Commercial analysis Robin Nieuwkerk & Floortje Meijer
DUTCH COMMERCIAL
Centraal beheer Achmea Feest Take a look at the commercial
Starting this assignment, we decided to choose a commercial pointed out on a specific, concrete target group to make things easier. The commercial’s obviously being pointed out to people with a need for insurance. Centraal Beheer Achmea’s commercials are known for the humour they put in it, but are also easy to reflect on Dutch society. For us Dutch people, the Centraal Beheer Achmea’s commercials are often very recognisable; the situations going on in the commercials occur during our daily lives. The Netherlands can be characterised by the extreme low power distance going on. The commercial, located in a fire station, displays a party going on with firemen. It’s pretty obvious that the people partying with the firemen don’t show any humbleness towards them. In other countries, this can be completely different. For example, people working for the federal government in the United States are considered powerful; partying with firemen would be a weird thing to do. Also, if we look at Hofstede’s model of indivualism versus collectivism, for us it’s pretty clear (although a big group of people is being displayed) there’s an individual situatuation going on. First of all the commercial is pointed out the importance of you insuring yourself. Also, the firemen neglecting their responsibility to be selfish instead can be considered individualistic. We belief the commercial is longterm orientated, because the commercial is pointing out that if you take the insurance right now, you will be covered in the future. Lewis
would refer this as a ‘result-orientated activity’; the effort the client puts in will be rewarded with security. According to Rossister and Percy, their model can divide every brand product. The assurances of Achmea have a high involvement in life. When you get an accident you better have a good insurance, which will pay your costs. Although, the insurance has a high involvement, the purchase motive is negative. You would never pay insurance for fun, but have to if there comes a time you need it.
DUTCH COMMERCIAL
Durex Speeds her up, slows him down Take a look at the commercial
Another Dutch commercial we’ve analyzed is from Durex,one of the most common condom companies. A company using their advertisements to reflect on our open-minded society. This commercial, using only one-shot visuals, tries to show us the benefits of buying and using Durex condoms. The way Durex shows us is young and funny. The commercial shows us two turntables that represent a girl and a boy. This is visible by the symbols they use; also the turning of the lp’s and the way the lp’s get in sync with each other is being showed very symbolically but at the same time recognisable and understandable. The smooth music on the background gets synced when the boy slows downs and the girl speed up. Reflecting on Hofstede’s model, we’d say this commercial is feminine; emotional gender roles overlap and focus on the quality of life (Durex reflects sex on quality time, enjoying each other). Applying Lewis’ model on the commercial, we think the commercial is being pointed out to a multi-active target group. Feelings before facts; the commercial isn’t stating anything with actual words, but tries to set the message more symbolically. As mentioned earlier, Rossister and Percy, made a model that can be used by dividing a product into purchase motive and involvement. Buying a durex product has a high involvement in life. When you don’t buy a condom you can become a father or mother or can get a disease.
The purchase motive can be both negative and positive. Negative, because of the fact that you have to buy it in case you don’t want to become father or mother or get a disease. But you can also see it from the positive perspective; you buy condoms in case you going to have sex and hopefully you are exiting and positive about that!
ASIAN COMMERCIAL
Line Closer Take a look at the commercial
Starting analyzing the commercial we tried to figure out whom the commercial is targeted to. Line is a free message service, downloadable on smart phones. Of course, the commercial is trying to persuade people with smart phones to download their services, but the way Line is trying to distinguish themselves from other online chat services is remarkable. First of all, reflecting on Lewis’ model, it’s obvious the makers of the commercial are trying to confront the viewer emotionally. Mutual bonds between the father en the daughter are informal, both of them are really expressing themselves; based on Hofstede’s model there’s a presence of indivualism. There’s a high indulgence going on, and the body language both parties show is unrestrained, enabling the viewer to emphasize with the actors in the commercial. Emotional gender roles are clearly separated in the commercial. The daughter is represented very fragile, introvert and vulnerable, the father is represented protective, like a leader and trustworthy. According to Hofstede’s model, there’s high masculinity going on in the commercial. Applying Rossister & Percy model a dilemma occurred. It was hard to decide whether or not the involvement in this commercial is high. Involvement with the product itself; a free chat service for smart phones isn’t very high. It’s just one of the many services that already
exists. On the other hand, the way the service is presented in the commercial, confronts the viewers emotionally trying to let the viewer empathises with the actors making the involvement high. We do know for sure the commercial gives the viewer a positive feeling, whether because of the service enabling you to chat with your loved ones or because of the way the viewer gets impacted because of the ‘happy’ ending of the commercial.
