Semiotics in Advertising

I will start with the definition of semiotics, though it is not actually a defined system. In simple terms, it is the analysis of meanings and signs within our culture. In the role of advertising, it is more specifically the analysis of meanings in advertisements. 

Beasley and Danesi describe the goal of semiotics in the study of advertising is to unmask the arrays of hidden meanings in the underlying level" (2002). 

Iain McRury defines semiotics as "the attempt to offer insights not just to what ads mean, but proposing how they mean" (2009). 


Umberto Eco (1976) views semiotics as a science in the traditional sense of the word for five reasons:

• it has an autonomous discipline 
• it has a set of standardised methodological tools 
• it has the capability of producing hypotheses
• it affords the possibility of making predictions
• its findings may lead to the modification of the actual state of the objective world.

In advertising, semiotics allow advertisers to identify the target market - it mostly plays on common references and cultural knowledge etc. 

Let's take a look at the latest advert from Flash celebrating their fifty years:

Welcome

I shall start by first saying why this blog exists. Part of my course requires me to keep a blog and post topics surrounding Advertising Strategy. 

The influx of posts just now should probably be explained too - this is the third blog I have now set up. I was required to keep a blog in the first year and then moved those posts onto my every-day regular blog and now, to make life a little easier I have created AdStratUndergrad so all my marketing posts can be in one place. 

Any created in the first year are labelled with "year one" and any created this year will just have your regular, normal and relevant labels. I didn't think it worth deleting them. It shows how far my knowledge has grown and people of the internet still look at them from time-to-time. 

So these posts have been created over the past five or so months but now would make it seem I can type at lightening fast speed which, by the way, is a perception I am more than happy to have. 

Enjoy!

Business Cards - is there any point?

Are business cards a thing of the past?

I'd like to think not.

What with social media sites such as LinkedIn, there really is no need to print and distribute business cards surely? I think there is still a place for physical business cards and they're perfect for those random opportunities where you just happen to meet someone in a pub or sandwich place. Have you ever tried searching your name on LinkedIn and seeing how many other people share the same name? Or perhaps like me you have a name commonly misspelled - things like this mean you miss out on potential contacts and potential opportunities in terms of internships and jobs. 

My blog, thankfully, is starting to pick up and get a lot of digital footfall and I'd like for it to have more so putting your blog domain on a business card is a good way of getting it out there. If you talk to someone about it, chances are they'll

Is the High Street being made redundant?

This is going to be a more topical post based around the three companies which have gone into administration literally just over two weeks into the new year.

Now, I studied economics for a year but am by no means an expert in this field however I do have a passion for marketing, business and of course, shopping so I like to know about these sorts of things and have, unfortunately, been on the wrong end of the stick when it comes to companies going bust.

So if you're in the UK you'll have seen that Jessops, HMV and now Blockbuster have all had to call it a day (although, I believe HMV and perhaps Blockbuster are still waiting for a last minute white knight) all basically within the same week. This is not a good start to the year as thousands lose their jobs and it's certainly not a good feeling when it comes to looking at the UK's economy. 

As I was laying in bed the other night I got to thinking about the future of the High Street. I certainly don't buy movies, CDs, cameras and pretty much any electronics in-store preferring to hunt for better deals online and with shoppers becoming more savvy and the introduction of smart phones it seems these retailers were doomed. Stores such as CEX and Cash Converters are my new favourite haunts for DVDs as you get a cut price deal for used discs with the safety of knowing they've been tested

John Lewis Christmas Advert

Just like my Coca-Cola Christmas post a few posts ago, I am always astounded at the power of advertising in connection to Christmas. This time, it is all about John Lewis. As per every Christmas at this time of year there is a whole host of posts on Twitter and Facebook about the latest John Lewis Christmas advert! 

This year, it definitely didn't disappoint in terms of emotions. I cried re-watching it for this particular post. Actual tears. Over a snowman. Having said that, all the John Lewis adverts recently have made me well up - the "Never Knowingly Undersold" advert has me crying and clutching onto my boyfriend every time I see it. 

