Established in remote 1848, Prudential is an international company which has more than a century and a half experience in the sphere of providing financial services. Reviewing the 2011 brief of Prudential on saving for retirement, I chose the components of creating a positive image of ageing, importance of saving and presenting Prudential as a reliable company and a champion in the sphere as the keystones for my ads.
The success of the ad depends upon promoting active leisure as a natural and integral part of retirees’ lives, pointing at the financial services as an effective method for achieving these goals and establishing Prudential as an experienced and reliable partner.
The first component is aimed at influencing the common perception of retirement as the end of life associated with slippers and pipes “Prudential – February 2011 Brief”. Creating a positive image of ageing and showing the attractiveness of active leisure during retirement, advertisers can motivate potential consumers to think of their future and impose appropriate measures for ensuring the necessary financial basis for it.
Taking into account the existing saving gaps, the ad should promote the financial services as an efficient way for collecting the necessary costs. The final component presupposes emphasizing the benefits of cooperating with Prudential as the champion in the sphere.
Combining these three components of creating positive images for ageing, financial services and Prudential as the service provider will allow evoking reactions in potential customers and affecting their consumer behavior.
Analyzing the 2011 brief of Prudential, it can be stated that the strategies of the company are aimed at changing the public perception of ageing, retirement and corresponding saving programs and presenting its services as an effective solution for the existing savings problem. These principles can be used for creating an effective ad.
Creating an effective ad for Prudential saving programs requires influencing the consumers’ cognitive perception of ageing and retirement along with affecting their feelings and invoking emotional reactions for communicating the main message to the audience and influencing their consumer behavior.
Combining the three main components of creating positive images for ageing, financial services and Prudential presupposes taking into consideration both cognitive and affective sides of the pictorial ad.
The first element of promoting active and happy life during the retirement period requires affecting the cognitive abilities and feelings of the audience. The offered ads present elderly people enjoying their lives.
As opposed to widely spread misconceptions, these characters go out, do not concentrate on their illnesses and obviously respect and love each other. Looking at these elderly couples, the 30-40-year-olds as the target audience of Prudential campaigns may ask themselves if they are as happy as the people in these ads.
The aim of this component is to influence the public perception of ageing and retirement by replacing the idea of the end of life with the idea of carelessness and absolute happiness. Thus, if an individual does not feel as happy as the elderly couples in the ads at the moment, the promotion of happy retirement can be compared to stimulating the belief of the audience in better tomorrow after retirement.
Going out and enjoying themselves, the couples in the ads seem to be deprived of troubles associated with their health or financial well-being. Thus, looking at these ads, the target audience is expected not only to change their views on ageing and retirement, but also to get certain emotional reactions to the images of happy elderly couples.
By the way, in one of the ads there is a waiter who is smiling and looking at the couple, and the audience can associate themselves with this outside observer. At this point, these ads create the link between the cognitive and affective aspects of the first component which is aimed at creating a positive image of ageing.
Looking at the ads under consideration, the spectators are supposed not only to get a new idea of retirement as a careless period for enjoying life but also empathize and envy those people in the pictures.
The second component of establishing the links between the happy elderly couples in the ads and the financial basis which is required for ensuring the careless and comfortable existence of the retirees is not overemphasized but plays an important role in these ads.
Everyone’s awareness of the savings gap caused the anxiety about the retirement period, while 6 million UK citizens do not believe that they will have enough costs for retiring at all (“Prudential – February 2011 Brief”). The aim of this ad is to create public awareness of the existing saving programs which make retirement controllable and offer a routine but orderly financial path to careless retirement period (Ekerdt and Clark 56).
It is obvious that the clothes of the retirees’ and their active leisure are costly. The choice of the colors and the composition of the ad have impact upon the spectators’ perception of its content. The main emphasis is certainly put upon the happy retirees, and in one of the ads, there is nothing else in view but for the happy elderly couple.
This approach allows not only showing their face expressions, but also demonstrating their separation and protection from the rest of the world which was achieved through retirement saving program. Not implying it directly, these ads claim that people should think of their retirement plans beforehand.
The hidden context of the reverse side of retirement in case if an individual does not have enough money for sustaining comfortable living has impact upon the audience’s fear of the lack of funds at their elderly age. Showing only a positive side, the ads inevitably imply that under different circumstances, these pictures would be different. “Feelings (emotions) actually influence consumer behavior” (Hansen and Christensen 82).
Fear is recognized as one of the strongest motivators. In that regard, both the informative and affective goals of the second component are achieved through the combination of the information on the benefits of the existing saving programs and the implied idea of retirement for those who do not care of their future beforehand.
The third component which requires creating a positive image of Prudential as the champion in the sphere of providing these services is successfully incorporated into the ads under consideration by communicating the main message o the company.
“An advertisement can be said to be simple when it represents the brand’s core idea or key positioning statement, i.e. the advertising execution is stripped to its critical essence and captures the key element that needs to be communicated” (Shimp 211).
The label of Prudential along with the promotional motto are placed at the bottom of the ads, not taking too much attention, but noticeable enough to be considered by the spectators. Promising the same comfort and the same joy during retirement, Prudential positions as a reliable partner aware of the consumers’ needs.
Creating positive images of ageing, saving programs and Prudential, the ads under consideration influence the public perception of their services and affect the feelings and consumer behavior of the target audience by motivating them to think of their future and believe in possibility of better tomorrow.
Works Cited
Ekerdt, David and Evelyn Clark. “Selling Retirement in Financial Planning Advertisements”. Journal of Aging Studies March 2001: 55-68. Print.
Hansen, Flemming and Sverre Christensen. Emotions, Advertizing and Consumer Choice. Copenhagen Business School Press, 2007. Print
“Prudential – February 2011 Brief”. Prudential, n.d. Web.
Shimp, Terence. Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print.