?Project AdSpot: GMA-Kamuning INTRODUCTION Advertising has always been an integral part of marketing, and in turn, business. It is the way that businesses attract the attention of their market or audience. Now, billboards are considered to be one of the most effective ways of advertising. They are usually found along highways, expressways or, in this study’s case, along the train route. Because its natural habitat caters to fast moving viewers, billboards are designed to be eye-catching, to be easily understandable, and to be very memorable.
Simply put, all billboards are trying to impress themselves onto the minds of the passersby. All billboards are competing for the market’s attention. This need to stand out has created a diversity of billboard designs and since billboards don’t exactly come cheap, advertisers have started designing billboards very specifically. Advertisers put a lot of thought into the message the billboard will carry, and of course, the details in the presentation of this message. It is through these details that we aim to characterize the billboards found near the GMA-Kamuning MRT Station.
METHODOLOGY Data Gathering For the analysis, twenty billboards surrounding the immediate, pedestrian-accessible vicinity of the assigned station. Pictures were taken of the billboards, and then analyzed further. It is important to note that the data gathering occurred on September 30, 2010, since the billboards around the area have now been changed. Location The GMA-Kamuning MRT station is located in Timog, Quezon City. It is an elevated station and is accessible to both Timog Avenue and East Avenue.
The GMA TV Station can be found near this station as well as other transportation services like bus and jeep stations. Variables Measurements from the following variables were taken from the chosen billboards. Each variable is assigned a binary value. If the condition has been met, the variable takes on the value of 1, if not it is 0. Cluster Analysis SPSS was used to perform Cluster Analysis on the data. The complete linkage agglomerative technique was chosen because it yielded the only favorable cluster groupings.
A dendogram, and a dissimilarity matrix were produced. RESULTS After the data from the billboards had been taken, several variables were dropped. They had merited all 0s from all the billboards and thus provided no variability. The resulting dendogram and dissimilarity matrix from the cluster analysis using complete linkage are as follows. Dendrogram using Complete Linkage Rescaled Distance Cluster Combine C A S E 0 5 10 15 20 25 Label Num +———+———+———+———+———+
Tara! Let’s Eat 11 -T———–¬ WachaMakulit 13 — +—————¬ DanzShowdown 12 ——-T—— +———–¬ Wish Ko Lang 19 ——– ¦ ¦ Oktoberfest 2 ————-T—————- ¦ Temptation of Wife 14 ————– +——-¬ Bubble Gang 15 ————-T——-¬ ¦ Unang Hirit 16 ————– ¦ ¦ ¦ OFW Diaries 18 ——-T-¬ +——————– ¦ Party Pilipinas 20 ——– +—–¬ ¦ ¦ Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho 10 ———- +—— ¦ Grazilda 8 ———T—— ¦ I Witness 17 ———- ¦ Kaspersky 7 ———————T—————¬ ¦ LBC 9 ———————- +———— Mirror 5 —————T——————-¬ ¦ Powertrim 6 —————- +– Maria Clara 3 ——————-T-¬ ¦ Solmux 4 ——————– +————– Buscopan 1 ———————- It can be seen from the dendogram that 3 clusters were formed. These clusters were then interpreted and named as “Attention-grabbers”, “Non-Attention-grabers” and “Product-based” clusters. Ms.
