Ad Campaign research
In this document I will be researching existing cross-media advertising campaigns with the intentions of reinforcing my knowledge on what makes a campaign successful. This will help me in the planning stages of the PhizzWizzard campaign and also during the production of the marketing material.
McDonald's and Travis Scott Campaign
The McDonald's x Travis Scott collaboration is a recent celebrity endorsed campaign which emerged in September 2020, advertising the launch of a limited edition meal in participating McDonald's restaurants in the United States. At the time, the multi-media collaborative campaign is still ongoing and has been a successful marketing strategy with the aim of bouncing back from COVID-19 lockdown in the United States.
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| A photograph of Travis Scott enjoying the meal outside one of the chain restaurants |
Aims and Objectives -The aim of the campaign is cross-promotion between the two major modern cultural identities of the United States. Travis Scott's celebrity endorsement creates mass demand for a meal which consists of items which are already in the main McDonald's menu, essentially creating a massive marketing buzz centred around the existing McDonald's stock, making it an efficient way of profit. In return, Travis Scott gains from McDonald's status in the the fast food market which results in the growth of his and Cactus Jack's (Scott's record label's).
Target Audience - Due to the Travis Scott endorsement, the target audience of the campaign is 18-35. This is because hip-hop is currently very influential and popular amongst the youth especially in the states, much like Rock 'n' Roll influenced the youth in the 1960-80s. This is because Travis Scott has been in the hip-hop scene for longer than other artists in the genre and his music is often played in mainstream radios; thus resulting in a larger fan demographic. The lower price of the meal also satisfies regular customers, resulting in a general audience which gives the campaign an edge over other large fast food restaurant chains such as Burger King or Wendy's.
Choice of Media
The multiple ways of promotion featured in the campaign include TV, print, social media and promotional merchandise. The most talked about piece of advertisement is by far the Travis Scott Meal TV advert, featuring a toy Travis Scott which promotes the giveaway I'll talk about later in the blog. The toy is voiced over by Scott himself trying to sell you the meal by talking through each featured item, which is certainly more effective than a generic voice actor payed for by McDonalds. Despite the advert being so successful, social media takes the crown when talking about the amount of customers it's attracted. The McDonald's Twitter account tweeted a teaser on its page featuring a cactus and burger emoji; obviously referring to Scott's label, Cactus Jack. McDonald's followed up a couple days later with a tweet "Cactus jack is coming", tagging Travis and uploading a picture of the Cactus Jack logo made out of McDonald's fries. Travis Scott also uploaded a couple photographs on his Instagram, portraying himself working in one of the restaurants, whilst branded with Cactus Jack x McDonalds merchandise and . These posts attract the younger audience of Travis by making McDonalds seem cool and fashionable. .The campaign also features printed posters advertising the 'collab', focusing on Travis Scott's name and placing in the Cactus Jack logo, placed close to the restaurants to attract customers as they walk by. The monthly combined promotion from Travis Scott and McDonald's caused some locations in the United States to completely run out of ingredients which make up the Travis Scott meal.
Approach - The factor which made the campaign most memorable was obviously the celebrity endorsement of Travis Scott himself, besides the fact the campaign was branded as a collaboration; it was the first time McDonald's have collaborated with a celebrity since Michael Jordan in 1992. The duo also released items alongside the food order which captured the essence of the collab to give back to the fans who bought the meal. This included Scott releasing several pieces of McDonald's themed merchandise through his Cactus Jack brand, and McDonald's releasing 5 limited edition Travis Scott toys for the fans to win in a competition.
Key Messages - The main message of the campaign is to make the consumers feel like they need the advertised product. This is further emphasised by the celebrity endorsement and the fact the collaboration was released during the re-opening of restaurants following lockdown in the United States. The campaign plays into the audiences fear of missing out (FOMO), which was proven successful by the fact that ingredients in multiple location around the country ran out following the release of the meal.
Campaign Logistics
The campaign emerged in September 2020, at a time when businesses such as fast food chains are trying to re-open and welcome back their awaited customers. The plan for McDonald's is to welcome back customers with a bang, and the decision to collaborate with the multi-platinum artist is very smart and thought out. This is because the campaign takes advantage of the customers lack of McDonalds over the course of lockdown in the United States.
Call to Action
McDonalds and Travis Scott effectively used social media to create a call to action and engage the audience. On the 8th of September 2020, McDonald's posted a imperative tweet telling the audience to 'say Cactus Jack sent you'. Initially, this caused fans of Travis Scott to quite literally tell McDonald's workers that Scott's label sent them to order their food. This spread throughout other social media platforms and eventually created a viral trend in the United States. The campaign caused users on the video-sharing app TikTok to create videos of themselves driving up to the McDonald's drive thru, saying the line followed up by blasting Travis Scott music through the speakers. The videos gained tens of millions of views and millions of likes, causing creators to come up with even more ridiculous and creative ways to order the meal.
Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues - As predicted for an advertising campaign which blew up in such a short space of time, it came with its own issues and problems which were not planned. One of the main legal and ethical issues which popped up was on the day the meal officially became part of the menu on the 8th of September. Travis Scott visited a McDonald's restaurant in Downey, Calif and was soon spotted by fans and paparazzi in addition to going live on Instagram. His sighting drew in a crowd which peaked at 500 people, as the rapper tried the meal for the first time. This resulted in Travis and the restaurant to receive a $100 fine, as the duo did not obtain a permit from the city to host an event of over 200 people. The gathering was also widely criticized as the huge crowd meant that social distancing could no longer be maintained, therefore causing a huge risk in the spread of COVID-19.
Cross Media: consistency of message
McDonald's and Travis Scott made sure to advertise the new meal on different platforms, making sure the message is consistent across different types of media.
For example, McDonalds put up signs at collaborating McDonald's restaurants stating either 'Travis Scott Was Here' or 'Cactus Jack Was Here', to entice fans driving by the restaurants, utilising the celebrity endorsement to bring in the artists fans as well as the general audience which listens to hip-hop.
Similarly, Travis Scott's posts on Instagram also show him working in the restaurant, whilst not explicitly stating that he was there, the consumer can see this for himself in the photograph.This again, consistently pushes the celebrity endorsement in the audiences face, maintaining the same message across different sectors of media. Travis is also wearing McDonald's inspired merchandise, which combines the artist's underground style with fast food uniform to create a unique fashion style. The McDonald's logo is predominantly shown in the centre, and a slightly yellowish filter is applied to the photograph as a whole, to establish the restaurants presence in the post.
Lastly, the TV advert advertises the limited edition meal as Travis Scott's order, as he walks the consumer through each item in the set. The TV advert acts more like a detailed and humorous showcase of the meal itself, however... the voice over form Travis Scott consistently portrays the celebrity endorsement to attract their combined fanbases as Travis Scott's presence radiates throughout the advert, using it as the main leading advertising and marketing factor. The advert ends with a shot of the McDonald's logo, and an unusual slogan 'It's lit' located at the bottom of the screen, before changing to the house known slogan 'I'm loving it'. The former, being a phrase often used by Scott in his music, specifically adlibs, and reflects the overall mood and atmosphere that Travis brings to the collaboration. The catchphrase is written in the typical McDonald's sans serif font, to appeal to younger audiences as well as hip-hop fans who are well aware of the phrase.
Marvel: Avengers Endgame marketing campaign
Marvel Studios and Disney officially began their promotional campaign for their record breaking movie Avengers Endgame in early December 2018. The campaign is Marvel Studios' largest marketing campaign to date, which lasted all the way until the release of the movie late April 2019 and featured more than 10 promotional partners
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To this date, the official Marvel Avengers Endgame trailer has accumulated over 130 million
views on YouTube alone |
Aims and Objectives - The aim of the promotional campaign was to advertise the release of the upcoming Marvel film, Avengers Endgame. After the company made over 2 billion dollars from the prequel to Endgame, Avengers Infinity war, which left the audience on a dramatic cliff-hanger; Marvel Studios knew they can create mass excitement for the sequel. Additionally, it's no doubt that after seeing the previous movie's success, they were looking to overthrow the 2012 animated movie Avatar, from the highest grossing movie of all time.
Target Audience - Due to Marvel's influence in pop culture, the target audience for the movie includes a broad age group ranging from 13 to 50+ years of age. This is because superheroes are one of the most popular fictional concepts amongst children and older generations grew up with characters such as Iron Man, Spider-Man and Captain America since the 1940s when Marvel Comic books were first created. The gender of the audience is primarily male, however... the modern takes on the Marvel universe which the movie promotional material and the inclusion several female superhero's achieves can create specific themes of romance and drama, which aspires to reach a larger part of the female audiences. In addition to this, Marvel collaborated with Ulta Beauty for the first time on an exclusive Avengers-themed cosmetics collection.
Choice of Media
Marvel also managed to put together a powerful social media campaign, promoting the movie through multiple platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Marvel made sure that the Directors, Actors and everyone working on the movie was promoting the movie, tweeting out trailers, posters and making posts enticing the fanbase. On Instagram, Marvel tweeted out a series of contrasting photographs of the movies actors, either monochrome to represent the fallen from the prequel, or coloured to represent the survivors. It was a great tool to create anticipation for the movie, and tease the fans right up to the movies release.
Approach - One of the main factors which made the campaign memorable was Marvel's collaboration with 13 different brands/companies... including some bid dogs in their respective industries such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Audi, MasterCard, Google and many more. The creation of clever products centred around the theme of the movie such as the Coca-Cola cans or McDonald's toys were enough to satisfy members of the general audience, as well as long time comic book nerds. The huge 200 million dollar budget for the campaign was enough to bring entire industries together to really make it feel like the global population and pop culture was all involved in the excitement for the grand crossover of a 11 year old cinematic universe which the filmmakers created. The early trailers also cross-promote a Marvel movie which came out prior to Endgame in January, which will in turn create even more excitement and anticipation and excitement for the crescendo. This combines with the companies focus on limiting spoilers and plot leaks (feeding into the 'less is more' ideology) is a way for Marvel to say that the final product will be worth the wait.
Key Messages - The key messages of the campaign are nostalgia and making the consumer feel like they are presented with a once in a lifetime experience. The campaign effectively explores the franchises humble beginnings in the second trailer, which showcases Robert Downey Jr's and Chris Evans' first acting experience in the movies released prior to Endgame and Infinity War, as well as through the movie title itself, which communicates to the viewer that this is the end of an era, regardless whether they are long time fans of movies, elders who grew up with Stan Lee's comic books... or complete newcomers to both. The ginormous budget resulting in promotional material rarely seen before, reflects how much the title means to the filmmakers, directors, writers and fans.
Campaign Logistics - It can be easily said that the slow start of the campaign in December was a good choice from Marvel. At the time it was 8 months past the release of Infinity War, meaning 4 months away from the promised yearly deadline of the new Avengers. The slow start allowed Marvel to slowly release teasers and snippets of the title, before releasing exciting trailers followed with a relentless bombardment of collaborations with giant corporate identities like Coca-Cola, Google and McDonalds.
Call to Action - Marvel managed to link fans and members of the general audience together on through the hashtag #AvengersEndgame on social media. After flooding the consumers with a wave of promotional material and collaborations over 4 months. As the campaign neared the release of the movie, Marvel made sure to caption their social media posts with the imperative 'buy tickets now', simply telling the viewers to watch the movie and not miss out.
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| Marvel telling fans to 'Get tickets now' providing a link in the bio |
Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues - While the general opinion is that the campaign was a success, it did come with a fair amount of controversy. One was that the actress Danai Gurira who appeared in the official theatrical release poster, didn't have her name credited at the top of it. This angered some fans especially since the actress plays one of the only women of colour in the movies, and caused Marvel to release a new corrected poster alongside an apology. A legal issue also challenged Disney and Marvel, when the movies runtime was revealed to be other 3 hours long. The main argument was that it was unhealthy and dangerous for viewers to hold in their urine for that long, especially for customers with physical disabilities. The company managed to bounce back from this, as well as avoid a list of other controversies such as fat-shaming, the casting of Brie Larson who is criticized to be over feminist and a obsessive SJW, due to some controversies in her past.
Cross Media: consistency of message
The marketing material for the $200 million campaign is spread out across multiple sectors of media, making sure to reach for fan and consumer attention whenever they can. The campaign maintains some key themes which are presented across multiple ways of advertisement to create anticipation for the movie.
Firstly, the black and white social media posters released on Marvel's Instagram showcasing actors which play the fallen characters from the last movie in the franchise, play off that movies cliffhanger in order to create suspense and excitement for the final product. The phrase 'Avenge The Fallen' on top of the poster (typed in a sans serif font to appeal to casual audiences) is ambiguous in terms of whether the characters will come back, thus putting the fans in even more suspense than they already are.
Secondly, the billboard, being the theatrical release poster for the movie, also showcases only the surviving characters from the previous movie... repeating the same strategy of using suspense and uncertainty but on a large scale printed media. Main difference being that the billboard avoids using any small print lettering which might not be visible from certain distances away from the poster, and resorts to conveying the message using a montage of photographs instead. The billboard also shows well known faces such as Robert Downey Jr. or Scarlet Johanson to consistently attract their individual as well as generic audiences.
The actor and director posts also promoted the trailers for the movie using the caption 'Whatever it Takes.', again being an ambiguous tool for creating suspense and anticipation for the resolution of the storyline. Similarly to the Instagram posts, the trailer features a desaturation filter, taking away all colours apart form the colour red. This is because red reflects the themes of vengeance and passion, linking to the title 'Avengers', consistently using the cliffhanger from the last movie as a tool for marketing.
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