Marks in Time Exhibition

Marks in the Time Exhibition

Context of advertising practice

The Five M&S core principles are, Quality, Value, service, Innovation and trust.

These values are expressed through quality, for example during the world wars between 1920-1940; M&S made itself unique as they offered clothing that was well made but affordable. Alongside this M&S’s innovation helped the company during the war because during 1942-1952 there was a shortage of paper which meant that advertising was extremely difficult to do as it could not be carried out. However, M&S used window advertising. This allowed people to still see their company name. Furthermore their innovation continued as their carrier bags were one of the most important advertising techniques, as it got people seeing their brand.

M&S cleverly made the “Your M&S” logo and slogan which gave them a persona of a more trust worthy company. This advertising expresses the trust customers can have with M&S. The service M&S provided was quick and efficient, for example during the 1960s M&S created modern products, but got them from the laboratory to the stores quickly. This demonstrates that service was a key to M&S’ success in getting continuous loyal consumers. In addition to this, M&S promoted themselves as a brand catering for the whole family, this works well for advertising M&S and its service; as encouraging families to buy into the company helps provide regular customers.

In conclusion M&S five core principles have assisted the advertising for the company and having been around for 125 years they have created a loyal and trust worthy brand.

Deconstruction of advertising practice

The classy setting for the autumn 2007 ad was on a train heading towards Venice. This location was chosen to portray elegance, formality and style. The Ad shows that M&S offers fashion and clothing for a variation of women. The meanings that are expressed in this ad are that Marks and Spencer’s offers a style of class and suits women of different ages.

The concept of the “leading ladies” campaign hopes to communicate through its core values; the representation of the best of British. This is done by using a diverse group of women, who empower their particular fields. The women they have used communicate desire, through an aesthetic and talent appeal. This is because all the women they have used are stylish, talented and have intelligence in different areas. In addition to this the campaign concept hopes to communicate desire. This is because women viewing this campaign like the ascetic appeal of seeing classy, elegant and idealistic women wear this clothing, so people aspire to wear Marks & Spencer clothing. This is because women aspire in one sense to achieve the success these women have experienced. Alongside this, its target audience is women in careers, who still appreciate and want to wear stylish clothing. Subsequently this campaign gives women the chance to view women of different careers and styles wearing fashionable clothing that will suit this target audience. Furthermore one of the main core values is to represent that fundamentally all women are the same, regardless of profession, or achievement; and that women appreciate style, at a reasonable price.

The target audience of the “leading ladies” campaign was to appeal to 30s to 60 year old women, who like sophisticated and modern clothing.