LO1: Analysis of Advertising Campaign

 Oasis - no more ads campaign

For this advertising campaign, Oasis are hoping to endorse their drinks and also inform audiences about their campaign to stop making adverts. Their aims and objectives for this campaign are quite simple, they want to stop adverts, so these adverts are to inform audiences and almost negotiate with them about how they will stop advertising so long as they meet their demand in sales, but to also advertise their product and promote their identity as "refreshing stuff". This is as advertising especially through multi-media is very costly, so as a result Oasis will need a large number of sales in order to match their targeted percentage profit per sale. I believe that in terms of timescale, they are hoping to meet these objectives quite quickly and I believe that through social media and their use of hashtags, this is achievable as it is commonly known for things to quickly become trending on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

The target audience for this campaign is certainly Millennial and Gen-Z groups of mostly British heritage in the C1 and C2 categories. This is as Oasis is mostly popular with young adult and teenage audiences so the adverts must be appropriate and match their needs. This is done through the use of hashtags on social media as these are associated with these generations, as they were raised in the era where social media truly developed and took over the world. Moreover this campaign was released during summer, this is as Oasis will have reviewed their annual sales figures to see that their sales were highest during the summer period therefor it would be in their best interest to release their adverts at the time when sales would be highest, they also may have researched the amount of sales they may have needed to keep from going into liquidation. Perhaps during this time, they may have researched appropriate prices to meet the needs of people in C1 and C2, this is as they will not be buying an overpriced item unless the purpose of this campaign was to promote Oasis' unique selling point or to create another.

The key messages throughout this campaign are clearly stated through this campaign, them being that Oasis no longer want to promote their drink through the traditional methods of advertisement, them being through adverts and posters, this is because they are expensive to do over a large area. I believe Oasis have chosen to make it so clear and obvious as most audiences ignore adverts, this is shown through one of their print based adverts which states: "Please don't stand in front of this poster. It cost a lot of money.". Throughout this campaign, Oasis has always mentioned costs and sales however they always add the messages in a smaller text size compared to the rest of the text, this entices customers to look and read the poster. Moreover, the progressive use of hashtags such as #NOMOREOASISADS could be seen as a direct attack towards youth audiences as their lives have became filled with technology and consumed by social media, this attack is through the use of stereotypical views on younger generations from an adult perspective, as adults haven't grown with technology as younger generations have. On the contrary, it may be a direct message towards young audiences, albeit in a different tone, instead of attacking young audiences, the consistency of prompts throughout their adverts could relate to how the means of effective advertising have changed, as instead of simply being told to purchase a product or do something, there is an element of control over the media that audiences consume which is given to the audience so that they can give they views and opinion. This is as a result of people being able to give comments on social media and post their opinions, so they would much rather listen to a social media icon or people they know for their opinions over what an advert tells you to do.

The way Oasis approaches this campaign is through a modernistic approach, they are focusing on the psychographic qualities of young audiences. They approached with the theme of simplistic and almost boring adverts with them releasing a series of print based adverts all released as pop up adverts and stories on Instagram, this is a psychological play on how most people have the ability to skip adverts as they don't like them, so this is to enkindle this feeling and then exploit it so that they can get their desired outcome. They are essentially giving audiences a false sense of control, as if they are to simply tell audiences they don't like adds so do this if wouldn't be as effective as making adverts that will make audiences think that they don't like their adverts so are more likely to agree with their deal.

In this campaign, Oasis represents traditional methods of advertising as outdated compared to modern day digital versions of advertising by advertising in that manner. They do this by highlighting key drawbacks to traditional methods of advertising, an example talking about how expensive print based adverts such as posters are as they must be designed, manufactured, then payed for to be displayed in areas where they will be easily noticed, so it is representing these methods as outdated as they are no longer as efficient as they once were. This challenges Harold Lasswell's theory on the hypodermic needle presented though advertising as audiences no longer simply believe what is advertised to them, this is shown through the increase in reviewers amongst social media who give audiences an honest opinion on their experiences with a particular product, and instead it is this what attracts audiences to a product. This is heavily shown in media such as books, games and film/tv as most of them use quotes from the press if display any titles or awards they might have earned such as number 1 best seller.

