Competitive Analysis

For my competitive analysis, aside from researching who my competitors are, I need to take a look at something else as well: the audience. Our book states, "A critical component is learning about the audience—the targeted, specified group of people at whom you are aiming your message, design, and solution. The audience is the main group who would purchase this product, utilize this information or service, or patronize this entity or brand."(Advertising By Design, Robin Landa, Pg.16) In order to successfully beat out the competition, I need to see why my audience would be so engaged in looking at another competitors advertisement. What do they see that thrills them to want to buy the product? What technique does my competition use in order to reel in a great fan base for their company? There's a great quote from the textbook that states, “It's one thing to capture someone's attention, but another thing to hold them for three minutes,” Smith said. “And on the Internet, you're competing against everything else on the Internet, which is one finger-click away, so engagement becomes a critical element.” (Advertising By Design, Robin Landa, Pg. 108) I don't want my audience to be turned away by a nail advertisement. Most nail advertisements are straight to the point and don't really have any meaning behind them. In print ads for nail polish brands, a lot of them are straight to the point, picturing only a woman's hands and the color of her nails. I want my idea to surpass the obviousness of what nail polish is and evoke emotion. The idea for my advertisement will hold attention because that's how different it is.

One competitor for Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish is called Sensationail. Sensationail doesn't have a whole lot of advertisements for their company unless it's in a nail magazine, but they do market themselves well enough. The packaging for their product is sleek, clean, and noticeable. The packaging is black with a picture of half a nail polished with a nice color on it. On the side of the picture shows their name. It's simple, it's noticeable because of the black colored packaging, and it the image is big enough to grab someone's attention. Most of Sally Hansen's packaging is white with bold colored writing on it. However, even though the black packaging for Sensationail is attention getting, Sally Hansen's simple white packaging makes them recognizable because those who use Sally Hansen know it's them. 

The books states, "Certainly, everyone wants to create imaginative, effective advertising—fresh work that hasn't been done before, ads that make people watch and then act, solutions that make other creative professionals say, “I wish I had thought of that!” Creating the “same old” won't grab anyone's attention. (Advertising By Design, Robin Landa, Pg. 107). I think the company Sally Hansen are better than Sensationail because it has a strong fan base due to how many years they've been a brand. In that way, Sally Hansen has some seniority over Sensationail. I also think it's because Sally Hansen markets themselves more through advertisements in different magazines, versus Sensationail who probably only advertises in nail maagzines.