Nicole Park, a recent Lia-Comm graduate from De La Salle University was consulted. The dissimilarity matrix of the analysis is as follows: Case Squared Euclidean Distance Buscopan Oktoberfest Maria Clara Solmux Mirror Powertrim Kaspersky Grazilda LBC Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho Tara! Let’s Eat Danz Showdown WachaMakulit Temptation of Wife Bubble Gang Unang Hirit I Witness OFW Diaries Wish Ko Lang Party Pilipinas Buscopan 0 12 7 8 12 6 13 14 11 16 15 13 16 11 17 14 12 17 14 14 Oktoberfest 12 0 7 12 12 12 13 10 15 14 9 9 8 5 13 14 10 13 10 12 Maria Clara 7 7 0 7 11 9 12 13 12 15 12 10 13 8 14 15 11 14 13 13 Solmux 8 12 7 0 12 8 11 12 13 16 11 11 12 9 15 16 12 13 12 12
Mirror 12 12 11 12 0 6 7 6 13 8 13 11 12 7 11 10 8 9 12 10 Powertrim 6 12 9 8 6 0 11 10 11 12 15 13 14 9 13 10 10 13 14 10 Kaspersky 13 13 12 11 7 11 0 9 8 9 12 10 11 10 10 11 11 10 9 11 Grazilda 14 10 13 12 6 10 9 0 15 6 7 7 6 5 7 8 4 5 6 6 LBC 11 15 12 13 13 11 8 15 0 13 16 12 15 14 16 11 15 14 13 15 Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho 16 14 15 16 8 12 9 6 13 0 9 5 10 9 5 4 4 3 8 4 Tara! Let’s Eat 15 9 12 11 13 15 12 7 16 9 0 4 1 6 6 9 5 6 5 7 DanzShowdown 13 9 10 11 11 13 10 7 12 5 4 0 5 4 6 7 3 6 3 7 WachaMakulit 16 8 13 12 12 14 11 6 15 10 1 5 0 5 7 10 6 7 4 8 Temptation of Wife 11 5 8 9 7 9 10 5 14 9 6 4 5 0 10 11 5 8 5 9 Bubble Gang 17 13 14 15 11 3 10 7 16 5 6 6 7 10 0 5 5 6 7 5 Unang Hirit 14 14 15 16 10 10 11 8 11 4 9 7 10 11 5 0 6 7 10 8 I Witness 12 10 11 12 8 10 11 4 15 4 5 3 6 5 5 6 0 5 6 4 OFW Diaries 17 13 14 13 9 13 10 5 14 3 6 6 7 8 6 7 5 0 7 3 Wish Ko Lang 14 10 13 12 12 14 9 6 13 8 5 3 4 5 7 10 6 7 0 8 Party Pilipinas 14 12 13 12 10 10 11 6 15 4 7 7 8 9 5 8 4 3 8 0 The dissimilarity matrix can help us identify the distinction between two billboards i. e. the greater the value the measure of dissimilarity, the greater the distinction between two objects. Looking at the squared Euclidean distance, we can conclude which among these billboards are associated with one another.
So in the dissimilarity matrix, It is evident that Tara let’s eat billboard is closely related to Wachamakulit billboard. This is also evident on the dendrogram since this two billboards where the first ones to cluster. Further examining the dissimilarity matrix, we can also see that Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho and OFW Diaries; Party Pilipinas and OFW Diaries; Wish Ko Lang and Danz Showdown; I-Witness and Danz Showdown all obtain a squared Euclidean distance of 3, so, we can also conclude that this pair of shows are also associated. However,the squared Euclidean distance measure of Buscopan with OFW Diaries and Bubble Gang is the highest measure in the dissimilarity matrix, these shows how distinct these two billboards are. DISCUSSION Product-based Billboards
Our group noticed that among all the billboards in the GMA Kamuning area, aside from a number of billboards of GMA shows, there are these few which endorse products and services. Among those which caught our attention were Buscopan – a medicine for stomach pain, Kaspersky-an antivirus program for computers, Powertrim-a kind of vitamins to attain a slimmer and sexier body, Mirror-a brand of apparel for ladies, Maria Clara- a brand of wine, Solmux- a medicine for cough and lastly LBC- a money remittance and delivery service. Out of all these product-based advertisements, only two feature a celebrity (Kaspersky-Jackie Chan, Mirror-Glaiza de Castro). According to Ms.
