Introduction
Advertising has over time become a money making business, making it one of the highest lucrative in the USA. The media, which include newspapers, televisions, magazines and radio, is the most common medium through which advertisements are aired to the public. Behind every advertisement campaign is the target audience who in this case is the targeted consumer or group.
Every company is well aware that, the customer solely decides on whether to purchase or not. Advertisements therefore, aim at influencing the decision of the customer, hence it should be planned in such a way that, it brings out the product, as that which meets the very need of the clients. To do this, the target audience needs to be known, and their specific needs identified (Aitchison, 64).
People share common basic needs. It is such needs, that advertisers focus in during the creation of advertisements. The most common of these needs include attention, superiority, care, companionship, success, sex, power, guidance and aggression. Advertisers aim at meeting these various needs through different attributes such as expressions, color, statures and words making up the advertisement (Aitchison, 89).
There are cases whereby, advertisements for the same product may target different audiences. This paper looks at such a case. The paper exhaustively analyses two coffee advertisements that target two different kinds of people. The paper focuses on the strategies the advertisers use to make the products appeal to the target audience.
By comparing the two different advertisements for the same product whose target audience is different, this paper will clearly illustrate how advertisers incorporate the needs of consumers to market their products. The two advertisements that will be used are that of café Vienna and that of millstone coffee.
The focus on the Café Vienna advertisement is guidance while that in the other brand, Millstone coffee, is success. Though the main target group audience for these two products is those in their middle years, the advertisements focus on two different needs of consumers within the same culture, hence has two different target audiences in terms of needs.
The use of pictures and images in the two advertisements is symbolic of the needs that each meet and of the target group that each needs to appeal to. The image in Café Vienna is of two persons, whose faces cannot be seen, in a boat sailing to an area with beautiful mountains and from where the sun is setting.
The lake is very calm and the sail seems to be slow and peaceful. In an area meters away from the boat, is a patch of grass which is growing from underneath the lake. The sailors seem to be following the setting sun’s rays meaning that the sunset is guiding their journey.
The picture in this case brings out the aspect of guidance. On the other hand, the Millstone advert has a picture of the famous fashion designer, Paige Davis, who is wearing a blue shirt and pair of jeans. In one hand of the designer is a sledge-hammer while in the other is a cup of coffee. She is standing in front of a red wall with a large hole which she has made using the hammer. On looking through the hole, one can see another yellow-painted wall.
The designer’s clothes are dirty from the dust from the cracked hole. The designer’s face is beaming with happiness, an emotion that can be attached to her success. The advert brings out the notion that her achievements have been made possible by the coffee. The entire picture in the millstone advert depicts accomplishment.
Another evident feature that supports each of the needs that the brands seek to satisfy is color. The characteristic feature in the color on the café Vienna is fading. The foremost color in the advert is a dark shade of black which thinly fades to a deep shade of orange followed by a very light shade of yellow.
These colors are what symbolize guidance. By looking at the advertisement one feels like one is slowly being led from a dark spot to the light. The colors in the millstone advert on the other hand, symbolize success making the brand appealing to those with the need to achieve. The bright shades of white, red, yellow and blue symbolize joy and happiness, emotions that are evident when one succeeds.
The last supporting feature of the target audience in the two coffee advertisements is the use of words. To show guidance, the words in the Café Vienna advert depict that drinking it will help a consumer lead a life driven by purpose. In the millstone advertisement, the words indicate that by drinking the coffee, one will gain as much success as that of Paige Davis. The words compelling the consumer to taste the things outside there or around them, is illustrative of accomplishment through success.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is evident that, considering the target audience is crucial factor in the creation of advertisements. Advertisements seek to appeal to the specific needs of the audience. Though the two advertisements are of the same product, each of the companies has their own strategies through which they seek to reach two different types of audience with two different needs.
The target audience on the advert for Café Vienna is those who feel like they need guidance while that in the Millstone ad are those who want success. The strategies used to appeal to the two sets of audience include color, picture and words.
Reference
Aitchison, Jim. Cutting Edge Advertising. Prentice Hall: Singapore, 1999.