Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Big screen - and that's just the ad!

If you can't afford a 42" HD plasma TV at least you can console yourself with the almost lifesize advertisement for it (okay, I lie - the screen in the ad is only 23").

The advertising page in question measures 95cms wide by 57cms high. Massive. And one product is advertised on it.

The opposite of this is the advertising brochure produced by Franklins supermarkets. Franklins' philosophy: jam as many products onto the one page as you can. It's not so much advertising as assault.

Of course, one company is selling big screen televisions, while the other is selling tuna and frozen peas.

It's not unusual to see both of them meet in some sort of 'advertising middle ground' where they attempt to flog around 6-8 products per page.

While the inside of a Franklins shopping catalogue might look like the inside of our pantry (packed to the rafters), the average electrical wholesaler's catalogue doesn't look like the wall of our lounge room (we only have one television; not six).

Someone obviously thought that a big screen television deserved more than 10cms of advertising space. Big screen impact deserved big impact advertising. It's impossible to imagine any supermarket ever dedicating a whole double spread to a single toothbrush.

I wonder if the strategy will pay off for Big W. I guess they wouldn't be pouring massive dollars into ads like these if they weren't expecting lots of cashed-up customers.

4 comments:

cafedave said...

I think they have a very low price for a 42" plasma TV there, and they're hoping people will splash out their tax return money in time for the olympics.

From the text on that ad, it seems they're going for the people who haven't done any research into plasma vs lcd, or HD digital TV, or on TV size itself.

We generally put our junk mail straight into the recycling bin (it doesn't even get inside the house) - I'd imagine that the advertisers are working pretty hard to have people just open the ad in the first place!

Adriaan said...

That sounds like an extremely commonsense analysis of it all.

Jemimah said...

I love it. It is so "in your face" and audacious.

It invites a physical compare of your current TV screen to the size of the advertisement. It's one thing seeing those godzilla's on a shop wall. It's a completely different matter seeing the actual (or close to) size of the screen in your living room beside your puny little thing that's SO early 90's.

It's almost like how people shove sample sizes of things into your letterbox for cleaning agents or cereal (not to be confused).

I wonder how I can implement this kernel of advertising genius into Aged Care marketing? Lifesized cardboard nurses are harder to fit into letterboxes.

Adriaan said...

Yes, it is audacious. And, as I said, I doubt you'd ever get away with it if you were selling toothbrushes. But for big screen tele's it makes the point perfectly.

The marketing of aged care nurses ... now there's a challenge. I suppose if you can't get away with the cardboard cut-outs you might be able to come up with some sort of BOGOF deal a la The Lighting Warehouse ...