This means that they have considered every little detail possible from the person to how people advertise the clothing. In the poster, the audience are able to see a back man as one of the main images, which would give increase the companies reputation even further. Additionally, there is a mix of ethnicity on the billboard advert as there is Arabic women on it. This is because Adidas like to respect the rules and regulations that ASA set out so that they don't get fined for offending or hurting anyone in the making of the cross-meida campaign.
M1 (U20): Evaluate different cross-media advertising campaigns for consistency of message
Coca-Cola Zero:
The Coca-Cola Zero 'You Don't Know 'Til You Have Tried It' campaign was delivered to the highest standard possible by Coca-Cola across several media sectors which included Social media platforms (I.e Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Shazam), TV, and print. With the Joint Venture and Synergy of Shazam, Coca-Cola Zero managed to redeem 24,000 coupons so that the public could try Coca-Cola Zero and a '15 Percent conversion rate'. However, the typical rate that they target is 3 percent but with the drinkable campaign ad, they were able to surpass that by 12 percent.
The message that was conveyed throughout the campaign was to"taste it" or "This is a drinkable ad" with the public never really knowing what Coca-Cola Zero tasted like, as it was considered to be a drink that no one really bought or liked. This is clearly shown within the advert as the public is seen to be trying the drink, which they have acquired from various different methods that Coca-Cola used. These various different methods that were used were a Billboard, flyers, posters, apps, and the radio.
This message was used across all media sectors in the hope to encourage American publicity to try the drink and to realize how good Coca-Cola zero is. An example of the message being used constantly throughout the cross-media campaign was with the use of flyers, where it stated "This is a drinkable flyer", giving a hint to the public that the flyer contains a foldable cup that they can use to fill it up with Coca-Cola Zero.
Coca-Cola's Zero message was seen to be positive as it got the public involved with the campaign. As well as it is a positive message, it was also considered to be a unique message across all media sectors as companies had never thought of trying to do a cross-media campaign in the way that Coca-Cola did. With the company deciding to use an interactive campaign and a message that got straight to the point and would catch the eye of the people, Coca-Cola thought it would encourage the public to try the drink, before going on to buy, because of the fact the public was able to interact with the company and with the help of the messages that were being displayed in all of the media sectors, which was "taste it" or "This is a drinkable ad".
​
It wasn't just billboards and flyers that Coca-Cola Zero used to convey the message of the campaign. The public would also hear it through the radio or able to see it come up on the TV advert, where they would be able to use the mobile app Shazam, to be able to get a coupon, in which that coupon was used to get a small free bottle of Coc-Cola Zero to have a taste of it. The messages were heavily used on social media as well, with people putting the messages as hashtags so that the campaign would go viral and other people could see it as well. Coca-Cola wanted to get the campaign messages across to the American publicity as much as possible, in which by using all of the media sectors they were able to do this.
However, there are a couple of consequences to these messages, one of which is that some people might like the idea of "taste it" and "This is a drinkable ad" because of the fact that some people may not be allowed to have fizzy drinks such as Coca-Cola Zero because they may have a medical problem preventing them from tasting the Coca-Cola Zero. Medical problems can range from kidney disease, heart disease or obesity. The diseases or medical problems that these people might have is an issue for Coca-Cola themselves, as they want to be able to let as many people try Coca-Cola Zero, but if some people aren't able to try the drink for whatever reason then it doesn't look that good on the company itself.
​
Another consequence to the campaign messages that Coca-Cola are portraying is that with a campaing that is heavily interactive at this, the public will only be able to engage with it for a limited time only before they start to loose attention and the focus to engage with the campaign itself. It isn't just the public loosing the interest of the campaing, Coca-Cola Zero can produce a certain amount of coupons, flyers, billboards whilst keeping within the required budget to make such a creative and unique cross-media campaign. Once all the flyers, coupons and the drinkable billboards have all been used, then the message that is being used for the campaign essentially becomes irrelevant and has no meaning to the campaign anymore, which would have put the public off from trying a Coca-Cola zero before buying it.
Adidas:
Adidas's 2020 campaign slogan was 'READY FOR SPORT', which was a consistent message across all media sectors as the company wanted to motivate the British public ahead of the return of sports after there was a national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The German-based company also thought that this was the right time to promote their clothing and other accessories that they have to offer. With 'Ready for Sport' being the main slogan as well, The media sectors that were used to get the message across to the British Public were, Social Media, TV and print. Social Media and TV sectors gained the most out of the cross-media campaign as they were able to gain 169M views. The campaign was the most-watched campaign that Adidas had ever made with 4M sites being visited by the audience and the public, with more than 1300 pieces of earned coverage, whereby journalists were able to report about the campaign itself.
