Ad Campaigns

Ad Campaigns

Ad Campaigns and the accompanying graphics have moved culture forward and created movements that brought real change to the world. The campaigns could change the world through art and product placement. Though the idea of ads has been around since the early 15th century, technology has dramatically improved them. Print ads have been around since the 15th century in one form or another.

Everything from the graphic to the distribution of the ad has changed drastically in the last 20 to 30 years. Companies have gone from selling a product to marketing ideas. This is most apparent with Big Tobacco. Coca-Cola’s advertising graphics have changed how we imagine Santa and many other things. We are overly influenced by campaign advertising and the pictures they use to think and purchase.

19th & 20th Century Ads

Using and manipulating pictures has added a much-needed new dimension to ads. You can see the transformation of Ad campaigns from the 19th and 20th centuries to today. Ads in the late 1800s and early 1900s did not rely much on graphics. They contained rich text. The ads would have an image of the product or a small scene of their product in use. While advertising campaigns were text-heavy and more information-based, some images today are iconic. The decade produced iconic snaps like the ‘I Want You’ ad for the US Army. This Ad campaign was so effective that the man pictured in the ad has become “Uncle Sam,” the personification of America.

Advertising in the 1920s

Advertising campaigns in the 1920s relied more on pictures and graphics than text but remained text-heavy. There was no significant change in the ’30s with advertising, keeping the previous decades’ text-heavy ideas. The continued effort to advance the Ad campaign came to a halt to the financial crisis of the 1930s.

This is a 1920s print ad for the beauty company L’Oreal. The Ad follows the layout of the time with a picture and a load of text, with no actual story-telling with the graphic alone. The ad depends on facts and figures, less on a pretty picture that draws the consumer in. In the 1940s and 1950s, companies started using larger graphics as the main focus of Ad campaigns. Companies begin telling a story using pictures and graphics instead of rich text.

60’s and beyond

“Advertisements such as Volkswagen’s, “Think Small” ad was the first of what would later be called the ‘Creative Revolution’ of the 1960s and 1970s.” (DesignCrowd). The ’60s and ’70s are considered a ‘creative revolution’ because companies started breaking the mode of the previous decades. In this era, you see ad campaigns with the product in a setting without much wording and unnecessary filler text. The Ads utilize more color and balance between the text and graphics; they resemble today’s ad campaigns.

80’s & 90’s

Chanel’s ad campaigns in the 1980s included lipstick in the 1980s. The ’80s brought an era of simplicity that had been slowly occurring since the late ’60s. The Ad is a product front and center with a hand with red nail polish. They are selling both the lipstick in the mainframe and the nail polish. This is an intelligent technique to focus on the main product, but the things around are things you sell.

There is commonly an absence of, or very little, copy and employment of neat, simple ideas.” (DesignCrowd). The concept of “less is more” became the wisdom of the ’90s, and 2000’s Ad campaigns became the focus for products. “In the 21st century, simplicity and minimalism are key. These days, advertisements are often highly image-based, relying on digital manipulation.

Chevy’s ad campaigns for the 1995 Camaro Z/28 below could be the perfect example of times’ simplicity to the extreme. This format of ads has become a standard product in the mainframe, with the ad campaign’s slogan as the headline and the logo somewhere on the bottom.

Advertising campaigns are broken down into five rules, as seen by Carrie Cousins.

The five rules are as follows:

• Write a killer high line
• Establish a visual story
• Show the unexpected
• Create an immersive experience
• Leave users wanting more

She goes on to say the first point she makes s about a killer high line. “Strong headlines will make or break a connection between your ad design and users. The best headlines are short, simple, and lead users to complete some action.” (Carrie Cousins) This idea for an Ad campaign is powerful, especially in the current age of clickbait with online ads. Most Advertising is connected to the headline at the end, and the more compelling the headline, the more influential the ad.

Interactive Advertising

Interactive advertising has become an opinion for more companies in the technological era. This is a component Cousins sees as crucial to having a productive ad campaign.

“Give users something to do. Show them that lots of other people are doing it. Make your experience something that people feel they must be a part of.” – Carrie Cousins.

This kind of advertising is usually used for travel advertising or outdoor activities. These ads tend to be effective primarily when targeted toward the right people. They typically have a GoPro camera and a person doing the activity that they are advertising.

Cousins’ last point seems to be shared in marketing, making consumers want the product.

“A good ad leaves users wanting to know more or feel the need to act. The action can be in the form of making a purchase, supporting a cause or even visiting your website.” – Carrie Cousins.

This last rule is the most important because you should leave them needing your product once the consumer is engaged.

How Graphic Design Is Evolving

Cousins’ main point is that you need a graphic to pull the consumer into the ad and get their attention. “How Graphic Design Is Evolving” by Natalie Norcross discusses how graphic design changes how Ad campaigns are applied. “Technology now plays a major role in creating digital work available in many fields. Portfolio design, presentations, signage, logos, websites, animations, and even architectural production have all traveled far since the dawn of the digital revolution.” Norcross brings up a great point of how everything in the advertising campaigns has been dramatically shifted from the original principles and ideas.

