M1 Evaluate different cross-media campaign for consistency
Table of Contents
Negatives of Coca-Cola’s campaign
Introduction
I will be discussing the delivery and consistency of different cross media advertising campaigns across different forms. I will be evaluating Nike’s ‘Just do it’ campaign and Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ campaigns and how they effectively used multi-channel campaigns. I will talk about both companies target audiences as well as the use of celebrity endorsements, tagline and more.
Nike successfully showed that brands can really connect with the correct audience if you correctly broadcast your campaign. The iconic slogan originated in 1988, where the campaign featured professional and amateur athletes talking about their accomplishments. One of the first TV spots showed an 80-year-old marathon runner, where he shows how he runs 17 miles every morning; this was an effective way for Nike to get their message across as it showed people that using their products they can do what others believe to be impossible. Also, it was so helpful for Nike because people wanted to achieve their goals whether that be stating new routines or improving their lifestyle; the campaign evoked immediate emotional response from viewers, which lead them to ask, ‘if athletes can do it, why can’t it?” Nike distributed their adverts on TV, billboards, Youtube videos & magazines, where they aimed at athletes and people who were ready to be inspired to make change, which was effective for them to deliver their message to the highest amount of people that they can, using TV might target at younger adults, YouTube videos may have aimed at teenagers, and magazines may have aimed at women and older people (depending of the genre of the magazine) The power of influencer marketing has been noticed by Nike in a smart way- as their audience is very wide (with groups such as musicians, athletes, sneakerheads etc) and isn’t just for a professional audience; Nike communicate through people that the audience trusts to get a response from their consumers. Nike was consistent in their message as each advert represented people being capable to do whatever they aim to do. Their message "Just Do It" suggests that people shouldn't second-guess themselves in any situation, this helped to inspire people to get out and try new things. The reason this was consistent is because it covered many different activities to suggest that anything can be done if you just do it.
In the mid-2000’s, Mac sales had dropped so Apple had to act on it and decided to show people a more relatable and human side to the mac. In 2005, Apple set out to change their decreasing sales with the ‘Get a Mac’ campaign. This campaign was a huge success and was so positively received by audiences, and even 10 years after the campaign finished the campaign is still recognisable to people. Apple used four powerful words in their first batch of adverts, these adverts were very different to Apples standard strategies. The ‘viruses’ advert was the first to be shown out of the original batch on TV, where it started with a simple yet impactful phrase “hello, I’m a Mac” while the next line was delivered by a person who was made to look like the Microsoft Founder Bill Gates, which said “and I’m a PC”. This was so clever and useful for Apple because the Mac was represented as new and young and fast whereas a PC was represented as old and sluggish. Apple were really good at reading between the lines of their audience to deliver their message as being better than the rest of their competitors, using attack ads yet carefully portraying themselves as peacemakers rather than attackers. This campaign was shown on TV, magazine, and still has references from events to this day. After the first few batches of videos, sales flew up by 12% and by the last quarter of 2006 Apple sold 1.6 million Mac’s, an increase of 39%. Apple's campaign was consistent as it constantly showed the flaws of windows PC's whilst showing how their computers are faster, safer and better to use. They used phrases like 'slow and dangerous' and 'one of the biggest blunders in technology' suggesting that windows cannot compare to Apple's Mac. Each advert was consistent as it portrayed the same message "Get a Mac".
The message of ‘just do it’ had some impact on people, with the feeling of urgency and immediate, unrealistic chances to succeed. This mentality was negative for the brand because the message is unnecessary and sometimes can lead to disaster. On the 30th anniversary, Nike included American civil rights activist and former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, which sparked backlash online and people spreading a trend #justburnit and people vowed to destroy their Nike products as a way of boycotting this new advert. The president at the time Donald Trump even responded to backlash of Nike’s advert as he had been strongly critical of the movement Kaepernick had sparked, he said “I think as far as sending a message, I think it’s a terrible message and a message that shouldn’t be sent”. Having the President against the campaign would have only furthered the backlash from it. The mayor of Kentucky city Coal Run, said he was “officially done” with Nike and the NFL, even taking it as far as asking Nike to cancel an order. Where the campaign was consistent, it was also inconsistent as it didn't show a limit on what people should really 'just do'. For Nike, there was a problem with communication as people really felt the need to go and do daring stunts, which may have been irresponsible but the campaign wasn't clear.
Negatives of Apples campaign
“Get-A-MAC” Campaign Analysis | Aubrey Schoen Leap (psu.edu)
Apple were aware that they may receive backlash and went into this campaign stating that no publicity is bad publicity. Apple had comments such as “if youre a PC user, these ads are more likely to irritate you than convert you to their product”. This was a running problem with Apple as they couldn’t seem to back their claims such as their “Macs are better at life stuff”.
In 2013, Windows fought back against Apple, but not about computers. Instead they fought about tablets, where the ads looked similar to the Get A Mac campaign but instead of 2 people they had actual products, an iPad and a tablet. This is not beneficial for Apple as it showed flaws in their strategy of fighting against their competitors and shows how the weaknesses of Apple leave them vulnerable.
Conclusion
Both Nike and Apple had very successful campaign in the end, with Nike’s brand sales rising 31% since billboards and TV commercials featured Colin Kaepernick and other athletes as the ads rolled out over labour day weekend and Nike’s stock has reached an all time high. Customers have shared their new purchases to show off their brand loyalty.
Also, Apple also had a very successful campaign as they effectively showed off that Apple is the better product in a way that everyone who watches can understand
Author | Year | Title | Place | Publisher | Date |
Tom Anderson | 2019 | Whats the secret behind Nike”s “Just Do It” campaign? | Website: https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/emotional-branding-secret-behind-nikes-just-campaign | Blinkist Magazine | August 23 2019 |
Helen Glebova | 2018 | Nike’s New Consumer Experience Distribution Strategy Hits the Ground Running | Website: https://www.singlegrain.com/marketing-strategy/nikes-39-billion-marketing-strategy-just-do-it-like-nike-does/ | Single Grain | 16 October 2019 |
Luke Filipowicz | 2020 | The ‘Get a Mac’ campaign was instrumental in shaping Apple’s reputation with consumers | Website: https://www.imore.com/get-mac-campaign-was-instrumental-shaping-apples-reputation-consumers | iMore | 7 February 2020 |
Ivan De Luce | 2019 | The most memorable Apple ad every year, from its 1984 Super Bowl hit to dancing iPod silhouettes | Website: https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-history-through-advertising-40-years-anniversary-2017-2?r=US&IR=T | INSIDER | 10 September 2019 |
Erika Giles | 2020 | 25 best marketing campaigns of all time that spark inspiration | Website: https://www.bluleadz.com/blog/20-of-the-best-marketing-campaigns-of-all-time | Blueadz | 17 August 2020 |
BBC Sport staff | 2018 | Colin Kaepernick: Nike suffers #justburnit backlash over advertising campaign | Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/american-football/45407340 | BBC | 4 September 2018 |
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