Outdoor advertising: Coca-Cola & Hewlett-Packard

Description:
I found Coca-cola and Hewlett-Packard ads really interesting, as non-traditional advertising. As you can see in these images, this type of outdoor advertising is very popular and at the same time it is really powerful in Berlin, Germany. In the first image it is an ad on a Taxi promoting a HP Pavilion Notebook, in which the main text translates “your password its now uniquely” and in the left corner it is the brand of the product. Then, the right corner of the ad has Hewlett-Packard’s web address and an English text that says, “the computer is personal again.” It is amazing to see how they combined the two languages in the same ad to attract both German and foreign potential customers. The finger print is representing the identity and the unique aspect of the product. On the other hand we have the car that displays in its entirety a Coca-Cola ad. It was strategically located in a street surrounded by restaurants and bars, which I think it was well thought since everyone who is eating wants to drink something, and the first thing they see is this car with a Coca Cola advertising. This is a strategy to increase the amount of consumers. In the back of the car a juice brand “FruitOpia” that belongs to the Coca- Cola Company is promoted. The text used in this ad translates “now vitamins refuel;” a clever sentence when placed in a car promoting a drink. This is a call for action message to buy Coca-Cola or its juice brand.

Why I selected it:
Outdoor advertising, especially on taxis, is an excellent advertising medium in order to reach a global audience and a specific target, depending on where the car is circulating or stopped in a strategic location. These two cars caught my attention, first of all because it is unusual to see this type of advertising on an upscale car such as Mercedes, and secondly because it was a taxi. In the USA they do not even use Mercedes cars as taxis. The fact that this car is a luxurious car with an ad displayed outside makes it even more interesting and attractive to the viewers. I also selected this type of advertising because it is a powerful medium to target audiences while they move around the city and if you are trying to promote a product it would be a wide coverage giving to the product an extensive promotion.

IMC Concepts:
IMC concepts are all about the integration of the marketing and communication ideas in order to better reach the target audience. During this whole process, the application of certain concepts, such as planning, development, execution and evaluation, is a must. On these outdoors ads, it is obvious that the planning, development and execution concepts where well planed and excellently applied. The evaluation is a process that has to do with how the target audience reacted to the advertising campaign. This process involved some marketing studies that the company develops to see the positive or negative results of the campaign. Outdoor advertising are ads seen by everyone, they try to capture consumers’ attention, and improve their consumption.

Cross Cultural analysis:
Even though this type of advertising is also used in USA, there are cultural differences. The main cultural difference with these ads is that an upscale car, Mercedes, is used to promote a mass consumption product. In the USA Mercedes is considered as a luxurious car and it would never be used to promote any kind of product. As far as the Coca-cola ad is concerned, the car that the beverage company uses is an Opel, it matches completely with the type of product. But we couldn’t see that ad with that car in the USA because this brand is not sold there.
Today, outdoor advertising is designed to reach consumers who are mobile. In short, these products are visible at all hours, with particular strength during rush hour which is a phenomenon that every country suffers, with no exception.

Three key points:
1. Using outdoor advertising to reach different target audiences taking into consideration the transit areas of the city.
2. Using an upscale car brand, Mercedes, to promote massive product consumption.
3. The use of public transportation as a potential medium of communication in order to attract a wide target audience.