The Difference?

The last two posts have been primarily about me showing you how the two events advertise in London, using different methods such as Billboards, Public Transport and reputation. But what is the difference?

We Will Rock You depends on it's reputation from years of solid reviews. Because of this, there is little need to advertise quite as much as it did when it was first released. However, it does have the odd poster in the surrounding underground stations just to tell people that it is still out there. It would be pointless to advertise in such places as Manchester, as the distance is too far. This would come under their marketing strategy, as they know not to advertise everywhere, but just in places where they are going to target and effect their desired audience. But the Olympics is a national event being held in London, and as it is only being held for 3 weeks, they make a big deal out of it. The host town is full of advertisements, with a range of media being used. Don't get me wrong, We Will Rock You is a large, popular event doing exceedingly well. But the scale of the Olympics being literally worldwide with an estimated 1 billion people watching the opening ceremony is hard to match up to. According to The Guardian, the Games are costing round £9.3 billion, and with that amount of money, they can afford to advertise however much they want. On top of that, here us a small list of companies sponsoring the event.

Coke-a-Cola
acer
McDonald's
P&G
Panasonic
 SAMSUNG 
VISA

These are just a hand full of the supporters, providers and overall sponsors of the event, and as you may well recognise most, if not all of these, it goes to show how much money is pumped into the advertising., hence their advertising methods are different.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/mar/09/olympic-games-budget-cost

Olympics Adverts in London

Bonjour!

This is slightly continuing from my last two posts, about how the London 2012 Olympics has used marketing and advertising in differing areas.

Now, obviously I went into London and had a look around to see where the Olympics is reaching its audience, and why it would put certain adverts in places. And oh my, I found quite a lot!

This flag is just one of the thousands blowing in the streets of London, attached to 30 ft poles and are seen down nearly every major street in town! It was, to say the least, amazing. Not only were they tall for all to see, look at the colours! It's a bright reddy orange with the very noticeable logo at the bottom. Like I said, there were thousands of these, in every bright, noticeable colours such as blues and pinks. If that doesn't grab the public's attention, then maybe this will.




Yes, on over half of the London buses, plastered alongside the iconic public transport, were Olympic related adverts. In these pictures it was one of their official sponsors; Cadbury chocolate. Chocolate is seen as quite a fun treat (for some anyway), and their adverts can display their informal, almost playful side by having 'how many Dairy Milks can contenders jump over' and 'how many Dairy Milks weigh the same as a shotput'. So although Cadbury are advertising their product and brand, they are also including the Olympics, as Shotput and Long jump are involved. But this wasn't all!

No no fellow readers, flags of colour and transport of sponsor are just not enough for the Olympics. Telephone booths are also plastered with more, more and more adverts for the Olympics, and this example is with British Telecom. Their slogan 'Bringing us all together for London 2012' is nothing less than perfect. (For all those who need an explanation, the Olympics brings the world together, and BT do phones and internet, which connects people. I'm glad we got there ;)

Alas, there is more.  Great LED billboards like this present yet another sponsor of the Olympics doing what it does best; telling the whole world that it exists. In this example, the Sun displays patriotism with 'Lets make it Great, Britain' and also mentions a free Olympic pull out every day. This could tempt people to buy the Sun regularly, just to get the entire 'collection' of what they have to offer, therefore raising the Sun's sales.






In this post, I have shown you examples of the Olympic's sponsors, like Coke-a-Cola, BT, Cadbury and The Sun. These are just a few of the largest companies sponsoring the event. From a marketing point of view, one can already tell that the event is going to be a Mega Event. 'Mega Events should exceed 1 million visitors and be a 'must see' in nature' (Marris 1987). Vanhove and Witt (1987) added that they should attract worldwide publicity, which the Olympics certainly does.

We Will Rock You Advertisment

Firstly, We Will Rock You has been around for eleven years, and when it first came out, EVERYONE knew about it. They had advertisements all around London; on the buses, billboards etc      But years later, most of the public is aware of the Musical and it's popularity. It has become a pseudo-brand; an icon in the theatre industry. So with such a great reputation and awareness, their advertisement expenditure has decreased. But, I did manage to come across some!

