MARMITE
The advert begins with very slow, depressing music, which in codes and conventions terms sets the advert up to be sad and emotion provoking, but as it progresses and the narrator announces silly things such as ‘her arm was chewed off by a racoon’ you soon realise the humorous effect this creates, juxtaposing the original conventions. The advert has a serious tone, but this is what makes the advert funny, it isn’t based on any true events and is completely fictitious. The advert may create some what minor feelings of nostalgia, as it is an old product and has a wide range target audience, but I feel this in particular advert would have a lower age target audience, due to the contrasting conventions and unexpected humour at the beginning, which may give older listeners an oppositional reading, due to the seriousness of the tone. The voiceover is done by a man, making it more serious, and he uses received pronunciation like a newsreader, making the story seem serious at first yet this adds to the humour of the advert. The purpose of this advert is to raise brand awareness and promote the actual product, not any in particular sale, and it doesn’t mention any numbers or times, the advert purely advertises an already well-known and renowned product solidifying its position in the market, therefore the mention of the name and music jingle at the end, is recognisable enough. This advert would be most likely be broadcast on regional FM and AM radio up and down the country as it is a nationally known product.
DRIVING SAFETY
This advert is very strong in the message it is trying to portray, and for this reason there is no music in the background. The silence is important and signifies the seriousness of the concept of the message it is trying to get across. It is simple and straight forward with one clear point. The repetitiveness of the merge of lines, is used for effect, it is trying to prove it is very hard to concentrate on two things at the same time especially whilst driving, and the ‘merge’ is proof as you have to listen very carefully to hear it. It does not promote a brand, or any kind of sale, just the awareness of mobile phone dangers whilst driving; a very strong, clear and effective message. The tone of her voice is very sincere and she speaks slowly but clearly, and this reflects the tone of the advert and the message she is portraying. I think it got the point across better coming from a woman, because the voice was sincere yet slightly comforting, smooth and very believable which is effective, as oppose to using a male voice for the advert. This advert would be broadcast on national FM radio as it appeals to all car drivers up and down the country.
TOYOTA
This advert uses humour in the form of ‘taking the mick’ out of a customer, it aims to be set in real life and based around something that could happen on a day to day basis which I feel gives it the humorous edge. People may even be able to relate to this kind of situation through personal identity, where they have had people hear what they say about them behind their back, or vice versa. But the ‘funny voice’ of the character is the main comical aspect which should appeal to be funny to all, whether they can relate to the conversation or not. The fact they have used humour in order to advertise this car, gives the impression that it is to be associated with all things playful and something to enjoy, instead of being serious and dull. They linked the tagline ‘be careful, you might get there too early’ with the actual advert and used it as a persuasive selling point to insinuate the car was fast. The advert gives a small amount of details at the end, by stating to contact your nearest Toyota dealership, as it is a well known car brand and not much other details need to be given in order for it to be known, it purely raises brand awareness and information about a new car, but the main purpose of the advert is to solidify its position in the market. This advert would probably be broadcast on regional FM and AM radio all over the country as it is a well known car brand.
Task Two (P1,M1,D1) - Creating Commercials
1. Pro-Plus Caffeine Tablets
This radio advert would be broadcast on national FM radio such as Galaxy because of the low age target audience and the product is quite well known throughout the country.
2. Land Rover Discovery 4
This advert would be broadcast on regional FM and AM radio and national AM as it will appeal to people such as business men who will listen to Talksport and Radio Leeds, Land Rover is a nationally well know car brand.
Task Three (P1,M1,D1) - CAP Codes in Advertising
The Broadcast Codes (CAP Codes) are a set of rules that have to be applied to any kind of advertising whether it is on radio or television. These state what can and can’t be broadcast whether it be because it will cause offence, or if it is just plain untrue. They specify these codes to certain brands and marketing techniques for example regulating adverts about alcoholic drinks and medicines. The CAP’s Broadcast Committee (BCAP) is contracted by Ofcom; they maintain and update the codes, to make sure all broadcasters and non-broadcasters follow them.
