In the following, both advertisings will be analyzed and the focus laid on the differences and similarities in general and the cultural differences in particular.
India's advertising: Coolpix
This spot is an advertisement for the Nikon Coolpix camera in India. The commercial is around 40 seconds long and includes a lot of traditional elements which are famous for India. First of all, the music is very typical for the country. The dominant flute and the famous sounds remind you on Bollywood and on a dream of 1000 and one night. Another traditional element is the clothing. All people in this spot wear the traditional Indian clothes. The men wear "Dhoti Kurtas". This clothing is an unstitched piece of cloth which is usually 5 yards long and tied around the waist and legs; the knot is tied at the waist. The women in the video wear the typical Indian Sari. This is a popular dress which is very elegant and out of high quality material.
In this spot, it seems like all the people celebrating a festival together. One could have this impression because the people wear elegant clothes and there is also a firework which is often associated with a festival. They have fun, dance, and lough, while one man goes around and takes pictures (with a Nikon Coolpix) of all the nice and heartwarming moments they have together. There is a special focus on spontaneous moments like the boy who has stolen some food and is eating it under the table and the woman who tries not to fall down on the stairs. The moments, the man with the camera tries to capture, are not only spontaneous but also a little bit embarrassing for the people in the picture. In the end, there is a funny turnaround of the story. The man who took all the pictures, sees pictures of him projected on a wall, these pictures are a little bit embarrassing for him, too and then he realizes that a woman has taken photographs of him as well. This moment is very important, not just because it is a funny way of a punishment for the man who took pictures, without asking, also you could draw a line to the religion. The main religion in India is Buddhism and retributive justice "Karma" plays a major role in this religion.
After the nice and instructive storyboard a voice from the off says: "capture all the festive action with Nikon Coolpix (...)" and it also includes the name of the camera models. The last sentence suits very well to the spot because of the party that was celebrated in the spot.
In the end the Nikon logo with the slogan: "at the heart of the ímage" is shown on a black background.
The advertising is the perfect example for an advert that is communicated in a high-context culture (This expression is explained in that category: Nikon's advert strategy in India). The emotional setting and the symbols play a major role in the spot. Also, it is a more soft selling form of a commercial because it does not include any technical arguments. It tries to reach the emotional side of the potential customer and not the reasonable side.
Another important aspect, which is included in the spot, is the high long-term orientation (This expression is explained in the section: Nikon's advert strategy in India). This is a cultural dimension which was identified and introduced by Hofstede. The most important aspect for a culture with this kind of orientation is that they value and respect tradition. This orientation is more common in Asian countries and they gain inspiration out of the past. This is a reason, why the setting of the spot is so traditional and classic. The clothes, the traditional music and food are all indicators for long-established values and are respected through the conception of the spot through the advertising agency.
UK's advertising: Coolpix
This spot advertises the Nikon camera Coolpix in the UK. The commercial is 30 seconds long and contains of five different very short parts and these parts tell all a different story. The background music (Radical Face - "Welcome Home") stays the same through the whole spot and fits to all parts very well. The first scene shows the moment before a wedding, when the bride comes dressed up in her wedding dress out of her room and the parents see her at the first time in her dress. The heading for this scene is: "I AM SNOW WHITE". The next scene show a young man between two girls on a party having fun and the heading says: "I AM THE NIGHT". The third scene shows a group of tourists in front of the pyramids in Egypt and the heading says: "I AM HERE". The one before the last part is the most impressive one in the spot. It shows Robbie Williams, staying on the stage of his concert and counting to three and taking a picture of the whole audience. The audience takes a picture as well at the same moment of him and the whole hall shines bright because of the frenzy of flashing cameras and the heading says: "I AM ALIVE". The last part shows a moving collage of pictures with the heading "I AM PART OF THE WORLD". In the end of the commercial the camera appears and the zoom comes out, while a heading appears which says: "I AM EXCELLENCE". Then the camera turns around an another heading appears: "I AM A COOLPIX S8000", "I AM A NIKON". After that, the slogan "at the heart of the image" comes up with the typical Nikon logo on a grey background.
