Chapter 1 Selling it : marketing

ContextS: Work, CommunityEvery marketer is selling dreams – of health, wealth, beauty, happiness or maybe just a good

night’s sleep. The more we understand about human desires, the more we understand how

to sell things to people. In this unit, you are going to learn some of the tricks of successful

marketers. You will develop the skills to:�� understand key marketing appeals�� analyse advertising campaigns�� compare and contrast advertisements for similar products�� design your own product packaging�� evaluate stereotyping as an ethical issue.

In the assessment task, you will design an ethical advertising campaign for a product of

your own choice. You will present your campaign to potential investors.

Word playPlay with these words. Change their forms, morph them into new words, add prefixes or

suffixes, or find words with similar spelling patterns. See what you can come up with.

market marketing merchant merchandise

image

invite

advertise

emote

Sentence combiningCombine and change the following sentences to make them more

interesting. The original is from tennis player Andre Agassi’s

autobiography, Open.

The ad was for a camera company.

I had to turn to the camera and say, ‘Image is Everything’.

Reporters said I was like this slogan.

They said I had no substance because I hadn’t won a grand slam.

They said I only cared about image, fame and money.Source: Agassi, A., Open, Knopf Doubleday, 2009

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SeCtion 1 What is marketing?

Marketing is selling. And selling is the sophisticated art of appealing to the real and imagined

needs of people. We need attention. Love. Sex. Guidance. Escape. Safety. Self-worth.

So, marketing isn’t just about selling a product – such as cars, shoes, drinks – it’s about

convincing the buyer to choose one brand over other, often very similar, brands. You know, the

important decisions, like do you drink Pepsi or Coke? Do you drive Ford, Holden or Toyota?

Four of the most powerful appeals used in advertising campaigns are listed below.

aC t i V i t Y1 Draw a cartoon beside each type of appeal to show your understanding.

a Associating the product with an especially powerful emotion, e.g. love, fear

b Suggesting an inadequacy in the buyer which the product will supposedly fix, e.g. you are fat, unattractive, a bad lover or have terrible breath

c Associating the product with the buyer’s desire for a particular lifestyle or identity, e.g. people who use this product are rich, popular and beautiful

d Associating the product with the buyer’s group identity and need to belong, e.g. this product is used by all teenagers

These types of appeal overlap as they all target emotions.

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2 Flip through some magazines, browse the internet or watch television and list the advertisements and techniques you see. List at least three ads in each category. Brainstorm with your class for more ads.

Association with a powerful emotion

Buyer’s inadequacy will be fixed

Association with desire for a lifestyle or identity

Association with group identity and need to belong

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3 Have you seen ads that don’t fit these categories? List them here and discuss them with your classmates to identify what alternative appeals are used. What real or imagined needs are these ads targeting?

e x t enSion ta Sk

Research other appeals used in advertising. What kinds and how many did you find?

aC t i V i t Y

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SeCtion 2 Case study of the perfect campaign – De Beers

diamonds

If you look up any survey of the great

marketing success stories of all time, the

marketing of diamonds comes out near the

top; often at number one.

aC t i V i t Y1 What moments in life do we associate with diamonds?

Okay, so some of us might think of bankruptcy, but there is a reason diamonds are expensive

and it has to do with marketing. After all, a diamond is just a polished rock, and it isn’t even a

very rare rock.

De Beers is the biggest diamond company in the world thanks to their 1938 marketing

campaign that linked diamonds to romance and engagement. Read about it in the article on

page 6.

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aC t i V i t Y2 As you read the article, use the sequencing chart to cartoon the story. The first one has been

done for you.

Paragraph 1: Paragraph 2:

Paragraph 3: Paragraph 4:

Paragraph 5: Paragraph 6:

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3 Highlight all the words and phrases in the article extract relating to the value and significance of diamonds. One example has been done for you.

Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? Edward J. EpstEin, The Atlantic Monthly, FEbruary 1982

The diamond invenTion—The creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade ... in 1870, however, huge diamond mines were discovered near the orange River, in South africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. Suddenly, the market was deluged with diamonds. The British financiers who had organized the South african mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered; diamonds had little intrinsic value—and their price depended almost entirely on their scarcity. The financiers feared that when new mines were developed in South africa, diamonds would become at best only semiprecious gems.

The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called de Beers Consolidated mines, Ltd., incorporated in South africa ...

The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance ... in September of 1938, harry oppenheimer, son of the founder of de Beers … , traveled from Johannesburg to new York City, to meet with the president of n. W. ayer, a leading advertising agency in the United States ...

in europe, where diamond prices had collapsed during the depression, there seemed little possibility of restoring public confidence in diamonds ... in england and France, diamonds were still presumed to be jewels for aristocrats rather than the masses. Furthermore, europe

was on the verge of war, and there seemed little possibility of expanding diamond sales. This left the United States as the only real market for de Beers’s diamonds... oppenheimer suggested [the advertising] agency prepare a plan for creating a new image for diamonds among americans...

...n. W. ayer suggested that through a well-orchestrated advertising and public-relations campaign it could have a significant impact on the “social attitudes of the public at large” and thereby channel american spending toward larger and more expensive diamonds instead of “competitive luxuries.” Specifically, the ayer study stressed the need to strengthen the association in the public’s mind of diamonds with romance. Since “young men buy over 90% of all engagement rings” it would be crucial to inculcate in them the idea that diamonds were a gift of love: the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the expression of love. Similarly, young women had to be encouraged to view diamonds as an integral part of any romantic courtship.

