Introduction

The presented report focuses on making positive changes to an advertisement for an existing sports apparel brand on the basis of marketing theories. In this regard, the sports brand whose advertisement is chosen for this report is Kydra. 

Kydra is regarded as Singapore’s leading activewear brand that is famous for its creative designs and sleek branding. The company is working hard to keep improving its sports apparel by opting for fabrics which are cooling and soft. The company makes excellent sports apparel that is suitable for both high-impact workouts as well as low-impact workouts (Wegonative, 2021). The homegrown activewear brand has retained a digital presence for nearly 5 years and recently opened its first-ever flagship store in the country. The company is now offering an omnichannel experience to its consumers. Kydra aims to create adaptable and versatile sports apparel for every explorer, action taker and courageous user. Further, the company utilises the latest technology in creating activewear that fits Asians best in terms of the physique by sourcing the finest materials (Kydra, 2022¹). Kydra offers its sports apparel in three different fabrics, namely Kyro, Komi and Kora, which are popular among users as they are lightweight, breathable, comfortable, and softest fabrics (Kydra, 2022²).

In this context, one of the advertisements of Kydra was chosen for the report to suggest and make positive changes based on the marketing theories. In accordance with this, the report presents a description of the selected advertisement along with the potential weaknesses identified in the advertisement. Further, the report presents the theories of neo-Freudian, Weber’s law and involvement theory to suggest better changes in the advertisement and the changes made in the advertisement. Next, the report covers the research methods, including the sample size and research instrument, in addition to the discussion of the findings. Lastly, a conclusion is presented at the end of the report to summarise the report.

Description of Selected Advertisement

In figure 1, a screenshot of the advertisement is presented that depicts the activewear by Kydra. The advertisement begins with the lead girl going through her clothing rack, looking at the clothes and selecting the outfit to go for a run in her room. As she selects the outfit, the scene changes to an open area near the lake where people are working out and skateboarding. The lead girl comes into the scene,  looks at the time and starts running. In the next few seconds, the scene changes again and the lead girl is seen boxing with a guy in the boxing ring. Then, the lead girl sees off the guy and the scene changes to the setting of the park, where the lead girl is seen running and enjoying herself with her friend. The friend is clicking pictures of the lead girl with a camera. The scene changes again and is not set to the lead girl’s room, where she is walking happily towards the couch. The girl sits down on the couch and smiles to herself. The advertisement is finished here with the logo of Kydra at the end (Kydra Official, 2020).

Figure 1

(Source: Kydra Official, 2020)

Potential Weakness of the Selected Advertisement

The advertisement by Kydra for promoting their activewear was interesting and engaging; however, it has some weaknesses that can fail in attracting consumers to their brand. The advertisement was about sportswear; however, there was no clear cue or information about it during the advertisement. The advertisement showed people working out and the lead girl going for a run, which was not a clear indication of the advertisement regarding the activewear and the sports apparel brand. Further, as the advertisement encouraged the importance of physical activity by demonstrating the people exercising, there was no social reinforcement of the desirable behaviour by the friends of the girl, which did not communicate to the viewers about the importance of physical activity along with the relevance of purchasing their activewear. In addition to this, the logo of the company was not highlighted during the entire advertisement but only in the last. Highlighting the logo is important in gaining the attention of the viewers to keep them continuing to watch the advertisement and engage with it. As the lead girl was wearing the activewear by Kydra, the advertisement should have zoomed on the clothing to highlight the logo and let the viewers recognise it and form a good impression of it.

Moreover, the advertisement had no dialogues or captions that provided any information about the brand or activewear being advertised to the consumers. The advertisement had only visuals which did not offer a better understanding to the viewers of the brand or the products. The advertisement lacked informational details in terms of the features of the activewear offered by the brand. As the features and benefits of activewear were not informed to the viewers, the advertisement did not communicate the functionality of the products and remained vague. Providing information about the products and their benefits is crucial in attracting consumers to enhance their involvement and influence their purchasing decision regarding the products(Amarasinghe Arachchige et al., 2022).

Theories or concepts suggesting better alternative

Neo-Freudian Theory

            The neo-Freudian theory focuses on the social environment of an individual along with the impact of culture on the personality of the individual. According to this theory, there is a significant role that society plays among individuals. In this regard, it is argued that the opinions, beliefs and ideas of significant people in society affect the decision of other individuals. One of the neo-Freudians, Adler, stated that social connections are important during the development of an individual in terms of social development. Further, he expressed that individuals strive for superiority and get rid of inferior feelings. In support of this,  Erikson also emphasised the importance of social relationships in an individual’s decisions and Horney focussed on the role of culture in influencing the personality and decision-making of individuals. In addition to this, Sullivan argued that people aim to build and maintain important and rewarding relationships with others (Dumper et al., 2022; Sarker, 2013). Therefore, in this context, Kydra can make changes in the advertisement based on social relationships that are important and rewarding for people.

