Frontline's "The Persuaders"
The Frontline episode, "The Persuaders" is perhaps the most enlightening 60 minutes not just an advertising and public relations student, but also for producers and consumers alike.
Throughout the episode, I was able to completely relate to each idea and topic they discussed within the realm of advertising. Overall, the show was incredibly enlightening and brought perspective to how much marketing, emotional and demographic research goes into each ad campaign out there. At times it seemed mind boggling, even overwhelming to think about what happens behind the scenes.
The most astonishing portion of the episode was the segment on the airline Song. They provided the most ideal approach to marketing research. Their specified target audience was distinctively identified as "Carrie." The detail of this target demographic was incredible. Carrie was a wife and mother who shopped at Target but had a Neiman Marcus credit card. This extremely specific demographic played into the ethos, or emotion of the campaign- what do women desire when they travel? The emphasis on emotion within the Song ad campaign demonstrates the importance of emotion in the success and recall factors. Some of the most successful ad campaigns in recent years have appealed to a more emotional side.
Five best emotional ad campaigns in the last decade:
- Dove
- Nike
- Old Spice
- Red Cross
- P&G
Watching this documentary definitely sheds a new light on marketing and the role of marketing research. I will look at advertisements and their overall campaigns more critically and thoughtfully. Not only will I be watching ads now, but thinking further into what the deeper message is for the product. What does the company want you to know about the product? But more importantly, how can they relate this message to you so that you you become emotionally engaged in it enough to want to purchase it?
With much of the presentation focusing on the aspect of research before creating a demographic group- this can tell us a lot about persuasive techniques used in advertising. For one, we can see that everything is extremely specialized and specific to certain target demographic groups. This doesn't mean that they are the only demographic group that the product is trying to reach, but they are the ideal consumer for the product. Its really incredible to think about the effort that is made on the part of the producers to relate the consumers to the product to gain their loyalty.
I wish that as a college student I had the time and the means to be able to watch television simply for the commercials to analyze and critique. However, all this talk of emotional appeal in advertisements got me thinking about my personal favorite advertisement involving emotional appeal. Enjoy!
