Cialdini’s (2001)
principles of influence provide pertinent ways to create a persuasive message
to make consumers say ‘yes’. These are popularly adopted in a plethora of
advertising campaigns to inspire consumer loyalty and ultimately, to increase
sales. Often dubbed the core pillars of advertising, these techniques are
infallible. However, one of the most successful organisations in advertising, principally
at Christmas time, fail to explicitly adopt any of these persuasive techniques
in its adverts: John Lewis. Moreover, since 2011, John Lewis does not even
display a single product in their advertisements; yet continually drive
Christmas and January sales. How?
Emotional engagement. The
heart warming journey, exemplified in this 2013 advert, shows of the Hare
wanting his best friend, the Bear, to experience the magical feeling of Christmas
for the very first time. John Lewis’ principal strategy is to evoke emotion
within the audiences. Several pieces of empirical research have shown that
elevated emotional responses to an ad, or any social phenomenon, increase
liking (Drolet & Williams, 2005; Du Plessis, 2008; Faseur & Geuens, 2006).
It comes as no surprise, that increased liking induced from an advert for a
brand, say John Lewis, is going to increase the likelihood that your next Christmas
shopping spree will be at, you’ve guessed it, John Lewis. Furthering this, JL
does not stop at creating the classic Christmas tearjerker that we have all
come to look forward to at that festive time of year, no, no, the 2013 ad
captures an essence of nostalgia; augmenting these feelings. JL adopted classic
full-hand drawn 2D animation, techniques embodied in the traditional (and
unbeatable) Disney classics, such as Bambi, rejecting the more modern
techniques in more recent films (John Lewis Retail, 2013). These reminisced
happy feelings of childhood (despite not necessarily bearing any original
relationship to the brand) are now engrained and intertwined with the brand and
ultimately, make us more inclined to purchase (Lott & Lott, 1965). This
stripped back feeling of nostalgia creates a more deep-rooted, unconscious and
emotional association to the brand, which in turn evokes (and predicts) future
brand loyalty (conveniently coinciding with JL’s business strategy for the
upcoming fiscal year…).
John Lewis also
capitalises on the wake of social media to further persuade consumers to shop
here. With the much-anticipated Christmas ad campaign being shared excessively
on social media, now with over 12 million hits on YouTube and the soundtrack
reaching number 1 in the charts, the JL Christmas cheer is almost inescapable. This
dominance taps into the ‘warm glow heuristic’ and social phenomenon that
increased familiarity increases liking (Monin, 2003). Moreover, when people
share the clip to their social network, this provides an endorsement of it,
thus increasing credibility (Chiu et al., 2007) – possibly also serving as a
social proof explanation: if others are sharing the John Lewis love, it must be
good (Cialdini, 2001)!
It is the avoidance of
product placement bulldozing at every possible moment and of blatant ‘beautiful’
celebrity endorsement, which emphasises the subtlety, yet more powerful,
approach taken by the advertising giant: John Lewis. Perhaps, it is this
refreshing novelty, within the overcrowded big-name ad scene, that appeals to
viewers more real selves: the exact humanity that John Lewis is targeting.
References:
Chiu, H. C., Yi, C. H.,
Yui, H. K., & Lee, M. (2007). The determinants of email receivers
disseminating behavior on the internet. Journal
of Advertising Research, 47(4), 524-534.
Caildini, R. B.
(2001). Influence. Boston: Allyn
& Bacon
Drolet, A., &
Williams, P. (2005). Emotional advertisements. Chicago Journals, 32(2), 343-354.
Du Plessis, E.(2008). The Advertised Mind: Groundbreaking
Insights into How Our Brains Respond to
Advertising. London & Philadelphia:
Millward Brown & Kogan Page Limited.
Faseur, T., & Geuens,
M. (2006). Different positive feelings leading to different ad evaluations. Journal of Advertising, 35(4), 129-42.
John Lewis Retail.
(2013). John Lewis: Behind the Scenes – The Bear & The Hare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKfFhUdXA5M.
Lott, A. J. &
Lott, B. E. (1965). Group cohesiveness as interpersonal attraction: a review of
relationships with antecedent and consequent variables. Psychol. Bull. 64, 259–309.
Monin, B. (2003). The
warm glow heuristic: when liking leads to familiarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(6), 1035.
By Mhairi Hay
This might be my favourite so far. Well done.
ReplyDelete