Ad comparison assignment
The goal of this assignment is to look at how advertising can be used to create different positions for products in the same product category.
What you need to do
You will start by selecting ads for two different brands within the same product category (e.g., two shampoo ads, two car ads, etc.) that are shown now or have been shown within the past year (e.g. before video clips on a news site, Hulu or youtube channels or on TV). Please provide the URL to the ad, preferably as a Youtube link. You may not choose any ads shown in class or the two ads in the sample assignment (Pantene and Tresemmé).
Answer the following questions for each ad and provide details from the ads to support your conclusions. The assignment is related to the material in chapters 15 and 16.
What you will turn in
Your submission should be no more than one page (1″ margins and 12 point font, either Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial) uploaded on Blackboard in Word format or as a PDF. If you do not have access to any of those formats at home you need to finalize your submission in one of the computer labs on campus.
The assignment should have the following outline/heading structure (use bullet-points for the answers for each ad):
- Ad content – Please describe each ad in some detail (2-3 sentences), and provide a URL for the ad from e.g., youtube.
- Benefits and advertising appeal – State at least one benefit and one advertising appeal for each ad. Some ads will have more than one benefit and appeal. You may state multiple benefits and appeals if you have space.
- Executional style – What is the executional style used in each ad? (see exhibit 16.2 in the book (or at https://quizlet.com/82157598/exhibit-2-ten-common-execution-styles-for-advertising-flash-cards/)
- Promotion goal – indicate the promotion goal (see section 15-3 in the book) of the ad and explain your answer. Some ads will, to some extent, have more than one goal. If you think that is the case, select the one you think is the most important one.
- Target Audience – Based on your knowledge of the products and the execution of the ads, provide a description of the likely target audience for each ad (which may be a subset of the target market for the product). Please provide an explanation for your conclusion.
- Media Strategy – Based on the target audience you think the ad has, what times during the day should this commercial be shown on TV, and what types of channels and programs would be the best fit? Please be specific and provide an explanation for your media strategy. While most commercials today are also shown online, please focus on its placement in traditional television media.
- Most successful strategy – Which of the ads do you think is most successful? Please explain your answer.
This is a sample assignment from a previous semester: MKTG 360 assignment 3 example.pdf
