Advertising analysis:ESPN - Essay Example

Prof. XYZ English 001 December 7, 2007 Assignment-Ad Analysis The attached ad has been selected from the ESPN magazine, Dec 3, 2007 edition. The product advertised is High Definition LG TV. The ad is a print ad and it makes use of brilliant colors with sharp contrast. Almost 75% of the upper portion shows a happy family sitting on a sofa revolving on a slide in an awkwardly looking position. This 'hanging' sofa is enough to grab the attention of the viewer and forces him/her to read through the rest of the ad The lower portion of the ad shows the TV with again a catchy heading 'Don't just watch it, live it.

In Full LG.', followed by four lines of smaller text. The lower right corner of the ad shows the familiar LG 'smiley' logo in bright crimson color. The copy of the ad describes the benefits of the product. It seems that the brand manager decided to launch the product at the second level of 'brand value pyramid', hence there is little mention of features and emotions. Since the product advertised is a high-involvement product-one that is expensive and requires considerable amount of thinking from the buyer, the last line of the ad compels the reader to think of all the criteria needed for selecting this kind of TV, and implicitly presents this TV as the only choice.

The ad is quick to point out that LG is the largest flat screen manufacturer, which adds value to the product because it insinuates success and accomplishment. The ad appears in a sport magazine which is a very appropriate medium for such an ad The sport fans usually want to view the minutest details of the sporting event with a clearer and crispier picture to discern for themselves the finer aspects of the game. Moreover, the target audience- the readers of this magazine are expected to be financially capable of buying this product.

In short, the selected medium is a very appropriate one. However, in my opinion, print media should be used as an auxiliary media to electronic media for this ad, because the electronic version of this ad on TV can create greater awareness and desire for the product. The colors used in the ad are red and sky blue primarily. With clear facial expressions and TV shot, the implied message is that the High Definition TV gives this level of clarity, brightness and detail. The overall impact and success of the ad is determined by its actual impact as compared to desired effect, and that in turn depends upon the reach, impact and frequency of each media used.

To me, it appears that the objective of the ad is to introduce the audience to this latest product and imperceptibly implying that this is the best product available in market. To this end the ad successfully does this and in my view will help the brand name to remain at the top of customer's mind, so whenever s/he goes out to buy a HD TV, LG pops up in his/her mind. The bigger picture of an enjoying family gives the feeling of excitement and adventure. Moreover, this picture is a zoomed version of the full scene I the TV below.

The bold copy line says that " Don't just watch it. Live it", which looks as if te family has jumped into the scene while watching TV. This is perhaps a very fascinating thought and gives the viewer a pleasure equivalent to what appears in the scene. In a nutshell, this is a good piece of advertising. The colors used are suitable. The layout is good. There is not too much copy. The angle of the picture is a powerful attention-grabber. This ad in fact is very creative. However in order to be creative, an ad has to be effective and in this aspect too, this ad is very strong.

The message gets through that 'there is no better HD TV than LG's', and the ad serves the probable intended purpose of awareness and persuasion. Works Cited Wells, William, John Burnett and Sandra Moriarty. Advertising: Principals and practice. NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. Kotler, Philip and Kevin Lane Keller. Marketing Management. Singapore: Pearson Education, 2006.