​
Adidas didn't want the message to reach out on just a national level, but on a global level as well. They did this by putting huge billboards in famous cities around the world. An example of this can be seen on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, where it has the message 'Ready for Sport' written on the billboard, additionally, they put it in Arabic so that the majority of people in Dubai could read it in their own language as well. The body language of the four women on the billboard gives a good indication that they are ready to return to their favorite sport which is what Adidas successfully promoted during the cross-media campaign with the help of the message, 'READY FOR SPORT'.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The TV advert for the campaign gave a consistent message throughout as well. Clips of sports stars and athletes were being shown, where they were celebrating after a goal in the advert. Adidas wanted to show the audience that viewed the advert, that they should start to prepare for sport as much as they could and that they should be 'ready for sport' hence why the German-based company used it as their message for the cross-media campaign in general. However, it wasn't just sporting stars and athletes that were getting the message across to the audience and the public, the voiceover of the advert was giving a short motivational speech on how that sports will return and that fans will be able to sit in the stands as well as athletes being able to play the sport they love the most and to entertain the crowd, once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
​
The Tv advert can be found by clicking on the link below.
​
'Adidas | Ready for Sport' campaign advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwk5PdpTxSU
​
Members of the public, athletes and even employees who worked for Adidas were asked to spread the message, making it consistent throughout all of the media sectors that were used by the company. Adidas decided to create a moving image, also known as a GIPHY, whereby the words "Ready for ____" were on the GIPHY. The word 'Sport' was taken out so that the public could then put in their own favorite sport. This led to the message being spread further as the public would share the GIPHY image on their social media in the hope to get other people prepared for the return to sports. Additionally, with the use of people posting and sharing the 'Ready for Sport' campaign it became a trending topic on social media, which would have spread the consistency of the message further.
​
The only weakness to this message that Adidas has used throughout the cross-meida campaign, is that if one of the audiences or one of the members of the public were clinically vulnerable then they wouldn't be able to resume any sporting activities due to the fact that they would still be shielding from COVID-19. This would potentially affect the companies reputation in some ways as Adidas is known as a worldwide company therefore if people know that Adidas hasn't considered clinically vulnerable, then the public might be put off by Adidas. It also affects the clinically vulnerable mentally because they have to see this message as the campaign is being shown on all the meida sectors, where they know that they can't do any sports or physical activity until they are allowed out of the house again.
P1 (U24): Describe the media products for an identified industry sector
Print:
Ever since the 15th-century, print adverts have been around for companies to use making it one of the most common ways to advertise a media product. However, only in the past hundred years has print adverts made a technological advancement. The reasoning for this is because back when print first started out, companies didn't have the technologies to colorize which would have led the target audience not to be fully focused on the advert and potentially missing out on any important information. A 1916 poster called 'Sunkist Lemons' was the first-ever colorized poster that the world had ever seen, with the Lemon and a part of the background being yellow, which would help the target audience see better when they were reading the poster. The idea of having color in a poster was the first step in the advancement of technology for the print industry.
​
Newspapers would have had the most print adverts, as companies wanted to spread the advert of their media product that they were creating in the best way possible. Additionally, newspapers were one of two ways of gaining information back in the early years of print, so companies would've used this opportunity to the best of the ability which led to the increase of the brands' reputation. With the development of technology over the decades, companies are now able to advertise their media product in several different ways within the print industry. Examples of this can range from magazines to journals, which can be complex to write and edit but with the help of new technology, this can be done in a simpler and more efficient way.
Animation:
Companies like to be creative and try and be better than their competitors, and with the use of animation, this can be done. There are very few companies that use animation to advertise a product, as the facilities to do this can be expensive as well as being very time-consuming. An animated advert lasts between 15-30 seconds long, which advertises the product that the company is promoting to the target audience and to the rest of the public. A problem, which normally involves the product itself, is addressed within the animated advert which would grab the audience's attention as they would want to know if the problem can be solved.
Animated adverts were very dissimilar to what they are today, as the technology was very basic and would've been of low quality. Yet, today's animated adverts are much more high-quality and the character's movement is much more fluent so audiences wouldn't be able to see when the company had to pause the animation to move the character. Like print, there were no color adverts in the early days but as time went on, companies were able to add color to their animated advert to make it more appealing for them to look at. The first-ever advert is a debatable conversation to have but it is thought that it was created in 1899, where the advert was called 'Matches an Appeal' by a man named Arthur Melbourne-copper. 'Matches an Appeal' used stop motion which consisted of a chalkboard with a matchstick man drawing out the companies name in the hope to get the audience aid the troops that were fighting in the Boer war with matches.