The way the logistics worked through this campaign is through their use of cross media promotion and synergy, this is shown in how Oasis will make an advert that is to draw attention on social media and then essentially start a community that will talk about it on social media, an example is from an advert in the London Underground where there is a long paragraph in the advert  talking about Oasis, this was then tweeted talking about how bad it is and that they need to stop with those adverts using the hashtag #nomoreoasisads, this shows how Oasis is rallying people to talk about their campaign through almost word of mouth as people will be talking and sharing this message internationally, which is not only a faster method to reach a global audience but also it is far cheaper. 

The choices of media Oasis chose were the 2 most recognisable types of adverts, them being print and audio visual, all with a simplistic modern design and giving a clear and simple method, this could be in order to highlight how adverts have always simply been a 1 way conversation with the companies telling people to buy their product, this is done to almost mock traditional methods in order to promote digital and social media advertising. Perhaps this is as there are many companies who still spend a lot of money making adverts such as these. Moreover it is using tweets to highlight what its target audience is as it is mostly under 25 years of age and so they recognise how much people look at their phones and other screens and how much time they spend on social media, so will push their adverts to where people are always looking. Moreover, the reason Oasis chose to advertise through multiple media platforms was in order to increase its reach to as many customers as possible. As it was different types of adverts released in different areas, this means that Oasis aren't limiting the audience that they are intending to attract, by keeping it a wider audience instead of a niche one, there is a higher likelihood for this campaign to succeed rather than just advertising as posters or on television. Moreover i believe that they used social media as their new intended method was in order to achieve a cheaper and more efficient form of globalisation, as in comparison to a tv advert, once the advert has been made, it is limited to the channels they pay to release it on and the time, and since it is no longer in the interest of having tv adverts as shown in the hashtag of this campaign, the viewership to these adverts would be significantly lower, as social media adverts are permanent in the form of posts and easy to access through the use of hashtags and the use if keywords within the description to each post, this means that the viewership is greater but also it is free to post an advert on social media which would save them a lot of money which can be put into other investments.

The call to action within this campaign is clearly to have people continue to purchase without the need for the adverts, this is done to indirectly create a community and bring people together through the use of social media. Their hopes would be that customers would see these dull adverts and post or talk about them on social media, perhaps raising the point of how much people aren't interested in adverts now nor are they affected by them but also maybe talk to people in wonder as to why Oasis, a large and successful company, would talk about adverts and finance in such a matter. Perhaps as this is such a drastic change in advertising products may take the interest of newspaper producers like The Sun, this would mean that this campaign is further promoted through synergy as it is another company promoting the brand and its campaign and it will promote their campaign and spread its message to an older audience.

In the case of law and ethics, as this campaign isn't intended on or include any content or messages that may offend or discriminate against any groups, these may include: race, gender, age, sexuality or religion. This is good as it means people of all backgrounds are welcomed to express their thoughts on the adverts. It is also important that the message given across from Oasis is clear as if not then this campaign could be seen as threatening or almost blackmail as it is essentially telling customers to keep buying or the will keep making adults, this may make customers uncomfortable and almost pressured into buying the products, this is unethical if the case as it removes free will from audiences as it is no longer a matter of persuasion. This is portrayed clearest in the advert released on tv and social media as the imagery used could be interpreted as violent as the room the actors inside were forced to be in a room that slowly filled with water, this is quite violent as it could convey the idea of drowning as a consequence for not meeting their needs.

In terms of regulation, this campaign must be permitted and approved by the ASA. This is in order to ensure that this legal to use and publish in all areas. This also means that their adverts cannot target specific groups and that their adverts are appropriate for all audiences to view. Oasis will also need to follow the FTC (federal trade commissions act) which protects audiences and consumers from false advertisements or any deceptive companies which may try to scam consumers to gain their profits or private information.

This campaign alternates from Coca Cola's "Share a coke" campaign as instead of  interacting with the company via social media, audiences are persuaded to interact with each other more through the use of personalised labels. This is also effective albeit in a different reason to Oasis' campaign as it instead makes audiences want to see more from Coca Cola as they are highlighting what audiences want, that being some more variety and personalisation to their products rather than highlighting the negatives to advertising to persuade and almost blackmail audiences into buying their product otherwise they will keep making boring adverts. I believe this could be the reason that the share a coke campaign was more successful as like the no more oasis ads campaign, it encouraged customers to communicate however it was instead through the sales and distribution of unique products, and since Coca Cola has a larger audience than Oasis, it makes sense for them to need to make a larger campaign to boost sales.