Essay One-42882753

Discuss the phenomenon of media convergence in relation to one of the following: Advertising and New Media or Music Video online.

McDonald billboard in Chicago

In recent times there has been an ongoing process of information and entertainment media moving across multimedia platforms this concept is known as convergence. With media convergence a question that can be considered is, what effect has convergence and new media had on advertising?  A strong case can be made that advertising has had to adapt to new media and in fact thrived in it.  Advertising has stretched and taken advantage of cultural convergence as it has become a common part of everyday life. Advertising has also adapted  to converge with social media having ad campaigns shared through social media essentially digitalizing word of mouth advertising. Advertising has benefited  though technological convergence giving advertisers twenty-four hour access to consumers. An example of this is the marketing campaign launched by Clemenger BBDO Adelaide for Fantastic Delites . Also working with similar convergence tactics McDonalds has been able to remain profitable company for decades.

As advertising agencies can no longer make audiences view their ad the agencies have had to make their audiences want to experience the advertisement which then caused an impact on modern culture. Cultural convergence can be described as “the new ways that media audiences are engaging with and making sense of these new forms of media content.(Jenkins, 2006)” Such as the ‘Delities’ campaign. The Delites campaign “how far will you go for fantastic Delities” has stretched across multimedia platforms by placing a unique interactive vending machine in a busy area of Adelaide and created a video about the experience which then was shared   through social media and then became viral video in July. Since has generated more than two million views since it’s upload. 'The campaign had evoked consumers to lift the product over their head in praise.  As well as McDonalds interacting with the consumer outside of the restaurant.  Both of these campaigns have increased McDonald’s and Delites’s  profits. 

  How far will you go for Fantastic Delites? - Delite-o-matic

 As cultural convergence progresses “new media increase the versatility of human action. /media audiences are experiencing media coverage in the situations they find themselves in while connecting to network infrastructures” Dwyer ( 2010, pg. 3 ) Businesses have been working towards new ways of creating product awareness with the innovation of cultural convergence the companies have been able to strengthen advertising. 

Example of McDonald Ad Offering Free Wifi

As less people now are interested in watching television businesses cannot make people watch their advertisements so many companies are now adapting to this by making the consumer want to watch and share the advertisement though social media. Social convergence refers to the availability of media via various platforms and the expansion of digital communication. It has also lead to consumers interacting with and contributing to the media.   Advertising agencies have taken advantage of social convergence as when words, images and sounds are transformed into digital information, we expand the potential relationships between them and enable them to flow across platforms.  For example the viral video “How far will you go for Fantastic Delites? - Delite-o-matic” and McDonald’s offering free Wi-Fi to attract customers.   Advertisers even encouraging consumers to create parodies of famous commercials and sharing them. Businesses are not blind to the change in consumer attitudes.  "In the nascent industry to fully exploit its new commercial technology, there seems to be a certain shift in the balance of power between producers and consumers, at least in comparison to traditional mass media" Sinclair, John and Wilken, Rowan (2009)

Erik de Roos, account director at Clemenger BBDO Adelaide said about the Delites campaign “We were looking for a unique way to get people to taste the product." (Campaign Brief, 2012).  With social convergence ad campaigns have been shared through social media such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube advertising has become more prominent in society.



How far will you go for Fantastic Delites? 

 Advertising once contained within magazine or newspapers has now expanded forcing ad agencies to make product awareness multiplatform giving advertisers constant communication with consumers.  Technological convergence is the process of combining technologies allowing media to be accessed from various devices.  “In a world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold, and every consumer gets courted across multimedia platforms”(Jenkins 2006 pg3).  Proof of this is that advertisements can now be accessed from various sources, iPhones, YouTube, Facebook, have all contributed to advertisers having full-time communication with the consumers. With “the explosion of new forms of creativity at the intersections of various media technologies” (Jenkins 2 0 0 1) has enhanced communication with consumers further. It can be claimed that convergence has forced advertising agencies to expand away from the traditional advertising to contact their audience directly.

 It can be argued that convergence within new media has expanded the reach of product awareness and strengthen advertisements.  With the access to on demand entertainment advertisers have been able to access their consumers all day every day. Advertising agencies have adapted to the innovative process of convergence using new strategies that work in conjunction with cultural, social and technological convergence. A clear illustration towards this is the wide range of McDonald ads and the Delites advertising campaign. With  consumers moving away from one source of media  it has forced advertising to create progressive campaigns  with then caused advertising to expand and prosper within media convergence.

 



References
Websites:
-Henry Jenkins (2006)
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/converge.html

-Delites commercial, (July, 2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8RIqJLUYSE

Online Article:
‘Digital Renaissance‘ including cultural convergence definition. Henry Jenkins (2 0 0 1, pg93)
Can be accessed Digitally at http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/converge.pdf

Sinclair, John and Wilken, Rowan (2009) 'Waiting for the kiss of life : mobile media and advertising' Convergence: the journal of research into new media, vol 15 no 5 pp 427 - 445 http://con.sagepub.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/content/15/4/427.full.pdf+html

Campaign Brief , Friday 06, July 2012
‘Fantastic Delites launches 'Delite-o-matic' vending machine via Clemenger BBDO Adelaide’
http://www.campaignbrief.com/2012/07/fantastic-delites-launches-del.html

Books:
“In a world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold, and every consumer gets courted across multimedia platforms”  Convergence Culture: where old and new media collide Jenkins, H (2006, pg.3)

“New media increase the versatility of human action. /media audiences are experiences media coverage in the situations they find themselves in while connecting to network infrastructures” Media convergence, Dwyer, T (2010, pg6)


By Margaret Crowley
42882753
MAS110 Lab 14