Analysis of 'Kopparberg' advert.

This is the most recent advert for 'Kopparberg' cider, as the drink tastes fruity, different fruits that are in the drink are featured throughout the advert; a fruit the flavour of the drink is also featured on the bottle so viewers recognise the product and the flavour. Additionally, the idea of the Kopparberg being in ice and then breaking out makes it appetising as it appears cool and fresh. The focus has been kept on the drink throughout the advert, with mainly close ups and mid shots of the drink which allows viewers to recognise the logo. This drink is fairly similar to the other drinks I've analysed, however it doesn't feature any people or the scene which people may drink it in which could be an issue. There's a variety of cuts which gradually build up towards the end of the advert making it more engaging and exiting so people watch the advert.  The main thing I have learned from watching this advert is that linking the surroundings of the location to the drink itself allows viewers to recognise and understand the product, just like how the fruits and ice relate to the cider.

Research of Television Advertising

Television adverts can be divided up into different sectors, 'mini dramas', 'spokesperson presentation', 'voice over' and 'pitch presentation'. Which type of advert it will be depends on the product or service being advertised; something important that I will need to consider when creating my own adverts is which type of advert I will choose, considering my product and the target audience.
Some adverts are targeted to show the brand, this is often shown at the very end of the advert to build suspense for the viewers. Adverts are usually kept fairly simple when it comes to editing and camera-work and the cuts and effects are mainly created to look natural. As I'm fairly experienced and confident with using a camera and filming I believe that this is something I will find easy. As I'm not very confident with editing and using Premiere, the fact that editing is kept simple is useful for me as it means I can focus on other aspects and succeed in these. Adverts almost always use some sort of music for engagement and entertainment, as I plan on targeting my product at a fairly young target audience including music will be very important for me. Many people consider advertising an art form, something which, if done well, will be remembered for years to come. In recent years, adverts have become a part of our current life and culture, it's almost impossible to think of a world without advertising; the majorty of adverts which have become so famous and effective is because the adverts have been kept simple, which is something that I plan to achieve.

Research of Radio Advertising

Before coming up with ideas about my radio advert I thought that I should carry out some research about the codes and conventions as radio advertising is the sector that I'm least confident with. 

- The approximate length of an advert is 30-40 seconds
- a voice over narrates the advert, describing the product
- descriptions of where the product can be found are told
- there's usually a slogan or keywords to do with the product
- often humorous
- middle class narrators usually used to appeal to most audiences
- rhetorical questions used to engage listeners
- music often used as background noise

From learning these codes and conventions I'm now aware of what I will need to consider when I begin planning my radio advert, from my previous knowledge of radio advertising I know that the radio ad will need to link in firmly with the other adverts so that the listeners see the link. 

All information was found on Wikipedia. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_advertising

Alcohol Sponsorship Advertising

In recent years there have been many protests against alcohol sponsorship adverts, especially in sport. Many people believe that it's not ethical for alcohol to sponsor television shows as it gives the wrong impression of the programme and also promotes a message that  the people who own the show and the actors on the show condone drinking. One sector in particular that doesn't agree with alcohol sponsorship is sports; although many sports stations and programmes do have alcoholic products as sponsorships. For example, a whole football competition is named after a brand of alcohol: 'The Carling Cup' which promotes alcohol to sports fans as the majority of men enjoy football and the majority of men enjoy beer, so 'Carling' have used this to their advantage and have come together with something that they know has the exact same target audience.




This is an old Foster's sponsorship advert. This has been kept very simple with a long shot of the beer can which allows people to recognise the drink and the brand; it also shows the beer itself in a glass which appeals to the viewers and looks appetizing. Furthermore this has helped me understand that my sponsorship advert should be kept fairly simple, mainly focusing on the drink itself which will most likely be different to my TV advert.

What I'm Hoping to Achieve

One of my first blog posts was about my progress from AS to A2 work and how last years coursework had helped me learn and develop; I also discussed what I hoped to achieve during my A2 coursework. So far I haven't had much of a chance to learn many new skills as all I've been doing is researching, however I have found that my research this year was a lot easier and of a higher standard as I've already experienced researching last year which meant that I knew what I needed to research and how to link it to my coursework. My analysis of adverts has developed throughout my research so far, my new knowledge on advertising taught me exactly what to pick out in adverts and how I could relate it to my planning. In addition, using conventions from real media texts is something which I believe is one of my strong points as for my coursework last year I successfully picked out the codes and conventions from real thriller films and changed and adapted them to suit our film, sometimes following codes and conventions and other times breaking them. This is something which I have already begun to think about for my adverts; my research on advertising and various alcohol adverts so far has helped me understand how adverts differ depending on the target audience of the product.

