Analyzing Ads

1. What type of Media is it? (TV, Print, Direct Mail, Online, Outdoor)
 This ad is an outdoor media piece.

2. How does it try to persuade the buyer?
This ad tries to persuade the buyer by using the bandwagon and a bit of the excitement advertising strategy. It tells viewers that everyone is drinking Coca Cola now a days and that drinking Coca Cola will help you relax in life and feel cool. It tells how having fun is the "Coca Cola side of life", not stressing about everyday problems. They used bright, crisp colours in their ad.

3. Does it employ emotional appeals or is it more rational, fact-based?
I think this appeals to us emotionally more than just rational or fact-based. The advertisement makes you think that you have to drink Coca-cola in order to be like everyone else. This ad shows that everyone like Coca-cola and that if you don't drink it, you're not accepted by others. Just by looking at the advertisement, it makes me feel really thirsty. I feel like I need to go to the nearest store and buy myself an ice-cold Coca Cola.

4. Who is the ad targeting and how can you tell?
The ad is targeting mostly teenagers and young adults. I think that children would not be able to understand an advertisement like this with the ad message and the straws so this is definetly focused towards the older teens who don't usually drink Coca-cola. The clever ad tries to get people who don't drink Coca Cola to try it.



1. What type of Media is it? (TV, Print, Direct Mail, Online, Outdoor)
This is a TV piece of media.

2. How does it try to persuade the buyer?
The TV commercial tries to persuade the buyers by using the excitement and the heart strings strategy. It shows the IKEA store and what it might be like when the customers are not around. It shows the store as a mysterious and quiet place that customers never would be able to see in the day time. It also shows the cats coming out to play and having fun. You want to find out what they're doing in the store or where they're going. The commercial tells also a warming story of cats wandering around in the store, playing around, and then finally finding a comfy place to sleep. It's a scene that brings peace to your mind when you see the cats sleeping in a bed and making them feel like they're at home.

3. Does it employ emotional appeals or is it more rational, fact-based?
Yes, this employs emotional appeals rather than rational, facts. It shows the need for change, happiness, and luxury. At the end of the ad, it puts a smile to your face and makes you feel relaxed. When the cats start to play with each other after wandering around the store, they start feeling tired. Each cat almost represents a single person and their personality. The cats find their own comfortable spot like a bed, couch, or a table and finally drift to sleep. It makes you feel peaceful watching the cats relax and makes you want to go and buy the comfortable furniture.

4. Who is the ad targeting and how can you tell?
The ad is targeting mostly adults and even cat lovers. People who are fond of dogs would probably not enjoy watch cats lurk around stores. People who like cats would probably be more attracted to this commercial and would want to buy what the commercial is selling. The furniture seen in the advertisement is mostly for adults who want to move out and buy furniture for their house. Teenagers and children would probably not want to buy furniture. It's a 'sophisticated' ad for an older audience.

IKEA ADVERTISEMENT 

• How does the ad design convey the advertisers’ message? Why do you think particular aesthetic elements (typefaces, photographs, camera angles etc.) were chosen? How do they help establish an overall mood for the ad?

The ad design conveys the advertiser's message by using cats to represent people and their different personalities. Some are energetic, some are lazy, some noisy, and so forth. I think the simple sans serif typeface is used is to keep with the simplicity of the commercial itself. They didn't use any special effects, just a lot of cat actors and lighting. The camera angles such as pans, closeups, and wide shots were used as well. They are easy to achieve an effective look to the ad. I think these aesthetic elements were chosen because they give a kind of modern look to the ad. IKEA is a big company selling quality furniture, I think they wanted to make the ad more sophisticated make it look more luxurious. These help establish an overall mood to the ad by making it look more mysterious. The elements combine well together to make it seem like the store itself is full of secrets that are hidden. The lighting also makes the ad feel like a kind of dream where everything is all hazy and relaxing.

•  Ads tend to communicate more through images (and in the case of television, through movement and music) than words. How are images, camera angles and movements, music and other visual elements used to convey messages in the ad?

The music in the ad is soft and peaceful. It has a nice piano piece with soothing vocals at the end. The music is not hectic but calm. The lighting for the ad is soft, it's not too bright yet not too dark. They don't use a lot of key lighting but they use a lot of fill light. There is a lot of contrast in some scenes of the cat and the background. For the camera angles, they used a lot of panning and follow shots. There are some medium, wide, and closeups of the cats. The ad does some trucking shots. They also incorporate blurring the background or parts of the foreground to focus on the cats a bit more. These all are needed to convey the message in the advertisement because it makes the ad stand out from all the other store ads. It's different and creative yet simple. It coveys the message how everyone has a unique style and taste. Some prefer one thing while others something else. All those elements make it this ad different just like a single person in the world with different ideals.

•  In the imagery, what appears in the foreground versus the background? Why do you think these choices were made?

For the imagery, most of the times, the cats are in the background with the furniture. Sometimes the cats appear in the foreground while IKEA furniture appear in the background.  I think these choices were made because the commercial is advertising its furniture not the cats that are lurking around it. 

•  Precisely what is the product being offered for sale? What do you learn about its objective qualities? (Try to distinguish here between factual versus emotional appeals.)

The products being offered for sale are IKEA products, especially the chairs, beds, tables, and lights. I learned that the products being offered for sale are used for emotional appeals not factual. The furniture looks soft and colourful. Along with the dark lighting, it really brings out the vivid colours. The furniture looks like it comes in many shapes and styles such as the lamps and the beds. The products make me feel happy inside and it makes me want to go to IKEA and buy some of the products.

•  Look carefully at the locale of the scene. Where does it take place? What significance is the locale likely to have for the intended audience?

The commercial takes place at a IKEA store in the United Kingdom at night when the store is closed. The significance for the locale is likely more focused on attracting the adult audience. Having the store filmed at night relates to how adults, after going to work and doing their jobs in the day, they can do anything they want. The night is a time of possibilities and fun. This also might be for older teenagers as well. The store is empty at the beginning but slowly, cats come out and they start to scatter all over the place.