The suggestion for Kydra based on the neo-Freudian theory is to include other lead actors that are significant to the lead girl in the advertisement who will compliment the lead girl about her choices of activewear. As the other leads will compliment the lead girl on wearing the activewear from Kydra, this will contribute to increasing the feeling of superiority in the lead girl and reducing the feeling of inferiority. As Kydra will show the viewers in their advertisement that wearing their activewear will get the consumers complimented and enhance the feeling of superiority, more viewers will be attracted to purchase the products offered by Kydra.

Another suggestion for Kydra based on neo-Freudian theory is to show in the advertisement that the other lead actors who are significant to the lead girl are wearing Kydra’s activewear which influences the girl to choose Kydra. When the girl chooses Kydra, the other lead actors will compliment her for the choices that will attract and persuade the viewers to purchase the sports apparel offered by Kydra.

Weber’s Law

            Weber’s law was given by Ernst Heinrich Weber in 1834, which states that the ratio of the increment threshold (just a noticeable difference) to the background intensity is always a constant. In other words, the law states that the change in a stimulus that will be just noticeable has a constant ratio with the original stimulus. In addition to this, the law states that the ability to notice a change in the intensity of stimuli is proportional to the intensity. Further, the ability to notice the change in the stimulus decreases in ratio to its magnitude (Namboodiri, Mihalas & Shuler, 2014). From this, it can be inferred that the changes made in the stimulus must be above the just noticeable threshold so that the changes made in the stimulus are noticed by the viewers. Further, the changes made in the stimulus must be in proportion to the original stimulus. In this regard, it was explored that the response of an individual towards the change in the stimulus is inversely related to the magnitude of the original stimulus (Lee, 2018). Thus, this law will be helpful in determining the relevant changes to be made in the advertisement of Kydra to get noticed among the viewers.

            In this context, the suggestion for Kydra’s advertisement based on Weber’s law is to make their brand get noticed by the viewers. As observed in the activewear advertisement displayed by Kydra, it failed to show the tag of the brand on the clothing, due to which the name of the brand goes unnoticed in the eyes of viewers and it fails to create awareness about their products. The suggestion is to highlight the name of the brand on the activewear during the advertisement, which gets noticed by the viewers and grabs their attention which will create awareness and affect their purchasing decisions.

Involvement Theory

            Involvement theory in consumer behaviour is defined as the subjective mental state of the consumer that represents the personal relevance of the event or object, where purchase involvement reflects the importance of purchasing a product to the consumer. Involvement is an internal state of mind which is experienced by a consumer to analyse and justify purchasing decisions. According to the involvement theory, a consumer is engaged in high and low-involvement purchases. In high-involvement purchases, the consumers are involved in a deep and thorough decision-making process regarding the products, as there is a possibility of high risks, whether financial or non-financial. Consumers search for extensive information regarding the products prior to their purchase and are involved in the procedure of information processing to make correct decisions. Further, the products requiring high involvement of the consumers are usually of greater personal importance. In contrast to this, in low-involvement purchases, the consumers are not involved in information processing as they do not require extensive information about the products. There is a low financial risk of the product and products are based on day-to-day items that have low value (AmarasingheArachchige et al., 2022). In this regard, there are different levels of consumer involvement with the products offered by brands based on relevance and risks.

            On the basis of involvement theory, the suggestion for Kydra is to provide better information about their activewear in the advertisements that draw the attention of consumers for a high involvement purchase. As high involvement purchase is based on personal relevance, providing extensive information to the consumers will be helpful in involving consumers to purchase their products. The range of activewear offered by Kydra is highly functional; however, the functionality of the products is not communicated to the consumers. Thus, the suggestion is to provide better information about the products to the consumers through the advertisements by incorporating tag lines that highlight the features of activewear that will be relevant for the consumers in making purchasing decisions.

Changes made in the advertisement

            In alignment with the above section, the first suggested change is to incorporate the element where the wearer of Kydra Activewear must be complimented for the outfit by someone significant in her social environment, which will help in attracting the attention of more consumers. As suggested by the Neo-Freudian Theory, individuals strive to put more effort into getting rid of inferiority and feeling superior in their social group. With the suggested element, the consumer would be attracted to purchase the product to get similar compliments as the wearer gets in the advertisement (Bobade & Khale, 2019). Moreover, this element in the advertising can assure the viewers that the advertised product is characterised by high quality, luxury and glamour, which can give the wearer a sense of sophistication. The added element in this advertisement can help Kydra Activewear to grab the attention of potential customers and eventually increase its sales volume (Amatulli, Angelis & Donato, 2020). Furthermore, this element of the advertisement would assure to address the perceived quality by consumers and make them feel exclusive. This can further assure the viewers of the advertisements that the company has focused on uniqueness, which will also help Kydra Activewear in gaining an advantageous position over its competitors in the market (Faschan, Chailan & Huaman-Ramirez, 2020).

