Theoretical Analysis of Campaigns – Semiotic paper
Writing
Professor’s suggestion:
First, you need to put all the images as an attachment and label them accordingly. Second, it is better that you compare and contrast the two campaigns and talk about them in one place instead of discussing them separately.
MAC 209: Advertising in Consumer Culture
Theoretical Analysis Requirement
Please choose two drastically different ad campaigns of your brand from two different eras, with at least four representative ads/commercials from each campaign. Use semiotics to understand how your ads work within the social, political, cultural and historical contexts. Focus on how meanings are produced through images, symbols and signs. Given that semiotic analysis is closely related to sociological and historical analysis, you will inevitably discuss the target consumer, the background of chosen ad campaigns. This is a place for you to effectively use materials that you’ve discussed in the previous assignments and put them in a coherent piece. Organize the information in no more than 6 pages.
The following issues will guide you when you analyze the ad campaigns.
Background of the campaigns: Where are they happening? In what settings (physical, cultural, political, and social) are the messages produced and consumed? How do these contexts shape meanings?
History: Do these two campaigns deviate from or continue the brand’s past advertising practices? Do these two ad campaigns attempt to produce new associations among target consumers? If yes, how? If not, why not?
Goals/messages/meanings: What are the campaign goals/purposes? Do they intend to launch new products or attract returning consumers? What messages are delivered? Through what symbols, signs, and images? What is the rationale behind the campaigns (e.g. technological breakthrough, consumer change, business environment change, competitors’ campaigns, new regulations, etc.)? [Here, you can refer to consumer pathway: Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, Loyalty and Advocacy]
Target consumers: who are the target consumers and how do these campaigns speak to the target consumers?
Impact/reception of the campaign：How do the consumers receive the campaigns? How do media report these campaigns if any? 【Here, try to find research reports about reception of the ad campaigns. You can also use reports about sales increase or decrease and other measures in your analysis】
When writing the paper, make sure to briefly discuss semiotics in your paper and describe major components of the theory. You should organize your analysis of specific ads based on emerging themes and avoid repetition. The best way to refer to your ads is to number them using “Image 1,” “Image 2,”… “Image 8.” Then you can refer to a specific image in your essay accordingly.
Suggested Essay Structure
- Title
- Your name
- Semiotics and using semiotics to understand advertising
- Emerging themes: This is the bulk of the paper. You should use the above-mentioned issues to guide your analysis and organize your content accordingly. Use themes as subheadings to organize your analysis. Discuss competitors or competitive strategies and regulations if needed.
- Conclusion (summarizing major findings/arguments)
- Reference
- Attach 8 high-resolution ads/commercial links. [The ads won’t count toward the page limit. And try to include 2 images per page]
Grading Criteria
- Writing quality (90%)
–Following directions
–Organization, grammar, in-depth analysis, insightful understanding, evidence to support your argument, etc.
- Quality sources/APA style/proper citations/attach 8 quality ads using the right format to name them such as Image 1, Image 2, etc. (10%)
