Essay

Why do advertisements with CGI animals usually sell better than those without?



I am interested to know why advertisements with animals in usually sell better than those without. I am going to look at the theory of Semiotics, aspects of the theory of advertising and then apply that to the Meerkat themed comparethemarket advertisements.

One of the broadest definitions of the theory of Semiotics is that of Umberto Eco, who states that 'semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign' (Eco 1976, 7). In his publication Semiotics for beginners, Daniel Chandler expanded "Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as 'signifying' something - referring to or standing for something other than itself. We interpret things as signs largely unconsciously by relating them to familiar systems of conventions" (Chandler 2005, intro). Saussure said that a sign is the interaction of its two component parts, the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the form that the sign takes and the signified is the concept that it represents. An example would be, the word 'Open' on a shop doorway, it is a sign consisting of a signifier, the word "open" and a signified concept, that the shop is open for business (Chandler 2005 signs).

The way a sign is interpreted can depend on the conventions within our society, we learn these conventions (or codes as they are referred to in Semiotics) as we grow up, most we pick up subconsciously through social interaction. For example, in Britain it was convention for the signs on public toilets to be written as "Ladies" and "Gents", the interpretation of these signs was depended on knowledge of the code, in this case being able to read written English or by knowledge passed on by word of mouth. The introduction of graphical signs made it possible for non-English speakers to interpret the message on the door but when they were first introduced we all had to learn the visual code to interpret them. Daniel Chandler has suggested that there are different categories of codes, social, textural and interpretive codes, each consisting of a number of elements. Social codes include: verbal language (phonological, syntactical, lexical, prosodic and paralinguistic sub codes); bodily codes (bodily contact, proximity, physical orientation, appearance, facial expression, gaze, head nods, gestures and posture); commodity codes (fashions, clothing, cars); and within textural codes he has included genre, rhetorical and stylistic codes: narrative (plot, character, action, dialogue, setting, etc.), exposition, argument and so on; and mass media codes including photographic, televisual, filmic, radio, newspaper and magazine codes, both technical and conventional (including format). (Chandler 2005 codes).

In Marketing Week, George Everett from VCCP outlined their initial thoughts for the Comparethe Market campaign "we realised it was better to put the campaign on an emotional rather than a rational platform. It works better in this price comparison space to get your name remembered than to claim product superiority." (Guardian. 29th April 2010) They created Alexandr Orlov the Meerkat and with a clever campaign built him up into a celebrity, by association they raised the profile of the brand. Alexandr's image on TV immediately signals "ComparetheMarket" and the clever use of social networking in his name also maintained brand awareness. For example, recently he was interviewed on ITV's Good Morning programme, no mention was made of insurance but it reminded the viewer of the brand. In the last few years there have been several memorable TV advertising campaigns featuring animal characters such as the Churchill bulldog, ITV/PG tips monkey or the Cadbury gorilla. Alexandr and Churchill have been developed into brand ambassadors. They are both a blend of animal and human characteristics that produced personalities capable of capturing the public's attention, this is called Personification. Agencies have frequently used established celebrities to raise the profile of their campaigns, an example being David Beckham's appearance in Gillette and Adidas adverts. Which raises the question, why have some advertising agencies used animal styled characters to front their campaigns in preference to human celebrities? The characters attributes can be moulded to suit the brand image and story lines created to replicate human life. Fictional characters are reliable and totally controllable, they don’t need contracts and exorbitant fees and they won’t let brands down with "transgressions" committed in their personal life. Like characters in soap operas they become familiar, almost friends and by this means they creep into the lives of the viewer.

Lerner and Kalof have studied the use of animals in advertising, in their article, The Animal Text - Message and Meaning in Television Advertisements, they said "animals that were given human characteristics were typically part of a multithemed message that portrayed animals as allegories" (Sociolgical Quarterly Vol 40 Issue 4 1990). It is the role of advertisers to differentiate similar products from each other, and they do this by associating a product with a specific set of social values. The meerkat was used to represent a sociable, hard working person and Alexandr in particular was portrayed as wealthy and sucessful but not intimidating. The meerkat has become a visual metaphor for these qualities (Chandler 2005, rhetorical tropes). The theory that an image can convey a message originated in the work of linguist Saussure who called it semiotics. His work was further developed by Charles Sanders, Peirce, Roland Barthes and later Umbeto Eco whose Theory of Semiotics made the concept more widely known.

