Advertising Artefact

Comm 2411 Assessment Task 3 Group members Daniel – Jacob Santhou - S3226236 Ameer Mohsin - S3224956 Roger Goh - S3224134 Tham Waiping (Pinky) – S3232153

Artefact 1 – Tram Advertising

Artefact 2 – Love Your Tram

Artefact 3 – Student Advertising

Artefact 4 - Food and Wine Ambient Installation

Within the infrastructure of Melbourne, lies the largest tram network in the world. Trams are a widely used medium of transportation between commuters in Melbourne. The tram system and infrastructure of the tram network provides a prominent façade in the integration of portraying Melbourne as a living city. Trams are a distinctive assimilation into Melbourne’s culture and character: hence, the trams are bombarded with tourism and advertising features.

APN Outdoor Advertising works closely with Yarra Trams to provide a substantial surface area on trams to advertise to commuters within the tram, and outside. This allows ‘the advertisers dollars to work harder and smarter’ by showcasing their brands and products. This is done through the use of panels or by wrapping around their advertisement; covering the entire vehicle. The tram is a prominent public mode of transport, which stands out amongst traffic. In the densely populated district of Swanston Street, the ability for trams to travel through allows for an excellent platform for advertising, which captures and commands attention.

Advertising within trams serves as a welcome distraction to commuters in their journey. These commuters often look for visual stimulus to break the monotony of public transport travel. Tulving’s notion of episodic memory discusses how memory in terms of delayed and final recall is affected by the individuals’ contextual perception of images or words. This research can be applied to how commuters on trams or members of the public view advertisements and actually perceive and remember certain aspects of an advertisement, depending on their individual ability to recall information. This research gives advertisers insights behind the rationale of placing logo’s and brand names on the right hand side, usually at the bottom. This allow for people to view the brands’ name or tagline as the last thing from the advertisement. People read from left to right, and this is reiterated in the way people recall various key messages within advertisements. Within trams, advertisements tend to portray lengthy words as commuters see it as a possible positive distraction to pass time. Within the trams, people can take the time to evaluate, read through lengthy paragraphs and analyze them. However, Advertisers stay clear of using lengthy approaches on the outside, as the tram is in motion, and the likelihood of people viewing much written information is slim. Hence, most advertisements used on trams have a key message, a tagline, a visual presentation and the brand name itself.

Trams in Melbourne thus give a plethora of possibilities in the context of advertising. With commuters seeking an engaging experience on trams to accommodate the drudgeries of public transportation boredom syndrome, agencies need to update effective ways to reach and make a connection with a broader audience. Social governance of what is to be advertised in terms of accepted norms and practices in the context of etiquette on public transportation can be related to Singapore’s project in terms of altering laws and regulations for advertising within the public transportation sector (see Michelle M 2003, pp. 201-221). Unlike Singapore, Melbournians grow up with an understanding, inculcated by family, peers and taking note of moral ethics on appropriate etiquette on public transportation. Unlike Singapore, the government in Melbourne does not see a need to enforce national campaigns to promote courtesy on public transport services. If culture reflects on the advertisements enforced by a government, then Melbourne is an ideal place for the natural practice of public etiquette.

When we look into ambient media, we see that it is a medium that advertisers use to attract the attention of the public. It conveys its message through an interactive manner and holds a prominent presence for a brand or service. This ambient installation was to inform and create awareness for Melbourne’s annual Food and Wine Festival. Festivals like this have formed an integral assimilation into the culture of Melbourne. Erected by the city of Melbourne, they have the authority to utilize various public spaces within Melbourne for the primary intention of attracting and promoting various event highlights that Melbourne has to offer.

Ambient installations have penetrated our public sectors and have recently even gone as far as to allow for a more engaging feel through intuitive application of media and technology. Taking the case study of how a company placed a small digital touch screen at the back of the seats in a silver-service taxi, it can be seen of the importance of the need to engage people through advertising (Seen in Alarcon, 2005 p11-11).

This medium features news, weather updates, movie trailers and

celebrity gossips which allow for maximizing their advertising impact to a greater depth during a passenger’s ride in the taxi. Ambient installations serve as a more meaningful and memorable experience for its viewers because it is something that is personal and usually in a 3D format which allows for greater public interaction. In Melbourne, communication is key to social coherence. Advertising in Melbourne through the use of ambient installations allows for a welcome distraction for passers-

by to revert to as opposed to conventional mediums of advertisements like print advertisements. Ambient installations have become a distinct familiarity within Melbourne itself. Tourism Victoria have acknowledged and greatly accepted the use of this medium for key events in terms of promoting Melbourne itself through the public spaces.

The utility of ambient media has been closely associated with behaviour change communications campaigns (Tahir, Michael and Fiona (2006). Ambient installations being an unconventional advertising media is known for its commanding presence and level of interaction with passers-by to draw in the crowds. An advertisement on HIV/AIDS was disseminated through the use of ambient media, by placing a poster in the toilet, aimed at educating the public about the importance of understanding the spread of HIV/AIDS. This was done within the personal space of members of the public in toilets. Unlike this example which made use of ambient installations as being placed in the public’s personal space, the one seen in front of the State Library for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival does otherwise. In this context, the state library is a public space, and the installation was set up there due to the high flow of human traffic within that area. Tourists and many locals alike travel past or into the State Library as it is a heritage listed building which forms a part of Melbourne.

