One advantage of the Skoda campaign was that it
was distinctive and interesting. This is because it was unique and stood out
from other mainstream car adverts which are very much the same or similar. Yet,
Skoda decided to do a unique campaign which would intrigue customer. It was
unusual and not an advert that has been done or seen before. It attracted
existing customers as well as new customers especially couples over 35 because
people see car adverts every day and they all look the same yet this one is
distinctive and you know the advert was for Skoda when you see it because of
its exclusivity. People talking about the advert spread awareness of the brand
because everyone was talking about the campaign which made the brand stronger
because if people like the campaign they will want to do more research about
the car brand and may buy a car from there because they liked the advert which
is why campaigns are such an important factor in the promotional mix.
Additionally,
Skoda used different types of media to advertise their campaign. Their online campaigns and direct marketing was managed by Archibald Ingall Station who have worked with Skoda for 8 years previous to this campaign therefore they know the brand extremely well and they know what works well and what doesn't work so well for the campaigns. Examples of
the different types they used are; YouTube, TV, Banner ads, Magazines. At first the campaign
was launched on YouTube in 2007 and now, in 2016 it has 825000 views. Skoda
also advertised it on different TV channels such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5;
this was successful with getting brand awareness and increased sales because
these are popular channels and popular timing's so therefore a wide range of
people would see it. This means that people would want to find out more about
the brand, as the advert is quite short therefore this gives people a chance to
find out information about Skoda. Also, baking-themed banner ads were planed on different sited such as; The Times, Top Gear and AOL. Skoda created a car shaped, double chocolate toffee-fudge air freshener to send to
existing and potential customers to entice them to buy more products from Skoda and to create
customer loyalty. By creating a fudge freshener, it links well with their cake
advert because it relates to the song in the advert and the cake itself. By
giving the freshener to existing customers it will make them tell people how
good the brand is and they will feel a sense of loyalty to the brand therefore
they will gain sales. Skoda have their own website where they advertise their new
sales, offers and other information relevant at the time. This is useful
because if people want to find out more about Skoda from the advert they can
easily access their website and find out all the information.
Skoda
won multiple awards for their cake advert. They won the Cannes Award, which is
an international award, The British Television Awards, and The Creative Circle
Award. These are all extremely popular award ceremony, which means that it is a
massive deal for Skoda to win those awards. This means that because they are
popular, a lot of people from a wide variety of people saw that Skoda won those
awards. Also, these were very unique awards to win, they aren’t like the usual
mainstream awards and this means that it will go viral because their different
awards. These made the brand stronger because it made it more popular and by
winning awards people gain awareness and increased sales because it gives a
reason for people to investigate more about Skoda. Being credited for Skoda’s
original campaign means that they have got asked to attend various other
advertising festivals.
On the
other hand, the Skoda campaign has some disadvantages. Before the advert launched, Skoda planned to distribute the left over cake to local charities and hospitals as a kind remark. However, after the long 4 days of filming with intense hot lights beaming over the cake, Skoda marked the cake as unfit for human consumption and couldn't give the cake to charity. They then distributed the remaining cake to the East London Community Recycling Project for composting. This is bad for the businesses reputation as people feel like they are wrong as they falsely assumed they were going the cake to charity when they never did. This could result in people not buying from Skoda which is a bad thing for the business. Also, this is a waste of cake and money as all the cake got wasted at the end when the business spent a lot of money on ingredients, staff, lighting, equipment etc. They had a budget of spending around £500,000 on this advert and to waste that much cake is a huge problem for the business. This spread awareness through people speaking about the uproar of Skoda's false accusation and how unfair it is on the charity which can give the business bad publicity which would make the business weaker.
Another disadvantage is that, Skoda only received a short term boost in sales as they have only produced one massive campaign. Now in 2016, compared to 2007&2008 when the cake advert launched, the sales are not as high and they decreased soon after the campaign had its peak because no following campaign or brand awareness was made. Skoda's previous advertising agency improved the businesses consumers yet Skoda cars were still thought of as a cheap 'naff' brand. They produced a campaign which was a tremendous success and raised sales and the reputations of the business as people now thought differently of the brand. It is like Skoda made one extremely successful campaign and then they have disappeared which is a bad thing for the business because they are not going to receive a lot of sales or awareness as the only thing people have heard about the business is their cake advert years ago. For Skoda to rise back up and gain more frequent sales, they should be producing advertising campaigns more often to get people talking about them again and to receive good publicity. An example of a business who produce recurrent campaigns is Apple. They are constructing and making new adverts, videos, billboards, magazine adverts etc. They do this in order for their business to grow, to get constant publicity and awareness of the brand. This method has clearly worked as Apple are one of the most successful businesses.
To conclude this report, In my opinion the Skoda cake advert was a immediate popular and critical success. The business had over 37,000 people visiting their website in two weeks from when the ad was launched. Their YouTube video had 260,0000 views and a million and one people talking about it. Their were many advantages to this advert in increasing the sales for the business as well as gaining awareness for the business which it needed as it only had a short term boost due to its previous campaign. Yet on the other hand, there were also a few disadvantages which meant the business wasted a lot of resources as well as long term sales not increasing due to their lack of constant advertising campaigns. Overall, it was an extremely victorious advertising campaign.
Another disadvantage is that, Skoda only received a short term boost in sales as they have only produced one massive campaign. Now in 2016, compared to 2007&2008 when the cake advert launched, the sales are not as high and they decreased soon after the campaign had its peak because no following campaign or brand awareness was made. Skoda's previous advertising agency improved the businesses consumers yet Skoda cars were still thought of as a cheap 'naff' brand. They produced a campaign which was a tremendous success and raised sales and the reputations of the business as people now thought differently of the brand. It is like Skoda made one extremely successful campaign and then they have disappeared which is a bad thing for the business because they are not going to receive a lot of sales or awareness as the only thing people have heard about the business is their cake advert years ago. For Skoda to rise back up and gain more frequent sales, they should be producing advertising campaigns more often to get people talking about them again and to receive good publicity. An example of a business who produce recurrent campaigns is Apple. They are constructing and making new adverts, videos, billboards, magazine adverts etc. They do this in order for their business to grow, to get constant publicity and awareness of the brand. This method has clearly worked as Apple are one of the most successful businesses.
To conclude this report, In my opinion the Skoda cake advert was a immediate popular and critical success. The business had over 37,000 people visiting their website in two weeks from when the ad was launched. Their YouTube video had 260,0000 views and a million and one people talking about it. Their were many advantages to this advert in increasing the sales for the business as well as gaining awareness for the business which it needed as it only had a short term boost due to its previous campaign. Yet on the other hand, there were also a few disadvantages which meant the business wasted a lot of resources as well as long term sales not increasing due to their lack of constant advertising campaigns. Overall, it was an extremely victorious advertising campaign.
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