It’s time to look at the state of todays’ advertising industry. This is new territory to me. Across the next few entries, I’m going to look at different creative agencies; regional, national, and international, in order to better understand the function and importance of these agencies.
Advertising itself encompasses many channels (a system used to communicate or distribute information) such as radio, posters, television, online banners, online video, and so on. Some channels (videos) are more intrusive than others (bus stand posters).
So, what exactly are creative (or advertisement) agencies? A creative agency is a business dedicated solely to the planning, creating, and handling of advertisements of a client’s property. If you’ve something you want to sell but don’t specialise in marketing, then an advertisement agency is where you’ll want to take your service or product. An agency may be external and operate independent of the client, but an agency can also be an internal department of a company!
A regional advertisement agency that I want to mention is Mother. Originally founded in 1996, it is the UK’s largest independent advertising agency. The agency’s philosophy is “To make great work, have fun and make a living. Always in that order.”
Of Mother’s large portfolio, I’ve been most exposed to their PG Tips television commercials, utilising the characters Al and Monkey (who were previously used to promote the discontinued television company, ITV Digital). The commercials are typical of British humour. Mother knows their target audience, and embraces it. Yes, a number of these ads run with typical British dead-pan humour, light teasing, or satire.
Their PG Tips advertisements appeal to different social classes as they embrace the every-day (or just the mundane) that unite the nation, with narratives such as returning home from grocery shopping, or visiting a relative, to which everyone then enjoys a well-deserved cup of tea. There’s always a silly tilt to the narrative, and typical banter that resonates with the target market. (Target market meaning the consumer of a product or service.)
Now, as funny as I may find Mother’s PG Tips’ adverts, I do wonder how overseas viewers see them. Especially because the humour is tailored to the UK market; I expect the humour to fall flat to those outside of it.
DESIGN WORKS 