LO1- Advertising campaign- skittles taste the rainbow

 structure of a campaign/ how long are they going to advertise the brand

An advertising agency is a company that would create ads for a brand, this is because they have more experience in creating thee ads that the actual brand.

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The Skittles "Taste the rainbow" campaign

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Aims and objectives:

The objective of this colourful campaign was to promote the skittles brand to a younger audience. This is proven via the constant use of bright colours and house style in the adverts that are used to present Skittles as a more silly and comical company, which is more likely to appeal to kids and young adults. Furthermore, with the introduction of social media and the skyrocketing popularity of memes and sharable content, Skittles have started to advertise their product online via videos and popular images that are intended to be shared via friends and family. By doing this Skittles have managed to increase the range of their target audience as now it has been made very easy for companies to use below the line marketing techniques on a ytoung audience due to how many teens and young adults own a device with social media on it. Also, the introduction of the "taste the rainbow" slogan managed to become a popular catchphrase in pop culture and online in social media. Plus, the layout of many of the posters is similar to the layout of many memes and images that are shared via social media showing again how they are trying to make these adverts sharable and meme-able in an attempt to target a younger audience. Showing that their main objective of this campaign was to market their product to the new generation by using applications we use and techniques that are used in the adverts to appeal to a younger audience. 

synergy

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Target audience:

The target audience of this marketing campaign is across the board as it can appeal to a wide range of ages, culture, and social status. However, they do mostly target a young mainstream audience, this is shown via the constant use of advertising on social media and also their embrace into meme culture on twitter and Facebook. Stuff like iconography and bright colours are used to attract the attention of young people searching the web and social media and the catchy slogan used manages to stay in your head similar to the McDonald's 'Im loving it' slogan. Their whole plan was to make these adverts sharable and viral due to their quirky nature or by how funny they are, which is the best way to appeal to a younger target audience. After watching many adverts from the "taste the rainbow" campaign we were able to view that they appeal to a large range of classes, this is probably because of the wide availability of the product and how it hasn't been adopted by a certain class.  Skittles Distribution for the brand is already exceptional; it is rare to see a vending machine or candy display without at least one variety of Skittles. 

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Key messages:

The key messages that are obtained from these adverts is that Skittles is a fun and comical brand and that their product (the Skittles sweet) is mainly for kids and young teens. This is explained by the fact that the sweet and its packaging is bright and colourful obviously to appeal to children. Plus, their adverts heavily rely on colourful iconography and comedic writing which would make their brand more likeable to a young adult or teen.

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Approach:

Their approach to this campaign has been very successful as it has managed to stay popular and relevant since 1982. This is due to the way they manage to stay in the publics perception through following trends in pop culture. An example of this would be the recent transition they made into online marketing, using images and videos posted on their social accounts in order to spread knowledge of their brand to a much wider target audience. This above the line marketing strategic works as it has a smaller budget than hugely expensive adverts that are shown on the television, plus, it manages to spread through out social media sites due to how sharable the content is. Also companies can now buy directly targeted advert placements on most sites that market your brand to people who like similar things. This is able to work even more as it directly advertises to people who would like your product due to their like in another product. Another example of this is the eighties adverts shown in one of the videos above, in which they use music and clothing that was popular during that time period. Just like during their transition to social media, these adverts were made in order to appeal to a younger target audience. This shows how their approach has always been to target the youth due to their product being a bright and colourful sweet that is mire likely to be picked up by a child or teen. Also, after watching a lot of adverts through the years I believe that the "taste the rainbow" campaign has managed to stay relevant for so long because it also sells a specific lifestyle that supposedly comes with the product. By viewing the old 80s adverts we see that they were selling a lifestyle filled with popularity, but when we look at the adverts released this year we see that they are selling the possibility of happiness and laughter when you buy the product, which is possibly because of the depression most people have been in throughout the pandemic. By doing this they are able to appeal to a mainstream group of people while also appealing to reformers and aspirers which can help maximize their appeal and widen their target audience.

