How Important Is Media?

Many believe media is just another part of life, not very important, and doesn't make much different; but has anyone really thought of the work and effort behind it? We all change skip the first 10 minutes of a movie to avoid trailers, or change channels when a commercial comes up, so why do marketers spend so much time and money on ads?

Chanel No. 5, a perfume I'm sure everyone has heard of. Why's that? Because of the continuous advertisements seen all over the media. First, they chose a very important figure as the face of the perfume. Nicole Kidman. 

Because they chose such a famous actress, they have automatically increased their grab on customers of different demographics. Fans of Kidman range from children to adults, unlike the typical customers of the brand Chanel. Now, Chanel has fans of Nicole, fans of her husband, fans of her children, fans of her movies, and many many other people associated with her out to buy 'her' perfume. Chanel has branded their product with Kidman, and instantaneously doubled their pool of buyers.

Now, some might say that ads aren't what's causing the increase of sales, but numbers say otherwise. Nicole Kidman has become the highest paid actress, per minute, for a television commercial. For her 3 minute advertisement for Chanel No. 5, she received $12 million. If producers didn't believe these ads were bringing in revenue, they wouldn't have paid a quarter of that. 

Big companies use big names to sell their products. Using a person such as Nicole Kidman grabs attention, and creates a hype for the company name. Using figures to sell a product is a very smart and powerful way to advertise a product, and it is done daily in the world of media.

Here's a link to the 3 minute, $12 million ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C525FnMFSBI

Coca Cola

While searching through the internet, I came across an old Coca Cola advertisement. It caught my eye because it seemed more frightening than pleasant. An elf like boy, with glaring eyes, stood in the back of the ad, with a six pack of Cola in front.  It looked very much like a christmas advertisement because of the red and green. After doing some research, I found out why.

In the early '20's, Coca Cola was known to be a 'summer time drink'. All ads persisted on people drinking it chilled, and many of the advertisements featured bottles of Cola on a bed of ice. Marketers wanted to increase their sales, and therefore came up with the idea of incorporating Coca Cola with Christmas. 

In the early 1900's newspaper ads were the biggest and easiest way to market a product. The Cola company decided to use Santa Clause as bait for readers. Santa Clause was the biggest part of Christmas, and appealed to the largest amount of people. Adults, parents, and children were all within the demographic of people that celebrated Christmas. In order to make Cola an all year round product, the company used Christmas as their ideal market strategy.

All Coke ads began to print in the famous colors. Elves, Santa, and many other Christmas decorations were all within the reach of the ad creators. Red, is a very strong and attractive color, and it is commonly used in many ads to grab attention. The base color for all Coca Cola ads became red. 

Techniques such as color, and  using famous figured (like Santa) are all tricks used in media. The way to attract the readers attention is the hardest, most important part. Until today, Coca Cola is one of the most powerful companies, coming up with an approximate annual revenue of $6 billion. Media and advertisements made Coca Cola the drink that it is today. If marketers in the '20's hadn't of created the 'all year round' drink, Cola might have died out before we were ever born.