MAN230 Week 2 Assignment
Background
Brand Communication
Brand Communication is how a company sends a message to consumers about their brand. During the 2016 Summer Olympics, Nike launched an advertising campaign focusing on the unlimited potential of both everyday and professional athletes. According to a study by Google, Nike’s ads were the most remembered by consumers during the Olympic games, beating out other companies like Coca Cola, Tide, and McDonald’s. Take a look at this video from that campaign:
Nike: Unlimited You (2:58)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA7ULX_V4jk (Links to an external site.)
When you watched the video, what kinds of emotions did you feel? Did it get you to think? Did it inspire you to do anything? As the campaign title “Unlimited” implies, Nike did a great job with this campaign of breaking through expectations and delivering thought-provoking material that caught their audience’s attention and engaged their emotions. In this particular video, for example, rather than sticking with familiar motivational lines about average, or even less than average, athletes eventually excelling at their chosen sports, they broke off from the script and took defying expectations to a whole new level, really driving home the idea of being unlimited.
So, what kinds of factors are important to consider when spreading the word about your brand? We can determine advertising goals and analyze the effectiveness of brand communication using a six-factor model called the Facets Model of Effects.
Facets Model of Effects
The Facets Model of Effects focuses on the various aspects of a consumer’s response to the brand message in order to determine what strategies will engage their attention. This model focuses on what the consumers see/hear, feel, think/understand, connect with, believe, and act/do to determine how the consumer can be effectively reached by the brand message. Depending on the type of impact desired, different facets of the model may be focused on more heavily in any given campaign.
See/Hear – Perception
In order for an ad to be successful, it needs to be noticed. Perception is the process by which we receive information through our senses. Consumers are constantly being bombarded by various sources of stimuli. Ads that stand out and “break through” all of the other stimuli competing for the consumer’s attention will leave a more lasting impression on the audience.
Feel – Emotion
This facet of the model focuses on how the brand communication affects the consumer’s wants, emotions, mood, and feelings. Emotional responses are powerful in the way that they can push past disinterest. By creating a positive response to the brand, the audience is drawn in. Alternatively, emotions can be used to create negative feelings towards a problem the brand can solve.
Think/Understand – Cognition
Another strategy that can be used for effective brand communication is creating the material that will make the consumer stop and think. Cognition refers to how the consumer learns about and gains understanding of information. Advertising can draw on a consumer’s thinking and understanding by providing information about the product or sharing comparisons with other products.
Connect – Association
Association often utilizes symbolism to create a connection with the consumer, relating the brand to some type of quality or characteristic that the intended audience values. The result should be to transform the brand into something unique or more special than other similar products. Products may be advertised as something specially suited for athletes, teenagers, traveling, or any variety of other options that may best reach the targeted consumers.
Believe – Persuasion
Persuasion focuses on trying to influence the audience to believe or do something. It can draw from people’s motivations, outside influences, engagement with the brand, and ultimately tries to produce conviction in the consumer. Trying to create or change attitudes is crucial to brand communication.
Act/Do – Behavior
The act/do facet of the model aims at trying to inspire action. This may be direct action, or an immediate response, or more often it aims for indirect action, or a delayed response. Creating a behavioral response from the consumer is often the most important goal in brand communication because it drives the consumer to invest in the brand whether that may be through sales, advocating for the product, or engaging in social action causes.
Citations
Which TV Ads Made the Podium During the 2016 Olympics? (2016, August 23). Retrieved from
https://analytics.googleblog.com/2016/08/which-tv-ads-made-podium-during-2016.html (Links to an external site.)
Prompt
For this assignment, you will need to choose a brand and review one of their recent advertising or marketing campaigns, then write a 600 word paper in proper IWG format discussing how the campaign utilized the facets model of effects. You could also include whether there were any facets you think they could have used differently to make the campaign more successful. Use at least two outside sources for your references and citations.
