Stopping Power - Jack in the Box

Consumers are awash in advertisements. Marketers, zealous in their attempts to persuade potential consumers, have desensitized the vast majority of citizens. We have become, in effect, trained to filter out the massive amount of redundant advertising that we are exposed to. In order for marketing to be effective in this environment, marketing specialists need to be creative. According to Hiam (2007), “Your ads need to have much more stopping power than most to get a significant number of people to remember and think about your product” (p. 229). Young and Rubicam outlined seven principles to aide marketers in creating stopping power. These principles can be helpful in assisting marketing professionals to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Jack in the Box (http://www.jackinthebox.com/) (click on ‘Commercials’ for examples) is a popular west coast franchise that frequently has a lot of stopping power advertising campaigns. While their ads tend to be slightly risqué, Jack in the Box advertisements are sure to grab your attention. Amongst the Young and Rubicam principles, these advertisements:

-Surprise the audience
-Communicate expected information
-Violate the rules and personality of the product

Viewers of any Jack in the Box commercial will be surprised and perhaps even startled by the main character, Jack. While Jack is an outlandish character, he communicates the intended message of the marketing team. Consider, for example, the first ad under ‘Commercials’ on the Jack in the Box web site. Jack is seen walking down the street comparing his company to “one of their competitors.” Towards the end of the commercial, Jack is standing with Burger King clearly in the background. At that point, Jack violates the rules and personality expected within the restaurant business by tearing off his sleeves and issuing the challenge: “Do something about it.” This is a very effective ad with plenty of stopping power. For a good laugh check out the next commercial about the jogger coming in for a smoothie. Outstanding stopping power!

References

Hiam, Alexander (2007). Marketing. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.