LO1 Know how existing advertising campaigns embed advertisements across a range of media products
P1: Describe an existing media advertising campaign
I decided to look at the “Energy Beats Everything” ad campaign for Lucozade energy which uses the Biblical story of David as a framing device.
Wit
Aims and target audience
The target audience for lucozade is people of all ages who live particularly athletic lives. The Ad uses the phrase “Yours, Theirs, The Universe’s” which implies the target audience is everybody regardless of age or gender.
Key messages
The Key message that the advert conveys is the idea that the energy boost from this drink will allow you to overcome any obstacles in your day to day life. This is primarily conveyed through the slogan “Energy Beasts Everything” and further conveys this through the allusion to the story of David and Goliath.
Approach
This is an example of above the line advertising, the message of this advert id overt; Drink lucozade and overcome lives issues. The advert does not try to undercut other similar products or try to facetiously convey a message. It is simply saying that if you feel more lively you will be able to handle the day to day more easily, whilst it could be argued that they can not necessarily promise this it’s hard to debate.
Representation
Representation refers to how this ad presents the various groups involved,so as not to misrepresent or cause offence care must be taken. When dealing with the Story of David and Goliath there is potential to offend the people who follow the holy text by making the Jewish character do something uncharacteristic or active go against the religion. With regards to ethnic representation everybody within the advert is white when the philistines and hebrews portrayed in the advert would definitely not be white, however the christians church likes to white wash history even if it is a non disputable fact (facts are not the churches strong suit) so representing them as any other
Campaign
This advertising campaign uses a biblical allusion as a framing device, and shows through visual metaphor, the underprepared performing an incredible feat. In the television and Web adverts this is conveyed through David being woke up by his friend almost as if he angered the collosal philistine in a drunken stupor.
Logistics
Logistically speaking the “Energy Beats Everything” Ad would’ve been quite expensive, they would’ve used some special effects to provide a glow and make Goliath look massive. Whilst it wouldn’t be hard to produce the script for the ad it would still have to be drafted so as not to offend any groups (Which is particularly difficult given the religious connection) As for the print ad, it would be as easy as making a screen shot from the TV ad look like a renaissance painting.
Choice of media
Suntory’s advertising dept would’ve had to discuss how to convey the brand, they decided that producing a print ad for poster in shop windows and bus shelters alongside an audio visual ad for TV and Youtube would be adequate. This combination of media devices are very common in adverts of this type, the print ad can be uploaded on websites as a web banner or made physical which makes it versatile They have employed ads online and physical posters to make sure that the advert is as prevalent in all aspects of society an effective ad can be so all encompassing that the target audience are constantly exposed to it.
Aims and target audience
The target audience for lucozade is people of all ages who live particularly athletic lives. The Ad uses the phrase “Yours, Theirs, The Universe’s” which implies the target audience is everybody regardless of age or gender.
Key messages
The Key message that the advert conveys is the idea that the energy boost from this drink will allow you to overcome any obstacles in your day to day life. This is primarily conveyed through the slogan “Energy Beasts Everything” and further conveys this through the allusion to the story of David and Goliath.
Approach
This is an example of above the line advertising, the message of this advert id overt; Drink lucozade and overcome lives issues. The advert does not try to undercut other similar products or try to facetiously convey a message. It is simply saying that if you feel more lively you will be able to handle the day to day more easily, whilst it could be argued that they can not necessarily promise this it’s hard to debate.
Representation
Representation refers to how this ad presents the various groups involved,so as not to misrepresent or cause offence care must be taken. When dealing with the Story of David and Goliath there is potential to offend the people who follow the holy text by making the Jewish character do something uncharacteristic or active go against the religion. With regards to ethnic representation everybody within the advert is white when the philistines and hebrews portrayed in the advert would definitely not be white, however the christians church likes to white wash history even if it is a non disputable fact (facts are not the churches strong suit) so representing them as any other
Campaign
This advertising campaign uses a biblical allusion as a framing device, and shows through visual metaphor, the underprepared performing an incredible feat. In the television and Web adverts this is conveyed through David being woke up by his friend almost as if he angered the collosal philistine in a drunken stupor.
