How Johnson & Johnson Transformed the Clean & Clear Advertisement Campaign to Win the UK Market
This is a typical argumentative essay of approximately 1500-2000 words. This is a research essay that critically engages with current issues related to advertising and media and the concepts discussed in this course. For this paper I’m asking you to develop a case study that will help you illustrate a specific topic and argument. Your case study could be a specific advertising campaign, reaction to a campaign, corporation and their practices, etc. Your essay will draw on at least one of the concepts from one of the weeks of this course such as:
Free labour; consumer society; audience commodity; gender and advertising; branding; national brands; masculinity and advertising; consumer citizenship; race and advertising; youth and advertising; green advertising; culture jamming; advertising and the environment; self-branding; advertising and democracy; neoliberalism and advertising; product placement; paratext as advertising; advertising and social responsibility; native advertising
More specific information regarding this assignment will be discussed in lecture and provided as we get closer to the due date.
Ways to think about a case study paper:
Consider your overall argument first, then your case study as a way to explore that argument.
In the below, you can see the overall argument; the case study; and the theoretical concepts.
if you wanted to talk about the role of some blockbuster franchises as massive advertising campaigns, for example, you could use a franchise like Transformers and then you could discuss it in terms of the audience commodity and probably bring in product placement to discuss the ways the films are made to sell toys and vehicles – essentially using nostalgia and explosion content to sell an audience to advertisers.
NOTE: You will always find material in the library related to the theoretical approaches in the assignment, though you may not find material directly related to your case study. For this reason, it’s very important to have a good idea of what your overall argument is about without the case study. Start by researching your theoretical concepts in relation to your overall argument so: blockbuster franchises, audience commodity, product placement, etc. and then you can search for articles about your case study to see if there are any connected to your particular argument.
Just a quick note about using databases rather than using the general library search: this will be VERY useful for those of you who are researching topics that cross over to topics studied in other fields, but with a completely different perspective. If, for example, you are writing a paper on audience research and you do a general search, you are just as likely to find papers written by business scholars writing from an industry perspective as papers written critically by media studies scholars. This is very important with a topic like audience research in particular, because the two fields have very different perspectives on the topic and very different ways of studying it. You need to be sure that you are applying theoretical concepts and methodologies appropriate to the field of study (this is true if you are doing research for a class in a different department!).
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How Johnson & Johnson Transformed the Clean & Clear Advertisement Campaign to Win the UK Market
Introduction
Clean & Clear is a brand of personal care products owned by Johnson & Johnson. After a successful launch in the US, the brand introduced its products in the UK market in 1992. Clean and Clear was targeted at the female teenage consumer. It included treatment products to help clear spots and preventative products for this skin condition. J&J intended to make this brand a world leader in female teen skincare. Between 1993 and 1996, the company adopted the famous 'Girls Taking' advert in the United Kingdom. Developed in the US, where it proved successful, the advertisement lacked impact among British teenagers. This case study analyzes how Johnson & Johnson transformed the media content in the Clean & Clear advertising campaign, giving it a positive effect on the UK market. The paper primarily focuses on youth and advertising with the concept of brand placement.
About Clean & Clear
The brand was started by Revlon in 1956, introducing different personal care products in America. J&J acquired this brand in 1991 and rejuvenated the original line (Timeline of Our Story, n.d.). In the early 1990s, the American skincare company discovered that its expertise in babies' skin could provide eminence for other skin products. As such, they developed several sub-brands targeted at different consumers. By the time Clean and Clear products were introduced into the British market, the brand was not well-known.
The Clean & Clear advertising campaign targeted female teens is because:
* They have a high risk of getting spots.
* They tend to use lots of medicated products.
* They would become potential consumers of other J&J products in the future.
Youth and advertising
Youth advertising is a marketing effort focusing on young people. Teenagers and youths are a valuable consumer demographic. Apart from being consumers, they play a crucial role in influencing their families and friends (Dias, Sam, and Lynette). Brands that are popular with young individuals often earn an image of being 'cool.' Additionally, the segment is more open to new brands, trends, and innovation. Television, the internet, and magazines are popular brand placement vehicles for youth advertising.
In 1991, J & J created the 'Girls Talking' advertising campaign to promote Clean & Clear products in the US market. It contained confident young women speaking about how the use of had made them stop worrying about spots. The idea of this campaign was prompted by the observation that female teens often spend much time discussing spots and other related issues. The advertisement included brand placement on television and was supported by press advertisements.
Like any other marketing strategy, the advertising campaign was designed to accomplish a set of objectives. These were:
1 To make it the most popular medicated brand among teenage girls.
2 Become the most valued skincare brand.
3 Develop a relationship with female teens that would make them loyal to J&J even in later life stages.
The company intended to make these consumers know that it understood them and their needs ("About"). As a result, Johnson & Johnson would earn their loyalty.
Failure to meet the intended objectives
From its launch until 1996, the value share of Clean & Clear in the UK market increased significantly. By the end of this year, the product had won 14% of the market. However, it had not accomplished its key objectives after five years. It was not the most approved brand amongst female teens and not the number one medicated brand. This indicated that Clean & Clear was not developing the anticipated depth of the relationship.
An analysis of the sales showed that the growth seemed to be generated by distribution gains and not consumer demands. The sales of Clean & Clear products increased due to increased varieties rather than a rise in demand for the individual goods (Dias, Sam, and Lynette). The sales of certain established products were declining. Additionally, the introduction of other teen-female products by competitors was threatening the future growth of this brand. For instance, Oxy introduced an Oxy-sensitive range in 1996, putting Clean & Clear's unique positioning under threat. As a result, J&J saw the need to foster growth through stock-turn increases instead of distribution.
Marketing strategy
Johnson & Johnson's research into consumer perceptions revealed that advertising was one of the causes of this inefficiency. A study conducted on female spot product users in 1996 indicated that Clean & Clear's brand awareness was low compared to its competitors. The extent to which potential consumers could identify the message in an advert and establish a brand's characteristics as they are laid out in the advertisements was low.
British teenagers viewed the 'The Girls Talking' advertisement negatively. It did not have an impact amongst teens and did not help in generating empathy. Therefore, it resulted in short-term stock turn and sales. Although it worked in America, the consumers in the United Kingdom found the advert's content and conversational style to be pa...