K Page 6 Evaluating Windsor Smith example essay topic

Promotional Strategy Promotional Communication Analysis Company name: Windsor Smith From FHM, June Edition Word Count: 3008 Contents Page Introduction! K! K! K! K! K!

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K! K! K. Page 4 The Target Market & Consumer Behaviour! K! K! K! K. Page 5 The Communication Process!

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K! K! K! K... ! K! K. Page 16 Introduction The magazine advertisement chosen for this assignment was selected from FHM June 2004 edition.

FHM is predominately a male magazine being the biggest selling men's magazine in Australia and New Zealand. The chosen advertisement is a Windsor Smith advert on page 73 of FHM, a little bit less then halve way through the magazine and positioned between some of the hottest articles in the magazine. Analysis of this advertisement suggests the Windsor Smith advertisement is positioned at male metro sexual readers, wanting to purchase exceptionally fashionable shoes for themselves. Marketing Strategy Opportunity Analysis! yen Marketing opportunities are areas where there are favorable demand trends, where the company believes customer needs and opportunities are not being satisfied, and where it can complete effectively.! | (Belch & Belch 2001, p. 40) Windsor Smith has effectively seen the opportunity of marketing to the new breed of Aussie males, the! yen metro-sexual-man!

| 60 minute reporter Charles Wooley, describes this new male breed as! yen Like Sex and the City, only for blokes, they are into makeovers, make-up and moisturizers. They know everything there is to know about shirts and shoes! X and they! |re straight.! | FHM describes the! yen metro-sexual-man! | in his mid-to late twenties, intelligent and in a professional position, he knows all the latest brands and trends, he can chose a shiraz with his risotto and tie a perfect Windsor.

Competitive Analysis! SS Competitive Analysis is something special a firm does or has that gives it an edge over competitors!" (Belch & Belch, p. 41) Other advertisement in the same edition of FHM includes a Julius Marlow, advertising stylish male shoes. It is not known if the marketers of Windsor Smith were aware that the Julius Marlow advertisement was to be placed in the same issue. The Julius Marlow advertisement is on a double page spread on the nineteenth page of FHM. It is informing the reader that Julius Marlow shoes, not only make the pricey male dress shoes that they are well known for. But also now make fashionable shoes similar to the shoes advertised in the Windsor Smith advertisement, similar in style and price.

The Target Market and Consumer Behaviour! yen Target marketing is the process of identifying the specific needs of segments, selecting one or more of these segments as a target and developing marketing programs directed to each.! | (Belch & Belch 2001)! yen Consumer Behaviour can be defined as the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires.! | (Belch p. 107) For companies like Windsor Smith to succeed in today's competitive marketplace, they must be customer-centered, winning customers from competitors by delivering greater value. But before they can satisfy consumers, the company must first understand their needs and wants. Thus, sound marketing requires a careful analysis of consumers. The following is the market segmentation for the Windsor Smith Advertisement.

Windsor Smith have done a great job in choosing their audience and knowing how to get there attention, by using a beautiful, young, blond-haired women in a little black dress, doing everything she can to hold in her silicone breasts. The primary audience for this ad is! yen metro-sexual man! | who is in his 'glory years' who is stylish and hip. He is most likely to be a professional in his mid to late twenties who enjoys socialising and buying fashion and leisure items. And who is possibly on the bachelor market, and may need some help in attaining a beautiful voluptuous, model girlfriend. He has probably has a greater disposable income than previous generations and he knows all the latest brands and trends. He is spending his cash on fashion, fragrance, grooming products, cars and gadgets He is most likely to be in the mid to upper class society.

Windsor is definitely targeting the self-esteem of the metro-sexual male. Men that, although stylish and hip may not have everything they want in life. They may be at a highpoint in their careers and social groups, but lack in joy. This ad is using the emotion, lust, to sell the Shoes. Having examined the segment, target and position of Windsor Smith, it is now suitable to evaluate the communication components of the Windsor Smith advertisement. The Communication Process Advertising over the past few decades particularly with the undeniable development in electronic technology has progressed into a multi-million dollar industry worldwide.

However, there is one fact that remains the same in all facets of advertising, that is, if you don! |t communicate with the consumer market and express and sell your product, that product is destined to fail. So, the question beckons. How does a marketing team create an advertising campaign that communicates and gains the attention of the consumer, and thus, encourages the consumer to by the product? The communication process is often very complex.

Success depends on such factors as the nature of the message, the audience's interpretation of it, and the environment in which it is received. (Belch p. 139) Of course there are many, many other factors involved such as colours, shapes, and the receivers! | previous mentality about the product and / or brand etc which will be examined in later in this report. However a basic model of the communication process has been developed, which outlines the major participants in the process being of course the sender and the receiver. This communication process is also the basis on how Windsor Smith attempts to inform and translate their stylish shoes to the consumer. Source The source / sender is a stylish model spokespeople for Windsor Smith. In the advert they use a male model wearing a Windsor Smith shoe and a beautiful, young, silicon packed blonde headed women.

