Client Management Mucky Chain Lecturer: Bruce Stains Opinion Piece Topic: Case history of Silk Cut advertising Date: 26/8/2005 Introduction Cigarette advertising in UK has been changed because of the rules and regulation set by Advertising Standards Authority (known as AS), it basically tightens the creative freedom to cigarettes advertising. However, Silk Cut advertising has successfully launched a campaign that break through the tradition of cigarette ad, as well as print ad in the world.
This document will be covered the areas of, why the campaign was launched, the location of the campaign had run, the reason behind and the people ho created it. Who creative the Silk Cut campaign? The classic Silk Cut campaign had been produced by the legendary creative director, Paul Arden and his agency’s head, Charles Chitchats. Cigarette giant Gallagher corporation had entrusted the Silk Cut campaign to the British based agency, Chitchats & Chitchats. In the late ass, the account was shifted to M Chitchats until the end of the campaign as cigarettes advertising was totally banned in public.
Others art directors who was involved the campaign in Chitchats & Chitchats include Graham Fink, Bill Gallagher and Alexandra Taylor. The people who were in charged the campaign in M Chitchats include, Simon Tickets, chief executive director, Moray McClellan, the chief executive officer and Martin Caisson, who was in charged the sponsored event in the 1996 Edinburgh Festival . Fig. 1 fig. 2 Why Silk Cut campaign was the classic? In the time when Chitchats & Chitchats acquired the Silk Cut account, cigarette advertising was not allowed to show to product and its name.
Other regulations include, it cannot associated with any social groups, the result of success in business, evoking people to startsmoking, masculinity and femininity and it is not allowed to associated with glamour and sports. On the other hand, Silk Cut was promoted as a low tar cigarette, it attracted to the women market as during the period, people got the perception that low tar cigarette is less danger tohealth. Women target was attracted to that point. Silk Cut cigarette was also target more up-market. In the previous advertising (fig. 1 & fig. 2), it was associated with brandy and coffee.
Those objects are related to the smoothness, richness and quality . The later campaign was also associated with that image. The Silk Cut image can also be reflected in the brand name and corporate color. The meaning behind ‘Silk Cut’ was a natural cigarette. Silk is a metaphor for natural product as this is a fabric that is not man-made. And ‘Cut’ is the action of how tobacco leaf was cropped. Also, the dominated package color was purple, which is associated with royalty and splendor. All those factors were used in this ground- breaking campaign later. Fig. Fig. 4 When was the campaign launched? This famous Silk Cut campaign, more or less was influenced by the other classic cigarette campaign, Hedges and Benson in the late ass. The common facts were, they were both no-copy ads, and there are some abstract objects to let audience associate o the products. The Silk Cut campaign was first launched in1984and ended in February 2003. The last campaign was estimated to cost 2. Mm GAP. Now in I-J, advertising was banned on direct mail, in-pack promotion and sponsorship, and of course, on all print ad and TV commercials.
Where was the Silk Cut campaign run? It was run in UK and influenced to the advertising industry, like how the created the brand recognition to the audience, the craft skill that associates to the product and the market. Arguably the Silk Cut campaign was Judged to raise the femininity through its idea, target to women. For instance, the first idea of the campaign (fig. 3) showing the cut on a piece of silky fabric. The cut was associated with the symbolic female genital organ. And in fig 4, the ‘cancan’ scissors were Judged as the power of women.
Its distinctive semiotic concept influenced to the Hedges & Benson campaign later as it was showing the surreal package in all ideas as they were both under the regulation that no product can be shown in the ad. Hedges & Benson ad let people remind it name, and the Silk Cut one reminds people about its name. Fig. 5 fig. 6 How to make it success? As the advertiser understands, the brand royalty is very important to cigarette maker, people stick to a cigarette brand often Just because its name and image. In the early stage of the campaign, it was simply shown a cut silk in purple to let audience think of its brand.
Later on, it was developed to showing the tool for cutting the silk, like scissors. And there are more symbolic objects to relate to women which are their target market. The obvious examples are (fig. 5 and 6) those using the scenes of the Hitchcock movies, The Birds and The Psycho. Both scenes in the movies are evicting women being attacked, by birds or killer. In the fig. 7, 8, 9 and 10, both are related to the feminine power by implicitly showing the actions by women cutting something, or intend to do it. The campaign was success to create the brand association and recognition.
As the images in those ads are surreal and symbolic, it attracts the audience to decode the ad. This action makes the whole campaign very memorable as audience spends time to think about the ad. Fig. 11 is a good example to show the twist of the creative even it is not cutting the fabric but the line (phone call). The campaign also created the brand image as mysterious and gloomy. The ads never associate people enjoying a cigarette or showing how cool and attractive a person can be if they consume the product.
It differentiates the position with other brands which saying the click message. And it fig. 8 stands out in the market, especially to the women, that people could be captive with the brand, because they are associated to the brand with the gorgeous purple silk, it uses the other way to present fashionable and modern as it seems to project an impression, that you are clever to know about this ad’. Conclusion The Silk Cut campaign was an advertising classic not Just because no more cigarette advertising can be run in I-J, but its originality and creativeness.
