Assignment 1: Mandy (42723450)

Discuss the phenomenon of digital media convergence in relation to Advertising and New Media

In a world where consumers are increasingly growing more fragmented, distracted and disinterested, advertisers have had to adapt to these changing conditions (Spurgeon, 2008, p. 27). Therefore continuous and ever changing technology in today’s society has led to the phenomenon experience on digital media convergence. As Jenkins mention in his book “Convergence Culture”, is the “flow of content across multiple media platforms” and it is identified as the “cooperation between multiple media industries” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 2). These ideas and process are rapidly progressing and constantly evolving across multiple media platforms, spreading effortlessly as tools of communication thus forms of interaction throughout the globe. Remarkably the accessibility to share and generate information to such extend to the wider audiences has created opportunity for advertising and new media to grow and bloom across the globe.

Interestingly new forms of media such as music video combine with product placement advertising and other types of social media via the Internet that exposed both the formal and informal advertising message has now been combined by both the traditional and modern media forms. The collaboration between both the traditional and contemporary style of media has enable advertisers to form new ideas and in the same time shape and sustain the media that we consume before. In particular it also has enable both the advertisers to generate, and consumer to experience, multitude of marketing strategies in a way that has never been dreamed before. 

Therefore the exploration on the role of branded product and services contents in advertising and other sources of social media will be discussed further with the competing consumer dominion over advertisers, which plays important factor towards the success and sovereignty of the modern advertising in the world upon consumers today.

Firstly as stated by Dwyer, media convergence is the “ process whereby new technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures. The fact that the term is used to describe this adaptation, merging together and transitioning process, is an indication that the ongoing confrontation of old and new technologies is complex and multilayered” (Dwyer 2010). Therefore in understanding these terms we are now able to understand and draw relationship between advertising and media convergence whereby highly accessible source of communication between consumers has predominantly come from the notion of emerging social network through mobile phones and across multiple Internet server.

In addition ways in which consumer can share, likes and distribute information has now increases and developed to be ease of used making information and easy communication to be more convenience for the user in the modern world. A notable example in gaining opportunity and accessibility to communicate to the general audience through different social networking is evident in the U.S Government.  Their Social Networking provides consumers via nine different platforms over the Internet alone. The Whitehouse now currently communicates to the consumer globally through their official website, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes and Vimeo (NSW Government, 2012). As a consequence we can now draw the similarities and difference to understand and predict the revolutionary of advertising and media convergence which whereby as whole has resulted to the ever changing, entertaining and less conspicuous ways for advertisers to reach their modern consumer throughout the world.

Moreover through the existence of media convergence, consumer dominance plays a significant role on advertising that has emerged. Solemnly through this belief consumer now or the buyer determines what is practically sold and advertise in the market, which these notion arise through the interaction of social media via the Internet. Technological communication via the Internet through different types of Social Media, across global level; has now become the driving force behind every popular or well-known product and also for the business’s success. Within consumer dominance, viral video campaign in particular, is one of the strategy where advertiser aim typically to create entertaining advertisement in a funny and humorous way, which is then shared via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Most Importantly, the viral video campaign cuts marketing costs down for advertisers, as they do not rely on airtime television and particularly Internet space in order to gain the consumer’s attention and publication. Instead they rather rely on active consumer to post ratings to gain popularity and inevitable comments to share simultaneously in order to market their brand and gain recognition.

An example of viral video campaign where advertiser’s converge the use of Internet into advertisement use is the "New Evian: Roller babies Advertising".

The Ad was first tested on the Internet where it soon became viral and was then released on to TV nationally. Following the making of the advertisement this ad was first launch and tested on the Internet where it soon attracted millions of viewers. The advertisement then become viral and was then released on to TV nationally. Not only that this advertisement took the social media world by storm, it also become well known and popular internationally due the depiction of different baby faces from different cultural background around the world. Consumer dominance has once again play a significant role on advertising that has emerged around the world. Whereby consumer determines what is practically advertise in the market through the interaction and sharing on social media. The uses of new media where the collaboration between both the traditional and contemporary style of media has also being form here in this advertisement. Whereby the integration between modern styles of media such as using graphics to create a moving around baby has been incorporated with a traditional environment setting of a park in order to develop new ideas and in the same time shape and sustains media we consume before.