Audiovisual:
Alongside print, audiovisual is another common way that companies use to advertise their media product. Additionally, it is the most standardized way for something to be advertised because 95% of the British population has a Tv in their house. Companies like to put their adverts within the first 20 minutes of each section of a Tv program as audiences' brains will be the most active, therefore the audience will be still be focused when the advert comes on. Companies have to pay for their advert to be shown on TV with prices ranging from £800-£1660 for each slot that the company is going to use. Additionally, they like to get as many viewing figures for the advert as possible, so some companies put their advert during a peak time slot which results in a bigger cost because of the time of day the advert is being played at. The total cost that companies have to pay for their advert to be played between TV shows during the peak time is between £2500-£4500 for each individual slot.
​
Companies like to produce audiovisuals and put them on the TV for their audiences as it is seen to be more effective and entertaining than a print advert. The reasoning for this, is just like an animation advert, some audiovisuals have a storyline that attracts the audience into watching the advert resulting in them seeing what the companies media product is. As well as audiovisuals being entertaining for the viewers, they can also be effective for in numerous ways. One of these ways is having a second screen or a companion device on while the audiovisual is being played for the audience. It has been proven that whilst second-screening, audiences are more likely to become more interactive with the audiovisual which would result in them being more focus and hopefully wanting to know more about the media product that is being advertised.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The first ever audiovisual A modern day audiovisual
​
The first ever audiovisual, was realsed on 1st July 1941 by a watch comapny called Bulova. The advert only lasted 10 seconds longs and appeared onto the TV before the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies baseball game. Bulovas' audiovisual was very basic and wasn't that complex, with there only being a voive over and a picture of the United States of America as well as the company logo. Furtheremore, it was in black and white because back then companies didn't have the resources to make an advert in colour. However, audiovisuals nowadays are of longer length spanning between 30- 45 seconds long with there being more action and movement. Colour can be seen on every audiovisual, which makes the it more appealing to look at and will grab the audiences attention when the advert comes on. Sound quality of any voiceovers is much more clear and and can be heard better compared to when they first started out, as you would be able to tell that the recording of the sound was done in a booth and audiences would be able to hear the muffling of the microphone.
Radio:
Major comapnies use radio advertising to promote and sell their media product toe viewers who are listening at the time of the vdert being played. In the first 3 months of 2019, 89.4% of the UK population had a radio and adverts were able to reach to those who were able to listen to the advert. However in 2020 the percentage of people in the UK who obtained a radio, decreased to 88.1%. This though, doesn't demoralise companies into releasing there advert through the radio as they want to be able to reach their target audience and the rest of the public in as many ways as possible.
​
Just like audiovisual and animated advertisement there is a certain amount of time that companies can promote their advert with a time slot of about 30 seconds each. This is because radio stations want to let each company have a the same amount of time to promote their media product, along side this, radio stations have a strict schedule so no advert ca go over the 30 second time limit otherwise the production schedule would be pointless to follow. Companies such as Youtube, BMW, Fants and Coca-Cola will want to promote their product on the radio as these have a mainstream audience and are not targeted for a specific age demographic range. Radios aren't the only ones that promote company products but companies themselves like to sell and persuade the adueicne about their own product as well. An example of this would be Spotify, where customers can get the free version of the app but this would result in the having to listen to adverts between several songs. These adverts consist of Spotify promoting the premium version of the app in the hope the audience will pay for it, which would result in the company gaining revenue.
​
The first ever radio advert came in the year of 1922, where WNBC-AM 66 New York gave Queensboro Cooperation a 50 minute time slot so that they could advertise the selling of a set of apartments based in Jackson Heights. Queensboro Cooperation had to pay the radio station $50 dollars for them to be able to promote their advert. With it being aired in 1922, the sound quality would have been poor, resulting in the audience not being able to listen that well and missing out on any vital information. This isn't the case with today's radio advert, as the the quality of the sound is better and the audience are able to understand what the voice over is saying about the product because they are speaking clearer and with mote fluidity.
The length of radio adverts have been shortened down from 50 minutes to no more than 30 seconds long. This is because after companies hearing the Queensboro Cooperation radio advert, more and more companies wanted to advertise their product through the radio, meaning that radio stations had to fit as many adverts into their show whilst entertaining the audience themselves. This is why modern day radio adverts are a maximum of 30 seconds long.
Radio broadcasting in the 1920s
Audiences listening to the radio in the 20th century