Realistic
Realistic adverts are faithful representations of reality, they portray to us what we are used to in our everyday lives. They're very common with television and in this blog I will discuss two realistic adverts currently on TV.
The advert for 'Halifax', which is a bank is a realistic /shows elements of people's realistic lifestyles. I reakon the target audience for this advertisement would be both genders, all ethnicity's , all races. The age range is probably 17-50 year olds , this is because although a younger audience can open what is known as a basic account with Halifax they wouldn't understand the purpose of the advert, partly because they can't personally identify with it. The ad in this case is aiming to attract customers, by showing and rewarding current customers. The socio-economic class would fall within the A's down to C's/D's , because generally C/D or below may not be expected to hold a bank card. Finally, the secondary target audience would be families (nuclear family) as the advert shows a family consisting of dad, mum , daughter and two sons.
We know from looking at the advert that it is realistic because, the family are doing realistic/ normal family activities. For instance , there is a section in the advert where the screen is split into three and in each we see them doing different thing's we'd expect them to do. These are them playing together, going on an outing(in this case to the beach) and having lunch/dinner together. The audience will find this realistic and not staged or they're actors who are acting 'happy families' therefore believe it more.
If the family were doing extraordinary things we would find that Halifax are being unrealistic in their portrayal of their customers and so we are put off of joining their bank. However, the realism allows for trust and loyalty from the target audience, this is why it is effective.
Anti-Realistic
Anti-realistic adverts adverts tend to visualise life in a surreal way, showing us what could be if they weren't real, almost like the concept of fairytales.
The example I will discuss is the 'Haribo Starmix' which shows a group of employees , who are sitting in a meeting room talking about the sweet. The target audience would be people from the age of 7-35, both genders , all ethnicity's and all races. The socio-economic class would range from B's-D's possibly E's.
Many reasons make this advert anti-realistic. Firstly, it is unrealistic that you're going to see people, who are wearing suits (connoting seriousness) discussing a sweet packet, at least not at work. However, people who personally identify with this int he target audience are the socio- economic class of B's-C1's where they would see that work shouldn't be always serious and sometimes you need to loosen up. The element of humour is a major part that engages the targeted audience here, for instance by showing people in a workplace having a discussion about which Starmix they like best , gives the audience a careless attitude towards work. This could be bad or good depending on the person and their take on it.
Also, this advert is quite memorable, because of the codes and conventions, the major one of course being the sound design with the voice over of the young children.
This leads me into looking at the younger target audience who are likely to find this more engaging because they see their parents in that position and imagine them with funny children voices. Also, when a child see's that adults are enjoying this particular type of sweet they're likely to use this as a reason for bugging their parents into buying it for them. The adults in the advert liked it so you should too because you're also an adult.
Therefore it attracts both young and more older audience members. I don't think maturity matters here because ultimately people will laugh at the humour.
Another code and convention I've noticed is the camera language- where the shot types used are effective throughout. Firstly, we get MCU's of the people sitting around the table, showing us what they're wearing and possibly where they are, which helps us to understand where the advert is set/ but also where it is going.
Another, really good shot used was the ECU of the sweet in each of their hands, this allows for us to see the range of sweets in the packet. Also, another thing which makes this advert memorable is the theme song at the end, which is short , rhyming and engaging. This reminds me of nursery rhymes which young people learn and remember virtually forever, it is an iconography of childhood, singing nursery rhymes and therefore everyone in a sense can personally identify with it, to an extent they can socially interact by singing along with friends/family etc.
Animation
Adverts that are produced using the form of animation are particularly engaging to an audience. Animation isn't for a particular audience because anyone effectively can watch an animation and enjoy it. The producers and directors of these adverts get the benefit of producing something in which they can be flexible and creative with, there are no limits. Also with animation because it isn't real life they can achieve many more things than if you were to record a real person trying to do something.
An example of an animation advert is the 'Mercedes Benz- Hare and Tortoise' ad. This advert istargeted mainly to boys and girls from the ages of 5- 60, all races and the socio-economic class would be C2-A's this is because people in the C1's and below will not have a disposable income to spend on a car like Mercedes. The adverts main convention is the animation, however there are a few other things which help it appeal to the target audience.
One thing which is quite well done is the music, where there it is parallel to the action, so in the instance of the hare running , in order to show his pace they have used fast dramatic music, this is good because it allows for the audience to see his side of this classic fairytale where he is the fast, pacy one compared tot the tortoise who on the other hand is the much slower and calmer one. To demonstrate this they slow down and lower the pitch of the music to fit his character.
The target audience of young children may find this quite similar to them, where they have an older sibling who always thinks they're the better one or has particular skills that are better than them. This is their personal identification which makes them feel involved and relatable to the advert.
