jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Omo adds Brightness!

Omo is a detergent product and this advertisement was produced in the 1950s. I love what this advert does, it actually gets me excited. ‘Brightness to Whiteness’ quoted in that brilliant white flash against the blue background stands out to make the statement, as though the sun against the blue sky suggesting brightness and radiance.

Looking at the lady on the swing, it reminds me of the euphoric feeling of being a child on a swing. It’s an exciting feeling and its plastered all over the characters face.

The word ‘Brightness’ is all over this advert, not just in word form but also in terms of the colours. Each colour is bold and simple and a large us of yellow which my represent life and positivity. Everything about this ad just screams good vibes.  

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

This illustration by Alan Durman for Butlins for your holiday was produced to encourage people to holiday in Butlins.

These print ads were located around train stations to visit the popular holiday camps located round England. The characters in the image put confidence in the consumer that at Butlin’s you have a lot of fun and by the looks of things a tan… surely that’s debateable.

Seeing this image, the idea is to make the consumer feel like they need to get amongst the fun and be involved in something. This print shows three healthy, happy looking characters inviting their consumer to come and join them, with open arms, literally.

Alan Durman illustrates everything you want in a holiday, nice weather, fun and memories to be made poolside. Bright, warming colours and healthy happy characters advertises a good time at Butlin’s. As if Butlin’s is the place to be, and it’s pretty convincing…

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

This advert for soft drink Sober-Up, illustrated by Jules Erbit in the 1940s shows a girl standing on a ship, clear blue skies and wind flowing through her hair.

Elegant, right?

Advertising their products as a substitute for alcohol, they focus on the fact that consumer can wake up fresh and rejuvenated to avoid the inevitable result of a hangover. Erbit has displayed this well in his illustration; the lady in the images looks healthy and ready to take on the world rather than having a severe mental breakdown because of their banging headache. I know who I would rather be…

‘It’s a life saver’, how cheesy?! Even on the bottle of the product there is a tagline ‘It’s the best… beats the rest’. Despite this, its weirdly motivating.

The scene of the ship, being outside in the blue sky backdrop and birds in the sky is again reiterating the feeling of being fresh. I am thoroughly expecting her to burst into song, South Pacific style.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Tut tut tut, Budweiser you should be ashamed…

Here we have an image of a man and his lovely lady friend. We see our man encouraging his lady friend to drink Budweiser, as the tagline suggests, ‘when you need to get her drunk’.

Now let be real, we are all adults here so we know exactly what they mean by their sleazy tagline. However, looking back at other alcohol advertisements of this time, the use of beautiful woman in their images was very common. Looking back at John Smiths where the imagery was classy and more about advertising to an upper class market. But Budweiser clearly haven’t held back on this one.

Regardless of the moral of this advert, the actual image itself is quite lovely; it sets a nice summer’s day, picnic in the back garden maybe, with a pretty lady and a cheeky beverage to cool you down. I would say what more could you want, but that’s already been discussed.  But the colours and the warms of the picture suggest positivity and being cheerful.

As it is a very pretty image, we can see just how far advertising has moved on from something like this.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Now this product brings me back to the memories of when I would sleep at my grandmother’s house. She always sent me to bed with a warm malted drink to help me off to sleep.

In a lot of Ovaltine’s print adverts, there is an obvious atmosphere which they are trying to create. Ovaltine is related to relaxing you, something you would have before bed to help you get off to sleep.

It is a simple image which displays a simple message to the consumer, ‘The World’s Best Night-cup’. We clearly see the lady who image is in the mug and is sound asleep. The image shows the lady sound asleep and even as through she is maybe dreaming. Especially for those who may have difficulty with their sleep, it’s enough to make you feel jealous. The use of soft elegant colours suggests a heaven-like scene. The ad does the job well; Ovaltine knew that there would be no need for heavy type when the message is so clear.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

First point… Doctors advertising smoking... WHAT?!

American brand Camels cigarettes enlisted the help of the trusted doctor to appear on their adverts. Camels claimed that health care professionals said there were no believed health risks with smoking and instead would benefit your health. Clearly, we know this not to be true in the slightest as they started to realise the smoking can cause many health complications including cancer and heart disease. This resulted in Americas professionals not really being trusted and who could blame?! But of course by this point, everyone was already addicted…

Camels advertise their product as part of a doctors daily routine ‘a few winks of sleep…a few puffs of a cigarette…and he’s back at the job again’ they also say that Camels is the most popular brand with doctors, which is going to make consumers think that it must be good enough for them too if their doctors are smoking them. It’s not hard to understand why a health care profession in an advert would be so influential; they are supposed to be people you trust to help you remain fighting fit.

Clearly, you would never see something like this today as tobaccos brands are no longer allowed to advertise because of their damaging results on the public’s health, which is why is it so shocking to see something like this actually happening. The image of the doctor makes him look like he is ready whenever you need him and despite his older appearance he looks knowledgeable and almost has a face you would trust. Also the lady at the bottom appears to be healthy and happy smoking her cigarette.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Here we have an ad which would featured in Fortune Magazine in 1944. The image is showing a couple fo well dressed, potentially clever individuals who are quite high up in the industry. The advert is explaining the post-war comeback of the automabile industry, as if they are ‘planting the seeds’ for the regrowth… Nice metaphor.

