The Comparison of Panda Cheese Commercials

1. Executive summary

This analysis was aimed at a critical examination and comparison of two ads. The main purpose of the analysis is to give an insight of the different areas, due to which the information about an ad can be assessed. The ads analyzed by this paper are “The Office Never Say No to Panda” and the “The Compiled Never Say no to Panda”, which are commercials that showcase and advertise “panda cheese”. The both ads present the product of the company known as Arab Dairy, which is based in Egypt. The creative agencies that created the two adverts are the Advantage Marketing Group and the Advertising/Elephant Cairo Group. The creative directors involved in making the commercials are Ali Ali and Maged Nassar. The producer of the commercials is Hossam Fawzy. The director of photography in the commercials is Pedro Del Ray. This analysis will provide an attention grabbing comparison on the subject of the differences between the two ads. The analysis will also address segmentation, the process of buying for consumers, the mix for marketing, the perceptions held, and the motivation behind the ads. The analysis will conclude with proposing on how advertising strategies can be improved to make Arab Dairy attract more customers and audience through its ads.

Panda Cheese Ads

2. Introduction

In this analysis, the two ads are being examined to make the report about Arab Dairy. Arab Dairy is the manufacturer of cheese known as Panda Cheese. The company Arab Dairy is based in Egypt. The products of Arab Dairy are divided into four. The first division includes various types of white cheese, in particular “dairy feta cheese”, the “feta cheese” and the “panda feta cheese”. The second segment is devoted to proceed cheese, which includes the “dairy triangles cheese”, the “triangle cheese” the “wonder cow triangles cheese”, the “panda triangles cheese” the “gardens’ cow triangles cheese”, and lastly, the “two cows triangles cheese”. The third part of products belongs to Swiss cheese, which includes “la classe emmental cheese” and the “emmenta cheesel cheese”. The forth segment includes Italian cheese, which are “la class parmesan cheese”, the “panda parmesan cheese”, and the “parmesan cheese” (Pennock-Speck & Mazzali-Lurati 2013). Arab Dairy exports its products to the countries in the Middle East. To be more precise, the countries where Arab Dairy products can be found include the following: Palestine, Kuwait, n Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Libya, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. In order to compare clearly the ads of Arab Dairy products, the analysis will use the theories describing consumers’ behavior, provide an examination of the strategies that the company uses to improve its branding, and conclude with the recommendations for Arab Dairy to enhance its efficiency in future.

3. Segmentation

“Never Say No to Panda” is a form of advertisement where panda is a mascot. The campaign is split into short sketches. The sketches are comic and hilarious. The advertisement was created by the Advantage Marketing Group and the Advertising/Elephant Cairo Group. The first commercial was first aired in May, 2010. “Never Say No to Panda” advertisement was first aired on the TV channels of the country of its origin, which is Egypt. The first advertisement to be uploaded to an online platform was the “Office Never Say No to Panda” advertisement.

The commercial was first uploaded to an online platform by “youtuberzunzun82”. The upload was done on the 18th of May in 2010. A few months later, on the 18th of September, another upload was made, which compiled three advertisements of cheese with the particiaption of panda. In just 22 months, the compiled version of the advertisement received 17 million viewers. Getting to the month of October, 2010, approximately 200 duplicate copies of the compiled panda commercial had been uploaded online (Kjeldsen 2015). Most of the duplicate uploads counted up to 100 000 views. In 2010, the advertisement of Arab Dairy production was nominated at the international advertising festival known as the Cannes Lions. The commercial won the Silver award at the festival. Notably, “Never Say No to Panda” is one of the very few commercials created in Egypt to win such a prestigious award of international caliber. However, it is interesting how the video spread all over the globe. On the 25th of May, the year 2010, the “Campaign Middle East” uploaded an article in their blog, which was telling about the campaign by Arab Dairy and particularly, its advertisement “Panda”. Later, on the 1st of July, the same year, “Huffington Post Comedy” played the Arab Dairy’s video, the one that is called “The Office Never Say No to Panda”. Arab Dairy kept their videos hidden for a while till September of the same year when “The Compiled Never Say No to Panda” was released and uploaded to the online platform YouTube. On the 20th of September, 2010, “The Compiled Never Say No to Panda” was featured in “BoingBoing”, and just the next day, on the 21st of September, 2010, it was featured in “Funny or Die” and on the famous show “ABC’s Good Morning America”. Two days later, on the 23rd of September, 2010, “The Compiled Never Say No to Panda” was featured in the blog site “Foreign Policy” as well as in the blog site “LA Weekly” (Kjeldsen 2015). Notably, the 22nd of September, 2010 was marked as the day when a fan page on Facebook was created, which was given the name “Never Say No to Panda”. Today, the great number of freak outs from the commercial “Never Say No to Panda”, which were seen as memorable, still circulate on “Tumblr” in the format of “GIF” under the name “Never Say No to Panda”.

