Case Study Idea - H&M

I've been thinking long and hard of a suitable brand which utilities outdoor advertising as a marketing and promotional tool, the first brand which came to my mind were the of likes of McDonalds, Virgin and Nike. However, I feel researching these brands wouldn't add anything new to the research which has been carried out before. Therefore I considered recent billboards I could which occupy public space in cities, taking over entire buildings, selling a product. This lead me to think about H&M a leading, international, fashion retailer. H&M has a strong brand presence outdoors and has adapted campaigns over the years. There are many aspects of the brands use of billboards which I will analyse in detail, such as the placement, the use of celebrity endorsement and the interactivity. The brand was recently accredited with a 'Best use of Continuity in Outdoor' by Clear channel:

There is also the opportunity to discuss subversion against the brands outdoor advertisements:

The Guardian - Related Articles

A few links to articles I read recently on the Guardian:

'Ban outdoor advertising' Neal Lawson (2012)

We can choose the magazines we look at. But we've no freedom to walk down the street without facing the advertisers' assault                                    
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/20/ban-outdoor-advertising 
Opinionated, subjective, bias, but some interesting points   

'Britain's most Wanted' Jennifer Whitehead (2007)

They are icons in their own right and can't be missed by anyone nearby - so they offer what advertisers most want. Here's a selection of the UK's top outdoor sites. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jun/25/advertising10 

'Advertising billboards use facial recognition to target shoppers' Michael Fitzpatrick (2010) 

In Japan, sci-fi prophecy is now becoming reality, with the first digital billboards tailored to passing shoppers tried out in malls. http://www.theguardian.com/media/pda/2010/sep/27/advertising-billboards-facial-recognition-japan

'Virgin Territory' Mark Sweney (2011)

Interactive poster, by ad agency Elvis, breaks new ground for Virgin Trains  
http://www.theguardian.com/best-awards-2011/maa-virgin-territory
Interesting advertising campaign, live, updated, personal  

Outdoor Possibilities

This article: 'Anything and everything is possible' for outdoor' (2009) contains answers, to questions regarding current Outdoor Advertising, by leading staff members, from the companies Clear Channel and JCDecaux. There are many interesting and relevant points raised which discuss how advertiser's are trying to engage with customers using technology and innovation. The article describes why outdoor advertising is a 'cutting-edge media' and states that with the advances in technology, advertising can be updated and adapted almost instantly.  

Sam Bird (head of innovation, JCDecaux) expresses that 'consumers minds are changing' in regards to interacting with advertising. Bird continues and expresses how there are now mass participant outdoor advertising events' including 'sing along digital bus shelters, highlighting the publics increased appetite for engaging outdoor experiences.' This point argues that the public want engaging outdoor experience. I can see the appeal of making a space such as a bus shelter interesting, however I also feel that it is very intrusive, we do not expect to wait for a bus surrounded by digital screens and 'sing along' interactions. 

I also found this article relevant which discusses the 'Digital Outdoor,' written in 2010 this text provides a useful insight in to the growth of the use of digital outdoor advertising, however I will need to consider that these figures are not up-to-date and will have changed since this was written. It provide examples of some of the leading outdoor advertising agencies and examples of companies campaigns, such as Nike using digital billboards to update England's football score.    

Baudrillard - Cultural Displays

p.312

p.317

'In postmodernity, we are hard-pressed to find any space or any object that isn't communication or advertising something beyond itself.'

Extract from: The End of Everything: Jean Baudrillard - Sage Publications 

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/36029_14.pdf

Advertiser's are constantly trying to find news ways of marketing their products, the latest technologies are used in new and exciting ways to attract consumers attention. Baudrillard describes how 'in order to make an impression, cultural displays must be more and more spectacular' this applies to my research regarding outdoor advertising. Billboards, for example, are becoming increasingly less static, using screens, motion and interactive media advertising in outdoor spaces is becoming arguably harder to ignore. 

Below I decided to find examples of innovative outdoor advertising which support the point that 'cultural displays must be more and more spectacular' 

Ralph Lauren 4D projections on the store front on London's Bond Street

Tesco''s virtual shopping boards, people can scan items to buy using their phones

McDonald's interactive  billboard game

Virgin's live interactive billboard uses a copywriter to personalise references about individuals stood under the arrow 

Watch this Space!

