(P1) Describing Existing Marketing Campaigns
Headings - Aims and objectives, target audience, key messages, approaches and representation.
B&Q Build a Life advertisement campaign (2020)
Aims and Objectives
The aims of the B&Q Build a Life include bringing families together and promoting their product. They target their campaign hugely at families, as the whole campaign is used to promote families building their memories together in their homes. The point of the campaign is to bring families together in an otherwise hard time, in spite of the rise of COVID and people had to stay inside, losing the opportunity to go outside and make memories themselves.
B&Q took this time and made it into something positive, as people can craft their homes and their lives in a time when they can't go outside, they can create somewhere to enjoy the time they have, and use it to also better the place that they live in.
The objectives they aimed to achieve with this campaign was to increase their popularity, as well as trying to grow their consumers to a larger audience, with some of the adverts being aimed towards teenagers and young adults, who are not typically the people that go to B&Q. Here is one example of this, where the actual word 'Teenagers' has been used to grasp the younger audience's attention.
The prospect of the idea they were trying to bring was a 'new beginning' after a long hard year of being inside and not being able to do anything. This led to people becoming 'tired' of their homes and therefore they will be wanting to change it up as soon as they got the chance. This made a perfect time for B&Q to spread their name again, as everyone introduces the idea of change.
Target Audience -
The target audience of this campaign is very focused towards families, as it includes footage from what appears to be young developing families, who have taken the idea to change their home, and move into to somewhere they created. A life they have created.
This brings a new target to B&Q's audience, as they have been recognised for a long time as being a store that is mainly focused to working people, such as working men and people that work in the construction industry. However, they changed this premise very effectively to suit towards a broad range of people, people that enjoy change and a way to create a new beginning or a platform for memories to develop from.
The Geographics of the target audience is all in the UK. This means that their audience will only come from the UK, as the people using their products will probably own a house in the UK. This means that their marketing will be aimed towards UK residence, but it strays to different ethnicities as the UK is very culturally diverse. This also means that the products should be useful to people in the UK, which the advert definitely works on
The psychometrics from the target audience are mainly the mainstreamer types of people, which make up around 60% of all customers. This is because B&Q is the most popular homeware and hardware store in the UK, meaning people are comfortable going there as it is very popular.
The advertisement is aimed from teens to adults. This is mostly due to how to advert is aimed at physically active people, people who would be willing to create and DIY, and would want to put in the work for the change. The advert is also slightly aimed at younger children, as they would find fun in helping with these tasks. However, for the promotion of products, the target audience is from teens to adults.
Key Messages -
The key messages of this campaign are to involve family and change. This campaign is supposed to bring families together after a difficult time and start creating activities for people to bond over. The phrase "walls tell a story" Shows B&Qs drive to promote memories, whilst also trying to stick to their product base, linking everything to building and things you can buy from B&Q. This message is used to promote to families as they are very loyal customers, and they would want to range out to a larger target audience.
The messages B&Q are trying to promote are very different to most advert, as it creates a common ground with audience, as opposed to displaying a clear benefit. this creates a bond with audience, and immediately establishes interest and trust with the customer. This benefits them nicely as it automatically creates something that the audience are interested in and establishes a ground with them.
This is different to B&Q's rival, Wickes' campaign messages, who state in their advertisement that they want to cure your 'housebarressment', which again, establishes a common ground with the audience as this term is used frequently when people want to change their house, or improves certain aspects of it. This confirms a relation to the audience but does not have as much of an effect on their target audience than B&Q's idea. This means that B&Q can grasp the closer relation with the audience and are more likely to make a positive gain from it.
B&Q's Unique Selling Point has always been to target their hardcore materials and work ethic to the normal, average person. This has always been the concept of B&Q since it started in 1969, and their brand has always been around building an emotional connection with their customers, so they can feel the confidence and push they need to try and do something themselves, and when they are successful, they link their pride and accomplishment straight to B&Q. This, again, establishes a firm relationship with the company and customer.
Approaches -
The approach of B&Q's campaign was targeted at independent families who, after lockdown, are at an all-time low. This means that they are maybe bored and upset about the past year and haven't been able to experience enjoyment like normal in a while. They will also be less financially stable which means that B&Q can take advantage of that and promote their cheap but reliable products.
