What Makes A Good Website, A Good Website?

Today, we will talk about what makes a good website, good! Is it the color of the website? Is it the overall tone? What is it?! Well, to dive deep into this topic and gain some knowledge on what a good website it is (and a what a good website isn't), we will review the three websites: NIVEA.com, Dove.com, and Olay.com. These are all good skin care brands that have made a difference in the lives of women of all ages. But who is the best and who can learn from who? 

The List of Tasks

I asked three family members to complete the following tasks on the websites listed above to help me determine if these websites are user-friendly for their audiences. The tasks my family members completed are as follows:

1. Are you able to find a link and/or verbiage that asks you if you would like to be added to the company's email mailing list? 

2. Are you able to navigate through the company's various products? Moreover, is there an option somewhere on the page that you can click on to take you to a list of products and/or categories of products? 

3. Is there search box? 

4.  Is there an option to view the company's social media accounts? 

5. Are you able to contact the company directly? Moreover, is there an option where you can click or view the company's customer service phone number and/or company phone number or address? 

Results:

1. NIVEA

2 out of the three participants easily completed the tasks on NIVEA's website. The two participants explained that the site provided user-friendly navigation to the search bar, contact information, and the categories of the various products. However, the two participants did not find locating the social media accounts to be simple and didn't like that one had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the homepage to locate the invitation to be apart of the email list. The third participant did not enjoy

navigating the website at all. This participant complained that although the search bar and contact information can be found on the homepage, the search bar and contact button was "too small" and written in font that was "hard to read unless you squint." Similarly, to the other participants, the third participant did not like the placement of the social media accounts and called the website "basic". 

Overall, each participant explained that it took them approximately 5-10 minutes to find all of the items that were listed on the task list because they were scrolling up and down the page to find all of the items. After this review, I asked each participant to grade the user-friendliness of NIVEA's website, the grade NIVEA received was an unanimous C.

2. Dove 

All three participants agreed that the navigation on Dove.com was much better than on NIVEA's website. They all explained that Dove's website looked more "friendly" and "appealing to the eye" for the use of softer blues and whites. In addition, they all enjoyed the various stories/articles that can be found when they scrolled down the homepage and it made each of them learn a little more about Dove as a company. 

They all explained that although Dove's homepage only features a search bar, email list invitation, and navigation to their various products on the top of the page, they enjoyed the ease of scrolling through the site. One of the participants

mentioned that he would have preferred the social media accounts and contact information be on the top of the page, because it would catch his eye and prompt him to leave a nice review on one of their social media accounts or contact the company itself with a review. 

Overall, all participants explained that it took them approximately 2-5 minutes to locate all of the tasks on the site (after reading the many articles on the page, of course!) The final grade for Dove was a B+. 

3. Olay 

Last but certainly not least, Olay was the best rated website amongst the three participants. All three participants applauded Olay for its website's user-friendliness by having an advertisement for free shipping and a pop-up advertisement for a live chat with a skin adviser. Each participant liked the personalized feel of the website and complimented how the site categorizes skin care products in words (for readers) and in pictures (for visual-loving individuals). In addition, All three participants enjoyed how the social media accounts were easy to see at the

bottom of the page and how it only took them 1-3 minutes to find all of the tasks on the list. Overall, Olay received a grade of A+.   

Conclusion

After speaking with the three participants and reviewing the three websites on my own, I can agree that Olay had the best website of them all. Olay's website was very inviting and informative. The website yearned for its customers to buy and made the buying process easy and fun. 

Although Olay was the best site, I do have to say that Dove does a pretty good job at their website layout as well. Dove really wants to spread their message of love and acceptance to all on their homepage, which is very refreshing and nice to see. For me, that message alone makes me want to buy Dove products more! Finally, by reviewing Olay and Dove, NIVEA has a lot to learn about user-friendliness and ensuring that their website is welcoming and fun for their customers. 

Synergy: How Does It All Come Together?

Synergy is defined on Dictionary.com as, "The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc". Thus in advertisements, synergy is reached when an ad's text, image, and message all align and make sense to the target audience or viewer. In today's entry, we are going to review five advertisements that have attempted to accomplish synergy. We will evaluate the text, image, and message and confirm if the brand or company succeeded or failed.