Of course young children cannot buy a Mercedes Benz, however the older audience are going to find conventions such as the editing engaging. The car is imbedded within the story of the tortoise and the hare as if to make it sound a part of something classic/original. The editors have portrayed this car well through the editing, where there are multiple shot reverse shots between the tortoise and the car, this is effective because it shows firstly that the tortoise has seen the car, and realised (as we hear through the dialogue) that it is the car which will help him win the race. Again many reaction shots are used to show for instance the baggers reaction saying "wow" as the car speeds by.
The last editing technique I have noticed is the continuity editing where the car does a 180 degree skid and it cuts half way into the skid to the next shot which shows the car fully turning.
This technique is made to stylize the car but also to show that this is its capability.
By using a classic fairytale and using animation to include the car within the storyline the directors have achieved many things such as the pleasure their target audience gets , one major one being social entertainment, I have definitely enjoyed this advert and it is quite memorable to me. Older audiences will recognise the story and younger audiences will be entertained by the animation.
Documentary
Documentary adverts are those which follow similar conventions of factual programmes, they are there to raise awareness of something or put across a message. Sometimes , however documentary ads want to put across a feeling/ emotion to the public and not necessarily to promote something.
An example is 'Google chrome Jamal Edwards', the targeted audience here would be males and females aged 11-40 years , all ethnicity's and races. The socio-economic class would range from C1-E's this is because from looking at the background of the subject in the advert he doesn't look particularly wealthy ( Before becoming famous) and so he will appeal most to people within thatrange.
Moving on to the content of the advert I would say that many codes of convention help this advert reach its targeted audience for instance at the beginning we see a text message typo where the man says 'Turned 15, guess what I got?' and he shows a picture of his camera that his mum bought him. This is effective because the primary target audience which is the younger generation of boys/girls aged 11-17 would look at this and be inspired by his joy in just getting a camera which these days to most teens is nothing, these audience members can also personally identify with the young man because of him being in the same category as them in the socio economic class. Therefore, they would see themselves in his shoes.
The most effective thing about documentary adverts is that they are real life events and behind them is always a story. As the advert went on we saw Jamal's story develop and so did his success. The editing sequence used in this ad is very well done, I say this because it is a contemporary style of editing, cutting in a fast pace way to make things engaging. The younger audience members would find this quite comfortable for their sensibilities. Also the fact that the ad is about a young mans success in the media / music industry goes hand in hand with the music video style editing where it links in quite well. Most young people out there who are used to watching music videos will notice its style in this advert.
By making a documentary rather than a stand alone for example the directors are showing meaning and intent for something from their audience. For instance this ad shows the chain of events that Jamal went through to his success and this is clearly demonstrated through screen grabs of his chats and pictures of him and other successful people. If this was to be shown in the style of a stand alone , the audience are unable to draw meaning from it like they would with a documentary. It will be a passive advert rather than an active one. This is Google's (Chrome) main aim.
Talking Heads
Talking heads adverts are the most interesting for me, because they are usually beneficial to an audience in many ways. They are ads which aim to advice/promote a product.
The advert I will be looking at is the 'Oral-B Pro Expert PGP', this advert is trying to promote a toothpaste called Oral- B to the general public. I think their target audience is both boys and girls aged 10-55 this is because it is quite a strong and stingy toothpaste which isn't ideal for young children under the age of 10. All ethnicity's and races , and everyone on the socio-economic class - simply because every human being has teeth (or some teeth) and so class doesn't matter.
The advert shows a dentist called Dr Uchema Okoye, a lady who talks / advice's why this toothpaste is ideal for people to buy. Of course having an expertise in the dentistry field give advice and not just anyone, helps strengthen the facts given in the ad. However, we don't know whether she is a dentist for real or not because all we see or are shown is her standing and motion graphics behind her from a green screen. If she was to be sitting in her office or in a medical place the ad would look appealing and convincing.
Another thing I noticed was that she had no patient , this raises questions like; where is your evidence about ''1 in 2 adults having gum problems'' not even a survey or any type of source for this information is shown. This all subverts the point of a talking head advert.
The strengths, however are the graphics / special effects where we see teeth and after they're brushed with Oral-B look better, just as a demonstration to show the audience the effect this toothpaste will have on their own teeth. The audience are drawn into believing this because it helps them imagine how effective it will be on their teeth/gum line.
Series
Series adverts are ones which consist of 1-5 different adverts , all made consecutively after each other, hence the name. These can be both effective as well as influential.
The 'Iceland christmas ad: Thats why Peter goes to Iceland' is a good example as a series series ad. Peter Andre who is a celebrity endorsement on the ad is in each advert playing the mouthpiece for Iceland's promotion of frozen foods.
