Draft+Lit+Review

Stuart Hall once said, “If no meaning is taken, there can be no ‘consumption’.” From the research conducted, this statement appears to be the foundation of advertising. The main assumption of this research is that communication strategies breed effective advertising. In an attempt to prove this hypothesis, an analysis was conducted on the communication strategies between two rivalling mobile giants in Trinidad and Tobago. The mobile industries under review are Bmobile and Digicel. Roland Barthes, a renowned semiologist analyzed “the emotional and ideological meanings created by print and broadcast media” (pg 47). The research intends to further investigate Barthes’ theory by interpreting advertisements from the aforementioned ‘giants’. In addition to the analysis of visuals and text it will also identify how truly effective these strategies operate in contemporary society. The three influential aspects of effective advertising being explored are rhetorical strategies, the implementation of culture and the manipulation of language.

Modern advertising is pervasive. In Trinidad and Tobago advertisers bombard consumers with appeals or reminders of their product constantly. Advertisements greatly impinge on consumers' awareness and have the potential of affecting their thoughts, attitudes, feelings and decisions (Gerard J. Tellis 2001). An effective means of advertising is via the newspaper which these phone companies consider salient. According to Banerjie and Bandyopadhyay (2006) the models of competitive advertising and its effects in consumer behaviour and market performance have two broad schools. The first school looks at advertising as a channel that provides valuable information to consumers, enabling them to make rational choices by reducing ‘information product differentiation’. The second school views advertising as a device that persuades consumers by means of intangible and psychological differentiations. The study continued to show that although there are situations in which either of the advertising roles, such as awareness and persuasion is used separately by marketers, firms often use adverting as a mix element that informs and persuades simultaneously.

In Nicholas Evans’ book “Business Agility: Strategies for gaining competitive advantage through mobile business solutions”, the main focus is on the business related aspect of the mobile phone industry. However, he places great emphasis on the impact of communication on the mobile phone industry. He acknowledges that persuasive advertising is a prerequisite to achieving high sale rates and making a profit as well as the significance the mobile phone industry plays in the field of communications study (pg 65, 79). Therefore, it is possible to suggest that communication is a pivotal factor in this marketing scheme. The mobile industry will in turn shape and form communication styles and applications on a realistic scale. Evidently the rhetorical strategies employed by the mobile phone industry directly influence its sales. There is a symbiotic relationship between the communication strategies utilized by effective advertising and the transactional traits of communications being produced. This scenario further emphasizes the importance as well as the validity of the topic and research, to quote Mr.Evans “this will affect our companies, our markets, our economy, our lifestyles, our politics and our global perspectives and interactions”(pg1).

According to Sebastian Pistrillo, when devising mobile strategies, one must understand the mobile user, their behaviour and usage and how to give the user what they want. He details that in using the channels that the population are familiar with such as banners and websites they can be bated by persuasive gimmicks to subscribe to your product. Statements such as “Get a chance to win a prize- buy this product” is just one example of these persuasive gimmicks. He reasoned that “the more you engage with the customer, the more loyalty and trust will be created.”

Advertising commonly hinges on aspects of local culture in order to make sales. Some authors who have examined this point of view are Katherine Toland Firth and Barbara Mueller, in their work entitled Advertising and Societies: Global Issues. Among some of the issues discussed in the book, their examination of Advertising and Culture is most relevant. The theme of the book does not apply to a localized research project such as this, however, one is reminded that the Digicel Company is not indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago. Thus it becomes important to examine their advertising strategies and how they use culture as a means of connecting with their audience. From the study conducted, one can state that advertising reflects and shapes a particular culture and its values and failure to acknowledge this results in miscommunication, misunderstanding and marketing failure.

In the Touro College Accounting and Business Society (TABS) journal, "Culture and Ethnicity in Consumer Decision Making," Yitzie Pretter notes that culture plays a vital role in marketing strategies. The success of advertisers depends on the understanding of cultural differences such as langauge, religion, food, colour, non-verbal communication and the norms and values of society, thus designing their products and services accordingly. Colour connotes different meanings to persons from different cultures (pg 168). In the case of mobile giants Bmobile and Digicel, this concept can be applied. The colours green and red are associated with Bmobile and Digicel, respectively. Colour is important since it signifies two different meanings to customers. Effective advertisers can manipulate cultural differences in their favour. Pretter indicates marketers acknowledge the various life experiences of individuals belonging to different cultures. According to the cultural attitudes of each individual, their priorities influence the decisions made by marketers (pg 167, 168). It may be said that both Bmobile and Digicel assess the cultures existing within Trinidad and Tobago and target those from different cultural, socio-economic backgrounds such as upper, middle and working class with specials deals on products and the way they portray their messages for instance, the way a person is dressed in an advertisement may suggest the type of audience the company is targeting.

A study conducted by Torsten Ringberg and Markus Reihlen (2008) assessed and analyzed the communication aspect of modern marketing. From the findings of this research, it became evident that postmodernists believe that meaning is constructed solely by the receiver. This directly opposes the hypothesis put forward, which suggests that communication strategies utilized by marketing enables effective advertising. The main assumption of postmodernism is that the perception of an individual is influenced by personal subjectivity and is not influenced by external factors such as culture. Thus advertisements are open to unique and vastly differing interpretations. The premise of this assumption further implies that successful marketing is nearly impossible. Many shortcomings of the postmodernist viewpoint are apparent. It strongly downplays the significance of socio-cultural factors and can perpetuate a generic understanding of communication strategies employed in marketing. The characteristic traits of the fad theory and bandwagon behavior are exhibited by the Trinidadian society regarding the sales of mobile phones. These reasons can serve to discredit the main assumption of postmodernism. Furthermore, the socio-cultural factors manipulated by both Digicel and Bmobile advertisements are clearly triumphant as their sales thrive and their dedicated customer base grows.

 The main findings of the literary works demonstrate that rhetorical strategies, culture and language play a significant role in advertising. Researchers such as Gerard T. Tellis, Nicholas Evan, and Sebastian Pistrillo, agree that rhetorical strategies are fundamental in the customers’ decision making process. Other researchers, Katherine Toland Firth, Barbara Mueller, and Yitzie Pretter , place greater emphasis on culture amongst the three. The connotative attribute of language is readily used in advertisements and a researcher whose findings strongly support this theory is Yitzie Pretter. The aspects highlighted in the literary works listed are evident in the advertising strategies between Digicel and Bmobile. Future research can examine marketing strategies from an encoding perspective. Additional, studies can focus on the business context in which advertisements are created.