1. DKNY

DKNY is a luxury brand that specializes in women's clothing, shoes, handbags, and fragance. Surprisingly, this advertisement doesn't "advertise" any of these items. However, the ad does a decent job at synergy. The ad equally uses images and text to guide the audience's eye to the primary phrase on the ad, "Be Delicious" and then the eye is lead to the model and the images of the green apples. In the first image, groups the freshly washed apples together to help the eye focus on texture and detail. With this, the first image achieves unity and could easily be a standalone ad. Even if the ad did not include "Be Delicious" and only had the the DKNY logo, it would still be an effective ad for the brand due to texture and unity. The second image has no text, which if it was standalone, would be confusing for a viewer. The image might be perceived as an ad for a television show or for makeup. Thus, if the second image was a standalone ad, I would suggest added text to help the image "make sense".



2. Clinique 


This advertisement byClinique is primarly focused on text, which is very different than the model-based ads Clinique tends to clinge to. Yet, the text in this ad captures the viewers interest and causes the viewer to read the text and see why Clinique thinks its a fact that eating antioxidants will not save one's skin. In addition, the text in this ad somewhat overshadows the image of the fruit on the fork and the bottle of product. However, it can be seen that Clinique attempted to succeed at synergy by allowing the text and image to be the same size and to use colors that are soft in their tone and pleasing to the eye. If the ad did not have an image, I believe that it would be still be successful. It would be seen more so as PSA. However, if the ad did not include the text, a viewer would be completely confused on what message Clinique was attempting to deliver.




3. Estee Lauder 

This advertisment by Estee Lauder is similar to the previous ad by DKNY where it equally represents text and images. Yet, this ad seems to fade the text to the background and focuses its lighting on the model and the three bottles of product. Therefore, similar to our previous ads, if the text was not there, the ad would be still be successful and the viewer would be able to connect with it. Having all four images in the same lighting and standing out above the text shows proximity and overall unity.





4. Bath & Body Works 


One of my favorite brands, Bath and Body Works does a pretty good job of placing text and images together. Because Bath and Body Works is such a well known brand, the items in the ad speak for themselves. Yet, if the single phrase "Happy Holidays" was the only text in the ad, the viewer would easily understand that the ad was welcoming the holiday season. If this phrase was absent from the the ad and there was no accompaning text, the ad would look incomplete and there would be no sense of unity. Thus, Bath and Body Works did a great job by creating synergy in their ad by allowing the the images and text to work together to be effective.




5. Dove                        

Dove is a brand that creates ads that are geared to display that all women are created equal and that all women, no matter the size, age, or race are beautiful. This ad by Dove uses a simple unity of text and an image to provide unity to the viewer. If the ad did not have text, it would still be effective. If the ad did not have the image, it would still be effective. Overall, Dove truly knows how to make an ad that represents synergy to the highest degree!





References

Synergy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2018, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/synergy

Color Makes an Impact

An insightful article from the photo-editing website, Canva, explained the importance of color to brand's logo or identity. The article explained that "A brand's logo and visual identity will comprise a number of visual cues, such as shapes, symbols, number, and words. But the number one visual component that people remember most is color. In fact, color increases brand recognition by up to 80% (Gross, 2018). To explore the importance of color and a brand's visual identity, we are going to look at five advertisements that use color too, firstly, help the brand's visual identity; but to also provide its audience with emotion and to communicate the brand's or the product's message.

1.  Heat Perfume by Beyonce 

Although Beyonce's Heat perfume is not from a certain company, the advertisement was created to help boost Beyonce's personal brand. This was the singer's first perfume, so the advertisement needed to be promoted with colors that excite and attract her audience. Thus, the color red was used to promote the perfume. The color red is commonly considered a "bright, warm color that evokes strong emotions (Cherry, 2018c)". Similarly, Beyonce is a singer who evokes strong emotions in her videos, music, and overall presence. Therefore, the advertisement uses the color red to its advantage; the red in the title of the perfume, the bottle, and Beyonce's dress all express intensity, passion, and energy. (Cherry, 2018c)  These emotions are exactly what Beyonce's brand wanted her audience to feel when they view the advertisement, which makes the use of the color red an excellent choice.

2. Dolce & Gabbana 

This foundation advertisment from Dolce and Gabbana uses white undertones and highlights to express a fresh, classic, and clean feel for their new foundation. Foundation is used to cover blemishes and an uneven skin tone, which could be part of the reason why the brand used the color as the advertisement's undertone and highlight over the black background. This undertone and highlight captures the audience's attention and provides a calm, luxurious feeling. Moreover, the color white can be associated with youth or modernity (Cherry, 2018d). In addition, the color white symbolizes a "blank slate, a new beginning or a fresh start (Cherry, 2018d)". Again, this symbolism makes is perfect for the product. A woman must use foundation to give her face a fresh start before she applies additional makeup to finalize her look. Thus, white was another excellent choice for Dolce and Gabbana to use to promote their new product.

