Unit 44 - Advertisement Production for media

Task 1(P1,M1,D1)

Analysing Radio Advertisements

I am going to analyse two radio advertisements that appear in the game ‘Grand Theft Auto’. The styles of all the ads are humours due to the nature of the game; however each one uses typical radio ad conventions.

Grand Theft Auto – Military Ad

Styles

This ad is a recruitment ad for the Armed forces. It used a lot of repetition of the slogan ‘In the Military’ which is usually used after a persuasive statement such as ‘be No.1, Turn your life around’ this makes the military out to be the best thing the audience could be doing with their life, this is enforced by the use of patriotic slogans and music, suggesting that the audience will also be benefiting their country. The ad also makes use of facts, making a seemingly straight forward ad seem much more sophisticated, that glamorise the military. As the target audience is typically working class, young, unemployed (or unhappy with work) men, theses ‘facts’ are more likely there to overwhelm and impress, rather than to prove a point.

Cultural codes are used effectively to appeal to certain demographics. A Mexican accent can be heard talking about how they had turned their lives around, this helps the ad appeal to different cultures and races. The language used in another vox pop refers to collage and the confusion it brings (with the answer to such confusing being ‘I’m always right, in the military’) again opening the ad up to a large demographic of people; students.

Purpose

As conscription is no longer used to fill the armed forces ranks, the Military has been turned into a ‘brand’ and is being advertised as one. The extreme consumerism and increasing pressure on national pride in our society makes the advertising world a perfect place for the Military to recruit. This advert uses excessive persuasion such as ‘a career when you are always on the winning team’ and ‘what could be more exciting…’ to further the message that the military is an absolutely amazing experience.

The idea of special offers is used by highlighting the befits that soldiers receive ‘Only in the military would a teenager be given responsibilities such as; driving a nuclear submarine…’ Again, this serves to show the military in a different light, opposed to the one that is heard about in the news. Since the ad is being used along side ads for products the opposing messages about the military are not obvious and thus it is easy to emphasize one or the other, an effective way of manipulating public opinion.

Radio Stations

An ad of this sort would be broadcast on local and regional stations. This way, the military can target a certain demographic and design their ad around a certain audience. In this case, working class, unhappy with work/unemployed men are being targeted through use of social codes and persuasive slogans. This is probably due to that certain demographic feeling frustrated with the current situation, and more susceptible to the messages being put across.

Grand Theft Auto – p.421 Smoking Kills

Styles

This ad it too raise awareness for the mock Proposition 421, which puts a ban on smoking. However, the serious tone of the ad is overridden by the hilarious vox pops and fallacious facts. The serious tone of the ad is built up through use of a slow, dramatic piano music bed and smooth informal voice. Shocking ‘facts’ are used to add to the tone and shock the audience into agreeing with the ad. ‘Facts’ such as “If you are around a smoker, you will die” are very serious and add to the overall tone, but due to the obvious misconceptions it is humours. Lastly, the aggressive language used by the speaker emphasises the shocking and serious tone.

The style used is very simple as it is their too get a quick message across, plus as this ad is for the long term change in laws; it needs to get across to as many people as possible. A quick, simple and shocking ad is perfect for these reasons.

Purpose

This ad is being used to change the public’s mind to get a majority vote on a certain proposition, thus its primary purpose informal and persuasive. Phrases such as ‘lets move up the food chain’ suggest that people who vote in favour of the ad are somehow better than those who don’t, also the signification of the phrase brings about ideas of evolution. It could suggest that this is the next evolutionary step for humans.

Radio Station

As this ad is for a certain proposition, it would only be broadcast within regional boundaries as that is where the vote and subsequent change in law would be taking place.

Toyota – Meeting Ad

Styles

The Toyota meeting ad is heavily based on humour, as it relies on a funny situation that, in some way, ties into the product. For instance, in this add, two office workers are imitating a client who has a strange, high pitched voice, the couple continue to make fun of the man voice as he enters the room. The situation that is created, along with the voices then men use are humours. The situation is then linked with the product with a tagline ‘Toyota Aventis, with electronic traffic avoidance system; be careful, you might get there too early’.

