Structures And Techniques Of TV Advertisements

Structures And Techniques Of TV Advertisements Realist NarrativeA realist narrative advert is an advert that focuses on the problems of real life, to be more specific focusing on everyday issues in our society and focusing on ways they feel they could help solve the issue.Why is realist narrative used?Realist narrative is used to target certain audiences mostly the people effected by the issue in society.Realist narrative can also be used to gain sympathy from the viewers.The realist narrative is one of the most popular type of adverts and is very rarely combined with any structures other than a documentary styled ad for charities etc.Underneath is a URL to an example of a realist narrative advert.

URL- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm8l82OX6Ek

Anti Realist NarrativeDefinitionAn Anti Realist narrative styled advert aims to provide a surreal view or situation or concept that is clearly made up, anti realist narrative is very often associated with comedic or escapism.Why is Anti Realist Narrative used? Anti realist is used to provide an escape from reality for viewers and grab their attention.Anti Realist are often associated with surrealism.SurrealismSurrealism and anti realist adverts as I mentioned before are heavily linked as advertisers see them as a great way to grab a audiences attention for as little as 30 seconds but this is seen as a very useful and efficient way of advertising if used correctly.

On the next slide there is an example of a great advert that showcases both mentioned advertisement structures and techniques.

AnimationOverview Of Animation Animation has always been a very popular style of advertisement mainly because its surprisingly unique especially in the present as advertisers tend to favor the likes of special effects and editing.Why Is Animation Used?Animation is popular because it is very cheap and affordable which is why often you will see lower budget campaigns have an animated campaign.Animation is an opportunity to create a character that is comedic and surreal or in fact very relatable if the campaign go down the realist narrative road.The advert is timelessly effective, unlike a celebrity an animated character doesnt have a life so to speak, meaning he wont get in trouble with media or die out in fame and will always be relevant no matter what.On the next slide there is an example of a Animated advert.

DocumentaryDocumentary adverts are today amongst one of the most popular styles, they aim to get you to trust the advert as they usually show a real everyday person explaining why they use or would use the product themselves, this adds a certain element of trust to the advertisement and allows people to invest into the product. Why Are Documentary Styled Ads Used?They are used because as I already mentioned they allow the audience targeted to gain an element of trust when they see a human like their selves advertising.Documentary adverts are also very often associated with celebrity or expert endorsement.Celebrity And Expert EndorsementCelebrity and expert endorsement is used just like documentary it adds a sense of trust especially when you yourself are a fan of the celebrity being used in the advertisement.Also celebrities will often post on social media when the advert is released allowing their personal fan base to see the product and giving it an added level of exposure.

In the next slide I will include two examples, one of each advert technique/structure.

Celebrity endorsementDoccumentary

Talking headsAs you would of seen in the previous advert of Cheryl Cole advertising the loreal campaign celebrity endorsement can be done as a talking head.Why is this effective?Talking heads are used to make the advert feel personal almost as if you are having a conversation with the person on the screen which is why you will often see rhetorical questions used by the talking head to try and gain a response from that question with your emotion followed by complimenting you for example in the loreal advert Cheryl Cole closes with the famous quote youre worth it.This type of advertisement is seen as a great way to really connect and influence a viewer especially with the use of a public figure like Cheryl.

Stand Alone AdvertsStand alone adverts are adverts that are never usually followed up and have no relevance to previous advertisement campaigns from the company.An example of a stand alone advert is-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CcxJQq1x8These types of adverts are used to give an impact, making the product more memorable and to bring more attention to the more than likely less spontaneous adverts the company or product would usually use.

Series AdsSeries Ads are the complete opposite to the stand alone adverts, series ads are an ongoing campaign where there are a series of adverts with a storyline or same set of characters.A good example of a series Advert-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6OfYWsKZ_4These types of adverts are used because they are memorable and give an essence of excitement when a new installment of the campaign is released, they are usually comedic although some can follow a realist narrative.