This little poster was in Charring Cross Underground, which is only two stops from the Dominion Theatre. There were also some more on the escalators in surrounding stations, but I wasn't fast enough to catch any.  Damn my slow camera skills...

I did go into most areas of London, but the only adverts I could find were the odd one in the Underground (most of them near to the Dominion) and a large advert on the side of a bus to the O2 (again, I failed to get a picture. it was moving).  So I'm thinking, they have purposely placed small adverts in the area, so if people are having a day out in London, they could attract potential theatre goers. Also, the Underground is the easiest way to get around London, and is used by 1,107 million people every year, therefore their adverts are seen by so many people. My opinion, is that they have done a great job of choosing their Market, especially at first; they got their name out there for everyone to recognise, and allowing their reputation to take control, their advertising has become subtle, yet effective.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/modesoftransport/londonunderground/1608.aspx

TFL Facts

A Trip to Town

Right! Over the past few days, I took a trip into London; the city of which both of my events are being held, to take photos and primary research of their advertisement. I specifically looked at where they would advertise,  and who it would appeal to.

I'll do separate posts for each event :)

Marketing Communications

Every product, company and event must market themselves in public, in order to draw attention. First, they have a primary objective in mind, then use Marketing Communications to connect to the audience.

The objectives of this could be for Increased Sales, Better Reputation, or even just Brand Awareness, and revolve around the 4 P's of marketing; Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Firstly, the product would be created, in this case tickets for WWRY or the Olympics. Secondly, the place would determined where to advertise and display the product. The price would be how much you are selling for, and the promotion would be if there are any deals included, just to maximise the objective's potential.

“The means by which a supplier of goods, services, values and/or ideas represent themselves to their target audience with the goal of stimulating dialogue leading to a better commercial or other relationships”  (Egan, 2007)

This is a diagram of the Communications Process (P.Hall, 1991) and shows how you get the marketing idea to reach your desired audience. The diagram is effective, including contributing and differing factors such as Noise, and also has a Feedback section for a repeated, better turnout. 

I'm gonna have a look around town, check out the sites, and get back to you about how WWRY and the Olympics uses these things for marketing :)

Basic Info

What a fine Tuesday evening.

Here's a little bit of information about my two selected events.  Pretty basic, but always handy!

Their iconic name with the 'Mercury pose' embedded

We Will Rock You is a musical production performed in the Dominion Theatre in Tottenham Court Road. It's directed by Ben Elton (responsible for comical greats such as Blackadder and The Young Ones) and has been running for an impressive 11 years. I must admit, reading the plot made me laugh. In a nutshell, the future generations listen, watch and dress the same things.  Until a small rebel force tries to restore society to it's former self, also called 'the Rhapsody'; a time where young hopefuls would make their own music, with the joy of touring and meritocracy.  How great is that!?  Pretty much a play of our modern society. I'm thinking Ben has the same vision as many of us...

Now then, the 2012 London Olympics! England has been loving the excitement so far, and regardless of the media's attempts of scaring the country, there have been no terrorist attacks. We'll send Al-Qaeda a 'thank you' note any day now.    The Olympics opened on the 27th July, with Danny Boyle's sensational creation (seriously, if you didn't see it, you missed out!) of England starting as an agricultural insignificance, rising to a revolutionary state of wealth and independence. Dating back until Greek times, the Olympics is a series of sporting events, in which countries all over the world are represented and compete. From Air rifles to horse riding, all considered sports are played. The main stadium, known as the Olympic stadium, is the main arena of the running, sprinting and other popular events, and was built for the occasion. The cost of the Olympics has reached nearly £9 billion. Who needs recession and debt when you have 3 weeks of sport!?

Here's their sites,  have a little look around!
http://www.london2012.com/
http://www.wewillrockyou.co.uk/#/news

My Mind Was Where?

Ok,   I'm searching the internet,   looked in a few magazines trying to find something else to look into.  I found some beer festivals, some corporate events and the occasional Burlesque gig (which was awfully tempting...).  I then look at the TV (which has been on for a few hours now)  and the opening of the 2012 Olympics is on.  CMON!!  Why didn't I think of this before!?  I'm going to compare the 2012 Olympics.   It makes sense, right?   It's been hyped up for a year now, is a global event and must have allootttt behind the marketing etc.    I have decided, this is the one I'm doing.  Oh Happy days!