This advert breaks the CAP Codes in several ways, the first being Superlative Claims breaking the general code 2.4, the advert states that the product in promotion, is ‘the cheapest on the shelves’ this is not backed up by any facts or statistics, it is used merely as a “false” statement to enhance product sales in a very degrading and patronizing way. It breaks general rule 2.9 also, this rule comes under good taste, decency and offence to public feeling, and in this advert it uses sexual innuendo as the slogan ‘The way to please your husband’ could be taken offensively, it also stereotypes both males and females, males being chauvinistic and the main bread winner, and females being housewives who serve only to please their husbands and do the cooking and cleaning. In relevance to the product and the ‘stereotype’ I have used for women, I chose to use the ‘Desperate Housewives’ theme song, which could also be deemed as offensive. 2.10 general rule of Harm is broken also; it could possibly upset people in terms of financial issues as it states its ‘cheap so even people “like you” can afford it, the “like you” could constitute as offensive, as it implies the listener has not a lot of money, because the ‘women’ aren't the main bread winners in this situation. It is quite obvious that it also breaks rule 2.12 of sexual discrimination, as I have previously mentioned, the portrayal of women, as only useful for being housewives and cooking and cleaning is un-representational and distasteful.
REFERENCES:
http://bcap.org.uk/The-Codes/BCAP-Code/BCAP-Radio-Code/BCAP-Radio-Item.aspx?q=BCAP%20Radio%20Code_Section%202%20-%20General%20Rules_2.4%20Superlative%20claims
http://bcap.org.uk/The-Codes/BCAP-Code/BCAP-Radio-Code/BCAP-Radio-Item.aspx?q=BCAP%20Radio%20Code_Section%202%20-%20General%20Rules_2.9%20Good%20taste,%20decency%20and%20offence%20to%20public%20feeling
http://bcap.org.uk/The-Codes/BCAP-Code/BCAP-Radio-Code/BCAP-Radio-Item.aspx?q=BCAP%20Radio%20Code_Section%202%20-%20General%20Rules_2.12%20Sexual%20discrimination
Task Four (P1,M1,D1) - Interview with Galaxy Radio Chief Executive
Task Four (P1,M1,D1) - Interview with Galaxy Radio Chief Executive
The sales teams for Galaxy are divided up in to regions, the main one is London, another big one is Manchester, and these teams represent Galaxy to all the major advertisement agencies in London, Manchester and globally. They also have a local sales team who speak to all the potential advertisers within the Yorkshire area; this can be anyone from a nightclub to a motor dealership. If a company such as Coca-Cola wanted to advertise with Galaxy, as they are based in London, Galaxy have people in London in their sales team who talk to Coca-Cola, they’d never think ‘Oh we must advertise in Yorkshire’ therefore Galaxy have to talk to them seen as they’re a big company, but seen as they have a base in London it makes more sense for the London sales team to represent the whole of Galaxy (throughout the UK) when talking to the London base Coca-Cola about advertising.
Galaxy uses ‘CPT’ which means ‘Cost Per Thousand’ which is a currency, which is depended on every thousand ‘impacts’, once they plan a schedule, they will look at how many adverts a day, how many times it will go in and when, this is then plotted against the audience figures that are supplied to them which will tell them how many people it reaches, and how often it’ll reach them. Every time one person hears it, it’s called an impact, so the cost is how much it costs for every thousand impacts, therefore pricing depends on when the advert is played, how many times it is played and how many ‘impacts’ will hear it. Galaxy would advise their clients to run the advert for at least three months as a minimum, this is because they believe, and research would support, that only when you have heard an advert 3-4 times does it actually sink in, and make you engage and realize what it is, because it takes time to build up that recognition and repetition in anyone’s mind. Taking this into consideration, a new client would be typically be looking to spend based on airtime buying the space roughly £4000 per week. As well as on air advertising, Galaxy also do sponsorships on some of their programmes such as ‘News and Travel’ and they give companies the opportunity to advertise on the website too, which means on air advertising is not the only option when it comes to promoting products, brands, and companies.