The targeted audience here would be 7-80 year olds, all races/ethnicity's . The socio-economic class would range from C1's- E's this is because Iceland is not a particularly 'high-class' supermarket , people in the A-C2 zone wouldn't be likely to shop there. Mainly targeting women because , they tend to do the family shopping, this is why most of the ads in the sequel include a mum and her son , or a mum and her daughter.
The codes and conventions we see help the target audience engage with the ad and many things makes it ever more persuasive which primarily is the purpose of the advert. For instance, the main thing is Peter Andre who people (especially women) would be amazed that he goes to Iceland and so they would got there too. Also, his dialogue helps viewers see his enjoyment where he speaks in an enthusiastic manner and his good impression of Iceland's food. The use of diegetic sound is also effective , where we hear people singing carol's - adding to the iconography / Christmas spirit associated with Iceland. The audience are lifted by Iceland's passion and liveliness , to produce them the best food at such a festive time of year.
Camera shots are used frequently to engage us, for instance where they show the food, which I have to say is impressively set out across the table, there is a close-up used for each food, allowing us to have a close view of the delicious food. The audience feeling peckish after seeing it will hurry to buy it. Also, special effects used at the end of each advert, this is of snow falling, you could say it plays both part of the representation of the company as it's called 'Iceland' and also Christmas which is obviously in December - the time where snow usually falls.
Stand alone
Stand alone adverts can be seen as mini movies, they effectively tell a story (start- middle and end) within 2 minutes and are quite fun and exciting when shown on television. Producers and Directors choose to make stand alone adverts for reasons such as; to keep the audience always remembering their ad or to show something which we wouldn't spend a lot of time looking at as a prolonged experience. This can be very effective because there are those who dislike television as a pose to movies and when something like a stand alone is shown they feel the need to watch it for pure pleasure.
A good example of a stand alone advert would be 'Mog's Christmas Clamity' which is a Sainsbury's advert. Sainsbury's are well known for their yearly adverts on Christmas and they can be the most memorable ads shown on TV. Directors of this advert have decided to make a one-off of a character from a literary text. This is another reason why stand alone ads are effective, because producers don't have to think of the idea from scratch.
This advert is about a cat called Mog, who originally existed in children's books. The target audience for this advert would be, boys/girls aged 4-50, all ethnicity's and races and the socio economic class would be C2-D's.
The advert shows many conventions that are effective in engaging the target audience. To begin the use of CGI and animation used in things like the characters dreams, this is effective because dreams/fairy tales or even flashbacks always captivate an audience and they're immediately engaged to the story line. Also animation in adverts allows directors to be creative and bend the rules, in this advert we see the cat's (Mog) dream is a nightmare, and this offers the target audience of young children aged 5-8 to see how a cat's dream is potentially like, given that's what they saw in the ad.
Another convention we see in the advert is the voice-over narration which is a guide for the audience and works well to tell the story and bring it all together. The lady doing the voice-over is made to pitch and tone her voice so that it sounds like she is telling the story in a friendly welcoming manner. This of course is essential to the audience who are watching this , as they'd want to hear an indulging re-tell of this classic tale. The targeted audience will recognize this story through the animation and also the sound design, had this ad not included a voice over to tell the story , I think it would've been really boring and lose its touch. An audience of adults will benefit from remembering when they were young and they were told this story at primary school, they feel involved and are engaged instantly.
This makes them want to watch more of it, as if it was a movie, this is why one-off adverts are very effective because by simply getting what is a simple story about a cat called Mog, and connecting it to Christmas , you've got the attention of many people who want the story line to extend.
The Extra advert includes many codes and conventions which make it a subliminal advert, and this is why the targeted audience stay engaged to it. Firstly, I will talk about the target audience for this advert, I would say that they are targeting people between the age of 8-40 both genders and all races and ethnicities. The socio economic is D's-B's. The codes we see in this advert are from the beginning an editing technique, shot-reverse-shot of the daughter and her Dad who is showing he an origami he made from the Extra wrapper. This not only shows their relationship as a father and daughter but also how much fun you can have with something as simple as a chewing gum wrapper which is a positive thing about the chewing gum.
Many extreme close ups are also used to show the origami of the wrapper. Here in this scene it is the daughters birthday and whilst she is blowing out her cake in the background and it is slightly blurred the main focus the camera is showing us is the origami, which tells us that through happy, dear times like a birthday it is there. This could mean two things to an audience, because although the message isn't clear as it is a subliminal advert, one being that the Extra chewing gum is almost a good sign that appears whenever there is a good occasion and it is a mark for this or a reminder to the girl that the chewing gum is going to make her happy. Another editing technique effectively used is montage, at the end of the advert there is a series of short shots showing the girl as she grows and her dad each time giving her the origami he made, this shows a development of the girls life in a good way, where the origami made out of the Extra wrapper always makes every situation better, the subliminal message is that if you have an Extra chewing gum you will always be happy and it will make your life an easy walk in the park like we see in the advert.