Encoding Involves putting thoughts, ideas, or information into a symbolic form. The background, which is pitch-black, shows style and class, and helps to accentuate the beautiful, voluptuous blonde in the middle of the page, wearing also a black dress. The male model that is too wearing a black suit along with a fawn colour shoe (the product). All the black was obviously chosen so that the blonde hair from the female, would stand out against the black background and the windsor smith. com writing across the middle of the page and would catch the eye of the audience and stand out from the rest of the things in the picture along with the shoe.

The words in the advert are very few but effective. Windsor Smith. com. In bold yellow writing, which stands out above the black background. The female model that is wearing a little black dress, with her silicone breast that are bulging out of the top is very similar to many of the other pages within the magazine. It blends in with many of the pages among the magazine, and a readers first glance my take it as a girl spread. Message The previous aspect leads to the development of the message process.

The message is the communication of information containing the meaning the source wants to convey to a receiver. Its says that these shoes will get you noticed. If you want to be cool, stylish and beautiful like the models in the advert wear Windsor shoes, because that's the sort of people who wear them. It also gives the message to men, that they can have a beautiful girlfriend as long as they wear Windsor Smith shoes.

Channel Associated with the message, the channel is the method in which the communication travels. Windsor Smith has used print media non-personal channel of communication approach. Using FHM magazine (June 2004) the advertising and marketing team carried a message without interpersonal contact between sender and receiver. Receiver / Decoding Generally the receivers of the information about the product are the consumers in the market targeted, they are the audience who read hear and see the marketers message and decode it. In the case of the Windsor Smith the receiver is anyone who reads FHM. FHM is full of: "X Funny stories"X Sport"X Men's Fashion"X Girls Spreads"X And Girls Spreads"X And More Girls Spreads The majority of men that buy FHM for what ever reason will look at all the beautiful spreads of girls in amongst the magazine.

The way the advert is presented is no different to many of the girl spreads, of women's flesh openly exposed within the magazine and will catch the eye of every reader. The information-processing model developed by William McGuire is a model that assumes that the receiver who is in a persuasive communication situation like advertising is an information processor or problem solver. (Belch et al, 2001. p 159) Cognitive Stage Affective Stage Behavioural Stage Diagram 2: Information processing model, of the response process This model at the cognitive level, involves presentation of the product, gaining attention, and comprehension of the product and product brand in question. Yielding or liking the product, then retention or the receivers! | ability to accept relevant or valid information for comprehension occurs at the affective stage of the model. And finally it's simply the consumers! | behaviour and or attitude towards the product, which is relevant during the behaviour al aspect of the model. The FCB planning model was introduced by Richard Vaughn of the Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency.

In this model, Vaughn added the dimension of the thinking vs. feeling theory or right / left brain theory to the general hierarchy of affects model. This means that the left side of the brain is only capable of rational, cognitive thinking and that the right side is more emotionally charged and engages more in feelings. As shown below, the advertising company responsible for Windsor Smith should specifically evolve their strategy around working on the consumers! | visual stimulants. Windsor Smith advertisement fits into the affective strategy that is for highly involving / feeling purchases.

For these types of products such as Windsor Smith shoes, advertising should stress psychological and emotional motives such as building self-esteem enhancing ones ego or self-image. (Belch et al, 2001 p 159) Advertising is designed to stimulate some sort of response from consumers. (Belch, p. 65). When executing the creative strategy, Windsor Smith has used emotional appeals in the advertisement. The following is explanation of emotional appeals used in the Windsor Smith ad. Emotional Appeals!

SS Emotional appeals relate to the customers! | social and / or psychological needs for purchasing a product or service. Many of consumers! | motives for their purchase decisions are emotional, and their feelings about a brand can be more important than knowledge of its features or attributes! K. Many advertisers believe appeals to consumers! | emotions work better at selling brands that do not differ markedly from competing brands, since rational differentiation of them is difficult. !" (Belch, p. 276)! SS Marketers use emotional appeals in hope that the positive feeling they evoke will transfer to the brand and / or company.