In addition the sharing and interaction with the brand and video brought Evian immediate success at that time, as consumers world-wide could now make instant recognition of the brand, bringing along cultural associations with the brand with a fun, playful and environment, which create a strong and positive feedback advertising and consumer relationship around the world. Furthermore, Morrison states “Allowing consumers to interact with content allows new levels of creativity and engagement as people create their own stories where brands play a role: either as a facilitator or an actual character” (Morrison 2009) in her discussion of brand engagement. Thus demonstrating further on how the market and power of global brand has increased throughout decade.

Furthermore another prime example of advertising and media convergence is through Lady Gaga's music video "Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyonce"

Whereby the merged of advertising of multiple brands such as Ray –Ban, Virgin Mobile and Plentyoffish.com, has taken place. Which this advertiser has successfully drawn us into the music video but in the same time incorporating brands knowledge into our mind without the viewer realizing. Having to see this, we can tell advertiser are now moving away from traditional advertising method into a new form of media where convergence of multiple media are integrated all at once (Jenkins, 2006). The incorporation with multiple brands and celebrity endorsement of International well known Pop Star being integrated in a music video has also successfully spark out viewers with positive outcomes and brand associations where it has specifically has enable viewer to have the desirability to own the brand products. As a result we can see that now advertisers are capable in easily influencing consumer with branded content and brand recognition through music video via social media and networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook. Through media convergence we can say that advertisers are now capable in facilitating and demonstrating the effectiveness of high exposure advertising into the mind of consumer without being caught or realised through the marketing tools of product placement and celebrity endorsement in a music video.

However product placement in a music videos and celebrity endorsement for product and services aren’t always necessarily comes with a positive outcomes and feedback. As in Lady Gaga’s music video the brand associated and incorporated with music video might not goes so well with the behaviors performs and depicted in the videos. Therefore it might ruin or distort viewer underlining values and perspectives towards the brand, which can influence the business success if not consider thoroughly and properly by company’s brand marketer.

Overall it is proven that digital media convergence has enable advertising and new media to arise through different types of social media and networking. The collaboration and incorporation between both the traditional and contemporary styles of media advertising such as; marketing strategy of product placement and celebrity endorsement within music and viral videos; has enable both the advertisers to generate and consumer to experience multitude of marketing strategies in a way that has never been dreamed before. As a result giving advertiser the power and greater ultimate position most specifically on consumer to dominate within the realm of media in today’s society around the world.

References:

Dwyer, T 2010, Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire, pp. 1-23.

Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture, New York, New York University Press, pp 1-24.

Spurgeon, c, 2008, Advertising and New Media, Oxon: Routledge, pp 24-45

Morrison, D & Sheehan, K 2009 ‘Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world’ in First Monday, vol. 14 no. 3, viewed 25 August 2012, http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2239/2121

NSW Government, 2012, “ Social Media”, http://www.nsw.gov.au/social, viewed 28^th August 2012

Evian Babies, 2009, Evian Roller Babies international version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs (Date accessed 20 August 2012)

Lady Gaga – Telephone ft Beyonce, 2010, Interscope Records V, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ95z6ywcBY&feature=player_embedded (Date accessed 22 August 2012) 

MAS110 Assignment 1 - Samuel Ip (43005624)

Discuss the phenomenon of digital media convergence in relation to Advertising & New Media.

Mass media has always been the pushing force behind the development of various aspects of the society, and the recent notion of new media and the digital media convergence have demonstrated yet another development – changing the way of advertisement. To discuss this change, it is important to first understand what is “digital media convergence”. As described by Henry Jenkins in his book “Convergence Culture”, convergence is the “flow of content across multiple media platforms” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 2). He also identified it as the “cooperation between multiple media industries” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 2). Thus, digital media convergence can be considered as the mix and match of different sources from different media platforms in creating new contents, or giving existing contents new meanings. According to Jenkins, the digital media convergence is also the result of audiences’ behavior. In the modern age, audiences are no longer passive as they used to be, but rather they are actively “in search of the kind of entertainment experience they want” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 2). With this digital media convergence, the many aspects of advertising have been shifting vigorously. This article would like to examine these changes firstly by studying the change of how an advertisement is made, to the change of its major release medium, and finally the various new media tools that are utilized in the process. A number of real life examples would be mentioned to further illustrate these changes.