Task Five (P1,M1,D1) - The Importance of Voiceovers
After listening to a number of voiceover artists and celebrities, I whittled it down to my final choice of Phil Tuffnel. I chose him because I felt his ‘cheeky chappy’ persona would make a very relatable and fun loving personality would (in uses and gratification theory terms) make him relatable through personal identity as he is seen as a cheeky lad’s lad and a well known sports personality which males will be able to recognise this and seen as a lot of males are interested in sports and can be seen as laddish which will target the correct audience for the product. He doesn’t speak in RP but his familiar, cockney accent will sell the product better than any ‘posh accent’ could’ve done.
Task Five (P1,M1,D1) - The Importance of Voiceovers
I was given a brief stating that I was ‘creating an advert for a new beer that is aimed at working men’. I used www.thevoiceovergallery.co.uk to help me pick a suitable voice that I felt was appropriate. I chose to have a male voice, ages 20, 30, 40, and 50 with an RP accent and it gave me a huge selection of voices to pick from (some of which were celebrities).
After listening to a number of voiceover artists and celebrities, I whittled it down to my final choice of Phil Tuffnel. I chose him because I felt his ‘cheeky chappy’ persona would make a very relatable and fun loving personality would (in uses and gratification theory terms) make him relatable through personal identity as he is seen as a cheeky lad’s lad and a well known sports personality which males will be able to recognise this and seen as a lot of males are interested in sports and can be seen as laddish which will target the correct audience for the product. He doesn’t speak in RP but his familiar, cockney accent will sell the product better than any ‘posh accent’ could’ve done.
The Volkswagen advert perfectly accentuates how important voiceovers really can be. This advert was made to make fun of how different well known voiceover artists can be recognised and associated with certain emotions and products. The fact that Volkswagen is so established almost pokes fun at the advert through the use of codes, conventions and stereotypes, as they have really gone all out of their way to say it is a good product, when in fact the audience will already know this, and may find it humorous. The female voice was used to widen the audience appeal to women and connote a calming, trust effect which may sway the listener into buying. A male voice that is deep and manly would connote power and superiority which works well when talking about a new product.
Task Six (P1,M1,D1) - Identify Your Client
The client whom we have decided to create a radio advertisement for is Simon’s Driving School, which can be categorized into the motor sector of radio advertising. The advertisement will be positive for Simon’s Driving School in various ways. Firstly, the advert will achieve company awareness. Our research into the company involved visiting the website on which we discovered a quote:
“By keeping our standards high we get most of our business from recommendations so we don’t have advertising costs”
Therefore by expanding his advertisement methods to radio we will be increasing the awareness of his company to the people who may not know otherwise. Even if the listeners do not require immediate lessons the option of using Simon’s Driving School will be available to them in their knowledge to recommend or use at a later date. Secondly, the advertisement will appeal to the primary target audience of PGFM, young adults aged 17-25. Due to this age bracket the listeners will legally be able to learn how to drive and as a result of this Simon’s Driving School may gain a larger service user base. The company will also appeal to the secondary target audience adults’ aged 25 upwards. In regards to this age bracket the audience may choose to book lessons for their younger family members.
“By keeping our standards high we get most of our business from recommendations so we don’t have advertising costs”
Therefore by expanding his advertisement methods to radio we will be increasing the awareness of his company to the people who may not know otherwise. Even if the listeners do not require immediate lessons the option of using Simon’s Driving School will be available to them in their knowledge to recommend or use at a later date. Secondly, the advertisement will appeal to the primary target audience of PGFM, young adults aged 17-25. Due to this age bracket the listeners will legally be able to learn how to drive and as a result of this Simon’s Driving School may gain a larger service user base. The company will also appeal to the secondary target audience adults’ aged 25 upwards. In regards to this age bracket the audience may choose to book lessons for their younger family members.
