Presentation of Case Study

Steps in Advertising Flow Diagram

Understanding How Advertising is Distributed and Promoted

Where and how the advert was distributed:

Due to DBB Tribal Berlin Germany producing the advertisement for Volkswagen, the print advertisement was featured on many billboards across Germany, including Germany's main cities. This form of advertisement was chosen to promote the add, due to it being on a large scale and grabbing people's attention. It was also featured on many motorways - which is extremely effective in itself, due to the advertisement promoting Volkswagen cars, and every car passing on the motorway contains at least one driver, and therefore one potential buyer of the product. Therefore it is a brilliant place to promote the product to their target audience. The advertisement has also purposely been chosen to feature in cities, as this is automatically a large reach. 

The print advertisement also featured in many press ads in the most sold magazines, including Think Marketing magazine.

The advert reached locally to Germany, however reached an international audience through online sources. Due to the print advertisements effective metaphor and message, it has gained lots of praise over the internet, and has been shared on many blogs and websites for being a successful and clever advertisement. It was ranked as the 6th top print advertisement of the year on Best Ads as well as winning/nominated for the following awards:

- Epica Awards 2012 Press Ad Automobiles Bronze
- London International Awards 2012 Print Automotive Short List
- Cannes Lions 2012 Outdoor Lions Cars & Automotive Services Bronze 

This itself was a brilliant form of free advertisement. 

What other cross media presence did the campaign have?

The campaign was purely advertising Volkswagen through the use of its one print advertisement, however this advertisement was featured online internationally, as well as local in Germany printed on billboards and magazines. 

However, this was not the only advertisement for Volkswagens new precision parking feature. Volkswagen also paid another agency - Grabarz & Partner, located in Hamburg Germany to design them another print advertisement. Therefore there were a total of two print advertisements made for Volkswagens feature, but each made by competing agencies.

Grabarz & Partners print advertisement:
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/volkswagen_parking_precision_family

Legal and Ethical Issues

The advert’s impact and effect on the audience

From both my own reading of the advert, the results I have deducted from my audience research grid, and information I have found online - the audience have found the print advertisement humours, cleverly and metaphorically shown, and was effective at getting across its point. However, the understanding of the advertisement itself, and the amount of information they have accurately deducted, all depended on the age and life style of the audience. 

For example the advert was more effective on adults, rather than students (and obviously children). This is because students commonly lack money, so therefore rule out the product due to not having enough expenses and often haven’t got their drivers licence yet. Also maybe their age effects their understanding of the advert, as it is clear that the metaphor of the hedgehogs and fish represent parking, as Volkswagen is a known brand of car; however many of the students realised the advert showed the dangers of parking, but didn’t pick up on the advert specifically trying to promote Volkswagens new feature that in fact reduces the risks of parking.

But what was commonly effective to the audience, was the use of the metaphor to get across the risks of parking. By putting animal’s lives in danger, the risk is exaggerated and the message they are trying to get across is clear. The advert was also humorous to some viewers due to the scenario displayed, and it also made the audience think into the meaning of it – which makes it a more rememberable print advertisement. Some viewers however, did not find it humorous, and it made them worried for the lives of the fish – but this too equally still gets across the message DBB are trying to get across.

 The one person who did the audience research who wasn’t a student, and who could in fact afford a car, said the advert was cleverly showing the effects of Volkswagens new feature, however it wouldn’t personally make him buy the product, as he stated he wouldn’t buy a care solely based on just one of its features. But the advert itself did well and worked successfully to many other viewers, and in fact was ranked one of the best print advertisements on Best Ads and featured on many sites for being imaginative.

Relevant issues of representation and relevant legal and/or ethical issues

As the advert features a light hearted and humorous scenario, not much offence can be drawn out from the print. There can also be no comments about it appealing to a particular gender, culture or race, as the colour scheme, metaphor and animals can appeal and be targeted at anyone. However, some people – and in fact someone in my audience research was offended by how the animals are displayed in the print. They complained that they were against goldfish being kept in plastic bags, and argued that it was cruel. This can be seen as unfair – as if kept in the bags long enough, the goldfish get a lack of exercise, and can suffocate in their own faeces.

Although this complaint was made, there was little hype over the matter when the advert was released, and they weren't asked to change the advert in anyway, or take it down by the ASA.

Role of relevant regulatory bodies

DBB is one of many agency’s that is regulated by the ASA which stands for the Advertising Standards Authority - the UK’s independent regulator for advertising across all media.

ASA’s purpose is to make advertisements responsible and their goal is to make sure every ad released in the UK is appropriate and responsible. They believe that by making sure every advert is appropriate, they will improve the lives of advertises and society.

