Dior J’Adore Ad Campaign Review Essay

An ad campaign consists of many adverts that are created to promote a certain product or idea. An advert has an impact on the formation of visual images in the mind of a recipient influencing their perception of a thing or an idea. A commercial advertisement is aimed at encouraging the purchase of a specific product. The quality of an advertisement is measured against its effectiveness in its ability to influence people’s behaviour or opinion. For a commercial ad, its success is seen in the increase in purchases as a result of the advert. Ads are presented in either the audio form on radios, or the visual form in newspapers and magazines. They can also be in a combination of both as on television and online video clips. This report will explain various parts of an advert using the Dior J’Adore fragrance as the example of reference.

The Dior J’Adore Advert

The newest J’Adore was launched on the 4th September 2011 in order to revive the Eau de Toilette brand and increase the awareness of a film featuring the brand ambassador Charlize Theron. Apart from Charlize, other actresses, who featured in the campaign, are Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Grace Kelly. The campaign was spread across the world in different media: online at their web site, television for an instant TF1, a French television channel, and it was also in printed advertisements. The campaign was generally successful in all the countries it appeared (Annaud 2011).

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The ad starts with Theron arriving late for the catwalk. She runs upstairs gowned in black. Then she enters, making her way quickly passing all the people who do not seem to notice her. She goes to the backstage, where she prepares for the catwalk. There are other models, including Marlene, Grace and Marilyn, who are also busy putting on makeup. The scene of the catwalk and the awaiting crowd sets the scene for fashion. Theron enters the runway dressed in a yellow gown, the same colour as the Eau de Parfum, which she carries. The advert ends there leaving the consumer to see what happens next from there as they watch the full brand film (Shapland 2011).

Alongside the TV and online ad, there was a printed advert that appeared in magazines and newspapers. The ad is a picture of Theron and the perfume. Theron is dressed in the same gown she wore on the runway in the TV commercial. The first print was done in France, however, the subsequent prints had her wearing different clothes and posing differently. On the side, there is the name of the producers of the perfume: Dior J’Adore (J’Adore 1 Dior adverts and commercials archive n.d.).

Qualities of a Good Ad Campaign

An ad campaign is usually done in many different media. For instance, Dior J’Adore was launched online in various channels, including MSN’s channels, women’s channels, luxury channels and Windows live messages that drove the users to their website, where they watched the advertisement film. Advertising in different types of media is aimed at reaching a wide group of people. Each of this site encouraging people to visit J’Adore website (Microsoft Advertising revive the J’Adore Fragrance n.d.).

Another characteristic of an ad campaign is that it is launched in various places at the same time like in the case of Dior J’Adore was launched in a span of twenty four hours in fourteen countries. These countries included China, France, Korea, Argentine, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK and UAE. The countries are dispersed across the world with even some being in totally different continents. This means that the campaign covers a considerable area geographically (Microsoft Advertising revive the J’Adore Fragrance n.d.).

An ad also has the ability to build up an emotional connection with the brain of the consumer (10 criteria for a successful ad n.d.). If it creates an emotional experience significant enough that it is remembered, this ad, in its turn, resonates with the audience. This makes consumers desire to buy the product as they can identify with it. Dior J’Adore connects with the brain of the audience as it begins at the entrance of Charlize Theron, who is late for the catwalk. Being late is something that happens to many, therefore, allowing the ad to connect with the audience. In addition, it has music playing alongside, which also increases the stimulation of emotion, which enhances the memorability of the advert.

In addition, an ad needs to be more of a conversation rather than a simple prose. Though there is no much of a conversation going on in the Dior J’Adore advertisement due to the music that is included in the ad, there is a connection between Charlize and other models preparing in the backstage. Furthermore, the models themselves seem to be in communication with their stylists as they prepare to make it capture the audience more as if it was just a simple prose.

An ad often features celebrities in order to capture the attention of their target audience. Dior J’Adore uses four actresses. Charlize is the main model in the advertisement, and she meets with others putting on their makeup and having their hair styled at the backstage (Mackalski 2012). In addition, for the print advert, Theron is still the face of the perfume. The fans of a certain celebrity will buy a product just because they associate with the particular product.

An ad should promise a reward for the audience. For an ad to be effective, it has to promise the audience that if they continue they will get a reward. If the audience gets the main message at the beginning, then they will not be interested in following through and get all the details (10 criteria for a successful ad n.d.). Dior appreciates this fact, and that is why they only offer a fifteen second insight to the full movie on their homepage. This creates a notion in the mind of the consumer that if they go to the website, they will get the reward of watching the whole movie and learn what the whole movie is all about.

An ad reflects a company’s character. An ad gives the company an opportunity to show reasons for it to be liked or respected. It is better than the sales person in displaying the company’s personality. A messy ad will show that the whole company operates in a disorderly manner, and each of its aspects is messy (10 criteria for a successful ad n.d.). An ad that is full of bragging and boasting shows that the company is self-centred and does not care about the users of their products. A dull advert shows that the company might not be at speed with the latest development. In terms of the J’Adore campaign, it is lively and displays the classiness. Regarding the print advert, the background is also exclusive as it is the same as in the TV advert. The ad is clear and bright, attracting the eye of the reader. This makes those, who appreciate luxury, like it. This explains the success the campaign had in China, where luxury adverts are fairly valued.