Task Seven (P1,M1,D1) - Write Your Client A Brief
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Task Eight (P1,M1,D1) - Produce two proposals for scripts in two different styles
OPTION 1:
This option for the final advertisement will adopt a serious tone and is factual as it is solely based around informational advertisement conventions such as repetition. As a result of this the listener will be more likely to remember the name of the company, the sale information and also the contact information. The advertisement will be factual as its primary purpose is to inform therefore a large amount of facts such as pricing will be incorporated into the speech. The advert creates a pastiche by being similar to alternate adverts as it is trying to persuade the listener it is just as good if not better than other driving companies around the country. The advert is not seductive because of the style of advertising which we have chosen to use, however it is slightly aggressive due to the over use of repetition although this may be viewed as forceful it will be beneficial as this will help the audience remember the information. Examples of this include:
“You buy one, you get one free! I said you buy one you get one free!” and also “The Mortgage Point: Leeds 2343434. The Mortgage Point!”
Quotations such as “You SHOULD learn to drive with Simon’s Driving School” help to persuade the audience that they are doing the right thing by choosing Simon’s Driving School and will as a result benefit from making this choice. The overall style of the advertisement will be simple rather than complex and surreal as it is straight to the point to ensure that the audience understand the information which they are being presented with and can remember this.
We think that the advertisement would be played on Regional FM stations such as Galaxy, Real Radio, Radio Aire and Viking because these radio stations share the same target audiences as PGFM.
OPTION 2:
This option has an informal register as it is the opposite to option one, the format of the conversation mirrors an everyday situation making it more relatable to the listeners as they may be able to empathize with it. It is gossip-like and chatty which will make it understandable, as the listener is familiar with the set up. As there are a wide variety of ‘conversation based’ adverts on the radio this makes the advert adopt a pastiche format. The characters repeat the telephone number, which will give the audience another chance to take note of it. As a result of the advert being conversation based it will be simple as it mirrors everyday situations. The advert is not aggressive to help the audience relate to it, but is also not seductive because of the genre. The advert would be broadcast on Regional FM stations such as Galaxy, Real Radio, Radio Aire and Viking because these radio stations share the same target audiences as PGFM.
Task Nine (P1,M1,D1) -Complete first draft of script and then consult the client and document feedback.
OPTION ONE:
Do you want to start learning to drive? Not sure who to go with? Brand new driver with no experience? Or are you simply in need of a confidence boost to help you get back on the road?
Learn to drive with Simon’s Driving School, a well-established firm since 2001. Simon’s Driving School will help you develop and advance your driving skills in a professional but comfortable environment by teaching you the skills needed to pass your test and also how to be a safer driver after you pass your test. Areas that are covered for lessons and courses are based in West, East and North Leeds such as Farsley, Horsforth, Pudsey and Swinnow. If you live in LS28 or LS13 a one hour lesson will cost you just £16.
With reasonable prices such as a two hour lesson for £35, a beginners course lasting three hours priced at just £30 and a refresher lesson for drivers who possess a full license at just £20.
The best way to learn how to drive is to actually drive.
Learn in a practical way. Learn with Simon.
Contact us on 0113 219 1930, that’s 0113 219 1930.
Or alternatively on 07903 365738, that’s 07903 365738
DRAFT ADVERT EVALUATION:
- “There was too much information for the advert for me to remember.”
- “The music was a bit boring”
- “The voice quality was rubbish, I couldn’t make anything out”
- “The voices stumbled on the numbers”
- “Long speech”
After recording the advert and putting it together in the editing process we realised a number of flaws with the advert. Firstly, the quality was shockingly poor, the reason for this was because we were sat too close to the microphones as a result of this the sound quality became distorted and muffled. Secondly, we didn’t choose an appropriate music bed to fit the purpose of the advertisement; the music bed that we chose was not appropriate because it didn’t appeal to the primary and secondary target audience of the piece. Thirdly, we put too much information into the advertisement, this made that there was too much information for the listener to remember; the most crucial point of information is the phone number. Therefore as the voice over’s stumbled on the number, this defeats the objective of the advert. Another factor of the advert which is poorly done is that our voices on the voice over’s sound bored, uninterested and therefore this will reflect badly on the company and will discourage the listeners to phone Simon’s Driving School.