The audience kno

w that the two are officers workers due to a unique language register used, and the atmosphere which is created using sound effects. They talk about a ‘client’ and refer to meetings whilst phones ring in the background. This creates an atmosphere which is essential in delivering the comedic value, as the audience can relate to being in an awkward situation within a professional environment.

Purpose

This ad is clearly informational, as it is anchored towards the release of a new Toyota, and its features. It is more than likely part of a series of similar advertisements focusing on other main features of the new car.

Radio Stations

This ad, and others in the series, will have been broadcast nationally as Toyota will sell cars all across the country.

Task 2(P1,M1,D1)

Radio Advertising Conventions

"Advertising plays and essential role in todays world, it informs, entertains and promotes healthy compitition. Our aim at the ASA is to ensure that consumers do not just enjoy the ads they see, but they can trust the too"

http://www.asa.org.uk/About-ASA.aspx

Sometimes, in the commercial industry ‘healthy competition’ is the last on the minds of corporate boards and the advertising companies employed by them. Adverts can become a powerful tool in a society fuelled by commercialism, so it is necessary for companies such as ASA (Advertising standards authority) to regulate what commercials get broadcast. They use the CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) codes to judge what is acceptable to broadcast. They do this through monitoring ads and going through the correct pathways to remove offending ads from the air. Repeat offenders are given sanctions.1 Also, a company known as RACC ‘clear’ scripts before they are aired; the ‘clearance’ makes sure that radio add scripts are in compliance with the CAP codes laid out by ASA. They also ensure that the conditions to broadcast (these are set up by OFCOM) are being met. They will advice on how radio ads can be changed to comply, if the ad is in breech of their rights or the CAP codes.

1. http://bcap.org.uk/Compliance.aspx

2. http://www.racc.co.uk/racc/showCategories.aspx?catID=2

Task 3(P1,M1,D1)

Galaxy Radio Advertising

Galaxy is one of Britain’s most well known commercial radio stations, with broadcast areas throughout the country. Due to this, advertising plays a huge role in how Galaxy is run. The sales team at Galaxy are split up into three areas, London, Manchester and the local Yorkshire area. Theses teams are responsible for representing galaxy to advertising agencies, or companies such as Coca-Cola, thus essentially bringing in Galaxies main source of revenue.
‘Cost-Per-Thousand’ or CPT decides the price of advertising on Galaxy radio. The sales team compare the stations listening figures and how often the ad will be played to generate the cost. A person listing to the ad is know as a ‘Impact’ in the industry, when comparing listing figures and the ad timetable, it can be estimated how many ‘impacts’ they will get. CPT is cost per one thousand impacts. From thus, Galaxy use what they call a ‘Rate Card’ which is the benchmark price for ads, regardless of who is being advertised. This price is negotiated from the benchmark depending on different variables. The price range on average is quoted as ‘As long as a piece of string’.
New advertisers to Galaxy are advised to broadcast their ad for three months. It is said that an ad takes a few repeats before it sinks in; it needs to build a reputation and stick in the audiences mind. For three months airtime it typically cost £4000. However, that is just for the space to broadcast, not the commercial itself. 15% of the cost of airtime is added into the total cost for production of the commercial by Galaxies’ creative team. Not only do Galaxies advertise through commercials, but through sponsorships and ads on the Galaxies website. Other mediums such as publications or letters sent out by Galaxy bring in another source of advertising revenue, theses ads can be bought for as little as £500.

Task 4(P1,M1,D1)

Voice over's in radio

Voice over provide ads with a personality, a link between the audience and the advertisers, someone to deliver the ad in the way it needs to be delivered. Various voices have many different connotations that can benefit radio advertisers. Simple examples would be a soft, slow female voice for a beauty product and a loud, fast and eccentric voice for an upbeat commercial that is trying to get a message across, and too stick in the audience’s mind.