Since the ayer plan to romanticize diamonds required subtly altering the public’s picture of the way a man courts—and wins—a woman, the advertising agency strongly suggested exploiting the relatively new medium of motion pictures. movie idols, the paragons of romance for the mass audience, would be given diamonds to use as their symbols of indestructible love. in addition, the agency suggested offering stories and society photographs to selected magazines and newspapers which would reinforce the link between diamonds and romance. Stories would stress the size of diamonds that celebrities presented to their loved ones, and photographs would conspicuously show the glittering stone on the hand of a well-known woman. Fashion designers would talk on radio programs about the “trend towards diamonds” that ayer planned to start. The ayer plan also envisioned using the British royal family to help foster the romantic allure of diamonds ... Queen elizabeth later went on a well-publicized trip to several South african diamond mines, and she accepted a diamond from oppenheimer ...

Source: Epstein, E.J., The Atlantic Monthly, Atlantic Media Company, February 1982Used with permission of the Atlantic Copywright © 2013. All rights reserved.

aC t i V i t Y

Pretty clever, yes? And De Beers have been very, very successful. They still use the ‘Diamonds are Forever’ slogan created in 1938.

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4 Explain the changing value of diamonds by completing the following PEEL paragraph.

Point or Purpose

E+E

E+E

Link

The ‘Diamonds are Forever’ campaign is one of the most ________________________________

in the history of marketing. The value of diamonds was __________________________________

because of excessive supply when the De Beers’ campaign managed to turn them into

symbols of never-ending __________________________________. One of the ways they did this

was to ______________________________________________________________________________.

They also ____________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________. Because of this, diamonds were transformed from

being seen as jewels worn only by __________________________________ to being an essential

part of every marriage proposal. This shows that the __________________________________ of

diamonds relies on their symbolic significance.

5 Refer to the four types of appeal listed in Section 1. Which two appeals does the De Beers campaign use?

��

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Even if you’ve never bought a diamond you have most likely made purchases motivated by the

product’s symbolic significance. For example, have you bought flowers, given a birthday card, or

a gift of chocolates? All of these products have been made into symbols by clever marketers.

How to PEEL a paragraph We suggested in Workbook 1 that the paragraph is the most important text type in the English

language, so it’s worth getting it right. Unless you’re writing a story, the sentences will tend to

flow like this:

aC t i V i t Y

P PointorPurpose–makeyourmainpointinthefirstsentence,

referredtoasthetopicsentence.Youmightexplainwhatyou

meaninmoredetailinanadditionalsentence.

E Evidence–provideevidenceandexamplestosupportyour

point.

E Explanation–explaintheevidenceinyourownwords.

L Linktheconclusionoftheparagraphbacktothemainpoint.

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SeCtion 3 Learn how to speak advertising

To make analysis easier, it is important

to have the right words. In this section

you will revise some important

vocabulary. For these activities, refer to

this image from an advertisement for

sunglasses.

You are looking at the sunglasses,

right? No?

Sometimes the product isn’t the most

important part of the advertisement.

This is because the ad is selling a look

and a lifestyle rather than just clothing.

Here are the three words you will master to analyse this advertisement: foreground,

background and connotation.

aC t i V i t Y1 Complete the example row of the table.

Foreground Background

Associated words Fore: forward, front Back: backward, behind

Definition The focus of the advertisement – the object in the front of the image. This is where the viewer’s eye is directed.

The less obvious objects that surround the image or are in the back of the picture. These enhance the message without being immediately obvious.

Example What can you see in the foreground of this image?

What can you see in the background of the image?

2 Using everything you can see in the advertisement, draw some conclusions about this couple – describe their lifestyle.

This coUple is

The ideas you described are the connotations of the advertisement – these are the ideas that

are implied but are not directly stated, and they create the viewer’s impression of the product.

Connotations are very powerful; while nobody is seriously silly enough to think that wearing

expensive sunglasses will get you a hot date, the implied lifestyle gives the (fairly generic)

sunglasses a significance they wouldn’t otherwise have.

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aC t i V i t Y3 Of the four types of appeal listed in Section 1, which do you think the sunglasses ad is using?

Type of appeal:

Justify (give reasons for) your choice:

DID YOU KNOW many ads focus on one

body part to the exclusion of all others? For

women, this is usually the legs, buttocks or

breasts, and for men, it is often the chest and

abs. Psychologists have concluded that this

type of advertising can cause serious body

image problems, as people worry about how

perfect each individual part of their body

looks. Even very attractive people can end up

fixating on a single less-than-perfect feature,

forgetting about all their good qualities.

4 Use the words foreground, background and connotation to describe this advertisement for a four-wheel drive.

�� In the foregroUnd of this advertisement is

�� In the backgroUnd of the advertisement are

�� The connotations of the advertisement are that

�� Which of the four appeals listed in Section 1 does this ad use?

Four-wheel drives and brand name clothing are pricey products; there are cheaper cars and clothes on the market. Similar to diamonds, the trick with more expensive products is to sell emotions or desires. Let’s see if you can do it.

aC t i V i t Y

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aC t i V i t Y5 Think of another product category, along the lines of cars or clothes.

Category:

Within the category you have chosen, research one of the more expensive brands. Now, think about how you might market this product.

Specific product/brand:

Images you would place in the foreground of the ad

Images you would place in the background of the ad

Connotations suggested by your ad

Which of the four appeals is your product using?

6 You’ve been hired by the product owners to manage their advertising. Write an email explaining your ideas for the advertisements. Use the information and vocabulary from the previous table.

dear ____________________________ ,

Thank you for allowing me to co-ordinate your marketing campaign for ____________________

_________________________. i propose __________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

_________________________________

e x t enSion ta Sk

Check out the ads on your Facebook feed compared to those your parents or

grandparents receive – these ads are placed based on your personal information.

What do the marketers think you desire?

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