LMS

Advertising of the 1920's was seen as tasteless. And this being a time of expression there was calling for beautiful design to give products real appeal.

London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company created some really break away ads in 1924, designed by Norman Wilkinson.

The ads produced (below) were modernist pieces of art in their own right, bold colours and simplified forms that made for very attractive visuals. During a time of industrial expansion and scarring of the country side, these ads gave the company the ability to romanticise the experience of traveling between the cities of Britain.

Magritte

Magritte, while famous for his surrealist art work, emerged also as an advertiser. 

This career began with his venereal disease ad created for a competition for the belgian government.

Magritte made use of the need for stylised advertising to sell products in a time of rationing and strife caused by the war. He created work that had a feeling of freedom and expression that when tied to a product made it very appealing to the post war audience. At this time advertising had a necessity to give good reason for the consumer to buy their product due to shortages of quality materials etc.

The success of Magritte's work came through the popularity of the movement in which he painted, it stood out as artistically led advertising and made a real cross over between the ad industry and fine art.

surrealist influenced ad

Vw have made good use of the dreamlike, subconscious representation of Surrealism art in this ad.

The Bluemotion range of vehicles VW produce are part of a responsibility driven initiative.
The reason this ad works so well is that it has taken the opportunity to represent how forward thinking and unique their vehicles are, playing on people's fears of oil consumption and the inevitable exhaustion of fossil fuel, representing the issue in an obscure, nightmare like state, and then connecting their cars to a more natural and lighter side of the ad (right) with a meeting point in the centre where the good a bad collide on a chess board representing the fight that VW are taking on.

It is a visually pleasing ad that communicates the products connection to an important issue by representing fears in a surreal yet very reconisable way that allows the audience to relate and warm to VW's idea.

Sunlight soap; Influences on Lever's Ads

The sunlight soap company is a great example of the power of creative advertising, but more than this, as a study it gives great insight into the success of good application of contextually lead advertising. 

Lever's ads show a great understanding of the society of his time.
He honed in on the difference in standing of woman and men along with the division of the class system and most obviously the war time patriotism that engulfed the country, playing on these areas to make very successful ads. 

The audience most targeted by Sunlight soap was housewives, as they would most likely be buying and using the products. Lever had noticed that even though women took a sideline in the male orientated world of the time, he needed to persuade them that sunlight soap had the same ambitions they did. The ads controversially focused on empowering woman and bringing to light their very important role within the society.

The country during the war was as expected, very patriotic. the war was on everyone's mind most duly because of their loved ones that were away fighting. Lever made great use of this by making connection with sunlight soap and the british spirit. Making comparison to the superiority of the soldiers and the quality and necessity of his products. Obviously people were concerned for the conditions in which their soldiers were fighting in, and by marketing his soap as a very british comfort from to help them in the struggle, people became motivated to send sunlight soap to their troops.

Lever also made use of the class divide in Britain by commenting on the poor hygiene of the lower classes. He jumped on the growing necessity of personal cleanliness in order to gain a respected reputation, people of the higher classes would want to separate themselves from the working class and the sunlight soap told them that if they were cleaner they would be distinguished.

Myth

Looking at Myth and Ideology and its use in ads I came across this Alka Seltzer campaign done by BBDO

As far as Myth is concerned a strong connection here is to Disney's Fantasia. The animation of inanimate objects is a fun concept. This ad also makes use of the "evil food" causing trouble around the house.
In this ad the hero (Alka seltzer) is dealing with the mischievous food in order to restore normality to the house.

The end result is an idea that you can still have the "evil food" you love as long as you have Alka seltzer to deal with the ramifications.

Semiotics

I having been looking into Volkswagen's past ads as research towards a contextual practice brief and in order to get a deeper understanding of, their tone of voice as a brand, and how they choose to communicate with their audience.

In this set of ads they have used a posterised style that gives the images of the cars a little extra personality. This has achieved an emphasis of the fun, good natured feel of the brand.

The "stunts" that the cars are performing, especially in the one featuring the VW Camper, depict an energetic letting loose, the cars are 'care free' with a childlike freedom.

The other point to note is that from a mechanical point of view, attempting the stunts they have depicted would certainly damage the vehicle, the way the copy is written suggests that customers do attempt this stunts, which again gives good insight into VW's use of humour to make a point in an obscure way.

So the signs in this ad all point towards describing not only the fun you can have in a Volkswagen (a brand principle) but the care free fun that a warrantied VW service allows you to have in your Volkswagen.

Aston martin approach the Indian luxury car market

Here i have worked on a mock up of a concept intended to advertise Aston martin in India's crowded luxury car market. The main issue for Aston Martin is the poor road surfaces and crowded inner cities that India is renowned for.
While this might be seen as a reason not to own an Aston Martin, I have taken the negative in order to reach my positive point. Aston Martin is a symbol of power and success. And a little bit of dirt can never reduce the slick, powerful style of the car.