Nivea Ad Analysis

By following the structure I learned in class, I will be analyzing the “NIVEA ad campaign” that conveys the idea that NIVEA is love, care and life.

The sender/source:
The source of the advertisement is a private company: NIVEA. NIVEA is a business firm trying to sell products; it is a global skin- and body-care brand that is owned by a private German company by the owner Beiersdorf.
Moreover, since NIVEA is one of the large companies in the world and has a great market share internationally, the credibility is very high and trusted. In addition, the source of the advertisement is speaking to the audience directly without the use of an endorser that acts as a third party. The sender relies on its well-known brand image. The sender’s communication problem is that the concept of “beauty” in people’s minds is interpreted differently. Beiersdorf is trying to persuade his audience that the concept of “beauty” is associated with concepts of love, care and life. The sender is seeking awareness and differentiation among other competitors.

The message:
Based on the AIDA model which consists of Attention, Interest, Desire and Action, the message of the campaign is trying to grab audience’s attention by showing simple women and men engaging in different social activities. The message is attempting to hold people’s interests and arousing desires by showing many real life situations such as people jogging and people working in jobs. The message is persuading people to obtain action and buy NIVEA products. It also is trying to reinforce and remind loyal customers of the brand. The campaign communicates another message to the audience, which is “Share with us what beauty means to you”. This message is helps initiating feedback and receiving comments from the customers. Consumers are invited to send in their personal experience of beauty in word and image via the campaign website
Semiotic analysis: The denotative meaning of the message is conveyed through beautiful women, men, family, baby, life and pure and beautiful skin used in this ad. However, the connotations associated with this concept in the message is that media stands for quality and health. The connotations are the “beauty” is love, care and life, not just the “outer beauty”, it is the inner beauty that is could be felt and seen by showing love, care and life.
NIVEA sign could be seen as a Symbolic sign. The conventional associations to the object are conveyed by the colours of the sign. Blue and white colours always convey and show purity and cleanliness. Those associations apply to the functions of the brand that the company promises: pure, clean and beautiful skin.

The Receiver:
By using the Emotional Model Receiver, the receiver is appealed through the use of emotions that are love, care and life. The receivers view the message as people living a happy, clean and joyful life. The emotional appeal is also shown by using men being attracted to the beautiful women that simple and happy. In other words, audience are appealed to cleanliness, beauty and love.