Advertising Strategy

As we were playing around with ideas for the name for our console, Alex came up with Gamer Core which we really liked. This was because we were playing around with the concept of "core". By going up big competitors such as PlayStation and Xbox, we need to come up with a new concept as well as a new marketing strategy.

So the "core" idea was that we try to make a central media and entertainment centre. For all ages, we are considering both the casual gamer as well as the solid hardcore gamer. Having this in mind this is what we really want to put across when advertising.

Our main advertising campaign would be a television advert. This would be a cool after effects style animation and we would try to get the point across of the "Core" concept to the audience. This is so that they can understand what kind of console and product we have.

Another way we would launch the product would be to add deals for a limited time. For example, but launching exclusive new games that would only ever be released on our console. An example would be Halo on the Xbox. We would also sell bundles for a limited time offer. The main idea would be to push sales as much as possible, so that we get as many people playing the Game Core as possible.

Another way that we could advertise it would be to relate it to an event. Use the event to boost it's popularity. So by somehow tying in the Olympics would be a primary campaign. By releasing a sports game we could use the Olympics to advertise it. This way we would boost the awareness of the console. Also being advertised along side Coca Cola and other big names will boost our popularity.

Another way of advertising our console would be in shops like Game and Game station. In their windows on posters and on banners. Also by offering exclusive deals to shops for example, offering game our exclusive bundle deals in exchange for more advertising space would be one way of getting more advertising space.

Researching Brands (Xbox 360)

Logo



The Xbox logo is an iconic image specifically to the Xbox 360 console. The way that the logo doesn't even need text to allow you to know what the logo is for is a key marketing strategy. One way to create a successful logo is to make sure that the target audience instantly know that it is advertising the brand. In this case, the Xbox.

The design is simple and effective. The tag line for Xbox is "Jump in". The idea for this logo I think is that the dull and normal looking sphere has more inside. So it's like the Xbox is allowing you in. Also the fact that the gate way into the Xbox world is in fact an "x" shape. This gives the audience a visual connotations so that you can instantly related the logo with the brand.


Target Audience

The game's industry is one of the biggest insustries in the world. The reason fo rthis is because the range of people that can use and play games conole is extraordinary. For example, the way that some games are advertised can appeal to different age ranges. Therefore someone who is younger would prefer kids games rather than the hardcore shooters. However on the other end of the scale games can be played by anyone any age, there is something for everyone, giving you the biggest market to sell to. Games start to get played at the age of 3 and people have been know to play games with their grandchildren at ages of 50+.

Having said this knowing our target audience is key, for example. Do we want to make our console a family interactive game, like the Nintendo wii, or do we want to make it like the xbox and ps3, intended for the more serious gamer.


Marketing Strategy

There are 2 main points to the Xbox marketing strategy.

-Robust adaptive strategy implementation
-creating competitive advantage

The robust adaptive strategy basically means that Microsoft are constantly trying to improve the Xbox to meet the needs of it's users. for example, by increasing the GUI and making the main home section of the Xbox more accessible. One of the ways that they have done this is to now include apps. These apps consist of things like, Youtube, Netflix and Sky.

The competitive advantage means that Microsoft quickly figured out what makes the gaming industry so popular. And this was having a competitive system. The best selling game of all time, Call of Duty Modern Warfare revolutionised the way that people play online games. This games was easy to grasp and simple to play. This inspired other games such as Battlefield 3 which is one of the most top rated multiplayer shooters of today. Using this to their advantage, Xbox incorporate a system that means that you can play with your friends but at the same time, be playing against them by trying to beat highscores ect. This means that the natural competitive edge in gamers has been intensified and Xbox are not exploiting it, but just using it to their advantage.


Where they advertise

Being a games console, the main way that they get advertised is through other games. For example, at the end of a game advert, their is usually a little snippet that Xbox provides showing you their console. These adverts are usually on television. Other than the main ones, internet, Billboards ect. A good way that Xbox can advertise themselves is by getting exclusive rights to games. For example, when the first original Xbox was released they got a games design company to make a game that could only be made for Xbox. This game was Halo and is now a huge franchise. One more way that they advertise is offering exclusive deals to gamers. For example, when you pre ordered Battlefield 3 on Xbox you were able to  get the new map packs for free when they became available. This is a good way to make sure that people buy the game on your console rather than others that you can play the same game on.

Additional Information

How has branding changed? 1960's - Present

Branding and marketing has affected many ways in which culture has changed and even peoples decisions. Branding products was an idea that came across in the 1960's, the age of marketing as it is called. One of the main idea's was to sell people new things, maybe even things they didn't even need. Also the fact that instead of having just one thing to buy, you had hundreds of the same item. Due to people being more affluent, there was more money to spend, therefore companies had to compete for sales and this is how it came about that branding became more about new things replacing your old and out of date items, even if they were not out of date.

