Pre-teens are the fastest growing consumer group spending billions of dollars each year and consequently, are commanding the attention of many advertisers and companies. It’s no surprise that many of the ads we see on TV, magazines, newspapers and on radio are targeted towards pre-teens. So what makes this advertisement a successful marketing tool for 12 Year olds?
The purpose of the advertisement:
The main purpose for creating this advertisement is to sell the product. The advertisement effectively does this by catching the viewer’s attention by the use of colour in the background matching the Herbal Essences bottles and also the clothes of the celebrity who is selling it to the viewer.
Another purpose for creating this advertisement is to make it well known to the viewer what brand of hair care it is and this can be referenced back to the celebrity who is trying to sell it to the target audience. The advertisement is also trying to promote their new ambassador who is Leighton Meester (celebrity).
There is also a website at the bottom of the ad, to try and make the audience visit their site to let them know more about their brand. This is a very modern form of communication which the pre-teens have mastered from an early age.
The next purpose for creating this ad is to promote a new formula of “smoothing serum” which will compliment the new range shampoo and conditioner of the same brand. It will help to smooth hair and eliminate “frizzness”.
This ad wants the viewer to make them feel like they can get the same hair as Leighton, just by buying this product.
The structure, form and layout of the advertisement:
The structure, form and layout of this advertisement include the colours used, in which the reds and oranges of the background match the reds and oranges of the shampoo and conditioner bottles. This creates an aesthetically pleasing effect to the viewer and will make it eye catching when flicking through a magazine or newspaper. The yellow dress that Leighton is wearing is also a bright contrast and complementary colour that is between the red and orange colours of the background. Catching the viewer’s eyes is part of the ‘Attention’ category of AIDA, in which having bright colours and an interesting layout, will make the audience want to keep reading.
The focal point of this ad is Leighton. This is because she is the biggest image on the ad and is wearing a bright yellow dress which attracts more attention to her. The target audience will automatically be drawn to Leighton and want to know more about their favourite personality.
The fashion that is displayed in this ad, in particular, the make up, styled hair and the dress that Leighton is wearing makes the viewer think that if they buy that product, they can look like that. Fashion is also highly appealing to young girls as they are becoming more and more influenced by their friends and also the fashion of the time.
The layout of the text and information is displayed in a very modern way. It shows overlapping, different colours, different shapes or borders, different text size and different fonts being used to attract viewer’s attention and to keep them reading.
The colour scheme is very complementary and work well together. The placement of the words, “Touchably smooth locks (like Leighton’s)” is located directly next to Leighton’s hair and face. This is a very effective advertising tool because every time you see Leighton’s face you immediately associate her with the brand Herbal Essences and vise-versa.
The target audience and advertising features which indicate who the audience is:
The advertisers have put their website as well as facebook site on the ad in order for their target audience to get more information about them. The company knows that their audience is a computer and technological generation, and so the website and facebook link will prove to be a very helpful source for selling their products.
The celebrity, Leighton Meester, is from a very successful TV series Gossip Girl. It is about a group of friends from the rich side of town who present all of their high school, social and family issues. This television series is very popular for pre-teens and teens. The show highlights the struggles of friendships, love, high school, parents, parties, curfews and fashion.
The advertisers at Herbal Essences have discovered this well known series and have used one of the most attractive and fashionable celebrities from the show to promote their new product. This has become one of the most influential ways of advertising products because the viewers thinks that if they buy that particular product than they will be just like Leighton from Gossip Girl.
When advertisers include attractive images into the ad, it interests the reader to keep reading and find out more about the product. ‘Interest’ is the second part of AIDA in which advertisers use to effectively sell and promote their products.
The 12 year old age bracket are at a very impressionable age in which they will believe almost everything and anything that they see on TV or in magazines. When the advertisers say that you can have “Touchably smooth locks (like Leighton’s)” 12 year olds are most likely to believe it. They want to be like Leighton so much that they will buy anything to look like her.
When the advertisers use emotive language in their advertising, it usually means the targeted audience have already read the whole ad and is now looking back over the images. These images can have a desired effect which means that the audience finds the image or text appealing and will want to buy it. ‘Desire’ is the third part of AIDA.
The advertisers have chosen to place this ad in magazines such as Dolly and Girlfriend. Both of these magazines are aimed at pre-teen and teen girls. The ad displays many different features including celebrities, advice, friendships, love, fashion, information, celebrity “gossip” etc. Placing the ad in such magazines will take full advantage of the audience, these magazines are targeting. The ad will encourage the viewer to buy the product for many different reasons including: wanting to be just like the celebrity that is selling the product, their friendship group is another strong influence so if a friend has already bought this teen magazine then if they buy it too, it will make them “cool”. They believe that it will make their hair super smooth just like Leighton’s.
Identify and describe in detail the written and visual techniques which make this advertisement an effective marketing tool:
The most important visual technique that the company of Herbal Essences has used to effectively market their product is the celebrity, Leighton Meester, who appears to the left of the ad. She is also the main focal point because of her brightly coloured fashionable clothing and also because she is the largest image on the advertisement which immediately draws the viewer in. The different use of text font and size adds a different perspective for the audience. Instead of just writing in the same size and font there are different colours and frames. This appeals to the target audience because it is creative and presents something new and fresh and pleasing to the eye.
A very effective written technique would be the website and facebook link at the bottom which encourages viewers to look for more information about their products, their new ambassador (Leighton) and general information.
As Leighton is on the hit TV series Gossip Girl it will be easy for the viewer to remember her face as she will be associated by the brand, Herbal Essences.
Leighton’s fashionable clothing also attracts the 12 year old viewers because they are at a stage where they are trying out different fashions and finding out what suites them. Leighton’s dress is also a distinguishing feature as it compliments the colour of the background and of the text.
The different written texts that are used to make this ad more appealing is the use of colloquial language. An example of this is “touchably”. This type of language can be considered as a great marketing tool when trying to attract the attention of the pre-teen audience because they often speak in colloquial or slang language. The targeted audience can relate to the modern way of selling products.
Another written technique used as an effective advertising tool is the alliteration, ‘Smoothing Serum’. This attracts the viewer and adds another interesting and attention grabbing way of selling the product.
Conclusion:
From the evaluation above, it is clear to see that the advertisers of Herbal Essences have successfully created an effective advertisement which gets the attention of their target audience. They do this by using a celebrity to promote their product, using a range of text fonts, sizes and frames. Also, by using fashion and the words “just like Leighton” to influence the choices of a 12 year old wanting to look like a celebrity. They are also advertising in a popular pre-teen magazine. These decisions have all created an effective advertisement that is aimed at 12 year olds.
