This is a rather subjective blog, although I hope to think some of you who are as attached to Christmas adverts as I am, can relate. In my opinion, the most iconic Christmas advert is the Coca- Cola advert. I have adored this advert from a young age, although now I feel I have an even bigger connection to it. This is due to it taking me back to my childhood when Christmas was magical and I was living in the family home, which obviously isn’t the case now - I am at university and a lot older!
One of the main reasons that I love this advert is because of the music associated with it. Without the music and jingle at the end it just would not be the same. I don’t know about you but those first four notes make my ears perk up like a dog to a whistle and then I’m hooked to the finish. This is broadly assigned to my sensory memory and more specifically, my echoic memory (Arnould, Price and Zinkan 2004); memory through sound.
To explain my thought process while watching the coca- cola advert I have created a diagram below which shows the associative networks I have with the Coca- Cola advert song. Associative networks are knowledge structures that link all known data relating to a single object. (Solomon et al, 2005).
One of the main reasons that I love this advert is because of the music associated with it. Without the music and jingle at the end it just would not be the same. I don’t know about you but those first four notes make my ears perk up like a dog to a whistle and then I’m hooked to the finish. This is broadly assigned to my sensory memory and more specifically, my echoic memory (Arnould, Price and Zinkan 2004); memory through sound.
To explain my thought process while watching the coca- cola advert I have created a diagram below which shows the associative networks I have with the Coca- Cola advert song. Associative networks are knowledge structures that link all known data relating to a single object. (Solomon et al, 2005).
My involvement with the advert is known as advertising involvement (Zaichowski 1985) which, as I already know impacts upon my brand commitment, brand loyalty and brand switching.
I’m sure many of you have seen the Christmas John Lewis advert… John Lewis unlike years before have capitalised on the likening of their Christmas adverts and brought out merchandise; bear and hare soft toys, an alarm clock that takes the starring role in the advert as the ‘perfect gift’ and themed items such as pyjamas, slippers and onesies. Customers can buy these featured products online.
However, although this is clever, I have to admit, I dislike the advert. The main reasons being, surprisingly, the music which as I mentioned was the main reason I loved the Coca Cola advert. I really don’t like Lily Allen singing the song, this may because I don’t like change, I think the original singer (Keane) was a lot better. This is my personal view, you may disagree or may have not even noticed. This means John Lewis have lost out on me being a potential purchaser. This links to Oliver’s (1997) Expectation and Levels of Satisfaction model, as I had high expectations of the advert however I perceived the advert to be low performance which then caused dissatisfaction. It specifically claims in Marketing Week that the retailer (John Lewis) is using music (among other things) to translate social buzz into merchandise sales, which makes it no fault of my own why I got so excited and became ever so dissatisfied.
To finish I would just like to take you back to my memory of Christmas adverts being echoic (sound memory), which I’m sure you and a lot of others can relate to. I feel John Lewis could have made this advert even better, making their 7.1 per cent rise in sales on the run- up to Christmas even higher and they could have done it simply. Look at the most popular advert of all time (In my opinion - coca- cola) which have never changed their song and jingle. Right this is where John Lewis should have kept Keane as the singer because people would have already heard the song from previous years, relating it to the brand. Like I have said above, if people rely on echoic memory then the John Lewis advert would have already had associations with a well- known song. Below are the links for the Coca- cola advert and then the John Lewis advert, so see for yourself. Which one is better? How important is the jingle to you? Do you see change as important?
I’m sure many of you have seen the Christmas John Lewis advert… John Lewis unlike years before have capitalised on the likening of their Christmas adverts and brought out merchandise; bear and hare soft toys, an alarm clock that takes the starring role in the advert as the ‘perfect gift’ and themed items such as pyjamas, slippers and onesies. Customers can buy these featured products online.
However, although this is clever, I have to admit, I dislike the advert. The main reasons being, surprisingly, the music which as I mentioned was the main reason I loved the Coca Cola advert. I really don’t like Lily Allen singing the song, this may because I don’t like change, I think the original singer (Keane) was a lot better. This is my personal view, you may disagree or may have not even noticed. This means John Lewis have lost out on me being a potential purchaser. This links to Oliver’s (1997) Expectation and Levels of Satisfaction model, as I had high expectations of the advert however I perceived the advert to be low performance which then caused dissatisfaction. It specifically claims in Marketing Week that the retailer (John Lewis) is using music (among other things) to translate social buzz into merchandise sales, which makes it no fault of my own why I got so excited and became ever so dissatisfied.
To finish I would just like to take you back to my memory of Christmas adverts being echoic (sound memory), which I’m sure you and a lot of others can relate to. I feel John Lewis could have made this advert even better, making their 7.1 per cent rise in sales on the run- up to Christmas even higher and they could have done it simply. Look at the most popular advert of all time (In my opinion - coca- cola) which have never changed their song and jingle. Right this is where John Lewis should have kept Keane as the singer because people would have already heard the song from previous years, relating it to the brand. Like I have said above, if people rely on echoic memory then the John Lewis advert would have already had associations with a well- known song. Below are the links for the Coca- cola advert and then the John Lewis advert, so see for yourself. Which one is better? How important is the jingle to you? Do you see change as important?
Written by Lauren Dickson