Kit Kat 'Working Like a Machine'

Another good advert, it's simplicity is it's charm. Aired in August 2009, a month after the wimbledon tournament, it played off tennis being strong in people's minds. This adverts works so well as it relates so strongly to it's target audience, anyone with a job. Also at the time of release the recession was already in full swing so people were working harder than ever to keep themselves afloat. This advert pledges to give you the rest you need, in the form of a Kit Kat. The look on the man's face sums up the feelings of a large percentage of the nation. Tired, bored and just generally pissed off with the way things are going. The humour in this advert appeals to me and again there's no one thing I can pinpoint that brings it down.

Cadbury's Dairy Milk Gorilla

This advert is great. It's irrelevance is what makes it relevant. Everything about this advert should stop it from working but that's exactly why it works. The concept of a Gorilla doing a drum solo in any context or situation is fantastic to me anyway and the song they chose (In the air tonight - Phil Collins) is perfect. When approaching this advert, the agency Fallon London proposed to produce "entertainment pieces" instead of using conventional advertising techniques, quite a large risk but one that paid off well.
I can't really say a bad word about this ad, it's well produced, well thought out and brilliantly ridiculous.


The target audience for this ad seems to be pretty wide, covering people of pretty much any age range. Taking the advert on a literal level, children loved it and when stepping back purely to admire the absurdity, adults loved it too.


The ad was well received with 20% more people "looking favourably" on Cadbury's.


The Gorilla advert has gained almost a cult following, even having parody ads made like this one from Wonderbra:

Core Principles revisited

In 2009 M&S celebrated 125 years of business, having come a long way from it's humble beginnings as a market penny bazaar in Leeds in 1884. Throughout these 125 years they claim to have stood by their 5 core principles that I mentioned in an earlier post.

To reiterate, those 5 core principals are:

Quality

Value

Service

Innovation

Trust

In this post i'll be looking at their '125 Years of M&S' ad, shown above, to see if and how those principals are represented within it. 

Quality

The quality of their products is rarely mentioned explicitly in the ad, apart from when saying  they bring their customers "the best possible food." Throughout the ad on the whole it is suggested that they do and have always stocked high quality and sought after products when saying that they have "changed the way we dress". 

Value

Not dissimilar to it's emphasis on quality, the value of their products doesn't make much of an appearance. It is extremely clear at the beginning as a reproduction of the original penny bazaar is shown with a sign declaring "Don't ask the price - It's a penny" however this obviously doesn't show how prices have changed over the century and decades that M&S have been around for. We're told that they offer "the fairest possible price" which keeps it short and sweet like their comments on quality. 

Service

Apart from being told that "nobody goes further" this principle is again rarely referred to explicitly, although whilst watching you do feel as though M&S genuinely strive to make the consumers lives better and easier. Even though to me it feels like the company's innovations are the source of pride in this ad, the ad is executed in such a way that suggests those innovations are all just part of the service, to please us.

Innovation

M&S' innovations appear to be the main focus of the advert, which is pretty much a just a list of them. In risk of this post just being a shortened copy of the script i'll list them myself here:

-We're told about 'exotic' tastes from far away lands (also known as an avocado)

-The liberation of women (don't get ahead of yourself M&S, i'm sure you didn't achieve this all by yourself) 

-Instant curries and drip dry clothes (a bit more believable)

-Suits you can tumble dry (not a bad idea)

-Well fitted bras (I can't be bothered with these brackets anymore)

-and Sell by dates on perishables.

As well as all these things the ad draws to a close by commenting on how it's changed the way we live, the key word being change which is repeated thrice in addition to being used nearer the beginning, claiming to "change the lives of us ordinary brits forever".

Trust

This principle is definitely represented well, not only is the whole advert hosted/narrated by Twiggy, everyone's favourite 60's sweetheart, but the tone of the entire ad makes you feel like M&S has safe hands and you're in them. They've been there for as long as you've been alive and they've been succeeding in changing your life for the better (if you're an ordinary brit like Twiggy and I of course).

Overall the "125 Years of M&S" gives the impression that M&S have in fact stuck as closely as possible to their 5 core principles.

Well done M&S.

Well done.

Your M&S Target Audience

M&S seem to have a varied target audience.  The common appearance of attractive (often scantily clad) women enjoying themselves is a timeless winner, it gives women something to relate to and men thoughts to be fellated to. It appears to me that M&S try and sell to whole families but mainly target mothers, as well as unmarried female adults. By using techniques such as women in underwear respectfully they draw in the attention of male family members but succeed in overcoming the ever-growing hurdle of political-correctness in terms of sexism. 

The women in these adverts aren't shown as sexual objects, but strong and independent, however in their christmas 2009 advert they did receive a few complaints (as everything seems to these days) regarding the “Oh, come on, it's Christmas. That girl prancing around in her underwear" comment, aimed at Noemie Lenoir. 

Recently a campaign by Lynx, famous for it's sexual suggestion and tongue-in-cheek approach to ads, has received similar scrutiny resulting in it's removal from the public - which you can read about here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15849142

Contemporary TV ads

The Autumn 2007 M&S ad is set on the Orient Express. The Venice-Simplon Orient Express company claims that their "name has long been equated with the world's most exclusive train." And rightly so, with the original Orient Express (which stopped running in 2009) and the experience that accompanies it being renowned as the epitome of class and luxury. 

The use of this train as the setting is clearly linked to two of M&S' core principals - Quality and Service, without which neither the train nor ad campaign would have run smoothly. The use of recognised faces such as Twiggy and Myleene Klass implements a third principle with Trust. 

On to target audience; this advert is clearly aimed at those who aspire to travel and live generally in the luxurious conditions that the Orient Express offers as well as those who already do. With the ending tagline "Autumn's arrived" it is suggested that even if you're not someone who can afford to live as such, Your M&S will bring that luxury to you, at great Value (apparently in the form of women in their underwear.) 

Core Principles

M&S' core principles are Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust and are "as important to [them] today as they were when M&S was founded over 125 years ago."