What they do to regulate the advertisements, is act upon complaints received, and constantly check the media for misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements, direct marketing and sales promotions. If they decide the advertisement breaches the UK Advertising Codes, they withdraw or amend the advert, and the advertiser is told to never repeat their approach again.

For TV and radio advertisments, ASA pre-clear them before they are broadcasted, however, due to there being millions of non-broadcasted advertisements (including prints) published yearly, it would be impossible to pre-clear all of them.

Statistics about ASA:

-         There are more than 30 million press advertisements and 100 million pieces of direct marketing released a year

-         In 2012 they considered 31,298 complains about 18,990 cases, and their work led to 3,700 advertisements being changed or withdrawn

Audience Research

For my audience research I sent the Precision Parking Volkswagen print advertisement to a range of both family and friends.

What I found particularly interesting about my research, was that all of the students (both university and sixth form) didn't pick up on the exact intention the advertisement had. They knew it was an advertisement for Volkswagen, but seemed to think the main intention of the advert was to point out the risks of parking. Where as the only adult I showed it to who wasn't in education automatically read the advert correctly, and knew it must of been specifically
advertising a new feature in Volkswagen cars. Also all of the students said they wouldn't buy the product due to their lack of money and/or licence.

This was brilliant research, as it also links to the target audience for the print advertisement by suggesting the advert is best suited for adults - as they're more likely to understand the ad, have enough money to buy the product, and more likely to have a licence.

DBB Research

DBB Agency

Ownership:
DBB is owned by the Omnicom Group, and was first founded in 1949. The agency's main focus is a marketing approach that has an insight into human nature and respects the consumer and the power creativity has. They believe that creativity is the most powerful force in the business, and strive for an inspiring environment which promotes freedom to all individuals.

In 1987 DDB claimed to be lead by 'four freedoms':
- Freedom from fear
- Freedom to fail
- Freedom from chaos
- Freedom to be

These four freedoms have been modified slightly since (in 2003), but fundamentally are the same. The agency makes Yellow Papers consisting of surveys, debates and research reports on buisness communications which gives further insight into the advertising world.


Operating model: 
The agency DBB is giant, and does work for over 90 different countries, having a total of 12,580 members of staff and over 200 offices around the world.

The agency also has many related companies, such as Tribal DDB, Spike DDB, DDB Health, Alma DDB, DDB Entertainment, OMD, Rapp Collins, TracyLocke, Fire, DDB Matrix, DDB BIG, Ant Farm, Radar DDB and DDB Echology.


Products:
DBB have a range of different clients, and don't specialise in any particular kind of work. However, a surprisingly large amount of their clients have business sectors in Health & Pharmaceutical Products, such as Merck, Merck & Co Inc,  Novartis, Pfizer, Teva, DePuy Companies, and Eli Lilly/Daiischi Sankyo that all specialise in this area. 

Their other clients include:
- McDonald's 
- New York Lottery
- Tropicana
- Unilever 
- The Clorox Company 
- Cars.com
- Royal Philips Electronics
- CIBA vision corporation 
- Cotton Incorporated
- Exxon Mobil
- Johnson & Johnson 
- Hiscox
- Georgia Pacific 
- Glidden 

Meaning the agency DBB also advertise food, beverages, lottery, cleaning products, cars, consumer electronics, media, publishing, fashion, automotive, hygiene and personal care products, banking, paints, and household products. 


Market position & Competitors:
The agency is ranked 22nd on the top 50 advertisement agencies this year, judging from the online presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Alexa. DBB is a global player, and is up against competitors such as:
- Ogilvy & Mather
- IDEO
- Leo Burnett
- Wieden + Kennedy
- Razor Fish
- Britannia Communications
- R/GA
- Edelman
- McCann Erickson
- WPP
- AKQA
- TBWA
- We Are Social
- Saatchi & Saatchi

In April 2008, according to Advertising Age,the DBB agency have a worldwide revenue surface of $12.69 billion.

Resources:
http://www.ddb.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDB_Worldwide
http://www.top50adagencies.com

Print Case Study

Precision Parking: Parks Assist by Volkswagen

Client: Volkswagen

Advertising Agency: DBB Tribal Berlin

Country: Berlin

Campaign Type: Print Campaign

Chief Creative Officer: Eric Schoeffler

Creative Directors/Copywriters: Maged Nassar

Illustrator: The Operators

The Campaign:

DDB Tribal Berlin Germany launched their first ‘Precision Parking’ campaign for Volkswagen in 2012. Volkswagen wanted to find a new way off increasing the sale of the optional equipment that they include with the new cars they sell. To do this, they began thinking of ideas that would introduce the new features, as well as get people excited about them. One of the main new features they chose to promote for their new cars was ‘the park assist’.