To overcome these obstacles we will ask a different person, preferably of the opposite sex, to record the advert for us. We will record using an individual sound recorder instead of the radio microphones to address the quality issue. In regards to the speech utterances and length, we will re-edit and cut the script and we will also brief the reader about how to alter his/her voice in order to sound professional yet interesting at the same time. It is crucial that we change the music to appeal to the target audiences but also to fit in with the style and tone of the advertisement as a whole.
OPTION TWO:
N: “guess what.”
A: “What?”
N: “I got my provisional license”
A: “Now you can learn how to drive!”
N: “Should be good”
A: “You don’t sound convincing.”
N: “I don’t really know who to learn with. There’s so many driving school’s out there. It’s really hard to choose.”
A: “Have you tried Simon’s Driving School?”
N: “Simon’s Driving School?”
A: “Yeah.”
N: “But how much will that cost?”
A: “I don’t really know. The information is on his website.”
N: “Okay. It’s probably www.simonsdrivingschool.co.uk isn’t it?”
A: “Probably”
N: “Alright. I’ll have a look later”
DRAFT ADVERT EVALUATION:
- “The voice over’s sound bored and uninterested”
- “I can barely hear what your saying because the quality is so bad”
- “There is no proper information given, just presumptions”
- “At times you can’t hear the music, but when you can it doesn’t fit”
- “Shocking sound levels”
After receiving our feedback for this advertisement we picked up on extremely obvious mistakes that are unacceptable. The main problem with the advert was that the fact the voices sound bored and ignorant, the script itself is poorly constructed and makes the listener immediately switch off from the advert as soon as it begins. The advert contains no factual information that defeats the initial objective of promoting why people should learn to drive with Simon’s Driving School. The sound levels are up and down throughout the advertisement which paired with the poor quality makes it armature and not worthy to be broadcast on live radio.
To improve the advertisement we will change the recording process, we will not be recording in the studio we will instead be using individual sound recorders in a quiet, sound proofed room to make the quality to a professional standard. We will create a new script based around the same idea but take onboard the criticisms to make the advert more informative and reflect a real-life, realistic conversation. To do this we will cut down the information to appropriate chunks and practice a more upbeat tone of voice to help the advert flow with the objective to mirror a real life conversation between friends. We will be more precise with our editing in terms of levels and sound and choose appropriate music to reflect what may be listened to in the background.
Task Ten (P1, M1, D1) Complete final draft of radio script
OPTION ONE:
Do you want to start learning to drive? Not sure who to go with? Or are you simply in need of a confidence boost to help you get back on the road?
You should learn to drive with Simon’s Driving School, a well-established firm since 2001. Simon’s Driving School will help you develop and advance your driving skills in a professional but comfortable environment. Areas that are covered for lessons and courses are based in Leeds. If you live in LS28 or LS13 a one-hour lesson will cost you just £16, yes that’s just £16!! And don’t worry if you’re from a different area, because Simon’s Driving School still offers reasonable prices so learning to drive won’t cause a financial breakdown.
The best way to learn how to drive is to actually drive.
Learn in a practical way. Learn with Simon.
Contact us on 0790 3365 738, that’s 0790 3365 738
OPTION TWO:
N: “Guess what. I got my provisional license through the post yesterday”
A: “Oh that’s great now you can learn how to drive!”
N: “I know. I’m really excited about it.”
A: “Are you sure? You don’t sound excited.”
N: “Well I am, it’s just I don’t really know who to learn with.”
A: “What about Simon’s Driving School?”