I'm still hoping to become more experienced with digital technology as I know I will have to know and understand when it comes to filming and editing. Although I gained some experience last year, I often relied on other people to help me when it came to editing on Adobe Premiere Pro, so developing my editing skills is something which I really need to achieve. Furthermore I need to improve my post-production skills as again I often relied on other people to do this work as I feel as though I'm much better at planning and filming rather than using digital technology. One aspect in particular that I really hope to improve on is sound; last year we used a few sound effects and other non diagetic sounds in the coursework however I still don't feel confident with connecting the non diagetic sounds with the film. As I'm coming towards the end of my research one thing I really need to consider is how my research will help me with my planning and how I can link these things, not only analysing adverts but understand what I can take from each advert so that I can develop my ideas.

Sponsorship Advertising

Wikipedia's definition of sponsorship-

''To sponsor something is to support an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. A sponsor is the individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor.''

Sponsorship adverts are most often related to the programme that is shown after the sponsorship advert and they will usually have the same if not a very similar target audience. For example, 'Vo5' (a women's body spray) sponsors 'Hollyoaks', both products are aimed at young, middle class women which means that people who tune in to watch 'Hollyoaks' are likely to buy the 'Vo5' products. Furthermore, viewers may also associate the product with characters in the programme, so say if somebody watching liked the hair of one of the characters, they may buy the product as it's associated with 'Hollyoaks'. Sponsorship advertising appears before and after every break during the show and also it often appears on adverts for the show and programme listings which means that the sponsorship product gets a lot of coverage. 

When it comes to choosing a television programme that I think would be suitable to advertise my product on I will consider the target audience. As alcohol is only allowed to be consumed by people over the age of 18 in the UK, it means the product can only be advertised after the 9pm watershed. It will also be for a show aimed at a target audience over the age of 18, however it will still need to be for people who are fairly young as my target audience will be quite young, similar to 'Smirnoff Ice'. 

Sponsorship adverts on very popular television shows will get a lot of attention from the public, whereas more niche shows and products will have less of an impact from sponsorship. 'Talk Talk' a television and internet company pay 2million per season in order to sponsor 'X Factor' whereas 'Foxy Bingo' pay just 1million to sponsor 'The Jeremy Kyle Show'. 

My Progress So Far

Since beginning my research I have learned a lot about advertising, especially adverts focusing on alcohol. From my research on advertising in general I now understand the rules of advertising, analysing alcohol ads has helped me understand the codes and conventions and how the target audience affects the advert. However, before I continue I think that I need to do more research on sponsorship adverts and radio adverts as all of the adverts that I have analysed so far are TV ads. 

Analysis of 'Jack Daniel's' Advert

This is an advert for Jack Daniels whisky, unlike the other alcohol adverts that I've advertised this is aimed at a much older target audience and a middle to upper class target audience as the whisky itself is quite expensive. The advert uses simple, dark colours which reflect the target audience; the dark colours aren't supposed to appeal to a younger audience and the dark colours connote sophistication and maturity. The colours used in the advert reflect the colours on the bottle which people will recognise.

Furthermore extreme close up's of the drink itself dominate the advert, with the writing on the bottle lighting up as it pans up the drink. The advert then goes on to show the drink bottle which is recognisable to most people, then with two glasses of the drink with the slogan; 'what the label doesn't tell you, a sip will'. Unlike the WKD and Smirnoff Ice adverts, this is much more mature and doesn't promote the party, fun lifestyle, but instead a much more mature life style. 

This type of advert isn't really what I would like to do, I think it would show more skills and be more interesting if I decided to advertise a drink aimed at a younger target audience. However, this advert has taught me that I need to focus on the drink bottle as well as the action happening in the advert as alcohol adverts aimed at younger people tend to not focus on the drink bottle. Additionally, this advert only has non diagetic sound whereas the other adverts I've analysed have diagetic sound from actors in the advert.

Different Types of Advertising

There are many different types of adverts which have been around for years, from times when print advertising was the only type that existed, the radio adverts, then television and now the most recent type of advertising- internet advertising. 

Print advertising is one of the most common and popular types of advertising which has been rounds for hundreds of years. Print advertising comes in many forms:

- magazine/news paper advertising..where print adverts are placed in magazines suited to the reader, for example a clothing advert in a fashion magazine.

- billboard advertising..adverts placed in popular places usually on busy roads of on buses/by bus stops, in order to attract attention from the general public.

- flyers or leaflets..posted through peoples doors, handed to people in busy areas, placed on cars, and some small posters put up on lampposts or shop windows ect.

Television advertising is fairly recent, yet probably the most effective type of advertising. Rarely will a television channel be advert-free as this is how they make their money. Similar to print advertising, TV adverts are aimed at people with a similar target audience as the show they're watching.. for example a child's toy would be shown during a children's programme. This is the same as radio adverts however the product is usually described as it's obviously unable to be shown. This is an issue for radio adverts as it's hard for them to appeal to a particular target audience.