Logistics
Logistically speaking the “Energy Beats Everything” Ad would’ve been quite expensive, they would’ve used some special effects to provide a glow and make Goliath look massive. Whilst it wouldn’t be hard to produce the script for the ad it would still have to be drafted so as not to offend any groups (Which is particularly difficult given the religious connection) As for the print ad, it would be as easy as making a screen shot from the TV ad look like a renaissance painting.
Choice of media
Suntory’s advertising dept would’ve had to discuss how to convey the brand, they decided that producing a print ad for poster in shop windows and bus shelters alongside an audio visual ad for TV and Youtube would be adequate. This combination of media devices are very common in adverts of this type, the print ad can be uploaded on websites as a web banner or made physical which makes it versatile They have employed ads online and physical posters to make sure that the advert is as prevalent in all aspects of society an effective ad can be so all encompassing that the target audience are constantly exposed to it.
Call to action
This refers to any device designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale with regards to this advert the call to action isn’t as obvious as other adverts. However whilst not overt in its intent the statement “Yours, Theirs, The Universes” implies that by not buying the drink you are going against the norm and providing a call to action.
Relevant legal and ethical issues
Advertising runs into a myriad of legal and ethical issues that I touched upon when I was talking about representation. The major ethnic hurdle is the obvious religious representation this advert uses showing David and Goliath. Religious setting are often given a silent reverence and the same goes for this ad, whilst parsing the biblical tale they still treat the subject with respect. With regards to religious groups the mere mention of a religion is enough to spark offence. Some groups will say that it is indoctrination into the religious group by associating a product with religion.
Regulatory Bodies
The regulatory bodies Ofcom, The BBFC and The ASA would regulate the TV and Print Ads related to this Ad campaign. The ASA and OFCOM would be responsible for making sure the legal, ethical and representation issues do not cause offence to the viewing populace at large.
This refers to any device designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale with regards to this advert the call to action isn’t as obvious as other adverts. However whilst not overt in its intent the statement “Yours, Theirs, The Universes” implies that by not buying the drink you are going against the norm and providing a call to action.
Relevant legal and ethical issues
Advertising runs into a myriad of legal and ethical issues that I touched upon when I was talking about representation. The major ethnic hurdle is the obvious religious representation this advert uses showing David and Goliath. Religious setting are often given a silent reverence and the same goes for this ad, whilst parsing the biblical tale they still treat the subject with respect. With regards to religious groups the mere mention of a religion is enough to spark offence. Some groups will say that it is indoctrination into the religious group by associating a product with religion.
Regulatory Bodies
The regulatory bodies Ofcom, The BBFC and The ASA would regulate the TV and Print Ads related to this Ad campaign. The ASA and OFCOM would be responsible for making sure the legal, ethical and representation issues do not cause offence to the viewing populace at large.
M1: Evaluate different cross media advertising campaigns for consistency of message
The David and Goliath Ad relies on the biblical story to convey the idea of overcoming great odds through drinking this product, theme used in both this and the tomb raider ad. This seem fitting as they as their target audience are unlikely to understand the biblical allusion but will likely understand the easy visual metaphor of an underarmed guy having to fight a giant.
With its connection to david and goliath it is made its made obvious as to the purpose of lucozade, the ad implies it will allow you to overcome immense odds in this case defeating the giant man. In the regions that lucozade is targeted the most common religion is christianity so the biblical motif will be quickly understood by their target audience.The target audience is made clear to the viewer through the depiction of David a young in shape man. This fits alongside the idea that lucozade is an energy drink for athletes and sporty people as conveyed by david’s figure. The orange colours of the brand have been recast as an angelic glow implying that the drink is a sacred artifact or has some holy god given power, when in actual fact its liquid sugar.
This ad smacks of corporate compromise, which in my opinion hinders the effectiveness of the ad in it's self. The contrasting cloud schemes whilst conveying both products looks ugly and the products being placed over the whole ad looks out of place. Whilst this ad covers the same theme as the David and Goliath Ad I think it does it much less effectively.
