M1 - Report evaluating the consistency of media campaigns
Contents
KFC You’re Chicken
Could Never/Love You Too
Introduction
I am writing this report to evaluate the cross-media
advertising campaigns of McDonalds I’m lovin it, KFC’s You’re Chicken Could
Never/Love You Too and Coca Cola’s Share a Coke. Multi-media advertising
campaigns are advertising campaigns across different media channels such as TV,
newspapers, magazines, cinema, games and radio. Companies use multi-media
advertising campaigns to reach their target audience and create brand
awareness.
Media channels are different ways/mediums companies
can use to advertise their brands and products.
Coca Cola Share a Coke
Coca Cola is a famous fizzy drink brand that The Coca
Cola Company says was made in “Atlanta, Georgia, on May
8, 1886. Thinking that "the two Cs would look well in advertising,"
Dr. Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the name
and penned the now famous trademark "Coca-Cola" in his unique
script.” Coca Cola had competitors with Pepsi being the primary one.
They first released their ‘Share a Coke’ cross media
advertising campaign in Australia, 2012 and it spread across the world; the
campaign ended in 2020. Coca
Cola took advantage of technological convergence (the coming together of
different technologies into one device. For example on our phones we can search
the internet, call, send messages, play games…..) and used social media to also
target their younger audience especially. In this campaign, Coca Cola is
creating a personal connection with their fans by creating personalised Coca Cola
bottles with names and general terms on them like “friends”, famous song lyrics
and holiday destinations. By creating this cross-media advertising campaign,
Coca Cola wanted to (according to A. Heble in 2019) “increase their sales as it was the summer period in
Australia and engage with its customers by talking to them.”
Leading soft drink brands ranked by grocery sales value in the
United Kingdom (UK) in 2018(in million GBP)
In these
posters, billboards, social media and the TV advert, Coca Cola uses the same
phrase “Share a Coke”. This phrase persuades us to form a connection with each
other through buying their personalised Share a coke name bottles. Coca Cola
also used song lyrics on their bottle in April 2016, Coca-Cola UNITED in May 13th 2016 said “The team selected lyrics that capture a
moment and reflect Coke’s brand values of optimism, refreshment and inclusion.”
In addition,
they used the 3-word phrase “Share A Coke”. I think they did this because
psychologically, we can remember three-word phrases better, they are clearer
and more concise. So as a marketing strategy, Coca Cola have used this
psychological trick like lots of other companies.
A. Heble in (2019)
said
“The main success was
attributed through the digital platform, where in each bottle mentioned the
hashtag #shareacoke, in order to pursue users to share bottles with their names
on social media.”
This cross-media advertising campaign was very
successful, I think the social media aspect really contributed to the success
of the campaign; the three worded phrase “Share a Coke” is still iconic to this
day because they used the phrase on all their advertising channels. The
celebrity endorsement by Selena Gomez also will have drawn in younger people
who listen to her music:
K. Caulfield, (2016) says that Coca Cola
used “Lyrics from two of Gomez’s songs — “Love You Like a Love
Song” and “Me & the Rhythm” — will be featured on packages of Coca-Cola
products nationwide throughout the summer. The two tracks are among the 70-plus
tunes that are part of the campaign.”
Furthermore, this poster shows that the Share a Coke campaign uses Alexa
(the smartphone assistant) as a part of their marketing, this means Amazon will
have used a sponsorship. This poster may work however, the Amazon Alexa logo is
very small and could be confused with other logos.
However, I think that Coca Cola’s Share a Coke cross-media advertising
campaign didn’t reach older audiences very well, they have used technology as a
huge part of their marketing which older generations are less likely to use.
Also, Coca Cola doesn’t have a global reach, there are some places that don’t
have Coca Cola, or they didn’t target to as Coca Cola is a more western drink. The red background isn’t consistent across
all media channels for example the Share a Coke billboards are white.
McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It
McDonalds is a well-known fast-food chain that was founded
in 1940, they are one of the biggest fast-food chains with an estimate of
35,000 restaurants worldwide. McDonalds has other large fast-food competitors
such as KFC, Burger King, Subway and Taco Bell. Their I’m Lovin’ It cross media
advertising campaign was created in 2003 and is still running, you can see the
slogan throughout their TV adverts, posters, billboards, online advertising and
social media. Their iconic jingle is also used in their TV and radio adverts.
PaySpace Magazine. (2020) “McDonald's says
that according to research it has conducted, total advertising awareness of the
"I'm lovin' it" campaign in its top 10 countries has hit 86% overall,
including 89% among young adults and 87% among mothers.”
Harrison, E. (2013). “Let’s eat out!” “This 3-word masterpiece proved to be a tremendous for success as McDonald’s first slogan in 1960. Since this time, McDonalds has used over 23 slogans to date, with the most recent being the catchy jingle sung by pop icon Justin Timberlake “I’m Lovin’ It!” which was released in 2003.”
We associate the McDonalds I’m lovin’ It slogan with happy thoughts and positive energy. They used the rule of three for the slogan to make it memorable and their colour scheme is yellow and red. Yellow is associated with happiness.