Forture was a magazine which was known doe having ads like this, something different to the standard picture of the product and and discription of what it does. They like to take a different path by using their metaphor-like images to sell their advertising spaces. As a result of clever adverts like these, businesses were buying advertising spaces, which some buisnesses has no actual need for.

I like how Fortune have challnged buisnesses not to be behind from their competitors and to get ahead while they still can. I worked well and more than did it’s job to sell magazine space. The ad says to me ‘be like those guy, trust them, they know what they are talking about’, and why wouldn’t you, they are a well dressed couple of blokes.

The image also shows industry behind the characters, suggesting rebirth of industry is already inprogress. This might put the auto companies into overdrive thinking that they are way behind while everyone else is preparing, while in actual fact other brands are probably sitting thinking the same thing as eachother.

I do like this advert, it is a clever piece. But you also have to have that knowledge and understanding of industry and be aware of the current affairs of that time to understand it.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

I couldn’t resist when I found this lovely campaign!

I know what you’re thinking…’Jess you’ve already talked about Guinness’ but how could I not?!

In the 1950’s Guinness released a number of print adverts like the one I’ve just posted but in the theme of Alice in Wonderland. The have taken various scenes from the book and translated them into these colourful posters. John Gilroy and Anthony Groves-Raines, the illustrators for these designs and copywriters at S H Benson worked together to create the adverts.

The prints where displayed in newpaper’s like the London New, Country Life and The Tatler, this was so that Guinness were able to reach what they classed at the superior consumer… harsh much? However, the idea was there would be sections of the story in the advertisment to which as some point a problems will have been possed, to which the recommended answer to their problems was of course Guinness, relating back to their tag line ‘Guinness is good for you’. Reiterating what we talked about in my previous Guinness post, we know that Guinness used to claim their product was good for you, so why not make an advert that would clearly appeal to a nieve child audience who may love the Lewis Carroll story but use it as a campaign for an alcoholic product? I know, totally crazy, but nothing suprising from Guinness I suppose.

Regardless of this point, the illustrations for these campaigns were indeed beautiful and charming. Whilst I did point out that the advert would appeal to children, adults may have memories of Alice in Wonderland which would work well as a campaign to get personal with their consumer.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Just a quick one...

In the 1930’s we welcome Mr Therm! I know what you’re thinking though, what is it? Well, apparently that my friends is a character who is mean’t to look like a flame. Mr Therm was featured in comic books and he was a project which was used to gain the interest of the younger generation. Eric Fraser, the creator of Mr Therm, used him to try and bring fun to promoting a better gas-powered future.

For the 1930’s I suppose Mr Therm was almost new territory, not many brands had their own charater and comic for their character at that time. Making an advert more of a story would make consumers feel like they are reading at their own advantage and enjoyment rather than the advantage of the brand, which I suppose is a very clever way to generate interest. Given the times

Unfortunately for Mr Therm, the promises of a gas-powered future was scuffed as the managed to gain a reputation for poor effciency and customer service, in turn Margaret Thatcher started to sell off state-owned industries such as gas.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

James R Bingham, the illustrator of this piece was known for supplying his designs to the Sunday Evening Post and has worked with a wide rang of advertisers during his illustrating career. He produced this design for Cadillac during world war 2.

Using a lot of dark colours to produce his image, he has came up with a design which shows the aggression and voraciousness of a tank going to war, I would not be standing round watching if this was coming towards me!

It portrays the strength of this vehicle, but also relates back to the the British Army. It is showing the viewer that we are ready for war and that we have these powerful machines which ‘the enemy doesn't like’.

In a lot of older advertising we see examples of companies having a written description of their product at the bottom. The idea of this is that the consumer will read through this and think ‘yes, this is what I need, a Cadillac-built tank with demolition artillery, we could fit two perfectly in the back garden’. However this is a campaign more to do with the partnership of Cadillac and the war, how Cadillac are contributing and that their vehicles are powerful and heavy duty.

This military style advertisement is a lovely piece of art which really provides and insight into what these machines are capable of, Bingham has managed to produce a real action shot of the tank in war which could not be captured by a photograph.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

The Bovril product was invented in 1873 by Scott Johnston, it is described as a fluid beef used to feel the soldiers during the Franco-Prussian war. At some point doctors believed that Bovril helped treat influenza.

Why on earth have they included a man in his pyjamas, cuddling a bottle of Bovril in the middle of the ocean might you ask? The ‘prevents that sinking feeling’ tagline hints towards the belief that Bovril was good for you and helps you say afloat during the day. So there he is, looking very happy with himself they he is managing to stay on top of the water. Bovriil are promoting that their product helps you stay on top of your day and keeps you happy and healthy which is what they have done in this campaign. The tagline and many other print adverts they made for the product was very much promoting this idea that Bovril was good for you and keeps you strong, another one was ‘Bovril put beef into you’, not only relating to the product but the products abilities. 

