“This made me feel something and I’m obsessed with it” - @carolbcc comments on Ganni’s Instagram.
(Ganni, 2022)
Ginormous vegetables, mod silhouettes and overall quirkyness accurately describes the Ganni x Levi’s campaign messaging. This messaging is able to mould brand perceptions through audio and visual content, communicating their inventiveness and entertaining nature. After watching the promotional video, you either believe it to be the exemplification of artsy-fartsy or a totally visionary concerning authenticity.
The promotional video taps into comical elements to create a message that appeals to a wider audience due to the alluring nature of humour. This technique of messaging is created through the videos use of peculiar music and oddly framed shots, setting an obscure scene. The script of the video has a satirical tone, making light of the serious situation of climate change and the importance of sustainability. Influence of comedic affects in advertising allows for the consumer to associate positive attributes and increases the fondness of a particular brand (Djambaska, et al., 2015). Humour also makes certain concepts simpler to grasp (McCabe, et al., 2017). Comedic relief appeals on a cultural level because it is a universal human experience. The campaign is given the potential to resonate with a more diverse consumer base, in turn, benefitting commercially.
Unclear messaging of the promotional video is a weakness of the campaign. Throughout the video, we see influencers talking satirically about gardening whilst sitting on oversized vegetables. The essence of randomness makes the linkage between sustainably made garments and the campaign’s “garden-core” aesthetic ambiguous.
This ambiguity could be due to how different cultures attach different connotations to certain metaphors, making the advert laborious to fully understand (Hooft, et al., 2013).
In Scandinavian countries, gardening is rooted in tradition and a presumption can be made that Ganni is trying to combine this element of heritage with their culture of sustainability (Sloth, et al., 2012). The messaging could be obvious in the eyes of their local audience, but the link is perplexing and baffling to an outside consumer. From a commercial perspective, the Ambiguity Effect Theory impacts purchasing behaviour (Plassmann, et al., 2008). The consumer will avoid any risk of uncertainty associated with a product, therefore decreasing the chance of investment due to the foreign references in the campaign.
An example of campaign Billboards:
(Jack, 2022)
The campaign message is communicated through various influencers. Emma Chamberlain was used as the main influencer face of the ‘Grow Up’ because her fashion-forward aesthetic aligns with Ganni (Shan, et al., 2020). She is an ambassador of the brand and is expected to communicate the brand messages of sustainability, inclusivity, and high moral standards. However, the threat of cancel culture directly relates to Chamberlain and can negatively impact the quality of messaging promoted by the campaign. Culturally, Chamberlain appeals to a large audience due to her popularity and influencer marketing is commercially-savvy. The threat of cancel culture should not totally deter future campaigns from working with influencers (Ye, et al., 2021).
‘Grow Up’s’ messaging attempts to communicate morality through a humorous tone. With an unusual ode to gardening, the scene is set with satirical scripts, oversized vegetables, peculiar music, and awkward camera angles. You either love the creativity or hate the bizarreness of it. Diversifying languages of the promotional video gives the opportunity to send a stronger message to a more culturally diverse consumer. However, the threat of cancel culture will negatively affect messaging success. I believe it is down to global awareness that will determine campaign growth.
The message and opportunity of the campaign can be summed up with the final words of Emma Chamberlain “Keep Growing”.
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REFERENCES:
1. Bakhtiari, K. (2020) Why Brands Need To Pay Attention To Cancel Culture. [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2020/09/29/why-brands-need-to-pay-attention-to-cancel-culture/?sh=3b7526cb645e [Accessed 13 November 2022].
2. Djambaska, A., Petrovska, I. & Bundaleska, E. (2015) 'Is Humor Advertising Always Effective? Parameters for Effective Use of Humor in Advertising', Journal of Management research, 8(1).
3. Ganni (2022) Instagram. [Online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChZreXqK_CR/?hl=en [Accessed 12 November 2022].
4. Hooft, A. v., Mulken, M. v. & Nederstigt, U. (2013) 'Cultural Differences? Visual Metaphor in Advertising: Comprehension and Tolerance of Ambiguity in Four European Countries', Advances in Advertising Research, Volume 4, pp. 351-364.
5. Jack (2022) Levi's x GANNI. [Online] Available at: https://www.buildhollywood.co.uk/work/levis-x-ganni/ [Accessed 21 November 2022].
6. McCabe, C., Sprute, K. & Underdown, K. (2017) 'Laughter to Learning: How Humor Can Build Relationships and Increase Learning in the Online Classroom', Journal of Instructional Research, Volume 6, pp. 4-7.
7. Plassmann, H. et al. (2008) 'How choice ambiguity modulates activity in brain areas representing brand preference: evidence from consumer neuroscience', Journal of Consumer Behaviour , 7(4-5), pp. 360-367.
8. Shan, Y., Chen, K.-J. & Lin, J.-S. (2020) 'When social media influencers endorse brands: the effects of self-influencer congruence, parasocial identification, and perceived endorser motive', International Journal of Advertising, 39(5), pp. 590-610.
9. Sloth, P. R., Hansen, U. L. & Karg, S. (2012) 'Viking Age garden plants from southern Scandinavia – diversity, taphonomy and cultural aspects', Danish Journal of Archaeology, 1(1), pp. 27-38.
10. Vogue (2022) Ganni X Levi’s Latest Collaboration Is All About Natural Dyes. [Online] Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/ganni-levis-natural-dyes [Accessed 12 November 2022].
11. Ye, G., Hudders, L., Jans, S. D. & Veirman, M. D. (2021) 'The Value of Influencer Marketing for Business: A Bibliometric Analysis and Managerial Implications', Journal of Advertising, 50(2), pp. 160-178.
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