Technology has given companies abundant opportunities to reach consumers and provide them with ways of producing ads.

“Ikea launched a virtual-reality kitchen experience that brings you a life-size virtual IKEA kitchen. The pilot program aims to gather user feedback and suggestions.” –  Natalie Norcross.

The idea of having a virtual reality ad campaign was not even thought of five years ago. With the advance in virtual- fact, the idea of ads having to adjust to it is just a put of the job. This also gives the advertiser even more ability to reach the consumer.

Advertisements via Digital Technology

“Along with the improvement of digital graphics technology, careers in this field have also evolved.”(Natalie Norcross) Norcross has another significant point of evolving the ad and the people who make them. Graphic designers have many tools to use when producing ad campaigns and providing a message.

“Technology and creativity never take on a steady form, so it is inevitable for graphic design to change as we move forward.” – Natalie Norcross.

This is a principle that is held in many different areas of work. With so many technological improvements, Graphic designers always have to improve their approach.

Coca-cola has always been known for its advertising campaigns since its conception. It is creating the idea of what most Americans see as Santa. From 1931 to 1964, Coca-Cola advertising showed Santa delivering toys (and playing with them!), pausing to read a letter and enjoy a Coke, visiting with the children who stayed up to greet him, and raiding the refrigerators at some homes.

Effective Advertising

Some of the most effective advertising has been put forward by big tobacco. They invested large amounts of money into their advertising.

“Cigarette advertisements are often evocative and playoff these challenges in addition to being positioned to appeal to specific groups defined by social class and ethnic identity.” – Lynch BS, Bonnie RJ.

Big tobacco would be specific with an ad campaign to have the most effect.

They would put forward ideas that many companies had tried, and they perfected.”Retail value-added promotions and specialty items. Retail value-added promotions are dramatically rising, such as multiple packs (buy one, get one free), cents-off coupons, and a free keychain or lighter blister-packed to a cigarette pack. Value-added promotions and coupons constituted the tobacco industry’s most significant marketing expenditure (40% of total marketing expenditures) in 1991.”

The way Big Tobacco targeted its clientele was so precise it was perfect. “Additionally, advertisements often combine with interactive promotional items that appeal to children and youths. For example, many magazine advertisements feature a giveaway, non-cigarette utility items (calendars, lighters, T-shirts, and “action products”) associated with the “cash coupon”catalog offers.”.

Influencing Consumer behavior thru Advertisements

“Advertising may influence consumer behavior in both cognitive and effective ways. A cognitive influence convinces an individual that there are benefits to be derived from purchasing (or consuming) a particular product.”.

“In his exhaustive 1976 review of the literature, Fishbein noted: “there can be little question that cigarette ads attempt to create a positive image of the ‘smoker.”‘ He concluded that “our review suggests that cigarette advertising does affect cigarette consumption.” – Lynch BS, Bonnie RJ

.“The analysis revealed gender-specific relationships with the tobacco advertising campaigns that targeted women and were launched in 1967. Specifically, in girls under 18, smoking initiation increased abruptly around 1967 and peaked around 1973. At about the same time, sales of such brands as Virginia Slims peaked. The increase was especially among girls who never attended college (1.7-fold higher). The trend did not apply to women 18-20 years old, nor men.”.

Whether it is big tobacco or Coca-cola, the use of ad campaigns affects how we buy, what we see as okay, and what we want to be associated with.

Evolution

With the evolution of the modern world, we could only expect advertising campaigns to be more social media. The graphics quality is growing exponentially, and the best is yet to come. 4k is the best we have so far, but there are already rumors of 8k graphics. Future ad campaigns will be customized based on what consumers like. Facebook categorizes people by age, location, page likes, app use, and browsing websites. 

This advertising is very effective because it advertises things the consumer is interested in. Companies like Epsilon, Datalogix, Acxiom, and BlueKai are data collection companies that save information about you. This saved information consists of store loyalty cards, mailing lists, and browser cookies. This information makes customizing ads easy.

Successful Ads

Ad campaigns and graphics are essential for advertising because they can create memories and elicit an emotional response from an audience. Successful ads and pictures induce emotions like happiness and sadness, leading to good business for companies. Some of the worst ad campaigns create anger and controversy, leading to bad business, but not all debate is terrible.

In many cases, controversy can start a conversation and grow a brand. The future of advertising includes more aggressive campaigns and more intuitive graphics.

Companies like Epsilon continue to change how companies advertise by making the marketing process customizable and direct. Game campaigns and game graphics will also only improve as time goes on. Companies these days must compete to create a better product and generate the most attention from their desired audience.

Be it a top business website or one just starting up. Online marketing is needed. Google Adwords or video marketing ad campaigns are a necessity for all businesses.