P1- B&Q review
Introduction
I am writing about the B&Q build a life cross media advertising campaign which was released on the 10th of September 2020. B&Q is a home and renovation company (DIY) that provides kitchen and bathroom fittings, paint, radiators, home supplies and much more. They first opened in March 1969 in Hampshire, and they are now a well-known global company with 300 stores in the UK and 1,100 stores worldwide. (B&Q | DIY Products at Everyday Low Prices | DIY at B&Q)
Aims and Objectives
B&Q “recognised that it had lost
its identity along the way and wanted our help to redefine what it represents.
We wanted to help B&Q drive emotional connection back to the brand and
reinstate its meaningful place within UK culture.” Insight
& Strategy: B&Q's Build A Life | Contagious
B&Q is trying to raise awareness for their brand and
trying to reach their target audience of 18–30-year-olds so they can overtake
their competitors and become the most used shop for DIY “Companies such as
Homebase and Wickes, sheds, Amazon, Patch Plants and more” Contagious. This
way, B&Q will create a loyal fanbase by creating a trustworthy and lovable
brand and as a result, they will earn more money as they will be known as the
best DIY store to go to.
Each of the
posters from the advertising campaign have different aims. Here are just a few
posters from the B&Q Build a Life advertising campaign. All of them contain
the B&Q logo and follow the orange and white house style. The text, colours
and logo design is consistent throughout.
The
“Beginner” poster contains a spirit level tool. This tool is used to make sure
anything is straight and aligned horizontally and vertically. The orange
background is slightly tilted, and the spirit level is needed to align it
correctly to the frame. The aim is to draw in those who have never done DIY
before and influence them to try DIY, they will know they can buy the DIY tools
they need like the spirit level from B&Q.
The “Photos look better on a wall than they do on a phone” poster is
simplistic with a nail going through the letter a, and the colour scheme of the
white text and orange background. The aim of this poster is to influence us to
decorate our homes with sentimental photos we have taken on our phones because
the photos on your phone might not last forever, but those on your wall will.
The aim is to get the target audience thinking about decorating their house and
doing some DIY, so they will buy items from B&Q. The “Today you can do it”
poster includes a hammer on the poster with the colour scheme and the B&Q
logo. The aim of this poster is to tell the target audience they can start
building their ideal home today. The possessive noun “you” and the verb “can” talks
directly to those who are reading it, we feel as if these words are directed at
us specifically and not everyone, so we then believe those words and we are
more likely to feel connected to the B&Q brand and want to buy a hammer
from them to start DIY. These posters mainly aim to persuade us to buy from
B&Q.
The “Teenagers” poster contains the orange and white colour scheme again (B&Q’s house style) and a paint bucket that has splashed paint over the poster. This poster relates more to B&Q’s target audience instead. They are targeting teenagers who are starting to rent their own homes, they will want to decorate their home and make it theirs. Therefore, the B&Q poster includes the paint bucket filled with paint, the first thing the teenagers will most likely want to do is paint their walls.
The “First
kiss” poster/banner includes a dim light switch. Most people have their first
kiss in their later teenage years or early adulthood, so this poster also
relates to the younger proportion of the target audience. However, you can also
see this as a first kiss with a new person for those that are dating, this then
relates to all of B&Q’s target audience. The typography for all of these
posters link the target audience of 18-30 years as it is modern and sans serif.
Target audience and
purpose
B&Q has
a large target audience. In their advertising, they have used bright orange
(represents energetic and modern nature of the brand) and white for their house
style, simplistic imagery and a modern sans serif font to reach their target
audience. Young adults around 18-30 years are the main target audience as
18-year-olds might be looking to buy a house and others might want to work on
their home. I believe they are social grades C2-E (skilled manual workers, semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers, persioners, casual workers) because they will have time to do DIY whereas other social grades would hire someone to fix up their house because they don't have time. They want to build a loyal customer following so they have targeted
those who will more likely go to a DIY store and because they are younger,
B&Q are presenting themselves as a trustworthy and modern brand. We also
know this is the target audience as teenagers and first kiss are the names of
two of their print advertisements.
The Build a
Life TV advertisement is different. In the advert, they show old videos of
children and their families in their houses smiling and having fun. This shows that
B&Q is a family orientated brand, and this is how they have created an
emotional connection with their target audiences as they might want their kids
to grow up in a happy home environment too. The purpose is to connect to the
target audience and create a trusting brand. The TV advert includes faces and
connects to the target audience while the posters don’t, they focus more on a
call to action and the key message for the target audience.
Key messages
In their
advertising, B&Q is persuading us to build a life and take care of our
homes because home is where we grow up and where are memories are. The posters
includes white sans serif text with the key message telling us to embrace
change in our lives with phrases like “Change” “Today” “Build a Life” on their
posters.
