Compare and contrast the two media campaigns from a historical perspective. How are they alike? How are they different?
The Burma Shave and Dollar Shave Club campaigns are two exciting forms of media campaigns that took place at completely different times. The Burma Shave campaign took place the early through to the mid-20 th century. During this time, Televisions and electronic media were not popular. Advertisements were majorly done on signboards. The Dollar Shave Club campaign was done in the 21 st century when the main source of information is through electronic media. The major difference between the two campaigns lies in the times that they were made and the channels that the advertising companies used to convey their messages to their target market. However, the two advertisements are more similar than they seem. Not only do they employ the same concepts but also show that the basic concepts of advertising never change and are timeless. The two campaigns used jokes and punch lines to appeal to their respective target audiences. Michael Dublin, the founder of Dollar Shave Club, actually confirms that people remember things when they are presented to them in a comedy or musical form (Pullen, 2012) . Despite the immense time difference between the two campaigns, it is interesting to see how the two employ the same concepts to reach their target market.
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How did each campaign reach its target audience? Why was this so effective at the time?
As aforementioned, the Burma Shave campaign used signboards on the side of major roads to convey its campaign to the target audience whereas the Dollar Shave Campaign used YouTube, an electronic media platform to reach its intended market. The Burma Shave campaign channel was effective at that time because roads were narrower, vehicles were slow, and there was no form of electronic media. This kind of advertisement cannot be effective at this time. The Dollar Shave Club was effective because almost everyone currently has access to electronic media and spends hours on the internet.
Based on your research, which media campaign was the most groundbreaking for its time? Why?
In my opinion, the Burma Shave campaign was the more creative and hence the more groundbreaking of the two campaigns. The Dollar Shave Club campaign was only creative in the way jokes and punch lines that were used to present information to the target audience. However, the channel used was not different from what other campaigners currently used. It is just a normal video but full of jokes. However, the Burma Shave campaign was genius because other than it employing punch lines and catchy phrases, it manipulated the channel that was used to convey the information. The normal way to do things at that time was to set up a signboard and write on it all the details of the campaign. However, the Burma Shave campaign split the information into different signboards and placed the boards along the roadsides. Apart from it being creative, it also generated a sense of curiosity which is crucial in catching the attention of those driving.
Reference
Pullen, J. (2012). How a Dollar Shave Club's Ad Went Viral. Retrieved 19 August 2019, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224282