 

4. Perception

It is important to define the alignment, which includes such characteristics as significance and excellence. In addition, it should be taken into consideration that Arab Dairy produces dairy products, which can be rated as expensive, as their main target is exportation. Most of the competitors of Arab Dairy target the local market of Egypt, which makes Arab Dairy stand out as an expensive company producing expensive products. The axes can also be considered as relevant in a great way since Arab Dairy has already made its brand known internationally; hence, it is considered to be a brawny brand.

This makes the customers of Arab Dairy forego thinking about such factor associated with the products of Arab Dairy as price. In regard to the case of a customer, making a purchase is considered to be an individual act accomplished by the customer. This includes such steps as organizing to make a purchase, selecting what to purchase and interpreting what conditions will be involved in making the purchase. All of these factors on the needs the customer has, the values the customer holds and the experiences the customer had with the products of Arab Dairy (Blythe 2013). Since Arab Dairy has created an attractive image of their products, the aspects described above are mostly positive for the customer. First of all, a common perception of Arab Dairy’s two ads being compared in this report implies the fact that there is no offer being presented. Notably, this cannot be counted as a cause for alarm due to the image held by Arab Dairy. The image of the company reflects what the consumers of their products want. Keeping this fact in mind, making an offer is not a strict requirement for Arab Dairy. Secondly, it is perceived that all the attention is aimed at the individuals involved in making the two ads. The sketches create an aspect of trust and classification. The same idea is implemented in the third perception, which is prompts. From the two ads by Arab Dairy being compared in this report, it is very easy to recognize visuals. The ads can be counted as tactful commercials. The forth perception consists in the fact that ads by Arab Dairy can be noticed quickly. The reason for this is that, in contrast to other ads, the ads by Arab Dairy stand out (Blythe 2013). The fifth perception implies the ads by Arab Dairy focus viewers’ attention on an individual as opposed to focusing on groups. According to the sixth perception, the ads by Arab Dairy appeal to emotions among individuals. The emotions are referred to the issues of trust and traditions. The only big difference between the two Arab Dairy’s ads being compared is that one illustrates only an office setting while the other is a compilation of different settings. Despite the advert of compiled settings being funny, to some people, some people may find it offensive and upsetting (Kjeldsen 2015). However, since Arab Dairy was allowed to continue running its commercials, it is evident that Arab Dairy as a company commands respect from the side of public due to its production and advertising tactics. It is of great importance to note that the awareness about Arab Dairy products is achieved through the use of simple images that all people can relate with. Some people may find it boring and repetitive. However, the acceptance of Arab Dairy products goes up in numbers since the commercials by Arab Dairy show how the expectations of the consumers are met in the products created by Arab Dairy Company.

5. Consumer Buying Process

For consumers, the process of buying at Arab Dairy can be associated with a model known as the Tricomponent Attitude.

The process includes three components that are affect component, cognition component and conation component. In most cases, this is referred as “think-feel-do” model. In the model, affect represents “feel”. This is the feeling one gets from buying something (Wells & Foxall, 2012). Cognition represents “think” while conation represents “do”. Since Arab Dairy is ranked on the top right corner on the map of perception, it is right to parallel Arab Dairy to a luxurious brand that specializes in dairy products retail. This means that the process of purchasing by the customers differs when compared to any other regular dairy products company (Schiffman And Kanuk 2010). Mostly, in other companies, a purchase is accomplished by means of “do-feel-think” model. However, for Arab Dairy, the model used by a customer in the process of purchase is “think-feel-do”. This involves commitment by customers to buying the products by Arab Dairy. This can be seen clearly from the way customers evaluate and value the products by Arab Dairy as compared to the alternative ones. When looking at the alternatives available to consumers, it would be appropriate to look at the place of Arab Dairy on the map of perception. Most of the companies competing with Arab Dairy are ranked behind when looking at the quality of their products and the customers’ appraisal. This shows that without a doubt, Arab Dairy stands out. However, this deprives most of consumers of Arab Dairy products of alternatives in terms of choice of products.