This ad is used as print and on facebook, it ties the upcoming Tomb raider film with the drink. The film has the main charachter overcoming impossible odds to prevent treasure getting into the hands of those where “evil”. The company have saw the parrels between the characters plight and the message the they are trying to associate with their brand.
David and Goliath Compared
Both ads use a theme of classical art to portray the ancient story of david and goliath as a framing device for the advert. The two very different motifs make me think that the stone age looking painting was a mistake as it has little to do with the inspiration for the ad. The colour scheme has been used intentioanlayy on both ads to make the orange of the brand the same colour of the halo that should be around davids head instead it halos the drink making it look saintly or like a hallowed artifact.
Tomb Raider Compared
Both Ads use a consistent colour scheme and even use very similar backgrounds this colour this works with the fact that the font and how the slogan is colored is exactly the same on both ads creating a motif. This is imperative to do on such small and simple adverts creating a solid brand motif will make something as simple as red and gold text synonymous with a brand, this is why a consistent image is portrayed irregardless of ad campaign they all need to look linked in some way.
LO2 Be able to plan a cross media advertising campaign to a client brief
P2: Create a plan for a cross media advertising campaign in response to a client brief
The Arrival Advertising Campaign
18th March 2018
OVERVIEWIn order to create excitement and anticipation for our short Sci Fi film The Arrival we have created the following advertisement campaign to drum up up hype. We intend to create a Print advertisement that can be used in a variety of places, social media sites posters and web banners.
GOALS
- Create a print ad suitable for Web Banners .
- Repurpose the Ad for social media and posters.
We will be attempting to create a poster for use on billboards and bus shelters as well as ads for social media sites Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Poster 2480 pixels x 3508 pixels
Facebook 1,200 x 628 pixels.
Twitter 600 X 335
Instagram 1080 x 1080
PURPOSE The idea behind this advertisement is to create interest in our product, we hope that we can gain a minor following creating intrigue through teaser ad’s before the film airs. This will be done by revealing as little about the film as possible in the advertising but making sure that everybody will know when The Arrival will be arriving.
I wanted to create expectation for the film with as little as of the film shown as possible, I was inspired by Doomsday clocks counting down to disaster, as the main body for the Ad. This would be suitably intriguing whilst being versatile enough to be put on a variety of sites. As for the colour scheme, I have always loved the teal, white and grey used in. The Thing’s iconic poster, adds a deceptively lighthearted look to one of the most disturbing films Sci Fi thrillers ever screened.
Advert Content
After looking at my inspiration I want to create a Doomsday clock counting down until the release of the film with text that reads “Time until Arrival….”. This will be done on all forms of the advert. A challenge will be none digital mediums. For these we will have the doomsday clock broken and dimmed out saying time until arrival. Both will have smaller but still clear links to our website and a 21st century productions website.
Slogan - Our slogan for the entire ad campaign will be “Arriving in..” this is seems initially vague out of context but it links back to the films title and creates anticipation for the advert to come.Imagery - in terms of imagery I have two major motifs in mind, time and contagion, that will be represented with a clock. A clock is a synonymous image with time. Virtually all time travel films feature clocks as a major set piece or motif. This clock will be a clinical looking digital clock, the kind that would look at home in a hospital. This will go nicely with the theme of contagion.
Fonts, Sizes and Typeface - A key feature of any print advertisement is the font or typeface this will make a larger impression than what is actually being said with the typeface as such a suitable font must be selected. I will be selecting the font “COURIER NEW” for most if not all of The Arrival’s typeface. “COURIER NEW” is suitable as it is clear readable and stylized. It is also the similar to the font used for the TOP SECRET stamps you see in films. This fits in with the idea of breakout of contagion as the font looks clinical As for size on an 460mm by 60mm web banner the text will have to be at least size 30mm which on screen correlates to about 3 cm tall. The writing will have to be very large as ‘COURIER NEW’ is noticeably thin and wide
Colour Schemes and layout - As I have previously touched upon I want the advert campaign to be relatively standardised with a large static digital clock front and center with the words with “Time until Arrival....” below it. The main focus and set piece of the ads will be clock. As for colour schemes it will be a gradient of blues whites and greys to emphasise a cold oppressive tone seems and our film dips its toe into the horror genre. Whilst the palate is cold it's not dark this alludes to the horror tone without being so dark that parents equate this with true horror that will leave their child's psyche in tatters. The film will look cold be then again so did frozen how palate is used will affect our films marketing.