Another example would be a beer commercial, aimed at local (Yorkshire) working class men. For this specific ad, I would choose the ‘Yorkshire Voices – Female’ section, which contains various voice over’s from women with a Yorkshire accent; either one would be a perfect candidate. A women’s voice usually connotes trust and ease, so the audience will trust that this beer is THE beer that they want. Also, by using a voice actor with a local accent, the audience can relate to the ad, this is an example of the ‘Personal Identity’ aspect of the uses and gratification theory. Furthermore, using a female voice to sell a beer is an attempt to emulate the typical bar atmosphere with a women bartender who the male punters typically flirt with.

http://www.thevoiceovergallery.co.uk/gallery.asp

The ‘Many voice over’s’ VW ad is a perfect example of why and how voice over’s are used and to the extent they are used in radio ads. It cleverly uses ‘Britain’s most well know advertising voice overs’ to sell the product, however it is done is such a way that it highlights what each voice over brings to the ad. For example, a women’s voice is used and says simply “I’ve been brought in to highlight the fact that it will appeal to women instead of men”, until the end of the ad the audience are unaware that they are referring to the car. Due to this, the voice over’s spelling out why their certain voices are used, rather than advertising the car. The actual point of the ad only come at the end, when another well known voice over give out a tiny bit of information. Which again is interpreted in a humours way by the final lines of the ad. Whilst being very comical, the ad does more too advertise the use of voice over than it does the actual product. However, the scale of the ad and its innovation will be what is remembered and this is what will help sell the product.

Before their alliance in 1997 royalties for music artists were collected by two separate organizations; the ‘Performing rights society’ and the ‘Mechanical-Copyright protection society’. An artist would have to join either organization to be paid whenever their material is used. However, their merger in 1997 meant that royalties could be paid out by one organization the ‘MCPS-PRS Alliance’

As well as paying out royalties, broadcasters are required to purchase a license that allows them to play commercial music, and ensures that the artists will be paid for the songs that are played. The license fee’s are decided in several ways; firstly the medium that is being used to broadcast (Internet, Podcasts, Advertisements, etc). For example; PGFM uses a

Task 6(P1,M1,D1)

Benefits of Radio Adds

The radio has been a constant medium since its golden years in the 1930’s. It’s seemingly invincible lifespan, coupled with the fact that analogue radio appears in the majority of homes and DAB digital radio is on the rise, points to the undeniable benefit of radio advertising.

“DAB digital radio in 50% of UK households by 2010”

http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dab-digital-radio-in-50-of-uk-households-by-2010-forecast

PGFM is a local radio station, run by local students. It has a real connection with the Pudsey community and gives the students of Pudsey Grangefield a unique and useful experience. Due to this, PGFM gets a lot of listeners from in and around the Pudsey area.

I can see radio advertising benefitting our client greatly. The shop is a hairdresser’s called Katherine’s, who’s main customers are female OAP’s, the exact sort of person that would be likely to tune into PGFM because they are Pudsey citizens who will be interested in it’s students and the advancements of their town, plus they have a lot of free time on their hands.

Task 7(P1,M1,D1)

Client Brief

Task 8(P1,M1,D1)

Proposals

Proposal 1

We want to take a classic advert approach for this proposal. To explain, we don't want a narrative and we simply want to advertise the hairdressers in the classic format, highlighting the good points about it and stating the whereabouts of the shop and some prices. Because the shop has a very feminine atmosphere we want to go into the actual hairdressers and get some voice-overs from the employees, and maybe some from the customers in order to reassure the target audience. We also want the music bed to be the kind of music you'd hear on an old wireless radio because this will appeal to the target audience, and other people will be able to appreciate the authenticity. We'll obviously end the advert with the details of the shop's location and their phone number so that people can ring up and book an appointment, we could also do this ending with the employees voices, this also gives the advert an organic feeling.

Proposal 2

The approach for this idea is a bit different because we want it to have more of a narrative. The advert is going to start with the sound of someone cutting with scissors repeatedly and a jaunty, generic jingle tune then another person saying “What on earth are you doing?” then the person doing the cutting is going to say “I’m cutting high prices!” then we’ll have a generic studio audience laughter followed by the details of Katherine’s hair salon, the jaunty jingle will play throughout the whole advert and fade out at the end.

Client's Verdict

The client said he felt much more comfortable with us using the first proposal because he said it looked like we'd given it more thought and he thought the end product would turn out better than if we used the second one. He liked the idea of using voice-overs from the employees because when customers come to the shop they might recognize the voices.

