A walk in Panera's shoes

Panera only recently has started putting more focus on their advertising hoping to gain an edge in the fresh baked goods industry. An industry that itself is just starting to take off. This type of ad does more than just advertise to its targeted market. It allows Panera to not only advertise its products but it endorses its image.

Panera’s use of symbolism within this commercial allows the audience to understand the process of Panera and your experience when you go there. The ad takes you through how their bread is made daily and the shows us how the bread is baked with fresh ingredients from only the best and healthiest places. And how the ad finishes, ending where it first started with a ball of dough, shows that Panera’s process is a daily job that they take pride in. Another connection we can make is that this machine in the ad is rather familiar to Rube Goldberg of which all his creations are handmade assuring that all of Panera’s products are handmade.

Panera also shows us how it gives back to the community, donating leftover breads and goods to charity completing the circle of giving which is also metaphorically linked to the continuous process of Panera’s circular commercial. The ad itself is very rustic and organic in color which also is how the company likes to portray its image to customers which is well displayed throughout the advertisement. These types of ads do more than just sell the product. They sell the brand. The Panera bread brand through this advertisement would be fresh, handmade, charitable, giving. While also Panera is advertising its products, we don’t hear once about a particular type of sandwich or bagel, just about Panera as a company. This strategy lets us associate these God terms with not just a particular meal item but the Panera Company overall. All together Panera does a very good job of using different advertising techniques in appealing to their target market and have set themselves in a great position to expand their audience with more well thought out advertisements like this one.