‘You
can do it’ has never been a more powerful thought. The idea that you can build
a room, a house, a life. We didn’t want to give B&Q another end line, we
just wanted to clarify what we were talking about. So, ‘You can do it’ became
‘You can create a life and a home and the things that you want in this world’ Insight
& Strategy: B&Q's Build A Life | Contagious
The message
we receive from the TV advert is “Change isn’t scary when you’re holding a
hammer” which means B&Q want us to change our home for the better and the
key message is to embrace change and the target audience can do this by
changing their home with DIY from B&Q.
Approach and representations
The posters
and the TV advert from the B&Q Build a Life advertising campaign represent
all types of people from all different ethnic and social backgrounds.
The posters
are simple yet effective, they don’t include people and they don’t show any
stereotypes. B&Q chose not to use people on their posters to be inclusive.
if a person is used on the posters, they won’t represent all the different
ethnic or social groups. This prevents the use of harmful stereotypes that
certain ethnic minorities for example would be more likely to do DIY than
others. This also prevents B&Q from making their Build a Life advertising
campaign target audience too narrow by including the general population. In the
B&Q Build a Life TV advert, they represent a diverse range of people from
different ethnic minorities and different backgrounds and a range of ages. This
shows how B&Q is a brand for everyone. You can build a life no matter who
you are, it is relatable. The different ethnic minorities, different cultures
and families are represented in the TV advert. Stereotypes are not present in
the advertising campaign which shows how B&Q is trying to stay away from
stereotypes. B&Q won’t be offending anyone.
The advertising
campaign considers social groups. The social grade table shows the different
jobs/occupations in society from different backgrounds and where they fit in
the social classes. For example doctors, bankers and lawyers in category A are
the professionals because you need university levels degrees for them, they
have high pay and long hours. Companies take these into account when they are
advertising or even creating products, they want to know who would more likely
buy and use the company’s products or services. B&Q’s DIY products can be
used by everyone, anyone can be interested in DIY no matter their social grade,
DIY can be a hobby too. However, categories C1 (Shop and office managers, social
workers), C2 (Joiners, plumbers, builders, nurses and cooks) and D (Waiters,
labourers, shop workers) are targeted by the advertising campaign. This is
because these social groups have more time for DIY, they already do more
physical jobs and it is cheaper for them to buy the products and do the DIY
themselves rather than paying someone to do the work for them which categories
A and B are more likely to do.
In
addition, psychographics/psychometrics are also considered, these are the
different types of people in categories. They each have different lifestyles,
opinions and values. Strugglers, mainstreamers and explorers are more likely to
be interested in the products and advertising campaign from B&Q. Strugglers
would like the fact DIY uses their physical skills. Mainstreamers and explorers
are the main target for the Build a Life advertising campaign, the TV advert in
particular shows how sentimental and family friendly the B&Q brand is,
which would draw the attention of these psychometrics. Mainstreamers are
sentimental, they like tried and trusted products that give good value for
money. Furthermore, the posters would relate to the explorers as they like to
try new things and they are more likely to be younger. The posters are orange
(which in colour theory symbolises energy) and they include phrases such as
“Today you can do it” and “Beginner” which relates to explorers who have never
tried DIY before.
Logistics and call to
action
The B&Q
Build a Life cross media advertising campaign is flighting. Flighting is when an
advertising campaign is advertised for a specific amount of time. The campaign
was released on the 10th of September 2020 just after the lockdown.
People were encouraged to work from home and kids were starting school again in
September so parents and young adults would have time to do any DIY in the
house. Therefore, B&Q’s advertising campaign will have persuaded 18–30-year-olds
to make a positive change to their lives and homes. They also persuaded them to
have a fresh start by going to B&Q and buying their items. This is
B&Q’s call to action; they want us to embrace change in our home and have
fun with DIY items from B&Q.
Choice of media
B&Q
used the TV and print mediums to advertise their Build a Life cross media
advertising campaign. They released a TV advert, posters and billboards. The TV
advert could also be used for YouTube advertising, they could put it on their
social media and this is a more modern way to advertise as more people are
using the internet and social media, this will reach to their target audience
of 18-30 years of age. This is the age group (especially the young adults) that
have grown up with the digital and technological changes to the world and the
older age range of the target audience could have experienced the start of the
internet in 1983. Posters and billboards would also be beneficial for the
B&Q Build a Life advertising campaign as they are bright and eye-catching
thanks to the orange and white colour scheme, so we are more likely to see them
when driving, walking down the street and so on. Because B&Q is a modern
brand targeted towards 18–30-year-olds, they haven’t used newspaper advertising
because less people are reading newspapers when they could watch the news or
look at the news online.
Legal and ethical issues
There are
countless legal and ethical issues B&Q had to consider when they created
their cross-media advertising campaign. The legal issues they must have
considered are copyright and regulatory body laws. Copyright laws protect
creative work and stop others for using it without the creator’s permission.