Target Audience
Given the brief our target audience for the advert is laid our relatively simply and easily. A family film ad needs to grab the attention of children who will hopefully ask to go and see it, and the adults who will be paying to see it. Given this our ad needs to be intriguing to children and adults and whilst our ad runs the risk of being too understated I thoroughly believe that the lack of information is what makes our ad so alluring. Children and adults will be drawn in by the air of mysticism surrounding the film.
Resources and Personnel
Given that the creation of a successful ad campaign is decidedly difficult and time intensive I have decided that it would be best to split the creation of the ad campaign between my 4 person production team.
Graphic designer - The Graphic designer Ethan Leigh will have to crate drafts and plans before showing them to the PR team who will subsequently decide if they are suitable for the target audience before allowing the graphic designer to continue turning the drafts into a finished product.
Public relations advisor - The role of E Leigh Films will be graciously fulfilled by Petra Cheztecovich, It will be up to her as the PR team to decide how best to portray our brand and how to approach the consumers.
Legal and Ethical Dept - Tom Cooper will help serve as our legal team. The legal team will be incharge of making sure that our film represents all groups properly, that we do not infringe on copyright and that we are not libel, considering our film was made on the collective budget of a cheese sandwich we would rather not get sued...
With regards to print the creation of print advertisements I will simply create the ad within photoshop cheap easy and simple to use (granted I don’t know how to use it)
Distribution and marketing
Considering that how we will distribute the ads is in the brief i've been given very little wiggle room. The client has specifically asked for a campaign that uses traditional poster sites at bus stops, motorway service areas and billboard facilities close to cinema locations. Our commissioner has also requested that we produce an ads suitable for creating an online presence. To accommodate this our ad will be easily adapted into a gif format for online use on social media and web banners.
Advert Content
After looking at my inspiration I want to create a Doomsday clock counting down until the release of the film with text that reads “Time until Arrival….”. This will be done on all forms of the advert. A challenge will be none digital mediums. For these we will have the doomsday clock broken and dimmed out saying time until arrival. Both will have smaller but still clear links to our website and a 21st century productions website.
Slogan - Our slogan for the entire ad campaign will be “Arriving in..” this is seems initially vague out of context but it links back to the films title and creates anticipation for the advert to come.Imagery - in terms of imagery I have two major motifs in mind, time and contagion, that will be represented with a clock. A clock is a synonymous image with time. Virtually all time travel films feature clocks as a major set piece or motif. This clock will be a clinical looking digital clock, the kind that would look at home in a hospital. This will go nicely with the theme of contagion.
Fonts, Sizes and Typeface - A key feature of any print advertisement is the font or typeface this will make a larger impression than what is actually being said with the typeface as such a suitable font must be selected. I will be selecting the font “COURIER NEW” for most if not all of The Arrival’s typeface. “COURIER NEW” is suitable as it is clear readable and stylized. It is also the similar to the font used for the TOP SECRET stamps you see in films. This fits in with the idea of breakout of contagion as the font looks clinical As for size on an 460mm by 60mm web banner the text will have to be at least size 30mm which on screen correlates to about 3 cm tall. The writing will have to be very large as ‘COURIER NEW’ is noticeably thin and wide
Colour Schemes and layout - As I have previously touched upon I want the advert campaign to be relatively standardised with a large static digital clock front and center with the words with “Time until Arrival....” below it. The main focus and set piece of the ads will be clock. As for colour schemes it will be a gradient of blues whites and greys to emphasise a cold oppressive tone seems and our film dips its toe into the horror genre. Whilst the palate is cold it's not dark this alludes to the horror tone without being so dark that parents equate this with true horror that will leave their child's psyche in tatters. The film will look cold be then again so did frozen how palate is used will affect our films marketing.
Target Audience
Given the brief our target audience for the advert is laid our relatively simply and easily. A family film ad needs to grab the attention of children who will hopefully ask to go and see it, and the adults who will be paying to see it. Given this our ad needs to be intriguing to children and adults and whilst our ad runs the risk of being too understated I thoroughly believe that the lack of information is what makes our ad so alluring. Children and adults will be drawn in by the air of mysticism surrounding the film.
