Analysing seasonal adverts

Introduction:

In this blog post, I am going to analyse three seasonal advertisements. The areas of the adverts that I am going to look at are;

• Product: What's being advertised?
• Plot: What happens in the ad?
• Target audience: Who will buy the product?
• Content signs: Signifer and what is signified
• Sounds: Diegetic and Non-diegetic
• Mise-en-scene: What colours, props and settings are used? Why?
• Camera shots:What shots are used and why?
• Advertising techniques: what techniques are used and why?

1st advert: IKEA - Living together

- Product: What's being advertised?

The IKEA company and products - Furniture and storage equipment for spring cleaning.

- Plot: What happens in the ad?

A couple try to get hold of each other, but they are restricted because of all of the junk in the room which is holding them back. So in frustration and determination, they clear up the house super fast and find each other again in the cleanliness.

- Target audience: Who will buy the product?

The target audience would be aimed at home owners, preferably the younger and more stylish market and university students. around the ages 19+.

- Content signs: Signifer and what is signified

shoes and jewellery accessories - represent the female side of the room and the mess

books, movies, DVDs and CDs -  represents they are a young couple or students as they are up to date on the latest entertainment media (music and movies).

Piano - signifys love as it is usually a romantic instrument and quite old and gloomy tones are played which helps to set the mood.

- Sounds: Diegetic and Non-diegetic

Non-diegetic sound track. Young/indie style music to help represent to the target audience. The lyrics of the song also relate to the plot and story of the advertisement.

- Mise-en-scene: What colours, props and settings are used? Why?

Colours - the colour scheme first started out all dark and gloomy to represent cold, unclean, upset, loneliness and after it is cleaned, it is clear, white and light to represent cleanliness, inviting, pure and optimism/happiness.

Props - The props used in the advert are all household items to help set the scene of a young couples home and storage/furniture products from IKEA to endorse it within the advertisement.

Settings - The advert is set in a home to show the main target place for IKEA products. The advert aslo makes the house as a maze of clutter to help represent that they are lost.

- Camera shots:What shots are used and why?

Close up shots - on the characters faces to show emotions and on the products to help fit them in the frame.

Birds eye view - an overview shot to show the whole scene and size of the maze/mess.

Mid shots - to show how the characters are cleaning at frantic speed. Mid shot is used to fit the character, actions and emotions in the scene.

- Advertising techniques: what techniques are used and why?

Amazing products/services: By showing that the product/service (that the advert is based on) is amazing and works efficiently is so customers would be more persuaded to purchase it. This advert uses this technique by showing how good and innovative IKEA's products are as they are tidying, to help promote the products within the advert.

Music: Music is a effective way of setting the mood within a advertisement because it help to portray the message using sounds, jingles, music tracks, etc. Music is used within the advert to help portray the message of the plot and to help show the message of story.

Emotional response: emotional response help get in touch with the audience on a empathetic sense. By making the audience drawn into the advert using emotions, they are allowing you to embrace within the ambience/message that is being portrayed. This advert uses the emotional response to help show the feelings of the characters to make the plot more effective.

2nd advert: John Lewis - Old fitness equipment

- Product: What's being advertised?

The John Lewis company and the new initiative that they are doing for the new year using social media networks (Twitter). #NewYearNewStart. The initiative says (according to the advert) that if customers swap their old kit, they will exchange it for a new one.

- Plot: What happens in the ad?

In this advert, it starts off with a middle class man opening his garage door using a remote control. He walks in and starts to look and fiddle with his old sports equipment and trophies, showing that he is reminiscing his old hobbies and sports.

Then the camera focuses on his old sports kit and changes to him having a brand new one. This shows that he gets a sense of pride, which motivates him into getting back into shape and carry out his old sport activities.

- Target audience: Who will buy the product?

The target audience is focusing on middle/higher class audiences by representing the character with money and materials that gave him a succesful sporting past. The audience focuses on males, but can appeal to women too with a interest on sport/exercise/health or fitness. The age range would be around 25-60.

- Content signs: Signifer and what is signified

A few examples of the content signs used in this advert are;

old sporting equipment - to show the purpose and theme of the advert

trophies - to show the passion and nostalgia for the plot

garage/house - to show the wealth/class of the character, so the viewers know what kind of customers they are applying/promoting to.

- Sounds: Diegetic and Non-diegetic

The sound track throughout the whole advertisement was a piano version of the old theme tune from a sporting program that used to give on TV. This is used to show old representation of sport in his mind.

- Mise-en-scene: What colours, props and settings are used? Why?

Colours - The colours used in the advert are dull and gloomy colours to show upset and nostalgia as the man is reminiscing about his old memories, then at the end, the scene lights up as the garage door opens, showing his new kit, which represents light and optimism or happiness.

Props - The props used in the advert are old sporting gear and equipment like bikes and broken tennis racquets to show the variety of sports that the character used to play in the past. It also shows dusty old awards and trophies to show the achievements and passion for it.

Settings - The whole advert is set in a garage to show that it is part of a middle class family/person and the garage represents how the sport has been moved to one side physically and mentally, and as he is touching and discovering all of the equipment again, its as if he is mentally re-living and exploring his old passions.

