Three advertisements: analysis and visual rhetoric

¶ … Advertisements

Advertising is one of the most powerful strategies for continually reinforcing and growing a brand over time. The world's leading brands rely on advertising to continually reinforce the emotions their brands are deliberately designed to evoke. One of the most effective companies at brand management through the extensive use of advertising is Coca-Cola. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate three advertisements Coca-Cola have produced, comparing two of them between the United kingdom (UK) and Turkey using the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.

Analysis of Advertisements

The Maslow hierarchy of needs is highly effective in defining the levels of human need, beginning with the physiological and progressing to self-actualization (Kleiner, 1983). Advertises attempt to place their advertising along the spectrum of needs, moving from physiological to safety, love or belonging, esteem and finally to self-actualization. Coca-Cola's approach t advertising is specifically aligned to their branding strategy of inclusiveness and a strong orientation of togetherness. This is driven by the brand's universal appeal as a reason to get together and enjoy the company of friends. The advertisements chosen for this analysis both include aspects of the love and longing dimension of the Maslow hierarchy of needs model. One of them moved beyond that and shows esteem and self-actualization through the use of ingenious techniques and approaches to managing a challenge. For the most part however Coca-Cola relies on messaging that seeks to bring people together and strives to create a more inclusive, accepting emotion of their brand over being exclusionary and elitist.

The first advertisement is called the Coca-Cola Happiness Machine which can be found at this location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqT_dPApj9U. This advertisement is a foundational one from the standpoint of showing how Coca-Cola strives to create a solid foundation of acceptance and inclusion and strong bond of acceptance from the brand to its customers. It also shows that the brand's values are for promoting connectedness and kindness between others. This is what the Happiness Machine is often written about and included in many different courses on successful messaging.