Resources and Personnel
Given that the creation of a successful ad campaign is decidedly difficult and time intensive I have decided that it would be best to split the creation of the ad campaign between my 4 person production team.
Graphic designer - The Graphic designer Ethan Leigh will have to crate drafts and plans before showing them to the PR team who will subsequently decide if they are suitable for the target audience before allowing the graphic designer to continue turning the drafts into a finished product.
Public relations advisor - The role of E Leigh Films will be graciously fulfilled by Petra Cheztecovich, It will be up to her as the PR team to decide how best to portray our brand and how to approach the consumers.
Legal and Ethical Dept - Tom Cooper will help serve as our legal team. The legal team will be incharge of making sure that our film represents all groups properly, that we do not infringe on copyright and that we are not libel, considering our film was made on the collective budget of a cheese sandwich we would rather not get sued...
With regards to print the creation of print advertisements I will simply create the ad within photoshop cheap easy and simple to use (granted I don’t know how to use it)
Distribution and marketing
Considering that how we will distribute the ads is in the brief i've been given very little wiggle room. The client has specifically asked for a campaign that uses traditional poster sites at bus stops, motorway service areas and billboard facilities close to cinema locations. Our commissioner has also requested that we produce an ads suitable for creating an online presence. To accommodate this our ad will be easily adapted into a gif format for online use on social media and web banners.
P3: Create a plan for a cross media advertising campaign in response to a client brief
Here you can see my pre production portfolio this includes...
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M2: Justify the choice of planned components by targeted media sector
I have been faced with the need to justify my choices for my advertisement, the layout, the colour scheme, the imagery and the font.
Layout - I have decided on a central clock with text above and below and an image of the protagonist. This was done to centralise the imagery of distortion and time which are central motifs to the plot. They are debatably more important than the films title and slogan because they will be the deciding factor on wether they will enjoy or even watch the film. That said the slogan and the title are still of major importance hence why they are also centre aligned along with being at the top and bottom, this also makes it easier to process the information being shown as the layout of my ad mimics how people would normally read.
Colour scheme - I have decided upon blues and blacks with an outline of white. this creates a stark level of contrast whilst still being visually appealing something that was demonstrated to me poorly by my research into already established ad campaigns.The blues are reminiscent of established sic fi as well as my inspiration the poster for the thing. The blues create a cold feeling whilst making it look like it has a sickly blue digital glow.
Imagery - My imagery consists of clocks and an image of the protagonist becoming warped. The is foreshadowing for later in the film, in which an alien toxin warps the flesh of its host into a emotionless husk, and the protagonist must be saved by a time traveler. The idea of clocks being shown in time travel films is as old as the genre itself. Time has always been universally shown with two things, the sky and clocks. I chose a digital clock specifically to go with the ski fi trope of analogue becoming obsolete, so I went with a digital display rather than the more common analogue clock face.
Font - Font is oft' overlooked by many, but your brain does process font and typeface more so than the words the font is being used to write. With the knowledge in mind that font can make or break a product I chose a dynamic font that resembles the typeface used on top secret folder but with an italicised layout, the tall and wide letters are unmistakable and stand out above all else meaning that on my visually loud poster the title and slogan would not be overlooked. I have used an ilitlisced times new roman to create the dignifed yet stlyeslised font you have seen on my poster.
Photography and representaion - Whilst creating my advert I chose to add an image of the protagonuist in such a way that his expression is hard to pin down this add to the unsettling feeling of my advert whilst skirting around any issues of represention, by only shopwing myself I have full control over the image as I am not going to offend myself. This gives me greater freedom when creating the ad. As for represention of groups we are an amature production consisting od four people, we are not going to be able to show all ethicnic diversity under the sun. So in order to not cause issue we have avoided mentioning ethinic ties. The cast of our film is small enough that it shouldn't matter.