(David Bernstein, 2004. Advertising Outdoors: Watch This Space! Phaidon Press)

'Encounters [of advertising] may be distant and fleeting (though advertisers hope the message is neither). They are always moving - you pass it, it passes you, the two of you move together' p.09

'Outdoor advertising is a means of extending a national TV or press campaign to a locality. Location is one of the medium's main strengths. The advertisier knows where the consumer is at the moment of impact.' p.63

'For those advertisers needing to be seen to be international, outdoor ads provide immediate evidence. They say 'we're here, we're important, 'we're part of the local scene, we offer the same values worldwide' p.207

This book discusses outdoor advertising as where advertising began, it discuss in depth the history of outdoor advertising specifically through looking at the progression of the poster and billboard. The book provide countless examples of successful outdoor marketing and explores the industries progression and innovations. In the section of the book which discusses the 'Future of outdoor' and 'Beyond the Billboard' it becomes how far technology has come since this book was published in 2004. Bernstein mentions the introductions of digital billboards which are now commonplace in cities around the world, it's clear with the development of smart phones, and social media that advertising has become much more interactive.   

'Clearing the Air'

(Vincent, I 2007, 'Clearing the air of 'visual pollution'', Maclean's, 120, 44, p. 41, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 October 2013)

This is a short article which I found related to the 'visual pollution' of advertising in cities, it talks specifically about Brazil. The text describes how in Rio large Billboards have been banned to 'clean up' the cities and enhance the cities landscape. An interesting point is about the 'balance' of advertising being used in urban environments in order not to 'obscure' landscapes. 

I found some more information on São Paulo, the city which said no to invasive advertising, on Adbusters website: https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/73/Sao_Paulo_A_City_Without_Ads.html  

The reception towards the ban of outdoor advertising in the city could be said to be generally positive with the '70 percent approval' result from surveys of the cities residents. However an interesting point is when considering the argument against the ban people have commented that the city has actually lost vibrancy from the removal of bright, contrasting advertisements.  

Earlier this year (March 2013) an online petition named 'Bristol: the city that said no to advertising' targeted Bristol City council regarding banning billboards/advertising in public spaces. The petition was only signed by 831 people but it's interesting that there is an interest/action against excessive billboards in cities. 

 (http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/1815)

'Brandscaping'

http://brandedcities.com

The website http://brandedcities.com offers solutions, using outdoor advertising, to help brands reach the 'ever-elusive consumer,' by creating advertisements which can't be simply skipped over or avoided. The Branded Cities network uses the term and method of 'brandscaping' where brand experiences are merged with people's lives. I found it shocking how the company is selling the point that people can't avoid these adverts and how they also describe outdoor spaces as a 'controlled environment.'

The website has a section called 'Just Branded' with examples of their work, such as huge adverts which can take up the entire wall of a building. It also features showcases of campaigns by brands such as Red Bull and McDonalds with numerous examples of outdoor advertising and 'digital domination' in locations such as Times Square.

 'Our stage, your show, take it outdoors'

The leading outdoor advertising company in the UK is 'JCDecaux' - further research

Reclaim the Streets

"Whether we were reclaiming the roads from cars, reclaiming buildings for squatters, reclaiming our voice from the deep dark depths of corporate media, or reclaiming our visual environment from billboards, we were always reclaiming. We want to Reclaim the Streets" (Klein, 2000, p.323)

'It is one of the ironies of our age that now, when the street has become the hottest commodity in advertising culture, street culture itself is under siege' (Klein, 2000 p.311)

'The events take culture jamming's philosophy of reclaiming public space to another level. Rather than filling the space left by commerce with advertising parodies, the RTSers attempt to fill it with an alternative vision of what society might look like in the absence of commercial control' (Klein, 2000 p.313)

(http://www.visiblecity.ca/index.php/interventions/83-reclaim-the-streets,  Christopher Smith)

The reclaim the streets movement is a resistant movement to reclaim public spaces, initially a reaction against car's, however, also a rebellion against corporate media invading the public environment. 

