During the FOA that took place, we have
created a pitch for Glamping trips in Oregon. The five main advertising appeals that we
decided to use for this were: the need to satisfy curiosity, the need to feel
safe, the need for intimacy, the need for guidance and the need for aesthetic
sensations. The reason why these were considered the most effective was given
by the subject itself. Firstly, when thinking of glamping, we can realise that people
who would actually go for it are mostly the ones who would not feel safe or
comfortable in a normal tent. Secondly, no matter of the audience’s preferences
of safety or comfort, when talking about trips our thoughts automatically fly
to adventure, discovery or why not simply relaxation. This means that the
audience would either be guided by their curiosity of exploring new places and
especially the nature or they will be guided by their need of getting away from
stress and from the mass agglomeration of a crowded city. This last one is the
result of the need for intimacy. Finally, when people decide to go camping or
in our case glamping in the nature, they are most probably expecting to spend
time in beautiful places where they are surrounded by a predominant green image
made out of grass and trees, flowers, etc. These are contributing to the
formation of the aesthetic sensations that the audience is looking for. The need of guidance was considered effective
since the audience was more likely to accept an invitation to a glamping trip
if they were told that they don't have to do all the work themselves and that they will be guided by others.
Next, the persuasion techniques used were
rhetorical questions, the bandwagon, association, maybe, fear, the big lie, humour,
new and flattery. Some of the rhetorical questions used were “do you want to
relax?” or “do you want to get away from the stress of your work?” and the
reason to consider them effective was that the stress and the need to relax are
common for humans in general and therefore the questions did not really need to
be answered since the answer was obviously ‘yes’ for any member of the audience.
The bandwagon, association and maybe were all three used in the same sentence
during the pitch “join the
hundreds, maybe thousands of happy people that chose glamping for their
vacation”. By mentioning a big number of people that chose glamping and in the
same time associating the number with happiness was expected to be effective since
the audience would be influenced to believe that if many are already doing it
and they are happy it must be a good thing indeed and therefore they should try
it as well. However, an important aspect is that an actual count hasn’t been
done and therefore the sentence can be considered a big lie that is backed up
by the word ‘maybe’ which signals the existence and importance of the ‘maybe’
persuasion technique. Another big lie used was telling there will be no ‘unwanted
guests’ (insects) during glamping. By being confident when saying this, it was
less likely that the audience would actually realize it is false and same
applies to the ‘lie’ mentioned above. This also linked to fear which was
supposed to be effective since there are many people who have Arachnophobia or Entomophobia
and who would do anything not to come in contact with insects in their
vacations. An attempt to humour was used when telling people to “Shut the door in the faces of those uninvited
guests” and its effectiveness consisted in making people relax and in the need of
some members of the audience to ridicule the fear (Entomophobia). The 'new' was used by telling the audience of the "new technologies" that are offering the "ultimate comfort" and it was considered effective because comfort and technology are both aspects that are desired by many people. Lastly,
the flattery was considered effective because the audience was going to hear
what they like to hear, that they are “intelligent and independent and know
what they want” this way making them feel good and trust the advertisement more.
The awareness of the
audience and context greatly influenced the content of the advertisement since
it had to address people that are adventurous, who love family trips, enjoy
nature, and the ones that wish to become closer to nature but finding it
difficult to leave the comfort behind. The
advertisement was supposed to appear in Oregon which is a good place for
glamping since it is known for the beauty of the forests or other possible places
where people could camp. However the audience was addressed using the persuasion
techniques mentioned earlier and due to the universality of the problems and
aspects treated (Entomophobia, the need to relax, etc), these could impact not
only people from Oregon but also people from other countries around the Globe. Some
of the most important images in the pitch were the ones of a person surrounded
by greenery, the one with the happy family sitting on grass, the process of
packing a tent as well as the spider and the images of people enjoying the
comfort of a bed or chair. The reason why these were supposed to be effective
was that, they were highlighting the main benefits of glamping. The people
laughing or smiling in each picture was associating glamping with happiness
while the abundance of greenery was emphasizing the connection with the nature
and the intimacy. The same could be applied for pictures containing the means
that were improving the comfort during camping (such as chairs and the bed). The
picture with the spider was supposed to shock and in the same time convince
people that with glamping they won’t have to face those kinds of insects during
their vacation. Lastly, the picture with the people packing a tent and the aid of telling the audience they can forget about that struggle, was considered effective because it was highlighting the 'guidance' in the trip.
Personally, I think
that the activity went well despite of the fact of missing one member
during the presentation. From the point of view of my confidence and knowledge
of the subject I am happy with my performance and I think that the presentation
was effective in sending the desired message to the audience since the prepared
points were made clear both verbally and visually (with the aid of the
pictures). Overall, I think that this activity’s results will inform me whether
or not I am on track of making a good FOA this year by highlighting both the
good aspects of the presentation and the aspects that could be improved.