For example, B&Q cannot use a copyrighted font or image without asking the
creator or paying for it which they can do as they are a large company. Another
way they can solve the copyright images problem is they could take their own
pictures/images so they can copyright it themselves as it is their intellectual
property (B&Q’s work that they created themselves). In addition, B&Q
could have used creative commons images depending on the license (they cannot
use non-commercial for example) in their advertising campaign. Regulatory laws
must be followed, or B&Q’s advertising campaign would be taken off TV, posters
and billboards would be taken down, the company could be fined. The ethical
issues they must consider are not being offensive towards anyone about their
religion, race, they have to be careful with stereotypes, “social equality,
gender equality and politics” and so on. 4
of the Biggest Ethical Issues in Advertising and How to Avoid Them - Dominion
(dominionprint.com)
The B&Q build a life advertising campaign has no complaints. They are not offensive to anyone and the advertisements don’t swear, say or show anything inappropriate. As a result, the B&Q advertising campaign is more likely to be successful instead of controversial or offensive.
One of the cross-media advertising campaigns that has caused
controversy and received backlash is the We are the Land advertising campaign
by Dior featuring Johnny Depp for its Dior Savauge parfum. This is celebrity
endorsement. This campaign also used posters, social media and a TV advert to
promote itself. Johnny Depp was included in a court case at this time when the
advertising campaign was released with The Sun calling him a wife beater which
didn’t help the advertising campaign to start with, lots of people wanted the
advertising campaign to be taken down because of this:
“Pirates Of The Caribbean star Depp, 57, lost a libel case with The Sun after we called
him a wife beater for assaulting ex-wife Amber Heard.” The Sun Newspaper
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13237817/johnny-depp-dior-ad-still-on-tv/
Furthermore, the Dior Savauge cross media advertising
campaign TV advert included an ethical issue of racism against native Americans. “Sauvage has been pulled by the French
fashion house after it received widespread criticism for its use of Native
American imagery.”
B&Q’s Build a Life campaign has
a nice and friendly image, they don’t include racism or anything inappropriate
or unethical in their adverts.
Regulatory bodies
The B&Q
build a life cross media advertising campaign is across video and
posters/billboards. This means they will have to follow different laws. Because
these are adverts, the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) will regulate them
to make sure they are suitable, and no false claims are made. In addition, Ofcom
(Office of communications) will have to regulate the TV adverts for the
advertising campaign as they regulate TV. For example, an Ofcom section talks
about protecting under 18s, so they cannot use swear words, explicit or
offensive imagery or bad language in the B&Q TV advertisement.
To conclude,
I think that B&Q’s Build a Life advertising campaign was successful. They
have reached a large target audience and their advertising campaign was written
about online by newspapers. The campaign has rebranded B&Q as a modern
brand for the younger target audience and they are more recognisable to them. Furthermore,
the timing of the campaign was perfect which will have boosted sales: “A
recent survey by B&Q found that lockdown has changed British attitudes
towards homes for good, with 57 percent agreeing they are more significant in
improving lives than ever.” https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/09/bq-launches-build-a-life-campaign/
Bibliography (sources):
Contagious. (n.d.). Insight
& Strategy: B&Q’s Build A Life. [online] Available at: https://www.contagious.com/news-and-views/insight-strategy-behind-B&Q-build-a-life-brand-campaign-Uncommon [Accessed 24th Nov. 2021].
Diy.com.
(2019). B&Q | DIY Products at Everyday Low Prices | DIY at B&Q.
[online] Available at: https://www.diy.com/. [Accessed
24th Nov. 2021].
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). B&Q
- Build a Life - 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlYmhH2cBzo [Accessed 25 Nov. 2021].
Dominion. (2018). 4 of
the Biggest Ethical Issues in Advertising and How to Avoid Them. [online]
Available at: https://www.dominionprint.com/4-of-the-biggest-ethical-issues-in-advertising-and-how-to-avoid-them/
[Accessed 25 Nov. 2021].
www.retailgazette.co.uk. (n.d.). B&Q launches “Build a
Life” campaign - Retail Gazette. By Elias Jahshan [online] Available at: https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/09/bq-launches-build-a-life-campaign/ [Accessed 25th Nov. 2021].
The Sun. (2020) By Chris Pollard. Abuse
survivor’s fury as wife beater Johnny Depp’s Dior ad is still on TV.
[online] Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13237817/johnny-depp-dior-ad-still-on-tv/ [Accessed 1st Dec. 2021].
Dazed by Alex Peters.
(2019). Johnny Depp’s Dior Sauvage campaign pulled after racism
backlash. [online] Available at: https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/body/article/45829/1/johnny-depp-dior-sauvage-campaign-pulled-after-racism-backlash.
[Accessed 1st Dec. 2021].
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