Friday, August 31, 2012

Hannah Farrell 42467187



Traditional modes of advertising are experiencing a structural adaptation to compete in the new media era of digital media convergence. The converging of media technologies has created a new ways in which audiences consume information. A consumer’s ability to time shift television and thus skip television advertisement breaks has presented a huge challenge for brands relying on this form of mass media marketing. The top down model of traditional advertising is no longer a feasible method of grasping a consumer’s attention and loyalty to a brand as consumers have smartened to such advertising techniques resulting in their ability to subconsciously block such messages. Hence there has been a cultural shift to what Jenkins calls convergence culture (2006).  Many international brands have now begun to understand this shift and therefore creating advertisements “consumers actively participate in negotiating the symbolic and use values of goods and services”(Spurgeon 2008 p. 25).  Two brands that have attempted this in their advertising campaigns include Virgin Mobile’s “Fair go bro” Doug Pitt endorsed 2012 campaign and Tiger Beer’s “stand out in life” 2009 campaign.  

Jenkins’ (2006) idea of cultural convergence addresses the need for the collaboration traditional media’s push model of advertising where advertisers send a specific message to consumers, and the bottom-down model where consumers determine the message and seek out the advertisement. Convergence occurs when advertisers utilise ‘new media’ to allow for greater flow of content across media platforms. 



Virgin Mobile has created a campaign in which they hoped would become viral. The idea of this campaign is to play on Australia’s “fair go” policy and give the non-celebrity Doug Pitt, brother of internationally acclaimed actor Brad Pitt, a ‘fair go’ and thus a chance to become famous.  The campaign revolves around a interactive website that allows consumers to vote their opinion of Doug’s celebrity status, participate in a photo competition, follow Doug on his Australian tour and finally view telephone deals fit for a celebrities brother.  The focus is to entice consumers to share their interactions through social networks with their friends. The brand’s alliance with Nova FM radio station has assisted in promoting the concept across a traditional mass media platform, interviewing Doug Pitt.  Thus Virgin Mobile has uterlised Jenkin’s theory of cultural convergence in the creation of this campaign.  

This is a form of branded content. Spurgeon (2008) explains branded entertainment is the process contextualizing a brand’s message in a theatrically entertaining manner that appeals to exceedingly to consumers whom in return share it across their social media platform. Virgin Mobile’s “Meet Doug Pitt” YouTube ad has received close to 1.5 million views and is categorised under the entertainment genre. 


Virgin Mobile’s aim was to create a viral campaign. Doug Pitt is discreetly acting as an opinion leader for the virgin mobile products, the product is not explicitly mentioned, nor is the brand during the reality TV style interview YouTube video, this is one concept Professor Teixeira of Harvard Business discovered in his study of viral advertisements to be essential.



Teixeira outlines that there has been a rise in the viral revolution, advertising agencies are launching online advertisements consumers are willing to propel through personal social media channels, these advertisements have the ‘surprise’ affect that entice consumers to share with friends in order for them to gain social capital.  Virgin Mobile surprises consumers by endorsing their product by not a celebrity but a celebrity’s brother. This is refreshing to consumers whom in traditional modes of advertising would only see celebrities endorsing products.



Sheehan and Morrison (2009) suggest the term ‘confluence culture’ better describes the contemporary expressions of advertising in convergent media. Confluence culture is derived from Deuze’s (2006) ideas of digital culture and Jenkin’s (2006) convergence culture theory. Confluence culture therefore encapsulates the notion of an engagement of ideas across media platforms, that allows brands to tell a story that consumers build a relationship with thus may result in their own renditions of the advisements or simply their sharing of original among friends.  This notion of confluence culture is evident in Tiger Beer’s 2009 “Standout in life” campaign. The brand redesigned a limited edition packaging and partnered with blogs and Facebook establishing a fan base, to which they announced a contest for bloggers to answer why they’re a stand out in life with Tiger Beer.  Consumers were then given the ultimate participatory power to create their own advertisements for Tiger Beer. 
Deuze (2007) argues that convergent media has enabled advertisers to pin point out consumer segmentations that traditional mass media struggled to find.  Concepts like Tiger Beer’s Standout campaign gain interest of those whom hobbies of blogging deter them from interacting with mass forms of media such as television and radio.  The competition allows amateurs and professionals to converge ideas and thus resulting in a highly successful "new media" based advertising campaign, that do not resist from as they are intentionally a part of the process.

Hence in a new era of ‘consumer sovereignty’, where by the consumers decide what can be sold to them and at what time, advertisers have had to adapt accordingly to use new media to assist in communicating to digital nomads. Converging old media with new media in creative, inventive, participatory formats is the only way contemporary advertisers can successfully attract consumers. This need is the driver of  the phenomenon of digital media convergence. 

References

Spurgeon C. (2008), Advertising and New Media, Ozon Routledge, New York, p. 24-45

Jenkins, H. (2006), Convergence Culture: where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York 

Deuze, M. (2007), Convergence Culture in the Creative Industries, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Sage Publications vol 10 no 2  

G Elliott, S Rundle-Thiele. D Waller (2010)Marketing, Wiley, Queensland  

BUSINESS, HARVARD. 2012. Why Some Ads go Viral, YouTube.

VIRGIN MOBILE AUSTRALIA, 2012, Meet Doug Pitt, the second most famous Pitt in his family, YouTube

Sheehan, K. and Morrison, D. (2009) Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world in,  First Monday vol 14 no 3

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