ad evaluation

Your assignment this week is to watch television or read magazines! If you watch a TV program, it needs to be one that contains commercials or sponsorship messages (online TV watching that contains commercials/PSAs is perfectly acceptable).
Select one advertisement (either print or commercial) you saw in your TV watching or magazine reading. You need to view an ad in context – DO NOT just pick an ad from memory – or you will not be able to answer #3.

1.State the product/service/idea

2. Identify and describe the target market for the product. Do not say something like “young,
mid-to-upper class women with sensitive skin” and consider the target market identified and
described. Try to pinpoint the thing(s) that make(s) the target market respond to the firm’s
marketing mix in ways that are different from people who are not members of it. For example:
“young (ages 16-24), mid-to-upper class women who wash their face daily seeking the goal of smooth skin, perceive that they have a sensitive skin, who are concerned with the environment and use of chemicals in products, who like to pamper themselves and are willing to pay a little extra to do it.” A good statement lets you say who is in the target market and who is not.

3. Provide a description of the market segment the TV show/magazine is targeting. What cues
lead you to your description? Consider the context (e.g. placement) of the program/magazine
and the content of the program/magazine.

4. Considering the target for program/magazine, do you feel this ad is a good fit? Why?

5. First, identify and then discuss the effectiveness of the creative direction of the ad
(a). What benefits or other information does the ad use to support its primary message?
(b). What is the primary message is the ad trying to convey? (try to find the single overarching message)
(c). What type of appeal is being used?
(d). What type of execution style is used?
(e). What other tactics or influences (e.g. visual, aural, aspirational, sexual, etc.) is the
commercial using to make this message more persuasive?

6. Attach the ad or provide a video link to the commercial (not to the TV program, but the
commercial). Be prepared to present the ad and discuss in class.