To begin with, advertising has long been broken into segregated segments. There were TV ads, radio ads, poster ads on the streets, printed advertisement on magazines and newspapers, and so on, all occupying their own turfs. They were never really cooperating with each other in the past. While this has worked fine in the past, the modern age audiences were, as Kim Bartel Sheehan has put it, “fragmented” (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009) among different traditional media because they have different new media tools in their hand, and are easier to get distracted by them. Sites such as Facebook and YouTube provide contents that are interactive, pulling audience to not just access the media, but also add to them or re-purpose the contents “for new and different uses” (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009). No doubt the advertising industry has to adapt to the situation. It is then the idea of viral marketing began to surface (Phelps, Lewis, Mobilio, Perry, & Raman, 2004). Ads such as the Cadbury Chocolate’s “Eyebrows” and the Blendtec’s “Will It Blend” are all part of this new type of advertising. These ads took a different approach to their counterparts in the past in that they try to be as short, funny and catchy as possible. For the Cadbury’s “Eyebrows”, it features two children tickling their eyebrows following a tune, and while this is not exactly related to the chocolate brand, the fact that it features a very catchy tune and funny eyebrow action sparked a lot of imitations and parodies on YouTube, as well as getting huge exposure on different media, successfully advertised the brand. Another example is the Blendtec’s “Will It Blend” series of ads. Made with low budgets, this series features the company CEO Tom Dickson trying to blend all sorts of objects such as toys, old electronic devices, to even iPhones with the company’s blender (The Age, 2007). In the videos, he often asks audience to send him suggestions and even send him real things that they want to blend. This has also successfully captured a lot of views and in 2010 the company’s YouTube channel was one of the most viewed advertising channels of all time (Learmonth, 2010). All of this suggested that there is a shifting of how advertisements were made, in that they often have the elements to go viral and audience participation.

Apart from the change of methods in advertising, there is also a change of medium. In the past, advertisements were confined to traditional media such as TV and prints, but today they are virtually everywhere. In Sheehan’s article, she gave an example of Apple’s YouTube iPod ads (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009), suggesting that YouTube can be a good medium for advertising in its early years. Recently, there are more examples of made for YouTube ads, with a number of them even flow back to air on TV and the big screens. Among these advertisement was the Google ad “Parisian Love”, which was made with low budget and aimed as a YouTube only ad. In the 2009 Superbowl, however, this particular ad was aired on TV after its huge success on YouTube (Google, 2010). Here the notion of digital media convergence is clearly demonstrated, showing the cooperation of different media medium. In addition, the Blendtec’s “Will It Blend” series is also another example of made-for-YouTube ads, suggesting that the online platform will be the next main stage for advertising.

Finally, the use of new media, especially social media, have been significant in the current trend of advertising through digital media convergence. As more and more people are having a smart phone nowadays, advertisers are moving towards advertising with new media in mind. From utilizing Facebook Fan Pages, to creating Twitter live feeds, to the use of QR codes on traditional media points to the trend of multi-platform advertising as envisioned by Jenkins.  Advertisers would often offer discounts or inform deals through their Fan Pages, Twitter feeds, and webpages, while the use of QR codes on printed, traditional ads add interactivity to the older forms of advertising. In the future, it is suggested that mobile phones and wireless technology will continue to take up a huge proportion of in advertising, with advancement such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Near Field Communication (NFC) becoming more prominent. Ads in the future might even be tailored to target specific individuals by understanding their needs and purchasing history (Wilken & Sinclair, 2009).

All in all, as shown in the aforementioned cases, the faces of advertising have been heavily changed by new media, and moving onward to more radical changes in the modern digital age. It is then the phenomenon of digital media convergence is seen clearly.

Bibliography

A Glass and A Half Full Production. (2009, January 23). Cadbury Eyebrows (Official Version). Retrieved August 29, 2012, from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVblWq3tDwY

Google. (2010, February 8). Google Official Blog - Love and the Super Bowl. Retrieved August 25, 2012, from Google Official Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/love-and-super-bowl.html

Jenkins, H. (2006). Introduction: "Worship at the Altar of Convergence" A New Paradigm for Understanding Media Change. In H. Jenkins, Convergence Culture (pp. 1-24). New York: New York University Press.

Learmonth, M. (2010, September 2). The Top 10 Viral Ads of All Time. Ad Age .

Phelps, J., Lewis, R., Mobilio, L., Perry, D., & Raman, N. (2004, December). Viral Marketing or Electronic Word-of-Mouth Advertising: Examining Consumer Responses and Motivations to Pass Along Email. Journal of Advertising Research , 333-348.

Sheehan, K. B., & Morrison, D. K. (2009). Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world. First Monday , 14 (3), 1-8.

The Age. (2007, October 28). Can he blend it? Yes he can. The Age .

Wilken, R., & Sinclair, J. (2009). Waiting for the Kiss of Life: Mobile Media and Advertising. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies , 15 (4), 427-445.

Posted by Samuel Ip (43005624)