– Faber-Castell Advertisements –
1. Describe the advertisement in detail and how the business implemented the four P’s to add value and/or promote the product or service.
{ Scroll to bottom to see advertisements }
This is an advertisement for the Faber-Castell brand of colored pencils. The pictures of colored pencils are not of ordinary pencils though. The red pencil has a fire engine as the back half of it and the purple pencil has an eggplant as its back half. It says, “True colours – Faber-Castell” in the bottom right hand corner.
PRICE: There is no price indication, but I know that Faber-Castell tends to be more of a higher-end (more expensive) colored pencil compared to the ordinary Crayola. PRODUCT: Faber-Castell is an artsy-brand but they are focusing on their colored pencils in this ad. PLACE: There is not really a place in this advertisement. PROMOTION: Faber-Castell, through this advertisement, is claiming that their pencil colors are good quality and true to their names. For instance, “Fire engine red” would come out looking like a fire engine red. “Eggplant” would come out on paper looking like an eggplant. They are promoting to their potential customers of their main unique selling point: the life-like nature of their pencils’ colours. As their slogan says… TRUE COLOURS.
2. Describe the target market (ie. what segments are being targeted)? How do you know this is the target market? Did the company make good decisions to reach the target market?
While Faber-Castell is promoting their colored pencils – which are often associated with kids – Faber-Castell is a higher and more expensive brand of pencil. Brands like Crayola would most likely be targeting parents of young kids due to their generic pencil brand. However, because Faber-Castells pencils are said to be of a higher quality, I would say their target market would be to a more mature and practiced artist. The pictures do give a child-like vibe to them though, which does not match what I see as their target market. However, it does get their point across, so I think it is alright that they chose to do this.
3. Does it work? Why or why not? Any general observations?
The point that Faber-Castell is trying to make is that their colors are true and real when put down on paper. Their “fire engine red” colored pencil really does look like “fire engine red;” their “eggplant purple” colored pencil really does look like an “eggplant.” I think it is a fun idea and it is very eye catching and cute. However, the pictures do not really prove that their colors turn out to look that realistic. That is what Faber-Castell is claiming… but I would not be able to tell just going by the pictures. But I really like their photoshopping and I would tend to just take their word for it honestly. So I do think it works.
Andrea Wollman's Marketing Blog 