Presentation

       
Five Guys
Advertising is all around us. Whether its the Aquafina label on a water bottle, an apple icon on your computer, or a Iowa sticker on your car, brands enforced through advertisements are everywhere, and are impossible to avoid. Shockingly it is estimated that we can see up to as many as 5,000 brands per day, which is one add per 11.52 seconds! In short the more brands we are prone to see, the more likely we are to buy that product. This is why it is no surprise that Google makes 95% of its revenue just from online adds. Advertising is one the fastest growing markets in modern America. In fact it is a 70 Billion dollar business. Similarly though, in order for an advertisement to be highly successful, it needs to be attached to a brand that provides a positive experience or meaning to the consumer. Take Old Spice commercials for example. In Old Spice's commercials the use of the iconic man with his soothing jingle creates a long lasting effect on the consumer. This effect will in turn reside in the viewer's  brain for an extended period of time, that is of course until it is time to go shopping again. This is when you know an add is successful. This is why a successful add is not defined by the immediate effect it has on its consumer, but it is ultimately the long lasting effect and positive experience it has on viewer.  The power of advertising is not just a new concept  though, in fact its importance was realized roughly 2,000 years ago by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Aristotle classified this information into three categories. Ethos ( ethical appeal or credibility ), Pathos ( emotional appeal), and Logos ( logical appeal or statistics )

            I chose to analyze a hamburger joint called Five Guys. I'm choosing this restaurant because of their high quality food, friendly atmosphere, and their unique taste. I also was swayed towards picking this restaurant because of the positive, long lasting experiences I have gained from visiting this restaurant weekly as a child. Aside from being a high quality restaurant, they are a high quality advertisers as well. The prime reasons in which sets Five Guys a part from other local hamburger joints, is the way in which they advertise emotion and logic to convince their consumer to buy their hamburger. Five Guys are able to advertise these emotions by using children as their prime outlet of emotion and by using expertise reviews. In this sense, Five Guys doesn't only become an emotional choice but the smart choice as well.

 In this paper I will be analyzing online and store adds as well as promotional awards five guys gives out to its customers to not only show how Five Guys is a superior hamburger joint, but to demonstrate how its use of Aristotle's emotional appeals of Pathos and Logos, contributes to making  more sales and popularity. 

An influential add that in fact convinced me to analyze this particular company was an add I found online saying "There's over 250,000 ways to build a hamburger at Five Guys, how will you build yours". I thought this was not only effective in grabbing the audiences attention using logic to convince the consumer to buy the product, due to the fact that there is so much variety in customizing your burger. Besides just the obvious reason of varying condiments, having this many options leads the audience to believe that they are creating their own burger. In addition to the clever slogan, a picture of a big juicy burger was placed right next to the font, making the product more tempting. Even after Five Guys used a clever picture and good wording to convince the consumer of the product, they continued to use color scheme and font sizes to encourage the sale of the burger as well. The color scheme contributed to the effectiveness of the add because it all flowed together. In the center of the add they faded different kinds of options you could use to customize your burger, while in the bottom they used bright contrasting colors of red and white to illustrate important information, and their brand name. Font size even played a role in this too. In the bottom section of the add "250,000 ways to build your hamburger" was configured in medium sized font, while the brand name "Five Guys" or the more important piece of information to take away from the add was in a more colorful, bigger font. In addition to just flowing together, the use of good contrasting colors and different sized fonts based on importance, was able to grab the views attention and in the process create a more successful add that the viewer will remember.

 I will also be  analyzing "Five Guys" promotional project awarding exceptional athletes in their community. In this promotional award by Five Guys, an exceptional athlete each Monday is selected based on extraordinary leadership and/or courage. This takes place  round and is chosen by coaches around the globe via vote. When a winner is chosen, a Five Guys manager flies down to the recipients school and is presented a metal and newspaper column section in their honor. Not only does this create excitement for the community but it encourages young athletes to become better leaders. In addition to this award creating better leaders for the future, it enforces that Five Guys has good morals and great ties to the community. This not only makes Five Guys a more likeable restaurant chain, but it increases brand awareness along the way. Take the Five Guys article of the week, on Even Suggs for example. In a Five Guys athlete of the week article done on Even Suggs, Even managed to rush for 226 yards on two carries, having on an extraordinary game. But in fact the comments on the article was even more recognizable. The article racked up thousands of comments on not only what a good game this young man had, but of how great a company Five Guys is. This is a win-win situation, because this press is not only free, but it benefits the athlete while benefiting the company "Five Guys" exceptionally as well.

       In addition to just looking at promotional projects and online adds, I will be looking at personalized in-store reviews by food critics. Having positive reviews by food critics not only increases the hype for the hamburger, but the food critics expertise also makes the food seem more legit. The reason in which the food becomes automatically more reputable when endorsed by a food critic, is because of the level of knowledge they have in the food industry. Take Zagat's In-store review for example. "Five Guys is the Best bang for your buck" - Zagat, 2008. This comment from one of the most reputable, well known online food critic website in the world, not only expresses that Five guy's sells quality patties but that they are a great bargain as well. The idea that Five Guys gives you " a bang for your buck" is also prevalent in the interior design as well.  In fact, in everyone of their stores they have a sign that says all condiments are free, in big red bolded letters. Originally enough they even place boxes upon boxes of peanuts in the middle of the store that customers can taken for free at their leisure. But if that still does not convince the customers that this place is a legit hamburger heaven spot, located directly adjacent to sign is a in-store review by southern living magazine saying, "This is a hand formed patty with a fabulous bun". This combination of great reviews, with exceptional brand recognition gained from their promotional project "Five Guys athlete of the week" and through great online adds, Five guys proves that they should be at the front line for exquisite hamburgers in America.

 Through promotions, and online and in store adds, Five Guys was able to use the concepts Ethos and Pathos to not only boost popularity and sales, but positively alter its values and atmosphere as well. This reinforces that fact that even though Aristotle's emotional appeals were thought of over 2,000 years ago, they are still considered the best forms of consumer persuasion to this day. Shockingly it is estimated that we can see up to as many as 5,000 brands per day (one per every 11.52 seconds) but it is the rare important ones that will be remembered, and from analyzing this company I can confidently say that this is one company that will be just that.