The specific approach of the campaign was to provide families with an opportunity to 'start over' by changing their surroundings, they highlight the idea of a refresh and after a bad year of being stuck inside and family getting ill, is a very good idea.
They have approached this audience by including footage of families in their advert, with many video clips of special occasions in a new house and remaking their home. This makes it obvious to people watching that the target audience is families and means that they can determine if they would be interested in the product, purely by the footage used in the advert. This means that they can produce an advertisement that applies to all.
"57% are agreeing our homes are more significant in improving our lives than ever" - thedrum, this quote shows how B&Q used a belief and a problem that already existed in the world, and created a way to help fix it easily, so they can benefit as much as possible from the trending ideas of the time, and of the people that are interested in it.
The representation used in this campaign is aimed towards families, and beholding memories inside their homes. The advert definitely promotes itself to the right audience, as it talks about how memories are stored, and how life is supposed to be built. This in turn creates a perfect message for B&Q to use to promote their creative elements. The advert uses the slogan 'you can do it' to appeal to the younger and growing families, who need to create a place of meaning for their children, and it is completely aimed at every culture, which is obvious when it shows these different ethnicities.
They chose this type of representation as COVID was high, and people were struggling to find things to do, meaning families find it hard to make memories and have enjoyable times. This is where B&Q's DIY selling point makes its mark and pushes the advert to the correct audiences. The representation is used in this example to spread to a wider audience, where B&Q was once just for working men, it has ranged towards a larger demographic. This means they gain more customers whilst also making a bigger name for themselves.
This advert also is culturally diverse, as it uses multiple religions and ethnicities in the video as opposed to just using a single ethnic group for their advert. This means the advert can appeal to everybody and make them feel inclusive in their target audience. This will also create a relationship between these people and B&Q, as it has been established that they care for that ethnicity too.
The advert is aimed towards both genders, as it is aimed at families. This is B&Q's small attempt at reducing the gender stereotypes of women not doing any work or DIY. The advert is aimed towards adults, children are involved in the advert, but it is specifically aimed at parents bringing their family back together by creating a new beginning.
Choice of Media -
B&Q's choice of media is a better selection than that of Wicke's, as they used physical advertising as well as online, so that they could reach a higher demographic and number of people. This also means that the people that do not use media can still see the advertisements. They chose these media types so that they could reach the target audience that they perceived for the campaign.
Campaign Logistics -
The type of advertisement scheduling that B&Q have chosen is the flight schedule. This is because the advertisements only lasted for a very certain amount of time, as the adverts were specifically for the end of the first lockdown in 2020. This time was chosen as families would want a change from the dull and boring year and create a 'new beginning'. The advertising schedule chosen is over a certain period of time, and this campaign only lasted over this amount of time because it was relevant in this time.
Call to action. The B&Q logo at the end of the video advert is considered a call to action, as it shows the audience where they can find this. The 'you can do it' at the bottom is B&Q's slogan, this is also considered a call to action as it is direct address.
Legal and Ethical -
Some of the legal issues with this advert is the consent of the people involved. For example, they could have used the clips without consent from the person, and they could sue and challenge against B&Q for this as it is against the law. B&Q also have to account the BCAP laws of advertising practice in the UK. This means that they would have to abide by the rules of advertising practice, and make sure that their advertisement would not offend anyone by religion or anything, and that they show the correct things in the advert. B&Q also used children in the advert is also very appropriate. For example, they use the children in a family setting. This means that they are using them appropriately, and have permission from legal parents.
Regulatory Bodies -
ASA - B&Q would need to be aware of a set of rules made by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) for advertising in the UK. This means that they will need to keep the advertisement inside these rules, meaning that they should make the advertisement suitable for all ages, and it must not offend anybody for any reason.
BCAP - British Corporation for Advertising Practice. This is where the company must stick to British Laws for advertising. This means that the British government create rules that advertisement companies must abide by. This means that the British can create their own set of rules.
OFCOM - Regulator of communication industry, they can regulate what communication and public platforms can broadcast. B&Q would have to abide by this as they are broadcasting their advert on a public platform. This also means that the likely hood of people taking offence to the advert, which minimises risk for a company.
Front of Mind Awareness.
Bibliography -
Creative Review, 2020, https://www.creativereview.co.uk/bq-build-a-life-campaign/, accessed 17/10/22.
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