ASIAN COMMERCIAL
DTAC Tech can’t replace love Take a look at the commercial
Starting analyzing this commercial, we have figured out that the target group of this commercial is everybody who uses technology. The commercial tells that technology never can replace love. First of all, reflecting on Lewis’ model, it’s obvious the makers of the commercial are trying to confront the viewer emotionally. They want the viewer to feel sorry for the men. The women, who tries to calm the baby down, get frowned upon an other women in the supermarket; based on Hofstede’s model there’s a presence of indivualism. At first you would think emotional gender roles are clearly separated in the commercial. When the father of the baby calls the mother, he wants her to console their baby. When it turns out that the mother can’t console by technology, the commercial turns to a more femininity commercial. Both the father as the mother can console the baby. According to the underlying thought of this commercial, we could speak of a long-term orientation. DTAC knows that technology will be penetrating more in our societies and that they need to show that love can’t replaced. According to Rossister & Percy, this commercial has a high involvement in society. Nowadays our society is more and more based on technology. It’s important to let people know that technology is just technology and can’t replace a real hug or kiss in life. The commercial
gives the viewer a positive feeling, because of the fact that the men shows his women and child that he actually can console and don’t need help from others.
EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL
SAMSUNG We are greater than I Take a look at the commercial
Samsung, a multi-national manufacturer of devices, is trying to show an experience to their target group. They have a visually strong European commercial about cycling, which is focused on the target group: smart phone users. The desired goal for Samsung is to sell their target groups smartphones. This commercial showed us the hard way towards the top, by showing down and up sides. This commercial is about effacing yourself to get someone else higher up, in the way that actual professional cyclers do. This is the definition of collectivism. The cyclers in the commercial are result oriented, which can be placed in Lewis’ model. On a more abstract level, ‘long-term orientation’, in Hofstede’s model, is also applicable on this commercial. The pursuit of a future reward is very clear, the cycler achieves his goal through perseverance. Also the way the commercial is presented, it anticipates on emotion. This applies to the ‘Multi-Active’ part in Lewis’ model. This is being done by making a combination with body language (the sweating and working from the cyclist) with a voiceover. The want to reach the top as a team. Performing and success are the keywords of this commercial, masculinity in the extreme. According to the model of Rossister and Percy, this commercial has a high involvement and a positive purchase motive. When someone buys a smart phone this will have a high involvement in life nowadays.
Also buying a smart phone isn’t something you do like you buy a can of coke if you’re thirsty. The purchase is well considered. The purchase of the smart phone can be experienced as negative because of the high prices, but is most of the time positive in the way it enables you to be connected with the world.
EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL
H&M Sustainable fashion through recycled clothes Take a look at the commercial
H&M, a worldwide known fashion store, known for telling their customers a life story. You could say the target group is everybody who likes to wear H&M items. Since H&M offers their products to people aged from 0 to 60+, being from countries al over the world, the target group is huge. This is very clear watching this commercial, it shows not only young, but also older people, same with the different skincolors being showed in the commercial. We do think this advertisement isn’t just for those people, but it’s targeted to everybody who stands open for the idea of people wanting to dress and express in their own authentic way. Of course, a part of the target group this commercial is also targeted to, is people not accepting other people to dress ‘differently’. H&M’s goal making this commercial is making a statement about recycling and equality, but of course they want to advertise for the fashion H&M sells. Analyzing the commercial more in-depth, the presence of indulgence in this commercial is clear. The commercial almost literally messages ‘don’t be restrained by that what’s been defined as ‘the ordinary’ or what’s ‘normal’. Looking ad Hofstede’s model we came across a hard decision. Is the commercial reflectable on individualism, or more on collectivism? You could say expressing who you as an individual are, separating yourself from the mainstream, is a clear sign of individualism. On the other hand, the commercial shows a bunch of people from different cultures,
with different ages, standing up to make a statement. According to Hofstede’s model we’d say the commercial is feminine. Emotional genders from different cultures are overlapping, and both men and women are focussed on what they think is part of an ‘ideal situation’. Looking at Lewis’ model, we came across some interesting findings. The commercial is reflectable on the ‘confronts emotionally’ part in the mid section (multi active) of the model. The commercial confronts the viewer with a pretty heavily charged message; it uses the right music, the length of the shots are well thought of and the voiceover uses strong words to affect the viewer emotionally. The spoken word in this commercial is important, and the commercial shows unrestrained body language. Applying Rossister & Percy’s model on this commercial, it’s clear the commercial tries to get a high involvement. The commercial is trying to really make a connection with the viewer; it tries to get the viewer involved in encouraging and believing in a certain mindset. In the end, the commercial tries to sell fashion and according to Rossister & Pery’s model buying fashion has a positive effect on the buyer.