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Representation:

Since 2016 Skittles have decided to represent the LGBTQ+ group and the acceptance of pride into their brand. To do this they removed its signature rainbow design from the packaging and the colour from its sweets, along with the revamped slogan "give the rainbow" as an attempt push light from a huge brand onto LGBTQ Pride month.  However during 2020 pride Skittles took a different approach in only the UK, by enlisting LGBTQ+  illustrators to create limited edition versions of the packaging for Pride month. This was overall received much better than the bland packaging that was used in other countries. As well as this, they also represented them via social media and various adverts showing the new colourless packet. However, while this representation seems inoffensive, they managed to land themselves in hot water during the unfortunate police brutality events during mid 2020. As the bright white packaging lead many people to accuse them of racism which seems ironic during a month that is supposed to represents acceptance for any race, gender or sexuality; This did lead to Skittles recalling the packaging and even rebranding it to a grey for pride 2021. By doing this they subverted expectations of the conventions of a campaign for pride as they have stripped away the rainbow instead of using it. Although this may have happened, Skittles still show representation for different races and ethnicities via their new adverts and content on social media. 

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Campaign logistics:

Skittles Distribution for the brand is already exceptional; it is rare to see a vending machine or candy display without at least one variety of Skittles. The current method of distributing the product is a mixture of pull and push strategies. Retailers of sweets demand Skittles because they know that consumers will purchase them often enough to move product and produce profit, while Wrigley actively offers the product to said retailers, using their already-present pull force to facilitate even wider Skittles distribution. The above analysis leads to the belief that changing the basic distribution strategy is unwise, yet in-store and on-site presentation will be improved. Covering vending machines with the Skittles brand, as well as creating specialized stands in stores, similar to other eye-catching displays, will influence impulse purchases. On the other hand, Skittles have been using synergy by forming a joint venture with the absolute vodka brand to distribute their own vodka brand.  Both Absolut and Skittles would gain value from this partnership due to an increase in sales from the short-term buzz and the long-term increase in market size. As for the brand’s international presence, implementing an entirely new marketing campaign focusing on youth and nostalgia while also expanding into new regions is unwise, as the campaign may conflict with local culture and would be an extra drain on finances.

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Choice of media:

A successful marketing campaign would most likely use selection of media to find the most cost effective media to deliver the desired number and type of exposure to the target audience. Skittles have chosen to use media such as posters and television adverts as they can reach the mainstream public.

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Call to action:

Skittles call to action for the audience is for them to eat the product. This is shown via the slogan "taste the rainbow" which influences the audience to go and buy the product. A lot of adverts are also shown inside stores and places where you can purchase their product, so that the audience then knows how they can obtain a packet of skittles. Also their transition to social media means a lot of teens and young adults may see an advert while on their phone or on the go, meaning they might be influenced into buying a pack while outside. 

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Legal and ethical:

Advertising tactics present varied ethical challenges. Advertisers have a range of less-than-ethical yet legal tools at their disposal, including subliminal advertising, emotional appeals, taking advantage of less educated individuals, spreading propaganda for political campaigns. Skittles rarely use these tactics as their brand is respected in pop culture. However, they clearly took advantage of a specific group during their pride campaign as they were using the topic to seemingly cash in on the event. They also have to manage Offcom and FTC regulations that review skittles adverts and monitor them for offensive or manipulative content. 

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Regulation:

A problem that consists with skittles goal is the UK regulations on sweet adverts during children's programming. This delegates a huge ratio of their target audience as a lot of UK children are not able to see the advertisement for the product, this is the same for YouTube kids and many other websites.

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Throughout the years the "taste the rainbow" campaign has been active, the main message that they have conveyed is that you will become more happy after having had a taste of the rainbow. This is conveyed via the house style of the posters which are bright and colourful,  presenting a change in mood once you start eating the product. Furthermore, a lot of the adverts seen on television and vod content is seen with people laughing and having a popular lifestyle. In comparison to the share a coke campaign we can see similarities in how they advertise their brand and judge how companies that sell unhealthy products present a lifestyle with their product, which is used to entice people who are aspirers and mainstreamers. The share main message of the share a coke campaign was to get people to enjoy a cola with their friends and with the introduction of the named cans it gave people an incentive to buy a can with a friends name on, or even their own. We can also see how they use different house styles, while skittles used a very colourful style with lots of style and iconography. Coke used a bright red background with their logo and slogan, which is because their brand is most likely more known so their adverts don't need to swerve from the most known things about the brand. Furthermore a comparison is to be made by the way they both companies change the look of the product to show representation for minority groups. However, While skittles change their whole house style of their product, Coke simply change a minor appearance which featured names of people from all different cultures and genders. By doing this both companies are able to expand their target audience to a wider spectrum. Even so, I feel that the coke campaign is better and more appropriate for representing different cultures and people as it doesn't feel like a cash grab unlike the Skittles pride revamp.