6. Marketing Mix

After looking keenly at the 7 P’s, the P’s that are applicable most to Arab Dairy are the following: place, promotion, and process. Below, each P is described in detail.

Place

In the report, it was mentioned that Arab Dairy uses the strategy that allows them distribute their products across borders mainly. This means that their stores and storage facilities are situated many beyond the country. This is seen as convenient for the company. To enhance its efficiency, Arab Dairy has improved its product line by expanding their label. This means that they are now obligated to provide customers with a large variety of products. Products released to the market are packed nicely since they are mostly designed for exportation, which is another aspect that attracts customers.

Promotion

Since the release of “The Compiled Never Say No to Panda”, though in a comic way, it showed what Arab Dairy wants to offer to its customers. In such a way, the compiled version improved the image of Arab Dairy among the customers by showcasing the capabilities of the company. In other words, this method was in line with the philosophy held by Arab Dairy of preferring to practically show consumers what their story is than telling about it (Kjeldsen 2015). However, it is also important to bear in mind that not all people will view the commercial positively; some may see it as unoriginal.

Process

In regard to satisfying customers, the process of a product creation matters much. the process includes the way the staff members of the company relate to customers when it comes to providing them with information they require to the point when a customer leaves. It can be documented from the success of Arab Dairy that they give more priority to the consumers of the products they sell (Pennock-Speck & Mazzali-Lurati 2013). In fact, being humble has been discussed on many platforms as one of the ways to achieve success. The methods that can be used to pay for Arab Dairy products include cash and the use of credit cards, which means that it is convenient for every customer.

7. Motivation

With respect to the motivation in Arab Dairy, it is important to look at the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s model shows how a product can lead to the satisfaction of people, with the only difference coming from a state of mind the person is in (Underhill, 2009). However, the customers of the products created by Arab Dairy cannot be categorized into a single level when looking at Maslow’s model.

Therefore, it is important to note that the consumers of products by Arab Dairy lie between the level of belonging and the level of esteem on the Maslow model. Arab Dairy offers a variety of products and thus a variety of prices for the various products they make. This positively affects the image of the company as it enhances loyalty among their customers making them always want to purchase the products made by Arab Dairy (Schiffman & Kanuk 2010). In the Maslow’s model, there is a level of esteem. This level can be related to Arab Dairy’s created image through the quality of their products and the value that Arab Dairy’s products have.

8. Conclusion and Recommendations

After making an analysis of the “The Office Never Say No to Panda” and the “The Compiled Never Say No to Panda” advertisements, it can be concluded that the two advertisements impacted positively on the customers just as Arab Dairy had hoped for. None of the two commercials presents clearly an offer. Notably, in the case of Arab Dairy, that would not count as it would negatively affect their image, which is rated as high among the customers. It is important to note that the success of the Panda commercials was mainly achieved due to Elephant Cairo Gropu, which is a boutique agency based in Egypt. The agency implies collaboration of four men and is known for scooping at Dubai Lynx 2 Grand Prix. The agency sold to Arab Dairy the idea of Panda, which seemed crazy but yet impacted the image of the company positively. The idea was that if people do not appreciate the products offered by Panda, and decide to refuse consuming a sandwich made by Arab Dairy, then Panda was obliged to kick them. By the use of humor in “Never Say No to Panda”, the idea is conceptualized in sketches of TVCs showing individuals who are refusing to consume the cheese. Full of nervousness, they expect the Panda that has a huge size to come; Panda looks at the individuals blankly before starting to destroy everything around them. Though Panda might be seen as a psychopath, most of the people love this commercial. It would be recommendable for Arab Dairy to reintroduce Panda in a way that also shows panda as someone who helps people and is not so violent. It should be someone peaceful, humble and loves all people even if they disagree with him.

9. Appendix

How the new Panda should look like.

It would be recommended to change the image of Panda in order to make it someone who helps people and is not so violent. Panda can be peaceful, humble and love all people even if they disagree with him.

The Cause of Negotiations Impasse and Solving Model

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