In case you're one of the few who haven't seen the new John Lewis Christmas campaign featuring the beautifully voiced Gabrielle Aplin as the singer I have posted the video below:

The Magazine Illusion - what are you really buying?

Today's post is on the topic of magazines - more importantly - advertising in magazines. 

Before I begin - I love magazines. I would kill to work for a major magazine and like many women, I buy the main three every month - Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Company. Occasionally I will buy Marie Claire depending on the contents. Unfortunately I haven't got the funds to be able to afford the likes of Elle and Vogue and I tend to really only buy "trash mags" like Heat when I need to fill my lunch hour despite it being one of my firm favourites. So this isn't me bashing magazines or the magazine featured in any way.

This post will feature the magazine Glamour. Purely because it was the first one I picked up. It's a fairly old copy (October 2012, we're now on December 2012) as I like to keep two months backdated with my magazines where possible. I used to be a hoarder but then realised there wasn't much point as I never go back to them!

£2 for a magazine is cheap. It's monthly, it's packed with everything I like and I mean, look how thick it is - value for money or what?

No. In terms of actual content it's half the size of the physical object. When I was about thirteen and started buying magazines my dad posed a question to me that I have never forgotten - he asked why I bought the magazines firstly and then when I said all the positive reasons why listed above he set me an exercise. My father told me to go through my magazine and rip out all the adverts. Not the ones that were an advert on one side of the page and a feature on the other but all the "this sheet of paper is completely sponsored" pages. 

I was shocked. I didn't even realise two thirds of my magazine that I thought was so thick and full of content was all just advertising. Now, I enjoy adverts, I like looking at them, I like being sold certain products and lifestyles and I like seeing what companies do but I know some people don't and see them as consumerism taking over the world and a waste of their money. 

I've spoken to various friends and colleagues and none of them have ever done this exercise or even thought about it at all and bought magazines for much the same reasons as I do. So I thought I would do this exercise again as a blog post. Now, if you really want to get an accurate picture you can go through and remove adverts mathematically so there's not a single advert in there but for the sake of saving time and my clean up process I left the half ad/half feature pages in. 

I took out all complete adverts as well as the advertising space at the back and the promotional features. 

Example of half advert/half feature pages - the other side of the article was an advert

My pile of adverts and promotional features

Remains of the once-thick magazine

Just to get a real idea I am inserting a before and after of the thickness of the magazine below:

It is now less than half the size of the original product when you remove almost all advertising. So when you hand over your £2 for your super thick and seemingly good value for money magazine - just remember - you're paying for all those adverts. 

Of course, I will continue to purchase my favourite magazines but for the purpose of knowledge I hope this has been insightful. 

Christmas Sales Observation

It seems to be the new trend for retails in the past few years to do post-Christmas sales BEFORE Christmas now. 

I'm not complaining, as much as I like a bargain I don't like them enough to get up early on boxing day and fight everyone else to find a good deal. I never think to go online, quite frankly, Christmas is the ONLY time where I can actually see my family thanks to my job so I don't like to waste a minute of valuable mother-following time. 

However, recently things have started to go in my favour. Retailers seem to be throwing sales through November to January which of course is helpful for those of us who see Christmas as a massive hole in the pocket but not nice for those who are slow to realise the new trend and end up missing out come boxing day!

I seem to remember last year an article in the Daily Mail about how some shoppers were outraged because there was pretty much nothing left after shoppers had cleared out the stores BEFORE Christmas. 

Personally, I don't see the issue. How can anyone not want to space out the shopping? I LOVE buying things and then bringing them home and showing my other half everything I bought even if he doesn't quite feel the same enthusiasm! So spacing it out more means more show and tell. I suppose it's never bothered me because I don't have common clothes sizes, I'm not particularly keen on what's hot to wear and I never have money after Christmas anyway.

And if Christmas can be less dear, what's the issue?