Advertising today is no longer confined to the page space on newspapers and billboards or the shout-outs on radio platforms. With technology’s rapid advancement, marketers have been able to incorporate digitisation of their ads to carry out creative campaigns that appeal to mass audiences.
Simply put, digitisation is the rapid diffusion and application of internet-connected digital technologies worldwide. Because of the internet, we are constantly connected to others and can receive information in real-time – a key trait that France’s national railway company SCNF played to their advantage in this travel ad:
Disguising life-sized screens as doors, these conspicuous monuments attracted the attention of many passers-by, allowing them to look right into a different country that is specified by its name on the door. Talking to cyclists in Stuttgart, following a mime in Brussels and interacting with others from ‘the other side’, SCNF’s message was clear: travel easily to your next destination with SCNF.
The railway company was able to create a unique and engaging experience for these participants that resonated with over another two million viewers as well. Thus, a simple screen that created a real connection between a location and its people turned out to be one of the most memorable and successful campaigns of all time.
Touted as ‘the first film to be marketed through the internet’, The Blair Witch Project (1999 film) is another prime example of how digitisation has revolutionised the ways of advertising.
Centered around three student filmmakers who went missing in the woods, the recovered footage showcasing ‘The Blair Witch’ that was found was thus the film shown to the audience. The film’s distributors created a website that detailed the events, listed faux police reports and even interviews with the families of the presumably ‘deceased’ students in order to set up the context of the show amongst its viewers.
There was an ongoing storyline that kept viewers in suspense and coming back for more since new ‘evidence’ was released on a weekly basis. The ability to sustain this ongoing promotion by releasing new material that could instantly be accessed was something unusual and alluring to its viewers since the internet was still a fairly new medium at that time. Since the link could be easily shared, the website became viral and reached over twenty million views before the film’s actual release.
And of course, what would the internet be without social media? Luxury automobile company, Mercedes Benz took to Instagram to create a personalised experience for their customers, where they can now ‘Build their own GLA’ on the platform:
Linking numerous Instagram accounts through the type of wheel, colour and roof a user chooses, one can eventually see his final designed model that is specific to his own preferences. Not only does this reach out to the millennial market, it also bestows upon potential customers a chance to be part of the process – a chance to design their very own dream car. The visual capacity Instagram offers hence makes it an easy-to-use platform for both organisations and users to easily browse, look up, like and share information they see online.
Thus, the digital world we live in today has completely revolutionised the way we carry out advertising. Ads are now accessible everywhere – on phone screens, digital outdoor advertisements, transport – and everyone is exposed to it in one way or another. One thing in common between these three advertisements is their ability to connect their audience with their product, and create a real-life, personal experience for them to remember. The ease of reaching out to such a large following proves that while it is no longer as complex for advertisements to be noticed by people, it has to create an interactive experience for the viewers in order to stand out and be memorable.
CREATIVE CONVERSATION 