N: “Simon’s Driving School? Isn’t that who your Sarah learnt with?”
A: “Yeah it is. She passed first time and really enjoyed learning with him.”
N: “That sounds like a good idea. But how much is that going to set me back?”
A: “Well at the minute he has an offer for people who live in LS28 and LS13 they can have an hours lesson for just £16.”
N: “Really? That’s miles cheaper than I thought it would be.”
Voiceover: “Learn in a practical way. Learn with Simon."
A: “His number is 0790 336 5738”
N: “Okay so that’s 0790 336 5738?”
A: “Yeah that’s right”
N: “Great I’ll call him now!”
Task Eleven (P1, M1, D1) Create a radio commercial for your client
The client chose this one as his favourite:
Task Twelve (P1,M1,D1) - Evaluation
The aim was to make a radio advert for a company of our choice in order to go on the radio to promote it. We chose Simon’s Driving School and made two different adverts, and eventually chose one which Simon himself preferred. I think we achieved this purpose and made a successful advertisement and the client agrees with this.
We played our advertisement to a select number of people from our target audience. They definitely got the preferred reading and the majority stated, after listening to the final piece, they would use Simon’s Driving School because they felt he seemed genuine and friendly. They also said the mode of address was very appropriate, and the language was also fitting. Those who noticed admired the link between the music bed (Gary Numan – Cars) and the concept of the advert. The slogan was also favourable amongst the peers.
I think we gave honest, positive messages about this company; having been a learner myself and having passed under his instructions I know how he teaches and I believe he is an excellent teacher, therefore all good comments are not biased, but truthful. We used both male and female voices to address representational issues and make it appealing to both sexes. We used a male voice for the slogan, to signify power and persuasion, but female voices, for the chatty part, women’s voices are normally used to connote trusting and calming vibes, and I feel this worked quite well. We did not use anybody of different ethnic in our radio advert, purely because there weren’t any available to us, but I do think considering it is an advert which will go on PGFM it is better to have a Leeds/Pudsey/West Yorkshire accent as this will appeal more, and seem more relatable in uses and gratification theory terms. The idea of the out advert was that it was kind of an overheard conversation with two female friends sat in their room having a natter; the backing music was intended to fit in with the concept but almost as if they were listening to the radio and that happened to be on in the background. The language was definitely appropriate for the target audience, this was another reason Vanessa and myself did the ‘conversation’ part as it was aimed at our age range and our language, being from the area, suited the advert and purpose very well. The levels in our advert, were fine, both music and voices can be heard clear enough to recognize and take in both of them. No body’s voice was cut off due to careful editing and recording.
In terms of codes and conventions in advertising, we used repetition, music beds, uses and gratification theory, both sex actors, and voiceovers. An interpretation of my advert could be seen as though we have also incorporated Propp’s Theory. Vanessa would be seen as the damsel in distress as she has no idea who to learn with and Simon would be interpreted as the hero who saves her from extortionate prices and bad teaching. Todorov’s theory could also be intermingled into our advert. It begins with an equilibrium as she receives her provisional driving license, this quickly turns to disruption when the confusion sets in which is eventually concluded with resolution when Amie suggests to use Simon’s driving School.
In terms of a similar professional product they would use the same codes and conventions as we did, if not more. Equipment wise they would definitely have an advantage over us, as theirs would be more professional standard, and they would be able to afford experienced and qualified actors and editors which may make a different impact on the final outcome of the product. Our story is definitely single stranded, it has no hidden narrative, it is basic and straight forward as 45 seconds is an inappropriate time bracket to have multiple narratives.
Taking into consideration my own performance, I think I did rather well. I did not learn any new skills, but did learn new knowledge consisting of codes and conventions of advertisement etc. I think Vanessa and myself worked very well as a team together, and we both listened to one another and shared our the work load fairly and contributed evenly regarding ideas and creative attributes. If we were to produce this advertisement again, we could consider looking at a wider range of advertising styles such as pastiche.