H H Haris who produced this particular add invented the castaway character which then went on to become a character associated with the brand. The Character was then seen in a number of various hilarious difficult situations for the brand advertising... poor guy. 

Overall, this print is very charming and humorous, the brand used the idea the public believed that Bovril made you strong and healthy to build their brand and their campaigns. 

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Jesus, where’s my sunglasses?!

Here we have a rather bright example of a poster advertisement from the 50′s by Rowntree advertising their fruit gums. Rowntree produced a lot of images during the 50′s emphasising the taste of the sweets. Describing them almost like the next best thing from fruit. Apart from this particular image, there was a concept where there was a bowl of fruit being poured into the packet of sweets… I apologise if that was the worse description, so instead I would just advise you Google it. 

The lovely looking child, sporting the typical blonde haired, blue eyed boy is featured largely on this poster, with a twisted face and an excited twinkle in his eyes. He really looks like he’s enjoying his experience, probably a little too much. Sort of reminds me a little of the internet sensation ‘Kazoo Kid’…If you haven’t seen that video, don’t. 

Anywayyyyy, the type on this poster ‘taste the fruit’, is pretty much a command, it is telling you, you will taste the fruity goodness of our jellies. This poster is fun, it’s inviting you come and pick one straight from the paper. The experience and enjoyment on this boy’s face is relateable to a lot of children and adults from their youth when they have been enjoying their sweets. So really, this could be aimed at both markets, encouraging adults to revisit their youth and children to come and join in on the fun.

But let’s get down to the eye offending yellow which is beaming into my eyeballs, I’m a little disorientated. It is a beautifully brilliant yellow isn’t it. Personally I associate the colour yellow with positivity, happiness and New York cabs… forget the last one. Back to positivity and happiness, suggesting, not only trying to convince you they are nutritionally good for you but also good for your life, they make you happy. Which is as good as a marketing technique as any, everyone wants to be happy… even if they are being blinded in the process.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

In the 1950′s, Oxo made a number of these colourful, cheeky poster advertisements introducing the Oxo product as being an essential within every household. Oxo very much promotes their product along with the idea of a traditional happy household during this time, they featured imagine of women and children, as we can see even the husbands were included.

The happy male character is advertising the ease of cooking with Oxo and introducing the statement that ‘even a man can do it’. This is very different from what you would usually see with food product advertising as you would typically see images of a wife cooking, so it’s quite refreshing for people of this era to view and to be honest, he looks like he’s up to mischief to the point where I might be maybe a little worried... Maybe he’s just proud I suppose, but that’s me just being a tad cynical. However, making this point, this image could be quite daring during this time as it is a new concept, it might have been risky for Oxo, as consumers might not be as open to accept it. 

The colours used in the poster are mainly primary colours, a lot of red and yellow is used which are the colours of Oxo’s brand, so even if there was no logo at the top of this poster, it could be obvious to the consumer just looking at the image what the advert is for. The boldness makes the image warm and inviting, personally I feel the image encourages the viewer to think about his cooking, what smells are being produced, like a homely beef stew? Oh, I’m so weak... But this is such a powerful use of an image, now I’m even craving it!

Typical bold, vintage writing explaining Oxo ‘makes cooking SO easy’ and even though it’s not said, consumers may automatically finish off the sentence to ‘even a man can do it’ encouraging someone to interact. 

The concept is simple and charming, but also allows the consumer to connect with their advert, maybe without even knowing it. Clever Oxo right?!

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Yes, another alcohol advertisement… I’m not sorry.

This John Smith’s advert, which appeared in the 1950’s is a very different take on what you would see on the brands approach nowadays. In this example, there is no sign of the renowned horses shoe which you will find printed on everything John Smith’s.

It is clear from this image that their main aim is to grab the attention of a male market. What better way to do that then sticking a very beautiful female, baring all her flesh clearly in the centre of the poster, right? I mean, she is basically inviting you to come and join her (let’s not even get into how much against anti-feminist this is now). Not to mention the huge image of the ale right next to her. The promise of John Smith’s being ‘A magnet for me!’ would be enough to make someone want to buy this product; personally, more so if there was a male version. The image is warm, glamorous and classy. It screams at the consumer ‘if you want this lifestyle, buy our John Smith’s!’.

This campaign turns the standard pub brand into a tasteful, upper-class product, with an added promise of that it attracts young pretty ladies too, something which was very accepted back then and used a lot in advertising.

[jessnu15advertisingstudent-blog]

Guinness is known to be one of the most popular beer brands worldwide. This is one example of their classic adverts. In this advert, you can quite clearly see the writing ‘Guinness for strength’. This is used to convince the consumer in thinking that if they drink Guinness it will make them healthier and stronger, which we know now isn't exactly true. However this advert looks to attract to the working class man. We can see both characters in their work attire, one sitting drinking another brand and another which is carrying a massive heavy object with clear ease and seems to be pretty happy about it. I mean, if you had to pick which character you wanted to be, the strong superior man or the rather very much smaller, less significant man, which would you choose? Apart from this, the advert is pretty simple, the colours are bright suggesting positivity, and the writing is bold. The message behind it isn't exactly subtle; in fact it’s largely obvious.