3. Proactive

Proactive takes on a different target market than Beyonce or Dolce and Gabbana. Proactive is a brand that is targeted towards a teenage audience who are self-conscious about their skin and appearance. Thus, Proactive uses the color green as this advertisment's main font color. The color green represents "tranquility, good luck, health (Cherry, 2018b)". Which is feeling a teenager needs when they are worrying about a various issues that are happening in their lives, not only their skin. Moreover, this shade of green is friendly, inviting, and isn't necessarily exclusive to a male or female. This color helps Proactiv market to teenagers of all genders and helps them feel relaxed and calm when they ask their parents to puchase the skin care set for them.

4. Garnier

 To follow the tranquil and calm emotion that Proactiv wants its audience to feel, Garnier wants their audience to feel the same. This ad uses two different shades of green to as the color of the text with a touch of blue behind the head of the face model. Again, green is a color that expresses calmness but it also can express a feeling of hopefulness and optimism (Cherry, 2018b). Having the words "clean skin" and "better skin" in green, adds a feeling of hopefulness and ultimately trust in the subconcious of the audience to try the brand. The overall look of this ad is calming and refreshing. Again, it provides its audience with the hope that the product will be calming and refreshing on their skin, which is exact message that Garnier wants to give to their audience. 

 

5. Jergens

Last but certainly not least, Jergens uses warm brown undertones in their skin care ad. Brown is a color that evokes a sense of strength and reliability (Cherry, 2017a). In addition, brown represents warmth, comfort, and security (Cherry, 2017a). Therefore, Jergens wanted their audience to feel the warm, strength, and stability that their lotion will provide to their audience's skin. The correlation between the color and the product is very strong and it is much appreciated as it accurately represents the product. In addition, the white text attracts the eye and promotes an alert feeling that contrasts with the mood from the brown color. Overall, this was another meaningful ad that uses color to its advantage.

 

 

 

 

 

References
Cherry, K. (2017a, December 05). What's Your Psychological Reaction to the Color Brown? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-brown-2795816  

 Cherry, K. (2018b, January 15). How Does the Color Green Impact Mood and Behavior? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-green-2795817 

 Cherry, K. (2018c, January 6). Color Psychology: What Does Red Mean? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-red-2795821

 Cherry, K. (2018d, June 15). The Color Psychology of White. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-white-2795822

Gross, R. (2018, August 16). Color meaning and symbolism: How to use the power of color in your branding – Learn. Retrieved from https://www.canva.com/learn/color-meanings-symbolism/

Verbal & Text Based Ads - Do They Share a Mood?

A brand's "voice" is a very important and key factor to whether or not a brand will be able to gain and maintain a relationship with their customers and if that relationship can be converted into brand loyalty. In addition, a brand's "voice" can be defined as "the ability to engage in meaningful conversation, and to make a difference or impact upon key decisions. Voice centers upon inclusive conversations that are grounded in mutuality, understanding, and accessibility ("The Truth of the Importance of Voice", 2017). 

Thus, with this definition, it can be understood that a brand's voice speaks directly to its customers and allows the customer to make a key decision (for company this decisions impacts the customer's opinion on whether or not to buy). 

In many cases, a brand's voice is conveyed through advertisements in magazines, on websites, or on television. This blog entry will dive into a few brand's that convey their brand's voice well through text-based ads without relying solely on an image. 

1. Olay 

Although this ad from Olay has an image of a model, the text alone relates to the customer. Like NIVEA, Olay's target market is Generation X and women in this generation are currently experiencing the signs of aging on their faces and they might feel as if they are getting old and new items and products are not being marketed towards them. Olay recognizes this and reassures this marketing with, "Younger eyes never go out of fashion". Which shows the customer that Olay understands and shares the frustrations of aging and wants the customer to know that the brand can help with the process in a modern and "fashionable" way.


2. Clean & Clear 


 Unlike NIVEA and Olay, Clean & Clear's target market are the younger female millennials (between the ages of 13-20), who are in the prime of of teenage years and want the clear beautiful skin that they see all over TV and on social media. Clean & Clear taps into a teenage girl's mind and emotions by mentioning not being a "morning person" and understanding that many girls want their acne (and probably overall life) under control. These two lines of words provides the brand's target market with a feeling of reassurance that the brand understands their mindset and wants to help. The easy and quick language is also great for teens who don't like to spend a lot of time reading. This ad gets the brand's message across quickly and efficiently.