The character of Alexander Orlov despite being covered in fur is very human; the arrangement of facial features is reminiscent of a human face. Meerkats naturally stand upright on their rear legs when on lookout in the wild this is also a human characteristic. The addition of the red smoking jacket covering most of his torso adds to the impression of him being human yet he retains his cute, non threatening meerkat appearance. The use of a meerkat as opposed to any other animal was primarily governed by the rhyming of "meerkat" and "market" in Comparethemarket.com. However understanding the cultural meanings that viewers assign to animal characters helps in the development of a successful advertising campaign and agencies try to create characters that embody desired brand meanings, while avoiding characters with negative associations. For example, in our culture, a bee symbolizes industriousness, a dove represents peace, and a fox embodies cunning (Phillips 1996 p354). The meekat, being a fairly obscure African animal, was not immediately associated with any British cultural values but in the months prior to the launch of this campaign the BBC had been showing a series called Meerkat Manor. In the programmes, video footage of the animals was edited and a voice over added that gave the individual animals names, explained their extended family structure and involved the viewer in their daily activities, it was a soap opera with animal actors and developed a cult following. The programme portrayed Meerkats as sociable, family orientated and hard working, all characteristics that would be recognised and approved of by a viewer intending to buy insurance.

So why did VCCP use CGI characters in preference to real meerkats in their campaign? Firstly they didn't want to be seen as a copy of Meerkat Manor the brand must have its own unique identity. The cost of training real animals and possible accusations of animal exploitation were another consideration. PG Tips dropped their famous using real chimps in favour of a knitted monkey puppet and relied on Jonnie Vegas to inject humour. The use of CGI allows more subtle control over facial features and proportions. Cadbury's drum playing Gorilla was a supreme example of this, the very realistic CGI gorilla's face had extremely human expressions, the ad had no words, just Phil Collin's sound track and the image of a chocolate bar, the implication of joy came from the expressions on the characters face. Andrex still use real puppies in their ads but they don’t put clothes on them. Andrex puppy's sentimental appeal is more suited to its largely female target market. The character of Alexandr has a more universal appeal appropriate to insurance, allowing the use of humour rather than sentimentally. The morphing of human and meerkat characteristics was made possible by using CGI.

In January 2009 ComparetheMarket.com launched their TV advertising campaign staring the animated CGI meerkat called Alexandr Orlov. The humorous adverts were based on the fictional supposition that people were mistakenly going to his website, Comparethemeerkat.com, looking for car insurance advice. Orlov wishes to correct this error and send them to the more appropriate Comparethemarket.com site. The campaign created by agent VCCP, has been a great success and in the very competitive world of insurance comparison sites, boosted ComparetheMarket from the low teens to forth in the rankings. I shall use the codes mentioned to make a semiotic analysis of the original Alexandr TV advertisement, to show how its creators VCCP constructed his image communicated their message to the viewing public.

Verbal language - the most obvious observation is the use of the stylised Russian accent, this is immediately different from most ads and attracts the viewer's attention. Previously Jonnie Vegas used a distinctive Lancashire accent in the successful PG tips "Monkey" adverts. Alexandr's speaks in short sentences with a slight pause between phrases, "I am Alexandr founder of compare the Meerkat.com, where we compare Meerkats" with an exaggeration on the word Meekat to emphasise that this is his subject. The style is reminiscent of that spoken in English public schools and gives an impression of authority and privilege, it is slightly condescending, he is trying to explain the difference between his site and the insurance comparison site to a slightly thick public. Catching the viewer's attention is reinforced in the final scene where he introduces his catch phrase "simples". Simples is not a recognised word in the English language but a corruption of simple. It is assumed that Alexandr's accent has caused this corruption but it is the strange noise (air being sucked through teeth) he makes following the word that makes it stand out, it is an idiosyncratic gesture that might be associated with the kindly lord of the manor or not too scary headmaster.

Bodily codes - With the exception of one scene Alexandr is facing the camera and addressing the viewer directly, that way his facial features are foreshortened drawing attention away from the length of his nose and making him more human. By addressing the camera directly he is demanding the viewers attention. When he is seen full height he is standing on a stool, obviously he is conscious of being shorter than humans and wishes to increase his stature. It could also be interpreted as a way of showing his authority, it is like standing on a stage to make a speech, not only can the audience see him better but being physically higher gives the speaker power over the audience. At all other times Alexandr is seen either full face or from the waist up, increasing his intimacy with the viewer. In the third scene he is standing next to book case declaring that "I can not find you cheep car insurance" he snaps closed the book in his hand and turns away from the viewer raising his chin to indicate his frustration at people coming to the wrong website. The authority of a headmaster returns when Alexandr's is seen between two easels displaying very similar layouts, the only difference being the substitution of Meerkat for Market, he is holding a pointer/cane and uses it to tap on the appropriate board to point out the supposed difference between the two. In the final scene when he is seen full face, delivering his "simples" catch phrase there is definitely a hint of a smile on his face, injecting humour and restoring the intimacy, leaving the viewer feeling as though they have been given a lecture but by an eccentric, slightly mad, aristocrat but without any malice.