Today, more people have rights than they did in the 1960's. This has also affected the way in which you can advertise certain things, for example, a 1960's ad would use heavy stereotypes. One way they did this was to portray the typical family. Dad goes to work in a family car, Mum stays at home in the kitchen and cooks and cleans in her sub - urban house and the kids go to school smartly dressed. Typically this is what marketers branded families in the 1960's because they new it would grab the attention of the "every day person". This meant that people at home could watch and almost see themselves on television or on the radio or on posters. This made it very accessible and therefore a giant leap in advertising and branding. However today, advertisers can not get away with such methods.

By comparing two adverts form the 1960's and present day, we can get a perspective on how much branding a product or idea, has changed.

Advertising In America In The 1960's

America in the 1960's was a time for advertising. For the people involved in creating this culture of buying and selling, it was a time to prosper. Due to the great depression and world war II, there wasn't that much money in the 1950's. Therefore people only bought essential products, for example bread and water. However the 1960's started to grow economically and people started to become affluent. Or did they? Due to the fact that advertising companies had started up, they were urging people to spend money on things they wanted and not what things they needed. There area many ways in which the advertising companies persuaded people to buy things. One of the ways was to do this was to compare America to Russia. Russia was a communist country and had a very poor economy and the state of the population was very bad. An American TV advert for cornflakes was branded as a freedom product compared to the Russian equivalent. This therefore made people believe in a sense that if they did not buy the Cornfakes, they were being un-American.

One of the greatest inventions of the 1960's and indeed of all time was television. This was a way that average people could watch things happen without having to be there. It was considered the suburban houses' greatest desire and ironically it was the best source of advertising. Families would gather round the television and watch endless hour of TV, whilst unaware that most of that time they would be consuming a monumental amount of advertising. Another technology that was developed in advertising was the paintings of Charles Shilddey who worked for Motorola. He painted pictures which some ways of advertising could not produce. He created fantasy in the common home, and this was only achievable if you spent money.
radio
car
buildings
jfk

Products were branded in very clever ways. For example, they were made to meet the culture and characteristics of their consumers. Adverts were mainly directed towards families of the 1960's giving this idea that everyday normal people and families are on TV having the same problems a normal family would have. Also it sets a standard of living and how the typical American family should behave.
buildings advertise themselves

John F Kennedy was not only a

Analysing Brands

The two brands that I have decided to analyse is Apple and Coca Cola. This is because they are two of the biggest corporations in the world and have both two different types of brands, giving me some contrast on my analysis.

Coca Cola


Coca Cola is a soft drink that is carbonated and has a unique taste. You can purchase it in vending machines from over 200 countries world wide and has become an icon more than a beverage. So much so that even Father Christmas has been branded by Coca Cola and changed from his original green to Coca Cola red.

The Coca Cola bottle ranges form glass to tin and even plastic. Most of these bottles and cans have the same shape throughout the history of the company. The coca cola glass bottle is iconic and is only on limited offer in certain stores. The can of coke has 330ml of cola in it and has a simple logo design which can be seen on all coca cola products.

Time line

1886 - Original coke glass bottle
1982 - Diet Coke
1983 - Caffeine Free
1985 - Coke Cherry
1985 - New Coke
2001 - Coke Lemon
2002 - Coke Vanilla
2004 - Coke C2
2005 - Coke Lime
2005 - Coke Raspberry
2005 - Coke Zero
2006 - Coke Blak
2006 - Coke Citra
2006 - Light sango
2007 - Coke Orange

As everyone already knows, coca cola isn't the healthiest drink around. However the way that they have branded it makes you believe that is is healthy for you. For example I looked on the website and the first thing that I saw was a link saying health. On this page there are links to health tips, sports events and pregnancy information. This is a good marketing technique because it makes people believe that when you think of fitness. You think of coca cola even though they have never told you that coke is healthy.

There is also a link to an Olympics page which also gives connotations of being healthy and fit. Being associated with the worlds biggest sporting event could only make coca cola seem more like a sporting and healthy drink. Even on their website the first thing that you see is someone cycling, a pregnant lady, and the Olympics sign. So even though its a universal truth that Coca Cola is not a healthy drink, the connotations associated with these images makes people believe that it is a healthy drink.

Key Words

Semiotics


Semiotics is the study of signs. A sign is something that stands for something other than itself.Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, which, for its part, studies the structure and meaning of language more specifically. Semiotics is often divided into three branches:

• Semantics: Relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their denotata, or meaning
• Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures
• Pragmatics: Relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them

Context

The same word in different places can mean different things. For example, "open" above a shop window means that you can go in and buy stuff. However on an elevator the same word means that you can open the doors and walk into a tin box and go up and down. So the same word in different context means different things


Affluence


An affluent society is a population that has money to spend on stuff the desire and not essential stuff that you need to survive. In the 1950's money was hard to come by because of the war. But in the 1960's more money was found and people were urged to become more affluent.