Effects on the Company

Many people have regarded the ads as a strange and unnecessary move on the companies behalf. This is because over 1 billion of the global population already belong to the site. The ads could suggest that the company is no longer doing as well as this is the first campaign in the UK from the 11 year old website. However, a Facebook spokesman said: "Facebook is a place where friends go to make meaningful connections. This regional campaign celebrates those connections and the different kinds of friendship that enrich our lives both on and off Facebook."


In order to understand more of the brands history and how it likes to portray itself in society I am going to look at some of the companies past campaigns. Advertising campaigns for Facebook seems to be a paradox as many companies use the website to promote their own brands. Therefore many of its previous campaigns was 'in league' or sponsoring something else in the meantime. For example, this 'green peace' and Facebook promoted both companies simultaneously whilst reflecting positively on Facebook as it makes the brand look caring of the planet. I personally think this style of advertising works better for the company because it doesn’t seem forced and cheesy like ‘the friends’ ad. I feel it also creates a purpose for the ad making people more energy conscious whilst promoting the social network rather than just producing predictable ads for the sake of it.



This ad is another example of facebook using the basic concept of the website to add and delete friends and use it as a metaphor for something important and relevant.

'Girl Friends'

And finally is ‘Girl Friends’ utilising Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’.


This ad focuses on female friendships and has a lot of clichés or common association’s people have with 'girl friends'. For example, trying on wedding dresses doing each other’s hair and even breast feeding. The ad plays on common experiences female friends have with each other in order to associate these happy or sentimental emotions with the brand. I feel like the ads are trying to communicate that Facebook is a tool to help people feel closer. However, the ads follow people in normal event in their lives big and small which has nothing to do with the brand. I think this tactic in advertising, were the brand is rarely mentioned, is effective in making the audience feel less like they are being sold something and more like they have the potential to enjoy the product or brand in this case a social network.

The ads have a strong ‘soft sell’ vibe which could appeal to youth culture more; Facebooks main priority target audience. (Quote about soft sell?)

These ads are essentially holding a rose coloured mirror up to the audience, making the social elements of life seem happy and meaningful. This of course promotes the brand in this way as well perhaps making audiences feel Facebook can help do this with their relationship especially if they are feeling disconnected from people. I personally feel some emotional response with this ad with the rue elements of the ad which reflect friendships.

The elements of normality shown in the ads may also be a reflection of Facebook suggesting that is now a social norm for people to have a social media presence. Therefore resulting audiences to feel disconnected when they don’t have one. The ads could also be viewed opportunities and experiences people share in real life is also shared online nowadays and people could certainly feel ‘left out’ if they don’t have a Facebook account. In summary I do think there is an argument of the ads feeling like a global mass co-operation peer pressure making people who aren’t online feeling alienated.

'Friend Request'

Second is ‘Friend Request’ which ran with the Cure’s ‘Close to Me’. This narrator in this ad talks about establishing friendships and relating it to the Facebook activity of accepting a 'friend request'. The ad compares becoming friends on Facebook and that the start of friendships is somehow cemented by a 'friend request'. The ad uses the words 'accomplice’, ‘ally’ and sister ‘sister’ to try and show the types of bond that can be made from a friendship or ‘friend request’.  The ad also uses the term 'someone to follow' which an active thing you can on the social network showing audiences what they already know about the brand as a small reward.

Campaign

The campaign I have chosen to study in depth is Facebooks latest ad campaign 'the friends'. The campaign is the first of Facebooks UK TV ads, part of a wider campaign including billboards, and has recently caught my attention. I’m going to start by saying that I’m not a massive fan of these ads, I find them cliché and predictable. However, each time I have seen one of them on TV I have stopped and questioned what is actually being advertised. The ad consists of stories following different friendships. Facebook currently has 1.3bn global users and it is seen widely as a social norm to have facebook.

'Our Friends'

In the first ad of the campaign the narrator talks about finding interests and 'likes' through friendships. The ad uses common jargon associated with the brand such as 'likes', 'follow', 'stories', 'share' this is constant reinforcement of the brand without it being too much in your face. Facebook can do this with its advertising as it is such a broadly known brand, the fact that the audience is able to recognise this may help them to feel involved with the advert and like they are a part of something which is the basis of the whole campaign. The ad features an instrumental cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ a well known song recreted to sound more emotional to keep in theme with the feeling of the ad.

I find this ‘less brand obvious’ approach to advertising more effective. Personally as the consumer I feel like I’m not being told to just consume something, but instead like it’s trying to communicate why, as an individual, I should. Ads that are not totally brand orientated also feel like they are more about the product and how it can benefit you rather than a company blatantly asking you for your money. This being said at the end of each ad there is the word ‘friends’ overlaid the images of these people.

Facebook is clearly trying to play on people’s emotions here in order to advertise the website. The ads use imagery of people interacting happily and can be argued that it is appealing to peoples basic human needs for human interaction as we all understand feeling lonely. I would argue that the ad is associating Facebook definitely with friends and happiness but more importantly not feeling lonely or isolated. This is cleverly turning something like social media which we don’t need to survive into something we think we do such as human interaction. The ads are not simply describing the product but creating a very clever supply and demand element.


The campaign was created by Scott Trattner, The Factory’s executive creative director, who is based in California. Mindshare handled the media planning and buying in the UK.
Trattner joined Facebook as executive creative director in 2013. He was previously the executive creative director TBWA/Media Arts Lab, the agency that was established to serve Apple exclusively.

'Britain's better off with the conservatives'

This is one of the most famous and influential adverts in the history of the Saatchi & Saatchi as well as the industry. Political campaigns were often seen as a risky move for advertising agencies as doing so can easily make enemies but the bold move from the agency in the '70s cleared paid off as they are now one of the most successful and respected agencies today. I personally love this ad I thinks its witty and very characteristic of the agency's style. Even though the ad is now dated it has still played a part in many political ads since as it is so well known.

The historical context of this ad is hugely important to understanding many political adverts today. For example, green party supporters have used the historic campaign as part of their campaign.

For me I feel the 'Britain's better off with the conservatives' campaign is particularly inspiring because of the copywriting. The simple declarative sentence is powerful and informative combined with the art direction of the never ending line is rightfully so an iconic ad.