This spot is a fitting example for a commercial which is communicated in a country with a short-term orientation (this term is explained in the section:
Nikon's advert strategy in the UK) which is more common for the western world and countries like the UK, America or Germany. It does not include any traditional or religious elements. Also, this spot calls upon the viewer to think about heartwarming and exciting future moments, for example a nice holiday in a foreign and interesting country or a lifetime experience like a wedding.
Another important aspect is the usage of a celebrity and in this advertising it is Robbie Williams. He is one of the most successful and famous persons in the Western World and therefore an authentic face for this commercial. Although, he does not act like a spokesperson that means he does not lecture product informations. The way Robbie is embedded in the spot is very supportive because his reaction of the frenzy of flashing cameras is very authentic and emotional.
Comparison:
The Nikon commercial from India and the one from the UK are both good examples for advertisements which are produced for two complete different cultures and therefore two different customers. That means, both spots fit perfectly to the country where they are broadcasted. The Indian advert is a little bit longer, but the reason for this is that it tells a whole story in contrast to the UK commercial. The UK commercial tells five little short stories communicated through moving pictures. Like it was mentioned before, the cultural difference plays a major role for this comparison and both countries are very different in their culture and religion. Even if India was an old British colony, it gained its independence and developed to a country with its own, unique culture.
The Indian TV spot is a perfect example for a commercial that is usually communicated in a culture with a long-term orientation. The elements of it are very traditional and an example for this is the music or the classical clothing which all the people where on the party. Besides that, a traditional setting is always an indicator for a strong orientation at the past.
In contrast, the UK spot is a good example for an advert,
which is communicated in a culture wit a short-term orientation. The included elements are not very traditional, except the wedding scene but this can also be seen as a symbol for the future.
Another important aspect which is linked to tradition, is religion. It plays a major role in the Indian advert. Especially "Karma", a buddhist form of a religious punishment is communicated in the advertisement and therefore has the Indian spot a small learning aspect as well.
The British advert does not include any religious elements, except the wedding but this does not necessarily relay to religion anymore in the western countries today. Also, there is no learning aspect included in the UK advert.
The Indian commercial fits very well to an Asian country because it includes elements which are important for a high-context culture because the spot is very emotional and symbolic. Also, the story is told in a very indirect and creative way. The element with the religious punishment is not obvious, and difficult to identify for people with a different culture. All these elements lead to the logical conclusion that the Indian commercial is more soft selling than hard selling because it is more emotional, symbolic and less informational. The only product information the potential customer gets is the name of the camera, which was used to take the pictures in the spot.
In contrast, the UK spot is more common and understandable for costumers of a country with a low-context culture. Even, if the spot is not so informational but it addresses the potential customer in a direct way with sentences like "I AM PART OF THE WORLD". Also, it could be seen as an appeal to the greater audience to buy a Nikon and be part of the "Nikon world". Although, hard-selling advertising is more common in a low-context culture, this particular Nikon spot of the "I AM" campaign is a soft-selling commercial. It does not include any technical details and because of the music and the particular choice of scenes could it have an emotional effect for the audience. The potential customer who sees this spot, wants the camera because he wants to live these moments as well and not because of any technical details in particular. The soft-selling aspect of these two spots can be seen as a similarity both have, even if the one is communicated in a high- and the other one is broadcasted in a low-context culture.
Another similarity which can be seen in both spots, is the Nikon logo and the slogan "I am heart of the ímage". This is shown in both spots at the end with the only difference that it appears on a black background in the Indian spot and on a grey one in the British advertising.
Finally, one can say it is obvious that both spots are very different but very suitable for the countries where these commercials are shown. Also, the cultural aspect is very important because the spot needs to fulfill several rules to be understood right. Otherwise the spot would be ineffective and the worst case would be that the product would not be bought by the greater audience. Of course, both spots include similar aspects like the logo and the slogan but this is important as well. Nikon is a global brand with a global face but needs to contact several cultures in a different way to reach a greater audience and therefore the spots they produce could be seen as "glocal".
Sources:
Müller, Barbara. "Dynamics of International Advertising: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives." New York, NY: Lang, Peter New York, 2011. Print.
Daechun, An. "Advertising Visuals in Global Brands' Local Websites: A Six Country Comparison." International Journal of Advertising (2007):303-332.Print
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