            Another element that can be incorporated in the advertisement is that it must be more informative and should emphasise the tag of Kydra Activewear at the beginning or throughout the advertisement. The advertisement is vague and confuses the viewers with its content, as throughout the advertisement, there is a lack of clarity regarding the message that the advertisement tries to portray or the product it tries to endorse. The ambiguity of the advertisement can create confusion for the viewers, which makes them assume wrongly about the commercial or advertisement. To convey a clear message, the advertisement can use verbal or non-verbal elements to demonstrate and justify the message the company intends to convey (Mărginean, 2019). Moreover, when the message is not clear in an advertisement, a communication gap is created between the viewers and the advertiser, as it increases ambiguity, and such advertisements fail to engage the viewers. Furthermore, this ambiguity nullifies the significance of the advertisement, as it fails to fulfil its purpose of conveying the right information about the products to the viewers, who could be potential consumers (Tustin et al., 2018).

            In addition to this, there is a scope for making the current advertisement more engaging and involving by incorporating more physical activities to attract the attention of athletes or people who aim to switch to a healthy lifestyle. Kydra Activewear creates leisure and functional sports clothing to suit the Asian fit; additionally, the materials used in the apparel are easy-to-cool and lightweight. Moreover, the sportswear range offered by Kydra Activewear is designed to be highly functional to deliver ease in carrying out the activities like workouts, yoga practice and everyday chores (Kydra, 2022²). However, the advertisement fails to portray these features of the products, which limits the reach of the advertisement to potential customers. The advertisement’s effectiveness can be enhanced if the wearer is shown carrying out high-intensity sports and yoga practice, which can show the functionality of the sportswear featured in the advertisement. Incorporating a wide range of elements in the advertisement can help in exposing the brand to a number of viewers with differing preferences and requirements. Furthermore, the combination of multiple elements in the advertisement can help the brand to gain a great volume of potential customers, as the products offered by the brand are capable of fulfilling the varying needs of the customers in the market. 

Discussion

            The key aim of the undertaken research is to evaluate the existing sports apparel brand’s advertisement and provide evidence to support the determined weaknesses of the selected advertisement. The primary survey findings, in line with the pre-determined weaknesses of the advertisements, depicted that the Singapore-based consumers agreed that the selected advertisement displayed by Kydra Activewear lacked certain elements to be attractive and convincing for the customers. The clear message conveyed by the advertisement can help in grabbing the attention of existing and potential customers and gaining acceptance in the market sooner. Furthermore, a clear brand message increases the efficacy of the advertisements and helps it to fulfil the motive of enhancing the reach of the brand to its potential consumers (Bush Marketing, 2021). In this regard, the responses of the participants were in alignment with the secondary literature, as the respondents agreed that the message in the advertisement lacked clarity, which further decreased its adequacy to convince the customers to purchase the product featured in the advertisement. 

Additionally, interactive and informative advertisements increase the involvement of the viewers with the brand that is being endorsed in that advertisement. Advertising is considered a direct communication method with the consumers, which is aimed at increasing brand reach to its potential consumers and eventually increasing the market for the brand (Donia & ELAdawi, 2021). This was further supported by the responses of the survey participants, which suggested that Kydra Activewear’s advertisement was ineffective, as it lacked interactiveness and thus was not convincing for the consumers. The brands incur huge costs on marketing and advertising to enhance their consumer base and increase their sales volumes. In this regard, the advertisements are expected to be interactive, convey clear messages and highlight the positive features of the endorsed product (Martins et al., 2019). In this context, the responses of the participants support that Kydra Activewear’s advertisement lacked all the required elements of being an effective advertisement, which made it hard for the advertisement to convince the consumers to purchase and support the featured products by the brand.

Conclusion

It can be analysed from the above-presented report that Kydra is one of the leading sportswear brands in Singapore. The company offers activewear to men and women, characterised by creative designs. The advertisement by Kydra was chosen to suggest positive changes as the weaknesses identified in the advertisement were a lack of information about the brand and products, the absence of a logo during the advertisement and no clear message regarding the purpose of the advertisement. The theories used to suggest the changes were neo-Freudian theory, Weber’s law and involvement theory. Based on the theories, the suggestions were to include social reinforcement to promote purchasing behaviour, provide relevant information to the viewers and highlight the brand logo. Further, the survey method was used to collect data and the collected data were analysed statistically.

            From the data analysis, it was revealed that the majority of the participants found the advertisement lacking clarity. Further, it was reported by nearly half of the participants that wearing Kydra activewear will not help them in garnering compliments from others. The majority of the participants answered that they were unable to recognise the brand throughout the advertisement. Moreover, nearly half of the participants revealed that the advertisement was not informative compared to nearly one-third of the participants reporting that the advertisement did not communicate the functionality of the featured products. Lastly, it was identified that the majority of the participants were not convinced by the advertisement to purchase the products.