Task 9(P1,M1,D1)

1st Draft Script

Take the A-Train - Duke Elligton fades in

JULIE: Here at Katherine’s Hair Salon we constantly strive to give our customers the best service at the lowest possible price, but don’t take our word for it!

OAP #1: Vox-pop from OAP #1

OAP #2: Vox-pop from OAP #2

OAP #3: Vox-pop from OAP #3

DEBBIE: And there you have it! The customer is always right! Book an appointment today! Dial 0113 2570510 or just pop-in, our address is; 35 Lowtown, Pudsey.

Take the A-Train - Duke Elligton fades out

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Client Feedback

Overall the script pleases me, it is almost exactly what I'd want the shop to be represented as and I think it will gain acclaim from existing customers and quite possibly attract new ones. The idea of using customers and employees in the advert really grounds the advert into reality and really captures the local atmosphere of the salon. I feel that this is the main selling point of the advertisement. However one thing I will suggest; I think the advert would be better if you took a 1st person approach. To elaborate, imagine walking into the salon with a sound recorder, this is what I want the advert to emulate. I feel this would further enhance the previously mentioned atmosphere, I will not go into too much detail of how I want it to sound because I feel you need some room to be creative and I don't want it to be too restricted.

Task 10(P1,M1,D1)

Final Script

Footsteps on concrete, door open, entrance bell chimes.

Take the A-Train - Duke Elligton fades in

JULIE: Hello, welcome to Katherine’s hair salon! Would you like a cup of tea?

OAP #1: Vox-pop from OAP #1

OAP #2: Vox-pop from OAP #2

OAP #3: Vox-pop from OAP #3

DEBBIE: We hope to see you soon! So book an appointment today! Dial 0113 2570510 or just pop-in, our address is; 35 Lowtown, Pudsey.

EVERYONE: BYEEEEEEE!!!

Take the A-Train - Duke Elligton fades out and door opens & closes with chime.

Task 11(P1,M1,D1)

Production

Task 12(P1,M1,D1)

Evaluation

Our purpose with this production was too produce an professional quality radio commercial that appealed to a specific target audience, in this case OAP’s. Personally, I believe that we achieved this too a tee. Every aspect of our ad was catered towards the target audience, making the whole ad relatable.

We gathered reactions from various individuals, including members of the target audience, as well as professionals such as our tutor. The reaction from the target audience was overly positive, commenting on the way they could relate rather than the technical quality. On the other hand, our tutor was very impressed and commented on how well it plays to the audience. Both lots of feedback were useful in their own ways, yet both took the preferred reading of our production.

The way our target audience were represented is slightly stereotypical, but in a humours manner that members of the target audience, and those who fall out of it, can recognise. The OAP’s featured tend to rabble on a little, slowly and quietly; obviously this represents OAP’s as slow and quite simple. In no way was this intentional or meant to be representational of OAP’s as a whole. However, it has become a humours stereotype that our target audience seem to relate too, rather than oppose. As the Salon we were advertising is generally a women’s salon, women were used throughout our ad.

The music bed was used extensively throughout and was employed to anchor the mood of the production. A period specific artist was chosen (one that the Target Audience would be able to recognise), as well as a genre of music that was prominent in the era. 1930’s Jazz was an instant decision as it was a defining genre of the 30’s, in which our target audience would have been in their prime. The Artist, Duke Ellington, a famous 30’s Jazz musician was used and a specific song was chosen for its upbeat song and old aged quality.

An external sound recorder was used to record the opinions of real clients in the salon. This was necessary due to the target audience, as the OAP’s would not have wanted to take the time out to come into school and use the radio studio, they would have to go out of their way when they were supposed to be getting their hair done!

As our purpose was to create a professional sounding ad, we tried our best to emulate a professional atmosphere and use the best quality equipment. AS in many units, the only thing separating out production from a professional one was funding. If we had many funds at our disposal, things such as equipment, acting, sound effects and other costly aspects would have been at a much higher quality.

Personally, this task opened my eyes to working with people of a hugely different demographic, everything from the way we operated equipment to the time frame we had to work with had to be adapted to suit the target audience. However, we came out of the other end with a strong product that represents our time spent working with the OAP’s. In the future, more planning on our behalf would be needed, so that we anticipate working around the target audience, rather than trying to do things as usual.