NDM 13

M&S Christmas ad uses Paddington Bear to target family audience- The Guardian

The article talks about John Lewis' success in their Christmas adverts which gained a lot of attention and costed a lot of money but also targeted many audiences. Also, how many retailers ,i.e Sainsburys and M&S,try to emulate the the stores 'brand of adverts'  but also the extent in money used to make them. The article focusing on the recent Christmans advert of Marks & Spencers which featured the famous Paddington Bear 

•  John Lewis spends about £6m on its annual campaign and has recently vied with Sainsbury’s to be the most-watched Christmas ad.
• John Lewis advert, featuring Buster the boxer bouncing on a trampoline, attracted more than 20m YouTube views and helped to raise money for The Wildlife Trusts.
•  The department store group sold £2.5m of goods linked to its Monty the Penguin ad, including 48,000 soft toys.
•  “We wanted something which was fun, festive, entertaining, but family-centric.”- Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, director of marketing at M&S

The director of M&S marketing sttaed he wanted the ads to be "family-centric", which what drives the ideas behind targeted ads. Targeted ads are advertisements to be aimed at certain groups and the Christmas ads all market to families for Christams. 

Sainsburys and M&S are aimed at modern day audience and tries to make a personal bond with the audience and make the stores seem family-orientated, trying to create a warm, loving image for their brand and they are trying to appeal to the mass audience. The article comments on the M&S brand adverts using celebrites such as Janet McTeer or Stephen Fry to be the main in their ads. 

For me, the article is stating that the advertisements directed at specific audiences is where revenue is being gained from for these brand institutions. Targeting ad which many fear on the internet is being used positively for audiences. Also, as many targeted ads are mostly used for the companies, I think, for one's where it features characters and narrative which are recognisable to audiences to advertise their products could be shown as a balance in power between audiences and institutions. 

M&S' last years ads gained a first increase in Christmas clothing sales for six years with John Lewis' 'Buster the Dog' success allowing the store to donate to Wildlife Trusts.  This may be due to competitions but also because they may have targeted different types of audiences, showing that when it comes to advertisements it can be positive and be used, when at their right target group, middle-class, family-orientated groups, for both companies and institutions.