The park assist is a feature where your Volkswagen car will practically park itself. It gives the option for the driver to park in tight spots with the touch of a button, and all the driver needs to do is work the pedals. Then the ultrasonic sensors in the front bumpers will scan the space to detect whether it’s large enough. This is all done by pressing the new Parks Assist Button – the feature Volkswagen wished to promote. 

Volkswagen decided to approach DBB Tribal Berlin with the job, and left the campaign in their hands. This is when the chief creative officer and creative directors/copywriters began discussing the promotional possibilities, and came up with the idea to promote it via a print campaign. They thought a brilliant way to promote Volkswagens new parks assist feature, would be to point out the dangers of tightly parking cars, and thought up a clever way to go about this and get across the message.

DBB Tribal Berlin thought about metaphorical ways in which they could symbolised these dangers, and due to their target audience being 17+ (as Volkswagen are a car company, so would only target an audience who can legally drive) they knew the message would come across clearly to the viewers they were targeting. This is why they chose to feature a hedgehog tightly positioned between three water-filled bags which each contain goldfish (although the hedgehog is not coming into contact with these bags). The hedgehog obviously symbolises the potential buyers in their Volkswagen car with the new feature, parking safely next to the goldfish which represent the other cars. DBB took a scenario they knew the target audience would be able to understand to show the risks the audience suffer without Volkswagens new feature.

Due to the print advertisements effective message and clever content, the campaign has got a lot of praise, such as being shared on many blogs for being a successful advertisement, and being ranked as the 6^th top print advertisement on Best Ads.

To make people aware of the new feature, and grab a large audience’s attention, the print advertisement featured on many billboards in Germanys main cities. It was also featured in press ads in the most sold magazines.

Annotation of the Print Advert:

Purpose:

The purpose of the print is to firstly make people aware of the risks of parking tightly between cars can bring, and by doing so introducing the new Parks Assist feature Volkswagen have to offer, and the effects it has on tightly parking.

Content:

The print advertisement very successfully draws the viewer’s attention in through the clever humour and message the content brings. The content suggests Volkswagen is individual, it does this through representing the Volkswagen car with the parks assist feature as a hedgehog, whereas the other three cars parked around it are being portrayed as goldfish – all the same (which emphasizes Volkswagens individuality) but also not as smart and equipt (goldfish are known to be unintelligent). The hedgehog also may reflect Volkswagen, as it is sharp, large, and rich in colour which grabs the viewers attention, which is a way to suggest Volkswagen are attempting to grab our attention.

The clear message the content gets across, is that Volkswagens new assist parking feature is accurate. This is done metaphorically by using a hedgehog which represents a Volkswagen car, parked tightly in-between three bags of goldfish, which represent other cars.

They’ve used a situation everyone can relate too - A hedgehog is used due to the sharpness of its spikes next to the weak plastic bags, to point out to the viewers the risks of parking so tightly. In this example they’ve even used exaggeration effectively by putting animal’s lives in danger to get across their point.  

Typography:

The only text the print features is ‘Precision Parking’ followed by ‘Parks Assist by Volkswagen’. The small amount of text is effective, as it doesn’t distract from the main message the image clearly and effectively gets across on its own. The font used is ‘Copy’ which appears to be a masculine font due to the font being being thick, bold and there being no serifs in the text.

Composition/Layout:

The content (being the image of the hedgehog and the three bags of goldfish) are carefully positioned in a straight line, and each gap between the objects is very proportional to one another. This is done, to again reflect the accuracy Volkswagen are trying to suggest their parking feature brings.

Slogan:

The slogan ‘Precision Parking’ is short, to the point, and rememberable. To make this slogan stick in the audience’s minds, they have purposely chosen to use minimal words, and alliteration. Using the word precision might not just be referring to the accurate parking, but also the accuracy of Volkswagen, and their promise that the feature really works.

Target Audience:

The target audience are clearly people aged 17+, as Volkswagen specialises in cars and the legal age to drive is 17. This means only people this age or over would be interested in the product.

Reach, Relevancy & Frequency:

The print was featured on many billboards in Germany’s main cities, as well as press ads in the most sold magazines, but also got a lot of free publicity by people sharing and talking about the print due to the clever content and messages it shows.

Sources:
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/volkswagen_park_assist_hedgehog_and_fish
http://advertisingdesign-e.weebly.com/blog/volkswagen-precision-parking
http://www.brandsynario.com/volkswagen-precision-parking