Styles In AdvertisingNostalgicNostalgic ads are used to allow the target audience to feel connected when they see something that they remember or miss from old times being brought back to life. This allows an old generation to feel more involved and more inclined to buy a product.

HumorousThe humorous style aims to make its audience laugh and feel amused by the advert, to see the brighter side of the advertisement and gain attention from the viewer.

SurrealSurreal adverts are used to breach points of reality for comedic effect e.g. in one of the most memorable adverts of the decade you may recall a certain gorilla playing the drums all for a chocolate bar? Weird right? But people remember them and the comedic side sticks in your head and allows you to think of that advert when purchasing the product.

DramaticDramatic adverts are used to generate sympathy from the viewer and gain attention in a sympathetic way. They make a reader feel pressured to be involved and listen and when done right this is by the most effective technique in my opinion, dramatic can also be used in a sarcastic way for example in a famous skittles advert a man is sympathized over for having been struck by a rainbow and turning into skittles, this is obviously largely un true and impossible and is used purely for comedic effect.

Hidden And Overt MessagesOften inside an advertisement there is a hidden message, or an Easter egg for lack of a better term, as an example the Coca-Cola advert that displayed a 70 year difference between a young man and his grandfather there is said to be a hidden message beyond what you see, this is relevant because Coca-Cola are ware that only the lovers of their product will se this message allowing them to know really by their boost of sales how successful their advert is and how many fans recognized their secret message. Coca-Cola are very well known for making out that drinking their product improves your life and lying which of course it does not.Other adverts have what you call an Overt message, this is a message that is completely out there for the world to see, hidden messages are also sometimes to obvious in badly constructed adverts and become much more overt, and overt message is almost like a moral, its a way of advertising that allows people to see another message within the advertisement and allows them to take something away from it. Whilst overt messaging is completely legal it does have to be approved by the ASA. Essentially any advertisement you watch will have an overt message otherwise they would serve no purpose.

Codes and ConventionsIn todays society adverts are made to attract the attention of an audience by being funny, serious and gaining sympathy or relatable to the audience in order to grab their attention and sell the product or company.These are some of the codes and conventions used in advertising.EditingLighting and soundIconographyCamera anglesIn the next slide I will break an advert down using these codes and conventions.

Ad breakdown using codes and conventions.

See next slide->

Camera angles- within the Coca-Cola advert there are numerous camera angles to create different emotions starting with a close up on a boy to show the tension and emotion he is feeling. Then a wide shot followed by a close up showing the next guy drinking a glass of Coke. This is all followed up by a various amounts of wide shots and close ups quickly thrown together showing that coke bring happiness to peoples lives.Iconography-As far as iconography goes there isnt an awful lot to be said other than the coke bottles used for product placement and making it very obvious the advert is about coke from the beginning.Lighting-Lighting is very simple in the advert mostly made up of completely natural light in certain instances there are key and backlights to light characters faces and show emotion in a greater detail.Sound-The sound in this advert plays a huge part there starts of with a build up of sounds and then progresses into a more happy and influential song when the Coca-Cola take effect on the peoples lives making it seem more realistic and allowing the viewer to fell greater emotion.Editing-Editing is very fast paced and confusing, jump cuts and numerous special effect and on screen text to allow the viewer to think and leave their mind open for the remainder of the advert, later on as the happiness begins to flourish it becomes much slower with much more time in-between cuts and allows you to see the emotion.

Emotional ResponsesEmotional responses are very popular in todays society and the emotion evoked from the viewer is often depending on what product is trying to be sold. Advertisers will try and make you sympathetic if their trying to get donations for a problem in the world e.g. the water aid advert. Or they will try and make you laugh if their trying to sell something a little less serious for instance a Cadbury's chocolate bar.When advertisers get people watching to feel emotion they are much more likely to become a consumer because they feel something for that product, even if the advert has nothing to do with the actual product itself. An emotional response from your audience is vital no matter who you target in order to have an effective advert and for your product to be remembered and sell good healthy numbers, this is why you will see companies using close to all of their budget just for an advert that lasts 30 seconds to leave an impression with emotions on their viewers.

