In the past, the Lucozade product was marketed as a drink for the sick. After that it was a drink for fit and healthy people, mainly sportsman. Smithkline Beecham was aiming for a change of image that was more modern and relative to people in the present day. The new campaign was trying to put across to the public that Lucozade gives you energy fast and cool people have it. The advertising agency – Oglivy and Mather were responsible for creating a brief for the advertising campaign. The idea of Lara Croft in the advert needing energy was an area that was focused on in the brief that was sent to the advertising company.
Oglivy and Mather generated their ideas by looking through popular computer games. They also did market research on what people liked about Lara Croft so they could see if they could make a connection with Lucozade. Lara Croft was selected as a suitable ‘spokesperson’ for the bran because she is modern, energetic and recognizable. Once a selection of ideas is generated a storyboard is created and then a mock up advert is formed.
The groups that are selected for a focus group are people who use the product. In this case, males. The outcome of the focus group stage is finding the best ideas to get put forward and the best ideas that they are going to work with. An advert generally takes 2 months to make, although the Lara Croft advert for Lucozade took 3 months as it was an animation and was more complicated to do. An Australian animation company was responsible for making the advert. The advertising company hires the animation company to make the advert.
The media company (which is mainly made up of lawyers) is responsible for the marketing stage of the process. The factors that are considered when deciding how to market an advertising campaign are making sure that the correct target audience sees the advert. For example, that the advert is placed in the correct magazines or on the right channels on television between the appropriate programmes to make sure that the right selection of people who they are aiming the product at see it.
I don’t believe that the Lara Croft with Lucozade project was very successful. I think that the change in the Lucozade market was responsible for the end of a campaign such as the Lara Croft/Lucozade because Lucozade is more of an athlete and sports peoples drink now. Also Lara Croft is less fashionable now so her being in an advert for Lucozade wouldn’t appeal to the majority of Lucozade buyers.