With the advent of technology, its fusion with ambient installation has heightened the effectiveness of the medium. The use of ambient intelligent ‘AmI’ (International Communication Association 2008 Annual Meeting, p1-36, 2008) incorporates technology that is highly regarded in the field of advertising with various AmI applications being built in hope of improving engagement and interactivity for a consumer. With technology installed in ambient installation, it makes the medium more interactive and will benefit the company in conveying their message to the people of Melbourne. Melbournians seek better engagement with a product, as it is their nature to interact with their surroundings within the city.

Advertising in the city has primarily been focusing on the youth market. One of the Optus outlet stores located on Swanston Street at Melbourne CBD promotes student specials through an advertisement displayed on it’s window. Optus is known as one of the major telecommunication companies in Australia and they ran this specific advertisement during the month of March when the academic calendar for universities and institutions start. The Optus outlet store that chose to run this

student special advertisement is situated in a prime location right on Swanston Street in the Melbourne CBD, known for its congregation of student bodies, internationally and locally. The advertising that is made to suit their needs shows that international and local students have become a very important, integral part of Melbourne culture.

Understanding student’s perceptions towards advertising is important as they represent an attractive and very substantial target market for the future (Andrew, Lysonski, Durvasula 1991). Optus understands the importance of communication with international students on a basic advertising level. The centralized location of this store running the student special advertisement is a prominent hub where students congregate. Each of the student’s perception could vary due to the different cultural influences of the students. With simplicity in mind, Optus has advertised one message, which still communicates to all the students coming from different backgrounds and culture, both internationally and locally.

Research has shown that Gen Y student support the general notion of print advertising as the more useful and informative media compared to the broadcasting media (Wolfburg, Pokrywczynski, 2001). This can be related to how effective Optus store’s front display conveys the message to their target audience, which comprises mainly of international and local students. The storefront display would be able to convey the message in a simple and straight to the point manner. The context of this advertising is exclusively for student only and will be able to provide certain value and relevancy of information to the target audience and hence be able to capture their selective attention. This storefront advertising will also be able to encourage the students to find out more about the student specials, as it is more personal and direct. In Melbourne, understanding the needs of students is essential as they play a prominent role in the sustenance and development of Melbourne city as a whole.

Bierach (2010) reported that there are differences in the demand of University enrolment between local and international students in the recent years. Local student enrolments have gone up while the International student enrolment has dropped.

This could be due to the recent global financial crisis and the rise of the Australian dollar. The media also plays a role in influencing the situation through its coverage of the racism attacks in Melbourne. The Victorian government has tried its best to soothe the situation through the use of PR and promotional tactics such as the one utilized by Optus. This advertising done by Optus helps to reach the student in a

personal note and does not have any discriminating factors between the local or international students.

The city carries with it its own characteristics and modes of communication: this specific Optus store understands the practicality and importance of its location and its consumers.

Trams in Melbourne have become signature of the city’s national heritage and a worldwide symbol. Melbourne has the largest network of trams and the Yarra tram forms a huge part of this network. The Yarra Trams’ ‘Love Your Trams’ initiative was designed to encourage the community to report graffiti, vandalism and antisocial behaviour. The campaign, which implores Melburnians to love their trams, can be found at almost every tram stop and plays a huge role in communicating to commuters and passers-by the message of the importance of trams to Melbourne.

As we end off this essay, we dwell back on the iconic trams in Melbourne.

Trams have become a branded good in the city. Particularly in advertising, we can see this in Melbourne’s tourism where the tram takes on an iconic image. In the attempt to preserve the image of the tram through the ‘Love Your Trams’ campaign, we see how advertising is an outright direct method to reach the city and her people by being placed where they can most visibly be communicated. The medium, which takes the form of an outdoor poster, plays an important role in not only developing but also deepening in people an affiliation to the city’s icon. The affectionate term of asking people to ‘Love’ their tram is deliberate in bringing out that affiliation. Although it ultimately seeks to deter the vandalism and crimes taking place on the tram. The campaign indirectly conveys the city’s focus in protecting the tram and its commuters and possibly its branding as a city. Since trams are such a significant part of Melbourne, the poster and campaign as a whole could possibly create a connection with its city further. Pfefferkorn (2005) in his thesis asserts, “in order for a city to be a good brand, it must possess defining and distinctive characteristics that can be readily identified”, trams play a vital part in fulfilling this role in the entire branding.

There is a shift nowadays from how cities’ focus are now shifting towards competing claims of the city as a place for everyday life, as an imaginative site of extraordinary fantasy, and as a focus of aspiration, nostalgia and political power.

Advertising in the forms of its tourism campaign like that of ‘Lose Yourself in Melbourne’ plays this critical role in branding the city by creating an environment

where people are drawn to want to explore Melbourne for themselves and bring and enjoy an experience that is out of this world.

As we re-look again at how the ‘Love Your Trams’ campaign seeks to deter vandals from creating their graffiti on the tram, Hubbard (2006) dwelled that urban graffiti, riots and crimes may all be a deliberate attempt to subvert and sub vent urban space. This sets forth an interesting point of view as to why people might do things they do in the city when they are being controlled or represented. This brings to mind that a city can be represented and branded in with its various products the way it wants the world to see it through advertising and it can play a central role in shaping people’s minds about its city and its products but unless its people becomes an integral part of that process, the image will not take roots and people will want to set up their own space the way they want to.

Hence, by looking at iconic forms of advertising utilizing mediums that represent Melbourne and it’s culture such as trams, Melbourne can be seen as a living city which embraces technology, new mediums and advertising, to promote itself and to encourage the locals to appreciate Melbourne itself better.

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