Internet advertising has only come around very recently and is arguably the least effective form of advertising. Internet adverts are on most websites, especially social networking sites as this is how they make their money. Products will often be advertised to suit the audience viewing the site, the same as TV and magazine advertising. 

Analysis of 'Fanta' Advert

Before I start planning my advert I thought that I should have a look at an advert for a non alcoholic drink so that I could see the difference between the two types of ads. 

From watching this advert it's clear that this is aimed at a much younger target audience as the whole advert is animated, whereas none of the alcohol adverts I have researched were animated. However something that I did notice was similar was the the way that it's presented that the drink gives someone a special power. Similarly to characters in both the alcohol adverts from the 1980's and the Smirnoff Ice adverts, Fanta gives the young girl in this advert power, additionally it gives her confidence. Furthermore something else similar which I noticed was the attitude and happiness of the people in the advert, like in the other adverts I have analysed, this Fanta advert shows people dancing, partying and having a good time whilst drinking Fanta, which therefore promotes this lifestyle, similarly to the other adverts which I've researched. Perhaps because Fanta is an established and recognised brand, there's no need for a close up or any explanation of the drink, which is most likely why there isn't much of a focus on the brand itself.

 Additionally, the colours used in the Fanta ad are very bright and colourful, reflecting the fruit flavour of the drink itself. This isn't very common for alcohol adverts are they are usually more mature, for example- you can tell by the target audience.. Smirnoff Ice is aimed at young adults (mainly people who are only just legal to drink alcohol). These adverts are bright, colourful, fun and lighthearted. Whereas adverts for a drink aimed at an older and more of a higher class target audience such as Whisky, have much more serious adverts, usually only focusing on the drink and not having a large colour palette. These are all things that I will need to consider; I will need to choose whether to advertise a more serious drink, something that would be aimed at an older target audience. Or if I would like to advertise a drink targeted at a younger target audience with a fun and more lighthearted advert, similar to this Fanta advert.

Alcohol Ad's from the 1980's

This is a selection of alcohol adverts from the 1980's, I have noticed that they are in many ways very similar to current alcohol adverts, with most of them promoting the power of alcohol, presenting the people who drink it to be more powerful and important than those who don't (e.g the gorilla and the fisherman). Additionally, the majority of these adverts have a close up of the alcohol and its packaging, and a close up of someone drinking the alcohol. Compared to the other adverts I have analysed these are very similar, as each advert uses comedy to promote the product allowing the advert to seem lighthearted. Furthermore the target audience is very similar as well, as all of the actors in these adverts are in their mid-20's and are working-middle class. One thing that I did notice to be slightly different was the very first advert in the video which depicts a man giving a monkey a beer, which then made the monkey human-like. The likelihood of this advert being allowed anymore is very slim because of the restrictions when advertising alcohol; there would be many complaints from viewers about animal cruelty therefore it wouldn't be a very successful advert. This is something which I will have to be very wary of when creating my adverts; I will need to make sure that I follow all of the rules from the advertising restrictions.

The History of Advertising

When advertising was first introduced adverts were often misleading and claimed things about the product which weren't true. For example, one of the first ever alcohol adverts claimed that in the morning you would look 'just as beautiful as the night before', and also hinted that you wouldn't have a hangover. These days there are many more restrictions when it comes to advertising and an advertising company would never get away with claiming anything that they couldn't prove as many rules and restrictions that people have to follow. Adverts were also often very sexist, with cleaning products promoting the traditional stereotypes of a 'house wife'. This just shows that adverts have always had an underlying message even when they were first introduced, as my research into advertising has taught me that adverts not only advertise the product, they also provide other subliminal messages.




This was the first ever television advert to be broadcasted on British TV. Considering it was 50 years ago the main point and message from the advert is similar to any advert for a similar product that would be on television now. Although the message is the same the style of the advert is slightly different to adverts we have now, they include many more facts in toothpaste adverts and perhaps the setting wouldn't be used in a modern advert. In order to understand more about how adverts concerning alcohol I'll need to research how alcohol adverts have changed over the years.

'Smirnoff Ice' Analysis

This is an advert for 'Smirnoff Ice' a similar drink to 'WKD' which I have also researched. The style of these adverts is very different to the style of the WKD adverts as these 'Smirnoff Ice' adverts are much more conventional as they focus much more on the drink itself and the branding whilst still including the comedy side. Each of the 'Smirnoff Ice' adverts include the same theme and some of the same dialogue. The product is always recognised in the very beginning of the advert and is presented to be something very powerful and essential to the people in the advert, therefore persuading the viewers to buy the product. In addition, the people in the adverts at the parties are all the age of the target audience which also encourages people to buy the product as young adults can recognise that the product is aimed at them.