McDonald’s®
USA Launches “i’m lovin” itTM’ Brand Campaign - Sep 23, 2003 website says "'i'm lovin' it' campaign is a
new way of connecting with our customers," said Bill Lamar, senior vice
president and chief marketing officer, McDonald's USA. "It will rekindle
the emotional bond our customers have with McDonald's through a campaign that
depicts how people live, what they love about life and what they love about
McDonald's."
In the advert, their
logo and the phrase I’m Lovin it is shown. They wanted to be seen as modern and
fun by the younger target audience so teenagers and young adults are seen in
the advert. The advert and the Justin Timberlake song” I’m lovin’ it” have a
similar vibe and look a little similar which may be because they are promoting
each other, Justin Timberlake also appears in the McDonalds commercial.
Therefore, McDonalds have used celebrity endorsement and promoted across music
as well. McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It jingle is still used to this day. I think
McDonalds used Justin Timberlake as celebrity endorsement because he was
relevant and popular at the time plus he could sing the jingle, this is
beneficial for Timberlake and McDonalds.
In 2018, McDonalds used social media to celebrate
Valentines Day and give some of their lucky fans a chance to express their love
through billboards throughout Canada. They would tag or comment their partner’s
name on their social media page for a chance that their name will be picked and
put on one of their billboards. I think this is a successful way to again reach
their younger target audience because they are digital natives (grew up with
technology) and use it all the time.
The best things McDonalds have done for their
2003-2022 I’m Lovin’ It advertising campaign is they have used a relevant
celebrity endorsement of Justin Timberlake; the catchy tune will have stuck in
our heads and Justin Timberlake fans (more of a mainstream audience) will be
interested by the campaign and want to get a McDonalds. Their social media
Valentines Day campaign also would have helped to keep McDonalds relevant with
the younger target audience as teenagers and young adults use lots of social
media such as Instagram.
To improve, McDonalds could have broadened their
target audience to include older adults too by including older adults in their
advertising. Furthermore, they could have incorporated more social media and web-based
advertising or created another advert to also target grandparents or older
adults who might take their grandkids to McDonalds and get a meal as well.
KFC You’re Chicken Could Never/Love You Too
A fast-food giant, KFC is
well known for its spicy chicken and its secret formula; it was founded on the 24th
of September 1952. In May 2021, KFC released their cross-media
advertising campaign: The Drum. (May
2021) states “The campaign will run from today in TV, radio, digital and
social”.
The TV advert shows young
people driving into KFC, a man proposing to his girlfriend, people eating KFC
at special events like weddings, people getting KFC tattoos and wearing KFC
merch. The company is trying to recognize and thank their fans for their
loyalty and love of the fast-food chain while also advertising to boost sales.
On these
billboards we have the same consistent phrase “You’re Chicken Could Never”.
This could mean that homemade spicy chicken could never be as good as KFC’s.
The TV advert and billboards successfully reach a diverse target audience;
these billboards show adults (young and old) eating some of KFC’s chicken and
the TV adverts show adults and teenagers. They have also included ethnic
minorities to make the adverts inclusive.
The same house
style (colour scheme, how the brand keeps a consistency in their marketing) is
used across the different media channels with the red colour and the same logo.
Their “Finger
Lickin’ Good” slogan created backlash because of the coronavirus pandemic. We
were told to sanitise our hands regularly to stop spreading covid. However,
KFC’s slogan was the opposite of government advice, so they removed their
slogan only to recently add their original slogan back into this cross-media
advertising campaign.
The good things KFC have done for their You’re Chicken
Could Never/Love You Too cross media advertising campaign in my opinion is they
have used images and videos of their fans in the TV advert. This helps them to
connect to the fans and feel more human rather than just a fast-food company.
Their billboards are simple but promote KFC and make their target audience want
to buy some food from KFC because the chicken looks nice.
I think there are lots of things KFC could have done
to improve their cross media advertising campaign. Although they have used some
fan videos and images in the advert, they could have created “I Love You Too”
billboards and posters so that fans could submit their images and they get made
into posters or billboards. Furthermore, they could have used radio and fans
would submit themselves saying a word in the radio advert and it gets edited
together. This cross-media campaign could have run across more media channels
to maximise success of the campaign; however, they only chose to do a TV advert
and a few billboards. Instead, they could have made it more interactive and
used social media more too. In addition, there isn’t really a call to action
for these adverts, they are just creating brand awareness more than anything.
Conclusion
To conclude, I have evaluated the strengths and areas to improve on for
the Coca Cola Share a Coke, McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It and KFC’s You’re Chicken
Could Never/Love You Too multimedia advertising campaigns. In my opinion,
McDonalds’ I’m Lovin’ It cross media advertising campaign is the most
effective, although they didn’t do as much social media advertising as the
Share A Coke campaign, they not only used celebrity endorsement with Justin
Timberlake, but they also created a jingle that Timberlake used in his song,
they have created a TV advert and billboards throughout the campaign. The
campaign was that successful it is still running to this day. Coca Cola’s Share
A Coke was the best campaign for social media specifically, whereas KFC’s
You’re Chicken Could Never/Love You Too didn’t advertise as much as they could
have, they only produced a TV advert and billboards.
Bibliography
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