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Success
is Extremely Likely but Not Guaranteed |
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No matter how attractive these ads may make this cigarette brand and
smoking appear, their benefit to the firm is made uncertain for at least two reasons. The
first lies in the use of pictures of health using emergent contemporary recreations in
pure and pristine environments that echoes those long used by Player’s even given
their current focus on auto racing. Thus, Export A is adopting a "me-too"
positioning, by imitating and extending that which has been so successful for
Player’s, with the risk that they fall into the perceptual shadow of Player’s
brand image, with some viewers confusing this effort with ads for Player’s. This risk
is increased by Export’s heavy use in its graphics of a shade of blue not very
distinct from Player’s blue. Given enough time and repetition, the associations in
consumers’ minds will increasingly link to Export A, unless Player’s makes a
competitive counter-move to reassert its highly similar brand image. Because theirs is the
established image, it is easier for Player’s to remind and retain brand imagery and
associations than it is for Export to challenge and displace brand positions
"owned" by a competitor. The second reason
success may be less than hoped is that the ads do not strongly establish a link to the
current packaging colours or design, except for the typography of the brand name. The
greatest graphic uniqueness is in the dramatic red X, symbolic for eXtreme sports, for rendered like graffiti painted in a hurry with a brush.
But neither this extreme X nor the dominant blue are now seen on all
Export packaging. The in-store consumer experience when confronting brands on display
wouldn’t clearly stimulate recall of the advertising brand imagery by itself, needing
the support it gets from in store posters and displays.
If this campaign tests well except for this, we can expect to see
package redesign to incorporate the extreme X to
increase the payoff from the ad campaign.
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Sponsorship
Advertising Promotes Cigarette Brands |
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Positive lifestyle images rehearse and shape perceptions of cigarette brands and
smoking, influencing consumer judgments about the popularity of smoking, the healthfulness
of smoking, the social approval smokers experience, and the independence and self-reliance
characteristics of nicotine addicts. It is assumed by the industry to influence
perceptions and attitudes not only of smokers and pre-smokers, but also of their family
and friends, the parents, and peers of the youth target market that is the future of the
industry. The Export A Extreme
campaign uses vivid imagery to command attention. It is placed far before, far after and
far afield from the nominal events themselves. It is placed on billboards, store window
posters and displays, transit advertising, magazines and sundry other advertising media to
reach a large fraction of the population and to provide persistent reminders at the local
level. Repetition, often called the soul of persuasion, has the desirable effect of
creating what tobacco ad executives call "friendly familiarity." Consumers come
to trust and treat as benign brands and products they encounter frequently, so that
repetition of exposure works to bias consumers’ judgments about the safety of
smoking.
For cigarette brands targeting the young, the advertising images
portray smokers as independent and enviably adult, athletic and at home in nature. The
Export A campaign does this and more, by associating the brand and cigarette smoking with
glamorous contemporary life styles and with highly rewarded risk taking.
The
Export A campaign seems to owe much of its inspiration to its predecessor, the
Player’s campaign – known to have targeted the young and to have been highly
successful at so doing. The Export A striking images attract attention and associate
positive lifestyle images with the brand names, logos and other trade mark or graphic
signifiers. These associations, particularly with repetition, serve influence the
opinions, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs of viewers, whether young or old, smokers or
not. It is these factors that bias consumers’ judgments and increase the likelihood
of smoking. All of this is totally consistent with the meanings of the words advertising
(to turn toward) and promotion (to move forward).
These sponsorship ads establish these brand images no less
effectively than traditional merchandise advertising. They are, however, different from
traditional cigarette ads in two respects: the absence of the well known fact that the brand in question refers
uniquely to cigarettes, and the absence of any health warning. |
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