Park, a media graduate that we interviewed, using a celebrity in an ad is just one of the techniques in advertising. These celebrities are used based on either their effectiveness to the mass or what they represent. The rest of the products feature a common folk, she said that there are many factors that could affect why they chose not to use a celebrity. One reason could be that the company does not have enough money to invest on a celebrity. Advertisement space alone costs thousands of pesos, or another reason could be that the product wishes to project an image of the ‘common folk’ to send a message that the product is indeed for the masses.
These product-based advertisements are noticeably, relatively higher, larger and brighter compared with the rest, this may be due to the fact that being in an area near a big network such as GMA, people will usually expect to see GMA programs or shows being advertised everywhere. These products need to compete with these shows for the attention of the people, like saying ‘Hey, this is not just for GMA shows! Were here! Pay attention to our product! ’ Deciding to place an advertisement in the GMA area has its pros and cons. It may work to its advantage, like one, you’re sure that a lot of people pay attention to the billboards in this area, GMA-being a network that caters to the taste of the masses, is where people usually watch out for new and upcoming shows of the network. On the other hand, due to a large number of billboards, there’s a tougher competition for the attention of the people.
For instance, commuters who pass by the area only gets to stare at these billboards for say, two to three minutes (except when traffic comes in the way), billboards are competing for the people’s attention for this very short period of time, and that is why these product-based billboards need to spend more effort and to be extra flashy by making their ads relatively larger, brighter and more noticeable than the GMA shows’ billboards. Attention Grabbers The “Attention Grabbers” billboards were clustered together because of their large and bright illustrations, they made use of target market based lingo, they appealed to the senses, they followed natural eye travel messages, and they expressly invited actions such as “Tara na! Let’s eat! ” These are the shows that we think that needs more publicity or audience participation because of their billboards’ underlying structures that aims to reach the audience through a warm sense of familiarity and belongingness.
Most from this group, namely Wachamakulit, GMA’s latest weekly afternoon kiddie game show (for adults) that includes a kiddie band, a kiddie guest star plus kiddie describers, Wish Ko Lang, a show which have granted hundreds of life-changing wishes – from scholarships of impoverished students to reunions of families separated for decades, our very own San Miguel Oktoberfest, this time of the year when all of us legal age Pinoys are expected to come out in droves, rounding up the barkada to strengthen our pact with our favorite brew, all these shows need audience participation so their billboards, appealing to senses and having large and bright graphics, intend to invite the people to join the show, write letters for them or participate on their shows and drink some beers and watch concerts. Also, most of the shows from this group are just new such as Danz Showdown, a dance competition to search for the next sexbomb dancer but the show was already finished, Temptation of Wife, GMA’s latest Koreanovela, WachaMakulit, and of course, Oktoberfest which is celebrated annually from September to October. The following are the latest shows or events so it is not that surprising that they appear so flashy that our eyes tends to gravitate towards these billboards.
They are trying to catch our attention and invite us to watch or participate in their shows. For some billboards, such as Tara! Let’s Eat, a show that takes you around the Philippines for an appetizing food trips, and the Danz Showdown that lasted only for months, their billboards appears to be alluring because they want the people to recognize them, that something like these shows exist. Summarizing it, the “Attention Grabbers” billboards are these gaudy and appealing billboards that are promoting their shows or events for people to participate, for people to watch their show, for people to recognize them and for people to attend on their events.
Non-Attention Grabbers Billboards can be an effective and cost-efficient way of advertising a product or services. In our case, the billboards that we saw in GMA Kamuning MRT Station are majority entertainment and media billboards. So, to better understand the billboards, our group consulted a media specialist. According to her, the first rule of thumb in media is that you always try to catch attention. Apparently, billboards have different approach in catching the attention of their market. There are flashy and bright billboards which no doubt, will really catch the attention of people. While there are also billboards who are not that attention seeking.
