So I sort of waited for a while to get a new post in, and I’ll tell you why. I was doing some research. For the past 2 weeks, during the Lions’ games, I’ve been watching commercials. And tracking them…
I was interested in seeing how many commercials were aimed at women during the games, if any. I know the great majority is commercials directed at men; we are well aware of the demographic of people watching the game. But I was surprised to find there actually are commercials directed at women. And, shockingly, both weeks yielded them at the same time during the games: the beginning and end.
Perhaps this is when women are paying attention most. But these commercials had very similar make up, too, with one main component: emotion. According to Siefert, et all, “ Recent models of advertising effectiveness have emphasized the importance of emotions, suggesting that advertisements that engage consumers on emotional levels will be most effective,” (1). If this is when women are watching the most, it makes most sense to play these types of commercials then.
Each of the commercials had a theme as well: empowering women. They emphasized successful women, women portraying a champion or showing independence. I thought this was pretty cool seeing that men can relate well (and share in forming an opinion about the ad) because it’s applicable.
Moreover, I also tracked the commercials “interactive factor.” By this, I mean those that encouraged social media interaction, app interaction, or website direction. The overwhelming majority of ads represented some sort of interactive factor. Additionally, the majority had web direction: “check out www.blahblah.com for more info,” etc.
As many could guess about advertising, “data suggest that interpersonal communication between consumers is more effective in influencing consumers' willingness to purchase a product than exposure to advertising alone,” (Advertising Age, 2008; Mohr, 2007; Rogers, 1995). By including this “interactive factor,” companies are giving viewers the perfect opportunity to create a legitimate buzz about the ad/product. If advertisers were smart, there wouldn’t be one single commercial without some sort of link presented.
My last observation that I found interesting was the advertisements for applications. Usable on the iPhone and Droid (prominently Droid), these applications were from two main genres: football and alcohol. There were a large amount of commercials directed at Fantasy Football players, promoting their fantasy platform.
Here's a stream of said ads (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QmH4jkqJFQ) (What I noted most interesting about these is that people that are playing fantasy are already well into their season, why keep advertising the programs? For the phone?)
Secondly, and the most interactive ad of both weeks, was the Bud Light commercial, asking people to “snap a pic” where the product was sold and “tag” Bud Light on Facebook to be entered into a contest. Interesting!
I really liked doing some research on the advertisements for the past couple weeks. It was a really tangible experience seeing what we’ve been researching/studying sort of come to life!
References:
Siefert, C. J., Kothuri, R., Jacobs, D. B., Levine, B., Plummer, J., & Marci, C. D. (2009). Winning the Super "Buzz" Bowl. Journal of Advertising Research, 49(3), 293-303. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
ADVERTISING AGE. "Family and Friends Most Influential on Shoppers/' April 9, 2008.
Mohr, I. "Super Bowl: A Case Study of Buzz Marketing." International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship 9, 1 (2007): 33-39.
Rogers, E. M. Diffusion in Innovation, 4th ed. New York: Free Press, 1995.
TV Pic Courtesy:
http://thebsreport.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/too-much-tv-may-mean-earlier-death/
Rosie the Riveter Pic Courtesy:
http://askmissalpha.com/2010/07/the-myth-of-the-independent-woman/
Interesting idea for a post, I would generally think that most of the commercials would be aimed at men, but it is surprising that they would direct many to women as well. I am not surprised that the commercial was based around emotion and that they focused on empowering women. I think that this is especially appealing to women and even more so when they are engaged in an activity such as watching sports that many think is a male only activity.
ReplyDeleteI think women are beginning to really play a stronger roll in sports activities from watching to playing to playing Fantasy. I am surprised how many women I work with and go to school with are actually big fans of sports especially football and that play Fantasy Football. In an article that is about two years old by Jonathan Berr on the site Daily Finance, he discusses how in 2009 the number of women playing fantasy football was growing, "12 percent of the top fantasy site's players are women...about 18 percent of the fantasy sports content on ESPN.com is consumed by women." Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/13/media-world-ranks-of-women-fantasy-football-players-growing/
I also came across this is doing some searches on statistics comparing how women's role in the Fantasy Football. I'm sure there are a ton of groups about Fantasy sports just for women but it's good to see the game is growing for women as well as men.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-Who-Love-Fantasy-Football-and-the-rest-who-support-them/155379064487526
Ashley, I totally agree. I was just as surprised as you are. But if you think about it, and this is my thought process just coming out of a long, committed relationship with a football lover, we sort of run the household as women. And although men "are watching the game no matter what," if they are in a relationship, they moreso enjoy themselves when we're involved somehow. Whether it's inviting the other guys (and gals!) over to watch or making snacks or the group, if men see that we're involved, they generally have a better time.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think advertisers are starting to get a feel for that. So they will trend toward us, knowing that we're in the background, watching too.
Maybe I'm off, but I think that's a really intelligent idea for advertisers.
S
Sam, when I see a TV commercial that doesn't promote web activity I think to myself "what are they thinking? Don't they know it's the 21st century?"
ReplyDeleteTo be a successful business, you have to have an online presence. A TV ad's purpose nowadays is to open a viewer to a new product and have them do more research of it online. Many times, they will say to "like us on Facebook" or "follow us on Twitter." The feeling of being part of something has an emotional effect on people and therefore are more effective just as you found out in your research. It's kind of funny how this all ties together sometimes...
Alex, I agree it's really surprising when a business does not have an online presence or even a social media presence. Ironically, the company I work for did not have a social media presence until this summer and I couldn't help but think what is the hold up?
ReplyDeleteI also think it's important remember that many people are actually viewing television on a computer, mobile device, or if they are viewing on an actual TV they probably have another screen in their lap where they have online access. Having the online presence in commercials gives advertisers another opportunity for you to access more of their information. I think it's especially important during a game that is aired on TV, because people are probably already watching multiple games on multiple screens and if its a product they are interested in a QR code or follow us on Facebook could really draw them into looking up more about it. I also think that women are more likely being targeted to look up more information online, men I feel like are just more involved in the game and not about other information.