On the next slide there will be an example of an advert that leaves a emotional response.

This advert made for the RSPCA is designed to make you feel sympathetic for the animals.This strategy is used to make viewers donate to the animals and help them for a good cause.

More examples of emotional responsesThere are many more types of emotional responses:Fear-Making the audience fear the things happening in the ad.Compassion-Make the audience develop a strong liking and feeling towards the events taking place in the ad.Relatable-Making the audience relate to the advert and allow them to reflect from their own personal experiences.Nostalgia-Makes the audience feel a certain warmth to the subject as they will be able to relate from their past.These are just some of the many different emotional responses there are many more and are all used specifically to the audience targeted.

Characteristics Of ServiceOverviewEvery advert comes with its own characteristics:Benefits Offered-Adverts will often state all the benefits that you gain with the product even when they have no evidence to back it up in order to show customers what they will gain true or false.Advantages over similar products-Companies will often compare their selves to rival companies within the same market a great example of this is Asda comparing their prices to Tescos in their adverts.Unique selling proposition-Companies may have something super unique about their product that has not been done before although in the present day this is very unlikely and its more common that the product has a unique take on a common product.Brand identity-Some advertisers rely entirely on the products brand and the consumers loyalty in order to sell their product. This is essentially relying on selling and advertising big name brands in order to keep the customers youva always had and are not focused as much on boosting sale rates but rather keeping them the same.

On the next slide will be example of the above points.

This is an advert in which tesco compare to asda and as youd expect make themselves out as cheaper although no evidence to back it up simply because of tescos popularity people and loyal customers trust the numbers they provide.

Regulation In AdvertisementThe ASA are in charge of all advertising regulation in Britain there are thousands of rules that must be followed when advertising a product and when an advert cross the rules the reports made to the ASA are reviewed and checked by an ASA representative or multiple of them where they will then make a final decision on whether or not an advert should have further action taken or be banned etc.I will now analyze an ASA report on why an advert is banned, and give my opinion on the situation.

Advert chosen-Lynx The cleaner you are campaign.

Reason for being banned1. 97 complainants challenged whether the ad was offensive because it was sexually suggestive, provocative, indecent, glamorised casual sex, and because it objectified and was demeaning to women;2. 71 complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because it was inappropriate for public display, where it could be seen by children; and3. 12 complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because it promoted promiscuity.1. 97 complainants challenged whether the ad was offensive because it was sexually suggestive, provocative, indecent, glamorised casual sex, and because it objectified and was demeaning to women;2. 71 complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because it was inappropriate for public display, where it could be seen by children; and3. 12 complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because it promoted promiscuity. Copied from the official ASA website.

Personal OpinionThe decision made by the ASA was that the advert should no longer be displayed in its current form. I agree with this decision, although the advert didnt offend me personally I could see why it would offend others and I do agree that it certainly degrades women.

Audience InformationIn this next topic I will discuss how advertisement companies gain information about their audiences, I will discuss the following topics.audience measurement panels; ratings; face-to-face interviews; focus groups; questionnaires;Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB); television research agencies.

Audience measurements PanelsCompanies like BARB are known widely for collecting data and giving it back to the producers of the media, BARB collect viewing figures from television and display them on their website fro companies to see, this allows media outlets to judge how successful their advertisement really was, for example if a Lynx advert had recently been made and blew up with views it would allow the advertisement companies to know that the techniques used were successful.Very commonly for lower budget companies there is a technique called keeping a diary, although this is basic it is known for having one appealing pro to lower companies it costs absolutely nothing making it very effective despite how raw it is.

