Why Study Influential Advertisers and Influential Advertising Campaigns?

Why Study Influential Advertisers and Influential Advertising Campaigns? A question that must have definitely come to the mind of my students when I decided that was what we would be doing in class through December, 2016. 

Why Not? Was my way of answering that question.  

The syllabus we have for the Advertising Management paper lacks depth and content not to forget a contemporary twist.  As my students would probably enter the work force after graduation or choose to study further, I felt that no employer will ask them things like- what is the definition of advertising or what are the advantages and disadvantages of print/audio/audio-visual media?  

Too basic and trivial in my opinion.  But that is exactly what the third year syllabus comprises of and I want to empower my students to know a thing or two about the nitty-gritty of advertising.  I want to sensitize them to advertising in such a way that no matter what they see be it a hoarding, print ad or TVC that they look at it critically, examine it, learn from it, appreciate it/criticize it and remain students of advertising for a long time.

With this end in mind I zeroed in on studying Influential Advertisers and Influential Advertising Campaigns.  Which campaigns were known to be high impact and memorable? Who were the creative geniuses who masterminded these campaigns? As an advertising student, definitely some things I would really like to know. 

So here’s what I devised:

I would share Influential Advertising Campaigns and my students would share information on Influential Advertisers.

The result was a whole lot of reading and preparation on both sides, all of us were learning, students and me….it became our journey of discovery and sharing.

A Social Awareness Print Advertisement Campaign to Generate Awareness about the Declining Numbers of Cheetahs

We usually work around a theme for our advertising class.  This month we are focusing on art and advertising.  The challenge I have thrown to my students this month is to create a print advertisement campaign to highlight the declining number of the Cheetahs in the wild. 

It is a challenge because they have to come up with a print ad which is completely handmade.  The use of illustration, lettering and typography in the ad is a condition I have imposed on them.  While it may look like something really strange I am asking of them, I think it’s an effort to sensitize my class to the idea of working with their hands to convey an idea. 

I know that everyone cannot draw and paint but fine art is not really required to achieve good results in this task.  A little bit of imagination, ingenuity and conviction is really enough to create an advertisement on this topic. 

Here is my advice on this:

1.      Pay attention to color, lettering or a very good illustration to convey the idea. 

2.     Keep the message simple and clear.

3.     You don’t really need too much text to make an impact.

4.     Look up some facts about the Cheetah and weave them into the message. 

5.     Choose One Fact/Idea and create your ad.

Here are some pointers that I find interesting to work with:

·        The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal and is vulnerable right now possibly sprinting towards extinction.

·        A cheetah can go from 0 to 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour in only three seconds.

·        In 1900, there were over 100,000 cheetahs across their historic range. What are the numbers today?

A study published in Dec, 2016 by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and wild cat conservation group Panthera reveals that just 7,100 cheetahs remain in the wild.

Cheetahs have been driven out of 91 percent of their historic range, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hardest hit are cheetah populations in Asia, where fewer than 50 individuals remain in one part of Iran.

·        Threats to cheetahs include overhunting, habitat loss, illegal trafficking of animal parts, and the trade in exotic pets.

·        Historically cheetahs were found throughout Africa and Asia from South Africa to India. They are now confined to parts of eastern, central and southwestern Africa and a small portion of Iran.