In the case of our group, we classified three clusters upon performing a cluster analysis of the billboards that we saw in Kamuning. The first cluster is the group of billboards which are GMA related but has bright and flashy elements. The next group is again GMA related billboards, but, this time, these are the billboards which are not too bright and flashy relative to the first cluster of billboards. The third cluster is composed of Non-GMA related billboards. These are the billboards of products and services. At this moment, we will examine the second cluster of billboards, the GMA related billboards which are not too bright and flashy. As a general onclusion as to why these billboards are not too bright and flashy, it’s maybe because the billboards in these cluster is composed of either the long running shows of GMA Network, multi-awarded shows of the television network or new shows but nonetheless the favorite shows of the people. Thus, these shows need not to be as flashy and as bright as the other cluster of GMA related billboards since they don’t need that much attention as much as their relative counterpart does. The billboards included in these cluster are the billboards of Bubble Gang, Unang Hirit, I-Witness, Kapuso mo, Jessica Soho, OFW Diaries, Party Pilipinas and Grazilda. These billboards are all entertainment and media billboards. In terms of location, these billboards are not generally higher, bigger and away from most of the billboards in GMA Kamuning. In fact, among the billboards in the cluster, the billboard for Grazilda is the only one bigger.
This may be due to the fact that Grazilda is the newest show with respect to the other GMA shows in the cluster, thus, it needs more attention from the public. Another similarity between the billboards in this cluster is that they all featured a celebrity. This cluster of billboards needs not to emphasize brightness and sharp contrast or the billboards doesn’t need to be flashy and attention seeking anymore since it is advertising shows which either already leave a mark on the people or the audience or new show favorites. As we can observe, this cluster of billboards advertises three types of shows. First, the longest running shows of GMA Network.
We have the longest-running gag show in Philippine television, Bubble Gang (premiered October 20, 1995) and the longest-running morning show in the Philippines, Unang Hirit (premiered December 6, 1999). Second type is the multi-awarded shows in Philippine Television. From the cluster, we have again Bubble Gang, proclaimed as Best Gag Show and Best Comedy Program by four award-giving bodies; Unang Hirit, winner, Best Morning Show by two award-giving bodies and Anak TV Seal Awardee; Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, awarded as Best Magazine Program/Show and Most Popular Magazine Program by four award-giving bodies and winner of the 2008 Gold Camera Award in the US International Film and Video Festival; and I-Witness, declared as the Best Documentary Program by hree award-giving bodies, winner Outstanding Televised Feature on Youth and Education(2004-2009) in the Lasallian Scholarum Awards, Silver World Medal Winner for Documentary in the New York Festivals, Winner of Best Adult Educational/Cultural Program by the Catholic Mass Media Awards, awarded as Best Public Affairs Show by The MTRCB TV Awards and winner of two George Peabody Awards. The third type is composed of new shows of GMA 7 but, has already become a favorite as supported by their ratings. This includes, Party Pilipinas, premiered March 28 of this year, OFW Diaries which started on March 13 of last year and Grazilda, premiered September 13 this year. Now, looking at the dendrogram, we can see that Bubble Gang and Unang Hirit were the first one to cluster.
Aside from the fact that both are already longest running shows of GMA Network and both received numerous awards from different award-giving bodies, these two shows among the others in the cluster were the ones that contain more than one celebrity in their billboard advertisement, is relatively brighter and colorful and hand gestures of the people in the billboard is very prominent. In the Unang Hirit billboard, all the cast have the same hand gestures signaling that their show is number one. In the Bubble Gang billboard, the celebrities have different hand gestures. These poses by the celebrities show how fun to watch and wacky their show is. Also, in the dendrogram, Party Pilipinas, OFW Diaries, and Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho forms a cluster.
As we can observe in their billboards, these three shows have none up to only one prominent person (celebrity) in the billboard. Among the other billboards, their title uses a different style of font, which effectively displays the message to the people regarding what their show is about. An example is using a globe in lieu of the letter O in OFW diaries. These billboards also exhibit the same quality of using two dominant colors. The third group is the cluster of Grazilda and I-Witness billboards. In this cluster, both billboards use a dark color as a background. The usage of dark color emphasizes the celebrities in the billboard as well as the title of the show. These two billboards also give emphasis on the title of the show.
