Advertisement: Strong & Weak Theory Part 2

National Wedding Show

I believe that when looking at the national wedding show it would be more useful looking at the strong theory in advertising, similar to Sherlock Holmes. Unlike the sherlock holmes sequal that may have garnered loyalty with the audience that had watched the previous movie, the national wedding show may not have that kind of loyalty with previous attendee’s as this event is mainly a one-off for people, mainly because it attracts soon-to-be brides but once these women are married the need for attending this event is gone.

As Schultz et al in their Integrated Marketing Communications book the obvious and main communications objectives when advertising would be ‘to make the consumer aware’ and as a side objective ‘to inform the consumer’. They are trying to attract the recent brides-to-be to attend the event, similarly like the previous years that they try to attract these women. In the case of their advertising techniques using the strong theory, their advertisments try to show women what they would want for their wedding and not neccessarily need, targetting the women’s mind to make them think that the products in the advert is something that they need.

These print ad’s highlight the allure of the event, showcasing wedding dress, expert advice and the whole VIP experiance for the day. The magazines these ads will be advertised in are mainly women doing pre-wedding research, thus targetting their target audience directly. Even though we are currently still in recession and recently the Church of England have increased the wedding fees ‘The current plan, which will be introduced from January next year, will increase weddings fees by 40%, from £296 to £415’ (Source: nationalweddingshow.co.uk). This is further reason for the national wedding show to adopt the strong theory and why they have done so for many years in my opinion. People don’t generally come back to these events after their wedding but can get customers through word-of-mouth which these people are relaying the needs the adverts have instilled in their minds.

So with regards to the strong theory viewing consumers as rather intelligent or stupid in the case that they are easily manipulated that can seem to be the case. Women only want what they deem to be special or is given the aura of being something that not everyone can have, this trait in women is enhanced as it is for their wedding. So the national wedding show are relatively smart in using the strong theory in their advertisments and can even beat the increase in prices and the recession as society will always have people getting married and divorced then remarried.

It’s a sad reality but weddings are something every girl dreams to have whether it be once to the guy you love or many because you haven’t found Mr Right.

P.S

More articles about weddings can be found on the following link --> 

http://www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk/home/weddings-fees-to-increase-by-40/6507736.article

Advertisement: Strong & Weak Theory Part 1

Advertising definition: ‘Mass media communication where space is bought. Can be corporate, brand or product based’

(Source: Innovative Marketing Communications by Masterman & Wood, 2006, pg 76)

What is advertising and what contributions does it make to society? ‘It influences the individual manufacturer’s sales to some degree. Advertising lubricated the competitive system by telling consumers about the differences between competing brands’.

The study of the strong and weak forces of advertising are studied by many academics, Professor John Philip Jones goes into detail on both theories but mainly on the strong theory whilst Andrew Ehrenberg of the London Business School sees advertising as a weak force.

Strong theory – ‘sees advertising as a dynamic force operating as an engine for brand innovation and other types of change in the market-place’

The strong theory is basically in the interests of the capitalists society, advertising in terms of the strong theory is able to increase sales and can manipulate the consumer by using phychological techniques in its advertising. Thus persuading people to buy the items without them really needing the product or service. Sees’ its audience as stupid and easily manipulated.

Weak theory – ‘cannot act as a prime mover in the capitalist system, used defensively by most advertisers as a means of protecting the status quo’

Unlike the strong theory it does not believe adverising is strong enough to persuades a person’s original perceptions. Instead of using advertising to attract new customers, the use of it is to retain exisiting customers. See’s its audience as intelligent and not easily manipulated.

                                                (Source: ‘Advertising: strong force or weak force? Two views an ocean apart by Prof John Jones’, International Journal of Advertising)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – Strong Theory

Whilst I was unsure of which theory to use when looking at the advertising technique of Sherlock Holmes i believe that the strong theory is more applicable rather than the weak theory. The movie business has always been a shakey territory as there are many alternatives like pirate dvds, illegal downloads and online viewing from illegal recordings. So Sherlock Holmes in my opinion would use the strong theory to get people to spend money to watch it in the cinema and spend money, even if they have the opportunity to watch it for free without the need to waste money.

Trailers are a prime example of advertisers using psychological techniques to manipulate the person to watching the movie in general, using cliffhangers to intrigue people to find out ‘what happens?’

Another technique used is the sex appeal of the autors chosen to be in the movie. Women and men both like to watch people they deem to be attractive in the movies they watch, for example Robert Downey Jr has had a previous bad boy appeal can continues to give a mysterious effect on the viewers whereas Jude Law can attract women with his sex appeal
AND the accent that comes with being british (which I don’t personally understand, are british accents sexy? Maybe I don’t find it as attractive because I actually live in England and hear it regularly *shrugs*)

Within the 2 months of its release almost everywhere i looked i would see a promotional poster of the movie.

Movies aren’t something you generally HAVE to watch, it’s not like you have to watch a movie to survive, like food and water is to human and animals to survive. By using continuous reminders of the movie wherever you look is a constant reminder that this movie is coming out soon! It eventually becomes something interesting and turns into something you have to watch in order to become satisfied. (As I have been following the movie is has had a different effect on me because its become linked with work and something that because i’ve research it so much it has lost its appeal to me.But i’m just a weird case so don’t pay attention to my little rant ;p)

But in all honesty with regards to the strong theory seeing its consumers as unintelligent or stupid it may be the case depending on the circumstance. Some people may have watched the previous movie and because of this it turns into something they have to watch but only because they want to know what happens next. However we are in recession, money and jobs are hard to find so by using roughly £7 to buy a cinema ticket that could have bought a few items in tesco or even gloves or a scarf in this crazy weather. So yeah the strong theory does work in this case as people continue to watch movies in cinema’s even in this financial situation.

Ok this is just long soooooooo sorry if i've bored you :) Byyyyyyeeeeee