- Camera shots:What shots are used and why?

Some camera shots used in the advert are;

long shot of the house - to show and represent the wealth or class of the character

close up shots of the old sports equipment - to focus on how worn out and old the equipment has become

Mid shot of the old kit - to show it from the point of view of the character and to get it focusing on the kit only (not showing surrounding scenery as it would in a long shot)

- Advertising techniques: what techniques are used and why?

Emotional response: emotional response help get in touch with the audience on a empathetic sense. By making the audience drawn into the advert using emotions, they are allowing you to embrace within the ambience/message that is being portrayed.

This advert uses emotional response by using camera shots to zoom into the emotions that the character portrays, it also uses music and colour to help set the mood and tone of sadness and reminiscence.

Music: Music is a effective way of setting the mood within a advertisement because it help to portray the message using sounds, jingles, music tracks, etc. This advert uses music to help relate to the plot of the advert and to help set the tone and emotion of the video.

3rd advert: Visit California 2012 - Misconceptions

- Product: What's being advertised?

The country, California is being advertised as a whole for tourist attractions and holiday spots.

- Plot: What happens in the ad?

Throughout the advert, it shows celebrities from California talking about stereotypes and misconceptions of people who live in the country. The scenes show different scenery/settings of California and move in sequence according to the script of what is being said. For example, one person says "we are not all skiers" and a skier appears saying "we are not all rock-stars", etc.

- Target audience: Who will buy the product?

The target audience is aimed at anybody who wish to go on holiday, but it is mainly aimed at ages of 20+ as it shows activities and celebrities which would be recognized of around this psychographic group.

- Content signs: Signifer and what is signified

The main content signs that are used in the advertisement are focused on the settings/backgrounds/scenery to help signify the message that the company is trying to get across to the viewer.

The signifiers or settings are various places to help appeal to all members of the target population fro example, disneyland resort for children, hot beaches for people who prefer the warmer climate, holiday villas for the higher class markets, ski resorts for adventurous people, musical stadiums/theatres for people who like creative/performing arts, etc.

- Sounds: Diegetic and Non-diegetic

Diegetic: The actors/celebrities talking in the advert to inform the customers/viewers

Non-diegetic: Upbeat and jaunty music to make the listener feel happy and entertained by the advert.

- Mise-en-scene: What colours, props and settings are used? Why?

Light warm sunny colours - represent its hot climate and the happiness of being in California.

Props used - Quantum Physics book in Kim Kardashian's hand to represent "misconceptions" and the golf cart with a moving fake background to unveil the true "California".

Settings - Various places in California e.g. a hotel villa to represent relaxing, a seaside pier to represent the beaches, Disneyland background to help appeal to the younger generation, etc.

- Camera shots:What shots are used and why?

High angle shots - to show the scenery and focus on the settings of California

Mid shots - focus on the celebrity to show "famous faces" (recognition)

Long shot - to show on whats happening in the scene and to give the audience the "bigger picture".

Advertising techniques: what techniques are used and why?

Ideal social groups: Ideal social groups is a strategy which helps create a ideology in the minds of consumers, which is that is you buy/use the product/service being advertised, you will be part of a perfect social group. This advert uses the technique of ideal social groups to help different audiences find the suitable setting or activity that appeals to them in California.

Amazing products/services: By showing that the product/service (that the advert is based on) is amazing and works efficiently is so customers would be more persuaded to purchase it. This advert uses the amazing product technique to persuade people to "Visit California".

Selective editing: Selective editing is a strategy used by advertisement creators to edit the footage filmed according to the message they wish to portray. They usually use clips that show the product in it's best form. This is to show the audience how well the product works.

This advert shows proof of using selective editing because they have used the scenes and clips that are the most effective in terms of persuading the customers to visit California.

Celebrity endorsement: The use of celebrity endorsements is an effective technique of persuading and attracting customers to a product or service because it attracts a larger fan base and the use of a celebrity will make the "model" more recognizable.

The Visit California advert uses celebrity endorsements effectively to appeal to all types of customers who share the same interests or are fans of big names. This is a good way of attracting customers as they are aware of the characters, so they feel familiarized with the product that it trying to be sold.

Seasonality

Introduction:

In this blogpost, I am going to be talking about the seasonality of adverts. Seasonalty means what type of adverts we see at certain times of the year based on festivals and seasons on the culture and weather of a country.

Questions:

1. What months do you think viewing figures will be the highest and why?

September - November because of the colder months, more people are opting to stay in, which means viewing figures are higher. This means that it is more expensive for adverts to be presented at this time as there are more in demand and for the build up Christmas makes it more effective.

2. how much television daily dopeople watch on average in the winter?

 Approximately 4 hours and 2 minutes.

3. which months do you think will have the lowest viewing figure and why?

June to August because of the summer time, more people are out and about and less people are watching TV.

4. complete the following table for each month, stating what you think the season event could be, and what products are more likely to be advertised and sold in that month.