Commodity codes - The setting for the Ad is inside an old stately home, wood panelling, ornate fire place, gold crest on mantle, over large desk with gold framed pictures on it, the dark slightly smokey atmosphere, immediately tell the viewer that this is an older gentleman with money. The open fire is old fashioned (he may not have central heating) yet it also creates a warm, cheery atmosphere in the room. His red smoking jacket and cravat also say old, eccentric and with pedigree. He has a large library that he uses so the viewer knows he is educated. The old fashioned computers he is using tell the viewer that he is not up to date with technology, yet he supposed to be running his own website. The implication is that Meerkats do not use the latest equipment but can visit the correct website whereas humans have the smartphones etc but get the wrong website. Where a computer screen is shown it has the compare the market colours and where possible the logo.

Genre, rhetorical and stylistic codes - The first TV advertisement introduced Alexandr to the viewer and the narrative continued with subsequent ads introducing the viewer to Alexandrs extended family and their family's history. The linked ads all serve to keep the profile of the company in the public's awareness but the agency has also used other social media to promote Alexandr and add to his celebrity status. He has a facebook page, is on twitter, has his videos on youtube and even his cuddly toys are caused a riot in Harrods.

Mass media codes - The production techniques used on the ad are also signifiers though the viewer may not be conscious that he is decoding them. The camera is always stationary, no sophisticated camera techniques. The cut from one scene to the next is jumpy and sudden, giving the feeling that they are all recorded using the same camera then edited together. The colours are muted and the pictures are slightly fuzzy as though produced on a low-resolution video camera. The viewer is lead to believe that the ad has been put together by Alexandr himself or as we later learn his assistant Sergei. They are amateurs, tying to convey their irritation that a big company is causing them a lot of trouble, in so doing the viewer is aware that a lot of people are using Compare the market, it is a popular site and they should also use it.

Further evidence of the success of this campaign can be seen in the popularity of the real meerkats with zoos reporting an increase in visitors, particularly to their enclosures. There are even newspaper headlines such as "Meerkat thief arrests made" (The Sun 21st Jan 2011) Apparently a meerkat was stolen from its enclosure at Wingham Wildlife Park in Canterbury and the zoo thinks that it was intended as a pet. Another consequence of Compare the market's advertising success, is rival Go compare, has changed the style of their latest advertising campaign and introduced their own "celebrity" an opera singer with moustache to compete with meerkat. Despite the similarly of approach the human character has not had the same appeal, being regarded as silly.

CGI gave the advertising agency VCCP the freedom to combine human and animal features, to create a character that would become the focus of their campaign. Their TV advertising was a practical use of the theory of Semiotics. The ComparetheMarket campaign captured the attention of the British viewer because it contained numerous signifiers that, when decoded have endeared Alexandr to the general public. The campaign was a huge success because it was a synthesis of Semiotic messages and the clever use of conventional and social media. In this celebrity dominated culture Alexandr has become the ultimate celebrity, his name and by association the brand are recognised by most people in this country.


Bibliography:

Books:

• Hall, S, 2007. This means this, This means that: A users guide to semiotics. King

• Phillips, B. J., 1996. Advertising and the cultural meaning of animals in advertising. Vol 23. Texas: The University of Texas at Austin. P354

• Eco. U. A theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University press. 1976. P7

Online:

• Chandler. D. 2005. Introduction. In: Semiotics for Beginners, available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

• Chandler. D. 2005. Signs. In: Semiotics for Beginners, available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

• Chandler. D. 2005. Codes. In: Semiotics for Beginners, available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

• Chandler. D. 2005. Rhetorical Tropes. In: Semiotics for Beginners, available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

Newspapers:

• 2010. From Russia with brand love. Guardian. 29 April. Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/disciplines/digital/from-russia-with-brand-love/3012799.article. [Accessed on 28 March 2011]

• Staff reporter. 2011. Meerkat theft arrests made. The Sun. 21 Jan. Available at: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3362768/Meerkat-theft-arrests-made.html. [Accessed on 28 March 2011]