Zeljko Koljesar
September 2, 1999
English 15, section 071
Carolyn Miller
Ad Analysis
The Advertisement business has been growing rapidly in the last several years. The phrase, "must sell", is becoming extremely important in many companies around the world. People are starting to pay enormous amounts of money just to be able to display their products to the society. If the ad is effective, the results can be extremely rewarding. I came across an interesting ad that a bank, named "Wingspan", has placed in "Newsweek" magazine. It is simply trying to attract more individuals to open new accounts. With an attractive presentation, a smart focus on the audience, convincing messages, and logical reasons, the ad will definitely cause the readers to be intrigued enough to stop at that page and take a few moments to read it.
Personally, I think that the "Wingspan" ad is intelligently displayed. This ad consists of a computermonitor and two babies sitting in front of it with their backs turned towards us. Since the ad is not over crowded, the name of the bank, written on the computer monitor, jumps out. Many individuals will begin sympathizing with the two babies and this will then lead them into reading the sentences situated at the bottom of the page. The sentences compliment the financing system that this bank offers and the two most important sentences are, "The old way was hard. The new way is easy." After reading the two sentences and noticing how the babies are studying the ad, the readers will receive an impression that the financing this bank is using is really easy to understand. As the readers gain all the information about the ad, and if the offer is appealing, the readers will definitely have this bank in mind for the opening of the next bank account.
Immediately after reading the ad, I realized that the intended audience is young couples in their twenties or thirties. For the creators of this ad, this age group is the best one to advertise to. If the young husband and wife have just started living on their own, it is necessary to open a bank account to have a place where they can keep their money. If the couple has one or more children, then the chances of the ad being even more effective are greater. A new couple with babies will start looking ahead into the future and this is where the banking business comes into the picture. The timing of the ad is worthy of mentioning too because it was placed in the "Newsweek" magazine in August. This is when the wedding season is almost over and the new couples are beginning a new era in their lives. Many other age groups are also looking into opening a new bank account, but I think that the age group mentioned above is probably the one to focus on and the one that this ad will mostly be effective with.
The creators of the ad accompanied the clever presentation with few insightful sentences in the bottom part of the page. The readers are able to come across several significant statements that might concern their situation. The content of these sentences mainly revolves around the fact that the financing is very easy and that the early plans will definitely be beneficial. The reason why this new way of banking is easy is that the Internet is also involved. By connecting to the web page of this bank, people are able to manage all their business without leaving their homes. What this means is that time is saved. This fact is extremely important to younger couples with children, who are always on the run and who never have extra time for anything. One of the sentences even states, "Even plan the kid's education at 11:15 pm and still be there for their midnight bottle." With this kind of a system you can bank at any time of the day. The logic in why one should start making early plans with financing is not to have problems with investments, car insurance, education plan and many others. Facts like these might persuade the readers to choose to open a new account at this bank.
This ad is also followed with several claims and assumptions. What this bank is trying to do is simplify people's lives. The logo in the top of the page states, "Suddenly, finance is fun." A claim that is made is that financing through the Internet is much easier and more fun than going to the bank in person. Everyone understands that life is busy and tough and if something can be made simpler, why not participate in it? The main benefit that this bank offers is the conserving of time. The creators of the ad made a few assumptions. They assumed that the life is really busy for the young couples and that they would like to save time by introducing this kind of financing in their lives. The other assumption is that not too many banks have this kind of an offer and it would be smart to become a member of the "Wingspan" bank. With the approach that the makers of this ad accomplished, the individuals will take seriously the proposition that this bank gives.
After analyzing this particular ad, I realized how important it is to make an effective ad. This is the best way that a company can communicate to people. Because of the right choice of display, logical reasons and sincerity in messages that accompanied this ad, readers' attention should be easily caught. My opinion is that the creators of the "Wingspan" ad have definitely achieved their goal of attracting customers. Who knows, maybe this customer will be you tomorrow.
