Lufthansa Advertisement Analysis

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Analyse of the commercial using the AIDA model

AIDA is an acronym for attention, interest, desire and attention and is a model created by E.K. Strong in 1925 in order to analyse advertisements (Ghirvu 2013).

Attention

There are three different ways in which an advert can attract attention: 1) by being different from other similar adverts; 2) by doing something unusual or showing an unexpected situation; or 3) by using humour.

Which of these ways are used in the Lufthansa commercial?

Firstly, there is not a standard type of business class commercial, so they are all different from each other. Lufthansa however decided not to show a plane or anything that relates to an airline for the first three quarters of the video, which is rather unusual. Also unusual are the places where the people lie down; these are anything but a bed or a sofa. Secondly, humour is not directly used. The advert is not made to make people laugh, but the image of a person going up an escalator in a lying position, for instance, is quite funny.

Interest

Not everybody is interested in all products. Therefore, on occasion, one may be advertising through a very good advertisement to people where only a fraction, and sometimes a small fraction, is interested in that particular product. Once the attention of the target audience has been captured, one must gain their interest and make them wanting to understand the commercial’s message.

In this case, different people in/members of the customer’s decision making unit are targeted. Obviously, the businessmen and women who are actually going to travel, as well as the CEOs who want their employees to be well rested in order to be productive and stand difficult challenges. Furthermore, secretaries are likely to be responsible for the bookings and so have an impact on the choice of the airline and possibly also the class of seat booked.

Desire

Desire is based on the needs and value systems of the audience. The more people think they need something, the more desirable it will be to them.

In case of Lufthansa’s business class travellers the main need is a comfortable seat so that they can have a carefree rest, and step out of the plane full of energy after a long flight. This allows them to be more productive, take more difficult jobs and in this way reach a certain self-satisfaction. In addition, potential clients may feel valued because Lufthansa shows that their wishes are the most important to the airline, which is reflected in their slogan “nonstop you” as well.

Action

All advertisers want the audience to do something as the result of the advert, but there are two theories of advertising. The weak theory of advertising says that advertising on occasion may attract the attention of the audience, or even their interest in the brand, but it does not necessarily mean that they are going to buy it. They may just not be in the market for that brand. The strong theory of advertising, on the other hand, suggests that people will definitely rush out directly after seeing the advertisement and want to buy the product or service because the advertisement is strong enough to convince them.

Any advertisement can be seen as a “hard sell” concept. In this case an advertisement tells us to take immediate action, for example, by setting a deadline for the sale to occur. The “soft-sell” concept, however, describes an advertisement that does not tell the audience to take immediate action, but only wants a product or service to be remembered.

With its commercial, Lufthansa, following a soft-sell concept, wants potential customers to remember the airline when they have to book the next business trip.

The use of music within an advertisement

As we know, music plays a big role in our daily life and is to be found everywhere in our environment. Advertising works by stimulating as many senses as possible and creating emotions. Nowadays, especially in a highly visual world, (viral) marketing is not only about putting a brand on a screen in a silent advertisement but also about using the right music to the right brand in order to create feelings that make a customer buy the products. Music is supposed to serve the promotional goal of any advertisement. It can act on the customers’ mood, changing it from a sad mood to a happy mood.

Nevertheless there are different ways to utilize music in commercials. On the one hand there is instrumental music, which is generally used as a background sound for spoken words and which enhances the feelings generated by the word. On the other hand there is music with lyrics. Lyrical music is often added to commercials to create a direct association between the shown visuals and the music (Vermeulen & Beukeboom 2015, Hung 2000).

In the Lufthansa commercial lyrical music is added to the shown scenes shown. One can hear a part of the first verse and the chorus of the song “Little Numbers” by BOY. In the following I am going to analyse the lines we can hear in the video.

“Waited for your call, for the moon,

To release me from the longest afternoon”

We can assume that there is a business person at the airport waiting and looking forward to the “call” to board the plane and who will then get the chance to be released ”..from the longest afternoon”, a hard working day in this person’s business.

“I've re-arranged parts of my living room,

But time is hard to kill since I met you”

As soon as any business traveller enters the plane, he or she enters his or her “re-arranged...living room”. It is the airline’s purpose to suggest a living room because it is a comfortable place. Lufthansa wants any business class traveller to feel comfortable on their journey. Nevertheless, every journey has to come to an end, but Lufthansa’s business class is meant to be so comfortable that, once he or she is seated, it is hard for the customer to leave. The customer cannot wait to get on the plane again.

“Woo-oh, oh-oh, all the pretty things that we could be,

Woo-oh, oh-oh, I feel you in every heart beat”

At the end of the commercial the chorus of the song creates positive