4. Abbott Mead Vickers/
Strategy
1984
“I always felt that it would be wonderful if we could create an
aura around the magazine.
To establish a sort of exclusive club that people were keen to
belong to. To make it something that you would be proud to be
seen reading on a tube, train or an aircraft. But we had to keep
it accessible.” David Abbott
Progression and Intelligence
5. Why his strategy works/
Contextualization
The UK in 1984
British Unemployment at record high of 3,260,000
Margret Thatcher, first female Prime Minister
First Virgin Atlantic Flights (Richard Branson)
Young Urban Professional (Yuppie term reaches England)
New Romantics, Ska and even the miners strike
Heimann, J (2005) 80’s All-American Ads. Köln, TASCHEN
Harris, J (2009) Date of a Decade the 1980’s. London, Franklin Watts.
6. Why his strategy works/
PsychologySocial psychology of the need to belong
‘Intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others and be socially
accepted’. Cherry, K (2012)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
7. Why his strategy works/ Advertising
Landscape
Technology- The release of mac and PC
Intelligence and Progress
8. Creation of the Red Ad / Target audience
AB business community .
Proposition
The Economist gives you the edge in business.
New reader and new advertisers.
10. Semiotics –
ColourAds of the time warned you they were ads, similar layouts, white
back ground, headline body copy and logo.
Signifier – Red Signified – Masthead
- Important
12. “I NEVER READ THE
ECONOMIST.”
MANAGEMENT TRAINEE. AGED 42
Semiotics –
Typeface
Tone of voice
Lower case letters.
13. Semiotics –
Composition
Grid System
The content is then better understood and retained in the viewers memory
The point size of each section
-Hierarchy (Importance)
Justification
-Western world we learn to read media texts up to down, left to
right
-signifies a quotation
15. Linguistics / Lexical
Choices
Management trainee – Subject specific lexis(jargon)- Target audience
The Economist – Definite Article(determiner)- only one of, usually the best
Never –
I don’t read The Economist (Present)
I haven’t read The Economist (Past)
I never r / e / d The Economist
I never r / i / d The Economist
Death of the author,
How you read a text is
subject to reader
16. Linguistics / Punctuation
Quotation Marks- Signifier, Translates the message quickly, Billboard
Capital Letters- A proper noun, so we know it’s a ‘thing’
Full Stop – complete end, I never read The Economist except on Sundays.
17. Linguistics / Punctuation and
Syntax
Full Stops
-Minor sentences
-Pauses
-Emphasises the punchline
-Sarcasm
Syntax
42 year old Management trainee.
Call to action
No imperative, hidden rhetoric ‘do you want to be a management trainee aged 42?
18. Linguistics / Ellipsis
David Anderson. Management trainee. Aged 42
Ellipsis- Anonymous
Identitiy- Gender, Class, Nationality all the things a name can tell you remain
unknown
It could be anyone, including the reader
21. The
message
The signs, language and narrative all work to create a message
If you don’t read The Economist you will still be Management
Trainee at 42
It comes back to the proposition
The Economist helps you get ahead in business
And the strategy
If you read The Economist you are part of a club that shows you will
and do get ahead in business
But why do these messages work for the target market?
22. Ideolog
y
Reflecting beliefs with an Ideological State Apparatus
Capitalism- Making money
The era before the career change.
If these beliefs are shared by a consumer (if they understand the sarcasm
and agree)
They can then associate the brand with themselves and be put into a
reference group and be given a social ’place’.
23. Panopticis
m
Knowledge of being watched
Care what people think
The target wants to be known to read The Economist
Self surveillance
24. Effectiveness and
Success
• 13 years
• 1991 Sales rose 14%, by 2001 it was 80%
• 1991 BMRB recall study amongst AB business audience
was 37%
• 1992 IPA Effectiveness award, and another in 2001
25. Conclusio
n
“The Campaign hasn’t just positioned The Economist brand in peoples
minds it has established a role for it in peoples lives”
-Hugh McCahey, Director of Marketing Advertising
• Strategy
• Human nature
• The social situation in the UK at the time
• Semiotics, linguistics and narrative
• message for the consumer that worked
• Long living successful advert and campaign.
26. Bibliograph
y
Marentonio, A (2006) Well-writter and red. 2nd Edition, Hampshire, Harriman House
www.economistgroup.com/what_we_do/editorial_philosophy.html (25/09/12)
Heimann, J (2005) 80’s All-American Ads. Köln, TASCHEN
Harris, J (2009) Date of a Decade the 1980’s. London, Franklin Watts.
Cherry, K (2012) What is the need to Belong?, About.Com, Psychology.about.com(27/09/12)
Bowdery, R (2008) Copywriting. Switzerland, AVA, page 33
Aitchison, J (1999) Cutting Edge Advertising, Singapore, Prentice-Hall
Art&Copy (2009( Directed by Doug Pray, USA, Art&Industry, Granite Pass, The One Club [Video:DVD]
27. Barry.P (2008)The Advertising Concept Book, London, Thames & Hudson
Martin and Ringham (2006) Key Terms in Semotics, New York, Continuum
Thorn, S (2008) Mastering Advanced English Language, 2nd Edition, London, Palgrave Macmillan
Atchinson, J (1992) Teach yourself Linguistics, 4th Edition, London, Hodder&Stoughton
Barthes, R (1977) The Death of the Author, Image, Music, Text
Wilson, K (2011) Narrative, Mediaknowall, www.mediaknowall.com (02/10/12)
Branston and Stafford, Media Students Handbook (2001), London, Routledge
Louis Althusser
Fennis, B (2010)The Psychology of Advertising, Sussex, Psychology Press
Williams,J (1978) Decoding Advertisements, London, Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Foucault, M (1977) Discipline and Punish, London, Penguin Books Ltd
Branston, G and Stafford, R (2001) The Media Student’s Book, London, Routledge
Editor's Notes
The Product
It is a publication in a magazine format but gets referred to as a newspaper
It reports on such topics as world politics, business, finance, science and technologies as well as culture and society.
Philosophy
“A severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress”
Abbott mead Vicars
In 1984 AMV won the Economist contract because during the pitch David Abbott laid out this strategy.
“I always felt that it would be wonderful if we could create an aura around the magazine.
To establish a sort of exclusive club that people were keen to belong to. To make it something that you would be proud to be seen reading on a tube, train or an aircraft. But we had to keep it accessible.”
And fitting in with the aims of the economist the club would be about progression and intelligence.
Strategy
Unemployment records mean there would be a high sense of pride for those that were employed and more reason push forward and become indispensible when jobs are in short supply
Margret thatcher being Prime Minister means a new role model for women. Inspiration to push them forward.
Richard Branson and the first virgin Atlantic flight. Another role model, he is the benchmark for entrepreneurialism.
The term yuppie reaches England. Not only are yuppies the key demographic but also the term yuppie gives them a club to belong to, a term to brand themselves as.
The is a strong sense of belonging in England, people can brand themselves into groups, New romantics, Ska and even the miners strike.
So why will people respond to the idea of being part of a club?
Social psychology of the need to belong
We all have this
‘Intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others and be socially accepted’.
It exists in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs as being one of the biggest portions of human needs, we look to other people but in this case we can also look to advertising.