McDonaldlization - Predictability

The 'McDonaldization of Society' (1993) is a book written by George Ritzer, despite the title of the book the topic isn't solely about McDonalds it rather uses this as an example of the process of the term which focuses on consistency and rationalisation. 

A direct effect of McDonaldlization is predictability, when a brand uses a controlled or rationalised method to create a specific outcome the result will be familiar or predictable. This predictability is a notion which I think can be applied to outdoor advertising, when travelling to a different place or city we come to expect to see the exact same brands and consequently the same advertisements. An interesting point is the argument against predictability or familiarity, do we want to continuously want to be bombarded with the same repetitive imagery?  

(http://www.mcdonaldization.com)

(The McDonaldization of Society 6,  George Ritzer)

The Propaganda Model - Noam Chomsky

(The Propaganda Model: An Overview, www.medialens.org, 2010)

Chomsky's 'Propaganda Model' is used to explain how populations or the 'audience' are manipulated due to propaganda. Chomsky argues that there is a process of filtering which occurs in the media and explains that there are 5 filters which are used by the government or powerful media corporations to manipulate the messages the public see. This process of filtering information, I think, can be applied to advertising - Large corporations sell a product through the use of advertising, which carefully uses selective information to portray, which is generally accepted by the public as being the truth.

The two filters regarding advertising and 'flak are particularly interesting to me. Advertiser's are powerful and influential within the media, I think it's an interesting notion how those who cannot afford to advertise are left unheard. The word flak is used to describe a negative response (usually from the public) to a media statement. This can be in the form of letters, lawsuits or other action such as sponsors threatening to pull their advertising.

When considering 'flak' and advertising it makes me think about whether it could be used strategically, for example a shocking advertisement campaign could cause a negative public response which in turn can generate more advertising through the press.

Brandlism

http://brandalism.org.uk/about/project/

After doing some research regarding Banksy I came across the website 'Brandlism,' simliar to the work of the Billboard Liberation Front the group aims to reclaim outdoor advertising space. The activist group is inspired by the work of the dadaists, surrealists, and street artists, they use a variety of methods to subvertise.

Articles on the website make a convincing argument against outdoor advertising, it asserts how we should stop viewing advertising as a form of commercial communication and rather as visual pollution. A point which I found particularly interesting was the 'long-term' consequences of repetitive expose to advertising, Prof. Sut Jhally discusses the London Riots and how they turned in to a looting spree: 

Banksy

'The people who run our cities don't understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit (...) The people who truly deface our neighbourhoods are the companies that scrawl their giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us buy their stuff. They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every surface but you are never allowed to answer them back.'  (Banksy, Wall and Piece)

When researching the topic of outdoor advertising and different subversive strategies the act of graffiti could be considered an act of detornement, therefore, it seemed a relevant research point. An obvious key figure of this is the elusive, British, street artist, Banksy. The anonymous artist often uses outdoor walls as his canvas to create expressive images often conveying a political message (the work occupies a public space). In 1993 Banksy was first noted for his freehand graffiti, however, by the year 2000 Banksy had began using a stencil technique which became his distinctive and recognisable style (www.britannica.com). Below are some highlighted points from the text 'The True Counterfeits of Banksy - Radical Walls of Complicity and Subversion' by Eva Branscome which I thought raised some interesting points about Banksy's work and methods.   

Has Banksy become  'A glamorised subversive superhero'? I think it's interesting how prints of Banksy work are reproduced and sold, arguably they are consumed, replicas can be found everywhere from wall stencils to people having tattoos Banksy recognisable images. It could be considered ironic that  the work of someone who uses graffiti and public space as a method of subversion has been commercialised and commodified.   

Commercialisation of Public Spaces

Through carrying out my research I have become interested in the topic of outdoor advertising. I read  the thesis 'Public Spaces or Private Spaces? Outdoor Advertising and the Commercialisation of Public Space in Christchurch, New Zealand' (Jennifer Rose Molina, 2006) Which made me think about different points to research and arguments related to outdoor advertising and gave me an example of a case study method. It also reminded me of theories that could be relevant to this subject matter such as Focualt's research of power and Baudrillard's concept of Simulacra and Simulation. Below are some parts of the essay that I found interesting: