Research

Adverts are very very powerful. They could be billboards, posters or ads in a newspaper, however the most powerful mode of advertising is on television. Television advertising is the most powerful as it can reach the biggest audience especially if it's an advert airing on a national network during a big show or event (e.g airing on ITV during X factor or Sky Sports on Super Sunday). Televising adverts can also be used to reach a certain audience, for example an advert that airs during a programme who's main demographic is the elderly or the older generation, will most likely be something in their interests such as Sun life Insurance. Another example would be kid friendly adverts such as toys and games airing on channels such as Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon.

This essay is all about adverts and comparing how different adverts use different techniques to sell to consumers. The two adverts I've chosen are: Winner Stays On by Nike and a SunLife Insurance ad.

These two ads could not be more different if they tried. The target demographics are completley different. The Nike- Winner stays on ad is designed for football fans in particular people who play football and will need items such as Boots or goalie gloves. Whereas the Sunlife advert's demographic is the older generation who are looking to invest in funeral care or life insurance in the instance that they pass away. 

The choices of Mise En Scene are huge differences. In the Nike advert we first see a shot of park where a group of boys are all preparing to play a game of football. Each boy is in a Nike product. This is already an advertisement as is it promoting different ranges of clothing that Nike sells. This includes T-shirts, Tracksuit bottoms and trainers.  As the game progresses each one of the boys calls out the name of a different footballer (Ronaldo, Rooney, Neymar etc) and they each transform into said player in the latest Nike attire to their cub or national team which includes England, Brazil,Barcelona and PSG.  It should also be noted that the players used in the four minute advert were all contracted under Nike at this point in time (2014) and using these players and the kits they would play in would persuade people interested in football to go out and by the kits ahead of the new season and the 2014 world cup in Brazil. Certain props such as Nike footballs and Nike goalkeeping gloves are used to further promote them to football fans.  

However in the SunLife ad the clothing and props are used to appeal the demographic of an older generation. The adverts has clothing such as Vests,Cardigans and jumpers which are all clothes that an older person might where. And props that include binoculars which can be associated with bird watching, can be used to associate with the older generation.

 In terms of colour, they use bright colours such as oranges and greens on the  football boots, kits, gloves to stand out and grab peoples attention. Whereas the Sunlife ad uses more dull and boring colours such as brown,grey and beige. This is because, stereotypically the older generation wear less vibrant clothing so  they want it to appeal to them by having actors dress like an normal elderly person might dress.

The settings are also very different at the start of the Nike, the boys are playing on a pitch on some state but as the video progresses it transforms into a stadium, then there are cuts to people from all over the world watching. This is a technique used by Nike that says if you use our products you to can play in front of the world. Whereas the SunLife ad is set in what looks like a conservatory in a house in England. This has been done as they want to relate to the older generation watching the ad and they want it to be as realistic as possible

The use of sound is very different also, The SunLife advert is fairly quiet compared to the Nike ad. In the SunLife advert, both digetic and non digetic sounds are used. The Digetic sound is dialogue spoken by the actors in the scene where they are describing SunLife Insurance. The Non Digetic sounds are the sound effects of birds chirping and signing which can be heard right through the ad. This was used to give the feel of the English countryside and the other non digetic sounds were music and narration at the end of the ad. Whereas the Nike ad is quite noisy. The use of digetic sound comes from the actors and footballers speaking through the ad, the cheering crowds and the commentators at the match. The non digetic sound can also be the crowd cheering as that could have been a sound effect. But the biggest use of Non digetic sound is the music choice. The song used is Eagles Of Death Metal, a fast paced song that is paraell with the action it's playing over. It perfectly captures the nature of a football match 

The shot types used in both ads are also very different, however there are some similarities in them. In the SunLife ad the first shot used is a long shot from a garden looking in to someones conservatory and here we get a glimpse of one of our main actors doing something. Then we get a medium shot of the daughter of our main actor and their neighbour.  This is to show that the characters are now the focus. The rest of ad mainly uses the medium shot to make sure the characters are the focus but to also pick up on any smaller details such as gestures and facial expressions. The Nike ad also uses the medium shot, mainly at the start of the ad to show the characters and when they reveal the footballers such as Ronaldo and Neymar as well as to show facial expressions and gestures of the characters . Th most used sot throughout the Nike ad is the long shot. It has been used the most to show the tricks and skills of the footballers but to also show the action and the story taking place. An extreme long shot is also used to establish a change in location from a park to a stadium.

In conclusion these two adverts are very different, for different people and our selling very different products/services so techniques used by both companies are going to be different however they ars some similarities such as certain shot types used such as the medium shot being used to establish characters and show facial expressions.  

Print Adverts: 

Print Adverts are another excellent way to advertise, whether it's a billboard or a poster they can be a great way to get information or a product/service but they have to be in the right place for lots of people to see it such as a busy road or on a high street or even on the side of a bus that will pass lots of people because if not the product, service or even message will not reach the target demographic. The ads I have chosen are very different but our also very effective. 

The advert on the right, is a very powerful that is speaking about a powerful message of pollution in the ocean. In this advert we see an image of an arm holding a turtle. However this turtle is being hung from a plastic straw. This is a very powerful and shocking ad. This advert has been used to spread the message of what plastic and pollution does to the environment. It shows that that plastic that gets thrown into the ocean can seriously damage animals such as fish and turtles can in some cases will suffocate them like in the image seen on the poster. This poster gets people to think about how their actions and the stuff they use impacts the environment and our planet and these ads will also convince people to use biodegradable paper products like paper straws and bags to try to prevent any more of their plastic from causing harm to animals or the environment.

The ad on the left is equally as effective but for different reasons. This ad from McDonald's is advertising it's new WIFI that will be in store. This ad will be effective as it has the bright and familiar red and yellow colours used in McDonalds chains and ads for decades so that will grab peoples attention. It will also be effective as this ad will bring adults and teenagers into McDonalds restaurants and buy their products to try out their new WIFI. Because of this McDonalds will see an increase in sales as people will be coming in and buying their products and trying out the WIFI.   An increase in sales could mean an increase in profits which will enable McDonalds to possibly open more franchises and make even more money. 

Audience Profiling:

To find out information about my target audience, i conducted a survey to find out my demographic to help with my research part of my advert. I wanted to find out their age, income, gender and there opinions on adverts. I have done this in order to find out information about my audience in order to be able to market my advert towards them in the hope they buy the product.  

After 3 days i have received 15 responses on my survey,  My survey was created on a site called Survey Monkey and it was distributed by me on Instagram to a selection of my friends and also onto Discord, where I asked members of the server to participate in the survey.

The survey gave me goods amounts of data that i can use to make sure my adverts appeals to the target audience.I have decided to make an audience persona to categorise my market.

Gender: The majority of people who responded to my survey were males. They will be able to relate to the two main characters in the ad, as they are both males.  So I will be appealing to them as my target audience 

Age: The majority of people who responded to my survey were under 18. I will appeal to them as my humour will appeal to teenagers between the ages of 13-18. This is because the humour will be a form of satire and as lots of respondence said they like satirical adverts I will be using this to appeal to them.  

Location: The majority of responses were from the Uk, mainly England so people from England will be my target audience as the advert is featuring an English character, a product that was invented and is still produced in England and is also filmed in England so the audience will be able to relate. 

Media Preferences: As my age demographic is under 18, sites like Youtube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter are going to be big ways to reach this demographic so I will market on these sites to grab their attention. This will be through the use of puppetry in the ads, bold lettering and fast paced advertising. 

Socio Economic group: The socio-Economic group I am going to market to is C1. In my survey the majority of respondence said their yearly household income was between $50,000 and $74,999. It is assumed that their are two people earning around the average wage of £30,000 so because of this I will be marketing to people in C1 as they will be able to afford to buy the product and will be able to afford products like a television or an iPhone where they will be able to view the advertising on network tv/Youtube etc.

Pyschographic Group: Mainstreamers. Because of the household income in the previous point. I am going to market to Mainstreamers because they are more likely to buy well known brands such as Marmite as they can afford it. So I will be marketing to them through National Television as most adults who live in these households will still watch channels like ITV and Sky. They will be more secondary audience as they are not the target demographic however they will probably go out and buy the product 

Product Preferences: Because of the age demographic, most teens will have the latest smart phone or tablet and will have apps on them such as youtube. This is where we will advertise as adverts are fast paced and our often quick flowing funny ads like mine.

Advert Preferences: Funny and Satirical: This part of the survey was multiple choice and the two boxes that got selected the most were funny and satirical. I will be appealing to these people as my advert will use humour and some forms of satire such as ridicule of the marmite to appeal to the demographic to try and convince them to go and buy the product. However the majority of people who answered the survey said they did not like Marmite. This means that my primary audience will be the people who do like Marmite and I will be using the technique of humour to try to convince those who don't, to go and out and change their opinion.

All of these points will enable me to have Primary audience that I will appeal to so they go out and buy the product.

The Primary Audience will be 

• Male
• Aged 13-19
• From the Uk - mainly England 
• household Income- $50,000-$74,000 
• Target Media Preference- Youtube, Instagram