Month	Seasonal event	Products advertised
January	New Years	diets, health, warmth, sales, medicene for flu
February	Valentines	flowers, chocolates, gifts, teddies
March	Build up to Easter	chocolate eggs, bunnies, cards
April	Easter	chocolate eggs, bunnies, cards
May	bank holidays	DIY equipment, spring cleaning products, alcohol adverts, short break adverts
June	Summer sales	clothing, shoes, holidays, drinks, ice cream, gardening material, BBQ
July	Summer/holidays	holiday packages and activities, ice cream, tourist spots, hay fever medicene
August	Summer/holidays	holiday packages and activities, ice cream, tourist spots, hay fever medicene
September	Back to school	uniforms and stationary, sporting equipment, back to school and work products
October	Halloween	fancy dress, alcohol, chocolates and treats for trick and treating
November	Bonfire night	fireworks, build up products for christmas
December	Christmas	Food, technology, presents and gifts, christmas products

List any other seasonal products: Olympics, World cup, Queens jubille

BARB

Introduction

This blogpost will focus on the activities of the BARB and include information on the questions we answered in class.

Questions

1. What does the BARB stand for and what do they do?

BARB stands for Broadcasters Audiene Research Board. And they monitor and are the official source for television ratings. They are considered the most up to date and best company in the world for collecting television viewing statistics.

2. Is the data they provide up to date?

The data that they provide is up to date as they constantly update their data every minute, providing their subsribers the most up to date information and statistics.

"Each day at 9.30am the data are released to the TV industry as overnight viewing figures. Eight days later, consolidated audience figures are released, incorporating any timeshift viewing from the previous seven days. In both cases this minute by minute viewing information can be matched to the programme and advertising schedule to give viewing estimates for every programme and commercial that has been broadcast."

3. Is the BARB considered biased or unbiased in the data they provide? How do you know this?

The BARB is considered unbiased in the data they provide because they use a carefully selected panel of television screens which collect information based on different demographics. This makes it unbiased because it will give a more equal estimate on the ratio of audiences on the UK. I also know that the BARB is considered unbiased because it is a non-profit organisation, so they have no specific aim or goal to please and it is supported and sonsered by all channels to give a unbiased result by not favouring channels or programmes.

4. How do they get their official viewing figures for UK television audiences?

The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) provides official viewing figures for UK television audiences. It commissions specialist research companies Ipsos MORI, Kantar Media and RSMB to collect data that represent the television viewing behaviour of the UK’s 26 million TV households.

5. How many households are there with TV's in the UK?

Within the UK, there are approximately 26 million TV households with TV licenses.

6. Why do TV companies and advertisers want to know the viewing figures that BARB can provide?

TV companies and advertisers are interested in the viewing figures that BARB can provide because the information is vital in assessing programs and to create a basis for airtime advertising trading.

7. Is data collected from every household in the country or is there a ratio?

The data is collected according to a ratio. the ratio is on 1:5000 households.

8. How do the households that are monitored have their data collected?

The households that are monitored have their data collected by;

"In every panel household, all television viewing is monitored automatically by special metering equipment installed by Kantar Media. Included in this process is viewing of recorded programmes that are watched within seven days of the original broadcast; this is referred to as timeshift viewing. More than 30,000 viewing devices are monitored across the panel of over 5,100 homes, including PVRs, DVDRs and VCRs, as well as standard set-top boxes.

Residents and guests in a panel home register their presence in a room containing a television set that is switched on, which is the BARB definition of television viewing. They then deregister when leaving the room. In this way, the meter records all viewing by every person in the household aged 4+, adding individual demographic information to the overall viewing data. This information is uploaded automatically to BARB every morning between 2am and 6am where it is processed to apply various statistical adjustments. "

BARB (broadcasters audience research board)

PAST BLOG POST INFORMATION
 

"The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) is the organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created to replace a previous system, where the BBC and ITV companies compiled their own ratings, JICTAR. It is owned by the BBC, the ITV companies, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Participating viewers have a box on top of their TV which tracks the programmes they watch."(6)

"BARB viewing data give broadcasters, advertisers and other interested parties a minute by minute breakdown of viewing at regional and national levels. This information is vital in assessing how programmes, channels or advertising campaigns have performed and provides the basis for airtime advertising trading.

In order to estimate viewing patterns across all TV households, a carefully selected panel of private homes is recruited. Each home on the panel represents, on average, about 5,000 TV homes. These panel homes are drawn from a household sample that is designed by RSMB to remain representative of all television households across the UK. This means it always encompasses the full range of demographic and TV reception variations, amongst other variables, that are found across the country and in different ITV and BBC regions." (7)

(Reflection) I feel that this method of gathering data may be unreliable as it gathers averages of information and it interprets data on a estimate of other households. This data is not accurate because other households may not be according to their listings and they are going to be generating mis-interpretting data.

Example of a rating sheet from the BARB:

 

 



This rating sheet shows the data collected on the ratings from March 2000 to July 2008 for the channels ITV 2, ITV 3 and CITV. It showed in which weeks did the viewings of the channel peak at. This table is a overview example of ratings, subscribers can get more indepth informatio for channels and programs which are up to date up to the minute.

 



Bibliography

www.barb.co.uk (14/01/2012)