Research shows that positive mood states and feelings created by advertising can have a favourable effort in consumers! yen evaluation of the brand. Studies also show that emotional advertising is better remembered than non-emotional messages. !" (Belch, p 277) Windsor Smith effectively uses emotional appeals in their advertisement some include: Affection Affiliation / belonging Happiness Acceptance Joy Status Love Respect Excitement Approval Self-esteem Arousal / stimulation Windsor Smiths creative strategy for the advertisement in the June edition of FHM, has an extremely important task, as it is the platform of communication between the company and its consumers, therefore being responsible for the companies! | production and economic outcome for that particular trading period. The angle that the company is trying to put on the shoes is that it is stylish and hip, and people that are cool and stylish wear Windsor shoes, and hang around beautiful models and you will get noticed wearing them. Evaluating Windsor Smith To achieve the image Windsor Smith came up with a strategy that involved incorporating the stylish shoes with a simplistic black background, gorgeous models and reputation that the brand has previously developed. An example outline of the creative tactics used in the advertisement, is outlined below: Headline The most important of the headline is attracting reader's attention.

It is the first words that will be read and are positioned to draw the most attention. The headline in the Windsor smith article shouts windsor smith. com; it is just below the middle of the page in a large yellow font. Most advertisers consider the heading to be the most important part of a print ad. In Windsor Smiths case it is the practically the only writing on the advert.! SS While the visual portion of an ad is obviously important, the headline often shoulders most of the responsibility of attracting readers! | attention.

Research has shown the headline is generally the first thing people look at in a print as, followed by the illustration. Only 20 percent of readers go beyond the headline and read the body copy! | (Hafer & White 1989, p. 98) So in edition to attracting attention, the headline must give the reader good reason to read the copy portion of the ad, which contains more detailed and persuasive information, about the product or service. To do this the message must put forth the main theme, appeal, or proposition of the ad in a few words.

Some print ads contain little if any body copy, as in Windsor Smiths case, so the headline must work within the illustration to communicate the entire advertising message. Headlines also perform a segmentation function by engaging the attention and interest of consumers who are most likely to buy a particular product or service. Advertisers begin the segmentation process by choosing to advertise in certain types of publication (eg: FHM! V a men's magazine).

Windsor Smith uses an indirect headline in their advert.! SS Indirect headlines are not straightforward about identifying the product or service or getting to the point. But they are often more effective at attracting readers! | attention and interest because they provoke curiosity and lure readers into the body copy to learn answers or get an explanation!" In Windsor Smiths case, lure the reader into going online and visiting the website. Indirect headlines rely on their ability to generate curiosity, on intrigue so as to motivate readers to became involved with the add and read the body copy to find out (again in Windsor Smiths case the website). This can be risky if the headline is not provocative enough to get the readers! | interest.

Advertisers deal with this problem by using a visual appeal that helps attract attention and offers another reason for reading more of the message. As mentioned earlier Windsor Smith effectively users sex visual appeal to help draw consumers onto their website. Visual Elements! SSThe illustration is often a dominant part of a print ad and plays an important role in determining its effectiveness. !" ! SSThe visual portion of an ad must attract attention, communicate and idea or image and work in a synergistic fashion with the headline to produce an effective message.

!" In some print ads, the visual portion of the ad is essentially the message and thus must convey a strong and meaningful image. !" (Belch, p 292)! SS Windsor Smith heavily relies on visual element to attract attention, comminute the image of the company to produce an effective message. Having a drop-dead gorgeous, blonde model wearing a little black dress with her silicon breast bulging out of and an attractive male model wearing the Windsor Smith shoes taking up the entire page.

Windsor Smith have done an effective job to draw the reader into researching more into Windsor Smith. Website: windsor smith. com Websites are used by companies for information, promotions, chat rooms, catalogues and services for sale. Windsor Smith in the advertisement campaign in June FHM direct the reader to their company website. On clicking on the website you are brought to a page with similar raunchy pictures of the female model. With black being the central colour used. While seductive funky music plays you can browse through the catalogue of shoes, with the prices and colours available.

Free posters of the female model are available for downloading. Stock list are present or the option of purchasing the product online. Conclusion I selected the advertisement because it caught my eye out while flicking through FHM. It was effective.

I felt the message loud and clear. When selecting an advertisement for this assignment I was constantly asking myself how does this make me feel. What is the message, and the Windsor Smith ad was strong in both these areas as analysed within the report. What I liked about the advertisement is the simplicity of it.

Not too many colours, just two gorgeous models, a Windsor smith shoe and a pair of silicone breast. I disliked the fact that the graphic design illustrator had left the female legs botchy and un toned. I believe they could have filtered and restored the legs to improve and enhance the advertisement. The one thing I would change about the advertisement is adding the stock lists on the bottom right hand corner. So the reader if interested not only has the option of going online and having a look but can go and have a look at them in person and try them on. Reference Page Belch, G. E and M.A. Belch (2001), Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective, Sixth edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, NY 60 minutes: web 08 24/story 935. asp accessed 13.05.

2004 FHM: web accessed 13.05. 2004 Hafer, Keith W. and White, Gordon E., Advertising Writing, 3rd Edition. (St Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1989).