Each advert begins with one man noticing the drink and picking it up to drink, then questioning why there's something unusual at the party, then for another man to reply 'you've got to think of everything', then there's a cut to something unusual, such as the monster or the giant dog. The slogan then states; 'you think of everything, you serve Smirnoff Ice' which implies that 'Smirnoff Ice' gives you more power than other drinks and is essential.

The protagonist in the advert is presented to be cool, popular and powerful which the viewers supposedly aspire to, therefore the message is that if you drink 'Smirnoff Ice' then you will also become all of these things. Furthermore, in some of the ads for example the first one where there's a girl in a bikini, women viewing this advert as supposed to aspire to be like this girl, and men are encouraged to believe that if they drink 'Smirnoff Ice' then dating a beautiful girl like the one in the advert is achievable.

The fact that the adverts all take place at parties allow the target audience to relate to the advert and consider buying the drink to have for when they are next out. Similar to the WKD advert, 'Smirnoff Ice' is targeted at most classes but mainly working/middle class as it drinks themselves are very cheap and the setting of the adverts is stereotypical for working/middle class people.

At the very end of the advert there's then a close up of 'Smirnoff Ice' bottles in a cooler, this is essential for any advert aiming to sell a product as it appeals to viewers and looks attractive as well as closely showing viewers the brand name, making it recognisable for them to see in shops.

Adverts for alcohol are often shown on TV channels during the ad-breaks for people of the same target audience, for example 'Smirnoff Ice' may be shown during an ad-break for 'The Only Way is Essex' as this is on TV after the 9 o clock watershed, and it's aimed at young working/middle class viewers who may aspire to be like the people on the show, who go out a lot to parties and clubs. 

I would like my advert to be similar to this advert, with the same sort of settings and ideas as the 'Smirnoff Ice' adverts as my product will have a similar target audience as this advert and therefore will include similar aged people.

Analysis of 'WKD' Advert

To help me find some ideas I looked at this advert for 'WKD', the drink style and type that I want to advertise is very similar to 'WKD' so I think looking at some of the adverts was a good idea as I now have a good understanding of how they advertise the product.

I don't think that this advert is very successful as the majority of the advert has nothing to do with the product that it's selling and I don't think it's aimed at the right target audience as WKD's are generally consumed by young adults, mainly girls yet the majority of their adverts are targeted at 30-40 year old men. The fact that the advert only shows the actual product and the setting that it would usually be consumed in in the last few seconds of the advert means that many of the people watching will have lost interest before this point, especially the target audience.

However, the advert does provide a message aimed at the audience and has a recognisable slogan 'show your WKD side' which the man in the advert does show. The lack of close ups of the actual drink and the brand suggests that people watching the advert already know the brand and are familiar with this style of advert which will be different to my advert as the product will be new and not recognisable. The lack of non diagetic sound is unconventional for an alcohol advert as they are usually fun, with bright colours and often shot at a party or with people actually drinking the product.

From watching this ad it's clear that it's aimed at a working/middle class audience, this can also be told from the price of the product, which will be similar to my advert.

Final Decision

I've narrowed down my choices and have decided that I'm going to produce adverts for alcohol. I would like to advertise alcohol because I think I would enjoy making the adverts as alcohol adverts are usually fun and exciting to watch. I already have some ideas of what I'd like to include in my advert, so I'll be using these and other research on alcohol adverts to help me learn the codes and conventions of all adverts and alcohol adverts as well as the conventions of normal adverts. Additionally, I will be researching the rules and restrictions for alcohol adverts. 

Initial Ideas

clothing line,
hair extensions,
dating website for teens,
hair dye,
waxing,
tea,
kids playground,
alcohol advert.

Advertising Research

''Advertising or advertizing is a form of communication for marketing and used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. This type of work belongs to a category called affective labor.''

Wikipedia's definition of marketing. This basically says that advertising is a form of marketing so I then researched into marketing which is the process of communicating the value or a service or product for the purpose of selling this product. When advertising a product the company must aim the advertisement at the target audience for the product, using themes, language and ideas that they will relate to themselves and the product. 

Advertising needs to be persuasive in order for someone to be interested in the product, the adverts need to be fairly short and kept simple and understandable. As I already have some ideas about what I would like to advertise I will research adverts promoting products similar to those that I'm interested in advertising. As well as this I will also conduct some more research into advertising itself. 

Chosen Brief- Advertising

Out of the briefs that we were given, (short film, music video or advertising) I have decided to choose to create a series of adverts. The main reason for this being that I found this to be the most interesting and something which I feel will suit me best. Additionally, I learned from our AS coursework that my weakest point was editing and as we are doing this task individually I think that advertising will be suited the best to me. For research I am going to research more information into advertising so that I can find out more about it in order to help me for when it comes to planning and creating my coursework.

Progress from AS to A2