3. Revlon
In similar fashion to Olay, Revlon ads two images to their ad. However, the lower case phrase "get cheeky", speaks for itself. This ad is targeted towards older millennial women (between the ages of 22-30) who are passed their teenage years but still want to feel fun and flirty as they enter womanhood. Again, this phrase is fun, youthful, and works well with the name of the item "Pinch Me". This partnership with the item and the phrase speaks to the target market in a fun way which makes a customer in the target market eager to go to the store and buy.

 4. Lancome
As one of the more luxurious brands, Lancome, exudes high class and the brand name pretty much speaks for itself. Thus, the voice Lancome must give to its target market (ever changing and evolving, but is now more towards Generation X females) a voice conveys trustworthiness and honesty. Therefore, Lancome released an ad with a quote from a celebrity that has been modeled by the media as real and authentic. Moreover, the celebrity quote from Lupita Nyong'o expresses Lancome's promise to its customers to continue to have a "unique vision" and that the brand believes that women should be free to be "themselves". This tone resonates well with the brand's target audience, which makes this ad very effective.

5. Juicy Couture 
Juicy Couture was once a brand of luxury, but fell off for the radar for a few years due to a decline in popularity. Yet, this ad might bring Juicy Couture back to the market. The commanding and "in your face" "I am Juicy Couture" provides its millennial audience (females between the ages of 16-25) with a voice of confidence and femininity. Besides the picture of the model, the words underneath the first sentence enlighten a girl's mind with the feeling that she can be a "rebel" and be whoever she wants to be because she is a "juicy girl". This bold and fearless language is what girls are looking for in this day and age, and Juicy Couture is giving its audience what it wants. Similar to Lancome's ad, Juicy Couture's ad resonates well with its audience and is very effective.




References

The truth about the importance of voice – Euphony – Medium. (2017, February 22). Retrieved from https://medium.com/@EuphonyInc/the-truth-about-the-importance-of-voice-5f6b3dd5a97d

Skin Care vs Skin Care: The Best Advertisements

NIVEA is a German personal care brand that specializes in body and skin care. After being a successful worldwide-known brand name for over 100 years, it is time for a new creative direction.
After reviewing five successful ads from similar skincare brands like NIVEA, it is hoped that NIVEA can utilize the winnings of their competitors and develop a new creative marketing plan to build brand loyalty.

1. Aveeno

This advertisement from Aveeno uses well-known celebrity Jennifer Aniston as the company's spokesperson. Aniston is memorable, relatable, and a great person to market a brand of skin care to the Generation X - late Baby Boomer audience who remember her from her Friends days. In addition, Aniston's face looks clear and youthful; leaving her headshot the focal point of the ad with a small picture of the product in the right-hand side of the image. Finally, the wording, "For Positively Radiant Skin, two is better than one", is inviting and allows the brand to become top of mind in the consumer's mind.


2.  Garnier

 

This advertisement features Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, her flawless face on the ad helps Garnier attract women of various nationalities to the brand. Also, the wording "Break dark spots for a flawless glow" and Garnier's slogan "Take Care", play off of each other and express that the brand genuinely cares about their consumer's skin and wants to help the consumer "take care" of themselves. This wording helps the brand's likeability factor and the calming colors of green and yellow make the advertisement easy on the eyes.

3.  Clinique

Clinique is one of the first skincare brands that have not used a celebrity spokesperson in the majority of their advertisements. Using the phrase "Kill them with Kindness" helps the brand connect the Golden Rule (treating others how you want to be treated) and self-love/self-care together. This advertisement provides consumers with the notion that Clinique treats them with kindness by using the best ingredients in their products for the skin and that the consumer is treating themselves with kindness by using the product. Again, the soft colors of blue and seafoam green are calming and relaxing to the eye. These brands know how to pick the best colors!


4. Dove

With wording that is short and sweet, Dove promotes diversity and notes that not all American women resemble the models in magazines or on TV. Dove understands that all women, no matter the shape or size, desire soft, beautiful skin and they want to provide that luxury to every woman!


5. Cetaphil

Cetaphil might be a brand that is more for medicinal uses than cosmetic. But, the brand does promote that it is recommended by professional dermatologists and that its products can be used everywhere. Using wording that says  "recommended from professionals" pushes the idea that the brand is the best for one's skin and that it is similar to getting a prescription from the doctor. In addition, using an African-American model attracts women from different nationalities and invites them to try the brand for the first time or revisit it after a long time away.