Mzoughi and Abdelhak urge that a visual figure in the ad has more effect on the mental imagery than verbal figures (Mzoughi & Abdelhak 2011, p. 258). This can explain that the success of the campaign is attributable to the strong visual figure. The effect of the ad is more than what would have been achieved if instead someone just told reasons to watch the film or even purchase the perfume. This also explains the success of the print advert as it has a strong image that attracts the attention of the reader.

According to Mzoughi and Abdelhak (2011, p. 259), the success of an advert depends on the attitude of the consumer towards it. According to the study, the success of an advert is not affected by the visual or vertical rhetoric in the advertisement. This is to say that the success of any advertisement should not be attributed solely to the creativity in the advertisement. The consumer is seen to be with almost all control of whether the advertisement succeeds or not. The Dior campaign should, therefore, appreciate the positive image that the company has created over time by providing quality products.

Parts of a Visual Advertisement

It is made of four parts, namely the heading, a central visual, the company’s logo and body copy. The headline is a part of the content in an advert that a consumer sees in order to understand what the ad is conveying. It captures the unique quality of the product. The headline needs to be clever, smart, funny and to the point in order to pass the main idea of the advert clearly. In some cases, when the visual communicates strongly, then the headline is not needed (Bear 2013). Dior J’Adore has a catchy heading on that is written in bold letters, though it is not surprising that it gets the interest of those, who visits this site, because it includes the name of famous actress, Charlize Theron in the heading. In the print advert, the visual is strong, so the heading is not included.

The second part is the visual: Dior J’Adore has a film that features four actresses. The main model in the ad arrives late for the catwalk and finds the others underway their preparation. She readies herself, then walks the runway carrying a bottle of the perfume, which she presents to the awaiting people and journalists (Diderich 2011). The magazine and newspapers have the photo of the bottle of the perfume side by side with Theron, the face of J’Adore.

Another crucial part of an ad is the company’s logo. Its purpose is to inform the audience, who is selling the product or service. The printed version of the ad has the logo of Dior J’Adore included in the image so that anyone, who sees the ad, gets to know the company that made the perfume. In this ad, the identity is highly significant as the ad is meant to cover more than one of the company’s products (Bear 2013). Therefore, it is essential for the company that is making the product be known. Partnering with Microsoft advertising is mainly aimed at encouraging people to visit their brand website. This ensures they can have chances to watch the film that advertises their various products.

The last part of an ad is usually the body copy. This is the extra explanation added to the advertisement. It is not found in all ads as is the case with the online J’Adore advert. The body copy is often aimed at encouraging the customer to make a move like order the item or service online or make more inquiries about the product (Bear 2013). However, on the website, they provide more information on how to access the perfume and prices, as well.

Elements of a Commercial

A commercial has three elements.

• The first element is the objectives.

The objectives of an ad are the reason, for which the advertisement was made and may also identify the target audience (University 2009). The Dior J’Adore ad campaign was created with the objectives of building a strong pillar for the Eau De Parfum. Another objective was to revive the Eau De Toilette and, lastly, drive the audience to the Dior J’Adore site and interest in watching the film.

• The second part is the campaign itself.

It includes the method of delivery of the message. In the delivery of a message, the animation may be used for TV and video adverts; there are also catchy images for the print. The animation creates a relaxed atmosphere, and most of the time more people respond to them better than other methods (University 2009). As easily as they stick in the mind of people, another method could be using real people in real events like in the Dior J’Adore campaign. This kind of advertisement connects with people more as they are presented in terms of the real life situations, with which they can identify themselves. Dior features actresses, at whom people look and admire as they are seen as the cream of society, therefore, it improves the perception of people about the perfume (Microsoft Advertising revive the J’Adore Fragrance n.d.).

Apart from the method of delivery of the message, there is also a need to make the consumers curious, thereby increasing their interest in finding out what the advertisement is all about. To create the curiosity for the customer on the home page, they have an ad featuring an elegant drop down reveal showcasing a second teaser of the full film. Consumers are encouraged to select the ad in order to see more on the brand website. In addition, all the other ads on online channels also direct users to visit the J’Adore Dior website.

• The third and last element involves the assessment of the effectiveness of the advert.

The effectiveness of a campaign is observable through how the ad resonates with the consumers, the change in level of purchase and change in behaviour as a result of the advertisement. For instance, to measure the effectiveness of the new J’Adore campaign, Microsoft advertising conducted a research study on the MSN in the UK, China and France. Dior J’Adore had strong roots in France; hence, they recorded the highest metrics. The advert still caused a positive shift. In addition, in the UK, even though the base level was lower than in France, they had a significant increase across the metrics suggesting that the campaign resonated well with the customers, and a strong J’Adore brand was in the making. For the Chinese markets, the luxury brand advertising resonates substantially well with consumers; thus, an exceptionally strong campaign performance was seen in the result (Microsoft Advertising revive the J’Adore Fragrance n.d.). In addition, the whole brand film was watched by more people.

The Dior J’Adore ad campaign has been a success in that it increased the sales in all the countries, where it was launched. In addition, it led to an increased interest in watching the full brand film and had the creativity in the advert appreciated by the customers. It is essential to emphasize that all the objectives of the campaign can be attributed to the fact that the ad captured the mind of the consumer, identified with them, had a celebrity as the cenre of the ads, and the fact that they only showed a short clip of the film and an attractive picture for the print creating the curiosity for the consumer.