Ratings, Face to Face interviews and Focus GroupsRatings- Ratings are given by the general public and critics, ratings allow advertisement companies and media outlets to judge how well their advert appealed to the audiences in which they targeted and the public in general.Face To Face Interviews-Face to Face interviews are used a lot by advertising companies to get very specific and detailed research, often critics and expert opinions are interviewed but there are also occasions when random members of the public have been interviewed to get an average viewers opinion. The advertisement companies will use the information to develop their future products and make improvements to their campaigns.Focus Groups-Focus groups are a very popular technique used in audience research, a focus group usually consists of 5-6 people and is an event that is organised where people can share their opinions on certain topics, for example and advertising company could hold a focus group in order to get opinions from different audiences on recent and future campaigns using the research gained in order to improve.

QuestionnairesA series of questions about a product or company in order to gather a public opinion and gain knowledge on where to improve, this is similar to a survey but is a dimmed down version and also helps with many cases of audience research e.g. consumer attitudes, consumer behaviour etc. specifically to the media industry question airs can be used to gain ideas of what the audience wants for example a lot of famous television channels will include a questionnaire on their website in order for viewers to answer and provide feedback on what they like and dont like as well as asking what viewers would like to see them expand into and include, this helps big media outlets keep up with trends and keep viewers and public interest high increasing their overall public exposure. They review the results as a company and this allows them to learn about their audiences behaviour and what they want as well as what they need to improve on or cut out to please them much like a survey the purpose of this kind of research is for the media outlets to gain audience information.

Television research companiesThere are a number of television research agencies such as BARB Ofcom etc. all of these websites specialise in collecting data for different broadcasting companies and media outlets through things like questionnaires, record of viewership circulation, the outlets use these websites to keep track of public exposure allowing them to witness their progress first hand and study results when targeting different audiences and gain information about what different types of audiences want from an advertisement.

Sources Of InformationRates Cards-Rate cards are cards that allow advertising companies to see the prices slots of advertisements will cost at different times, this is great as these slots are priced to which are more valuable, for example if the EastEnders Christmas episode is on it generally gets an amazing amount of views each year the slot would obviously be much more expensive as there is a higher viewing rate, but it allows the lower budget advertisements to set goals and invest in the higher spots to gain more success.Advertisers Information pack-www.itvmedia.co.uk is a great example they have a tab advertising opportunities this allows advertisers like a rate card to view the opportunities in which the channel present, and decide on a target audience and the best ways to target them.Research agencies-A company offering market research to clients through their website, presenting them with either qualitative information or quantitative to benefit them in audience research and information, they may also give both types of research if they are a higher quality website.

Audience ClassificationDemographics

Companies and advertisers also use occupation in order to classify different types of people, for example companies like Gucci, Ferrari etc. would aim for class A audiences as they generally have much more money because their jobs pay much higher. Where as lower brand companies like JD would aim for B and downwards as they are more likely to go for affordable clothing and products.

PsychographicsCompanies are also known to use psychographics to target audiences, in comparison with the last slide companies like Ferrari, Gucci etc. would aim towards the Succeeder, where as companies like JDSports would go more for the Strugglers, also some categories such as the aspirer are especially known for going for apple products which is why apples advertisements are usually targeted towards this category, even though apple is stylish some of their products like their smartphones are only just breaching the boundaries of affordable. Meaning that aspirers see them as desirable and want to have them. This is effective because when creating a product advertising it to the right audience is crucial and this provides a base for the companies thinking and a starting point.

Occupational Qualification.Some companies also specialise in targeting an audience of a specific job, for example manual labour is a growing and popular business route, but is often self employed work, this leaves a large market for tool companies to make money, therefore their adverts will often be directly affiliated with manual labour as an occupation for a selling point to this specific audience, this is because for Tool Companies this ill always be their main selling point. This is also the same with many other products such as fabrics are usually directly aimed at fashion designers or aspiring fashion icons in order to get the best results from their specific audience.