Behaviour Change

PROPAGANDA FOR CHANGE is a project created by the students of Behaviour Change (ps359) and Professor Thomas Hills @thomhills at the Psychology Department of the University of Warwick. This work was supported by funding from Warwick's Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Bow down

 
This advert followed the discovery that some iPhones were bending in people's pockets, which obviously isn't ideal for your new phone to be doing. Samsung stated that unlike the new iPhone our Galaxy Note 4 won't bend - with an additional video proving this through multiple strength tests. This advert is a clear example of a competition template detailed by Goldenburg, Mazursky and Solomon (1999).

The competition template aims to emphasise a particular aspect of a product, that is solving a problem in a context that was not related to its original purpose. The advert works by linking the problem to the product in some way as shown in the graph below:

In this advert, the product is the Samsung phone. The problem set is that iPhones are bending, within the situation which would be people's back pockets. The product is linked to the problem in that it would solve it, as the Samsung phone doesn't bend. The comparison between the 2 phones is the linking operator, in that the Samsung phone is succeeding where the iPhone had failed.

The advert uses 'bend to those who are worthy' to emphasise the difference between the two phones and highlight the problem, and therefore the linking operator seen in the graph. By emphasising the differences between the 2 phones the advert is even more effective as the competitive angle is strongest.

Reference: 
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D. et al. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 333-351.

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