Tone- I have touched upon this before I wanrted to create an unsettling look with a distorted picture of the protaginsit, making it unable to be read what exatly he is thinking. This is based on my research, in horror media for children is not very scary or dark the often use mopre creepy imagry to create an unsettling feel without causeing nightmares in the little ones. As this is a family freindly Sci Fi film I wnat it to look creepy to kids but not so frightening that they wouldnt want to see the film.
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LO3 Be able to produce the planned media components
P4: Create the media components to be used in the planned campaign
This is all shown in a blog entitled Advertisement Production the link to can be found below
M3: Explain how the created media components comply with the codes and conventions of the media sectors
When I had drafted my ads one of the complaints my client had was that my ad didn't look like a conventional film ad or capture the conventions of Sci fi in order to fix this I revised the design for my ads to capture a more conventional film poster style.
When beginning the research for my advertisement I looked specifically for an child friendly media horror specifically as well as classic Science fiction targeted more towards adults. This was to see if I could create a family friendly poster whilst paying homage to classic Sci Fi to appeal to parents.
I looked towards the classic Sci Fi first this was to capture visual theme something that I thought would not be prevalent in children's media. I looked at the Thing a film that shares many similarities with my film mainly distortion I wanted to see how The thing captures the theme of distortion or corruption. In The Thing distortion is shown through the shadow of the dog being shown as an amalgamation of twisted flesh and human silhouettes. In my poster have portrayed distortion more laterally by washing out the image of the main character and feathering him in with the background causing blend with the previously mentioned oppressive blues.
What I found was a consistent colour scheme in children horror, darker blues offset with purples creating a creepy but not overtly horrific Atmosphere. This was made clear in Coraline A children's film from 2009 I wanted to blend this with classic Sci Fi to d this I looked at the major inspiration for my ads the poster for The Thing. My idea was to adapt the look and feel of this poster with the palate of Children's Media. The first clear aspect that I have taken is a cold oppressive colour scheme.
My insperation was made in the 80s so it would seem at face value that the advertisement techniques are not applicable to the modern day that would be untrue. The advertisement for the thing took advantage of a more popular medium back in the 80s, the newspaper. This was a platform with which most social interaction took place if not in person. This is similar to how social media is used today, advertisements would be highly seen in papers much more than today. the thing is evidence that addressing on a platform that many people will see is key to an effective advertisement.
How I portrayed The Codes and Conventions of Sci Fi
In terms of codes and conventions of the genre there are two major motifs that films about time and infection carry, distortion and time. The Aspect of time is also tied into the codes and convention of Sci Fi with my film. Time is shown using a digital clock rather than an analogue clock which play to the convention of Sci Fi that conventional technology will eventually be surpassed by the new, digital replaces analogue. The motif of time is pretty self explanatory, the universal portrayal of time is through a clock. The clock featured in my poster shows dates that don’t match the time of the film's release making viewers realise that time will be malleable in this film.
Contagion is shown through the previously mentioned loss of self, In the poster for contagion faded out city names spell out the films title, I wanted to focus the distortion on to one character so instead of the location seeming ill, the main character looks almost alien, which is fitting considering the Sci Fi nature and the Contagion themes..
Another Convention of Sci Fi I wanted to capture was Isolation, this is A theme more prevent in Sci Fi horror such as Alien. In the poster for Alien isolation is shown through the black enclosing in on the egg making it seem ominous and malicious. In my film poster I have shown the convention through A gradient of blues closing in on the protagonist. The surrounding blues enclosing on the white makes for an efficient visual metaphor that conveys the feeling of entrapment. I wanted to add the theme of loss of self by blending the colors into a gradient outlining the main character, who is the victim of the mind altering serum.
The final convention I was inspired was crucial to apply to create an authentic Sci Fi film poster was ambiguity, The is a common convention of almost all film posters but more so in Sci Fi a genre that often surprises with it's concepts. To give these away would in the poster would detract from the effectiveness of the ad. Ambiguity is preserved through never giving away too much with the posters visuals Take the alien poster for example an egg, arranged bodies and text. make up the entitreity of this iconic poster perfectly preserving the spectacle of the film. In my poster I captured the same few features a clock, a distorted figure and text nothing more, never giving away too much about the film but still capturing the tone that I wish to covey with my film.