Unit 9 and 10 | calliesvp

Target Audience Analysis

(Task 1 - Context)

Unit 9, 10 and client schedule:

Why is it important to analysis your target audience?

When creating an advertising product, it is always important to be sure who you are creating the product for. For example, if I was a freelanced advertiser and I was working for a business company, the first things I would ask the company is what product they want to advertise. Secondly, I would ask what they are looking for the advertisement to do and lastly, who the target audience is. These subjects are very important to consider as the product will not be a success without the targeted audience buying the product.

REMEMBER - Whatever you are creating, you have to know your target audience. If it does not appeal to them then your product will be a fail. Know what age criteria they come under, what gender your product is aimed towards, what they like and dislike eg technology or magazines or education etc. It has to appeal to those whom it is aimed towards.

Selection of Content

The selection of content in a advertisement, trailer or front cover gives the audience a rough understanding of what the product is and who it is aimed towards.

Words

One of the key elements looked at within an advertisement or front cover is the words that instantly catches the readers attention. The words are what gives the taster of something context and depth to what the product is trying to show. For example, on the Apple website, the advertisement uses words such as 'immersive', 'vision' and 'future' which portrays professionalism. Because the words in this advertisement are more technically advanced, the product would be aimed towards a slightly older age group such as 16-25. The product may not necessarily stick to this age group as it offers other features such as games, music, books and apps which could be aimed towards a slightly younger generation, however, the words used to advertise this product are professional and technical meaning the product is aimed to a slightly older generation of people who may understand the words in its context.

In comparison, the nerf gun advertisement is more child-like seeing as it uses words such as 'safety trigger', 'super safe' and 'never miss again'. This type of vocabulary entices not only young children but parents too as they feel as though their children will be safe while using the product. The words are more simple and easy to understand. The short and sweet vocabulary proves that the target audience is much younger than the apple product seeing as children are more likely to read and understand it.

For a younger target audience, you want the words to be short and sweet to stand out rather than long and technical as younger people may find it boring.

Images

Images intrigues the audience into buying the product because they are instantly attracted into what they can see from the images. The whole point of images is to slightly exaggerate what the product really is, to get the instant attention span from the targeted age range. The more images within the advertisement, the younger the target audience usually is. Older generations of people usually go for plain and simplistic advertisements and magazines as too many bright colours, busy texts and images scattered everywhere usually loses the attention span of older people. Here, I have picked two different advertisements for the same products as above as the company Apple do not always show plenty of images like other products such as Nerf.

As you can see in the Apple advertisement for the product 'iPhone 6', there is only one image with the title and a short tagline. For this advertisement, there only needs to be one image due to it looking professional and simple. If there was plenty more images on this advertisement, it would become too cluttered meaning the target audience of 16-25 would not look forward to buying the product due to it looking too child-like and busy.

On the other hand, the nerf gun advertisement uses plenty of images to show all angles of the product. We can clearly see that the target audience for this product is around 6-10. We can identify this target audience by whom is shown in the photographs. We see a young girl aged no older than 10 in several images. We see her using the product and seemingly enjoying herself meaning the product really is good fun. We then see the product in a circle with some text showing some of its features and we see the product again behind the main image of the girl to show the side pattern. For this advertisement, colour, business, image and bold text really is what the target audience is looking for. As a advertiser, we want to catch the attention of the targeted age group as quick as possible and hold on to them before we lose their attention to something else. Specifically the younger generation.

Colour

Colours play a big part too. Whether its in magazines or advertisements, music videos or news papers. By looking at the colours, we instantly gather an understanding of who the targeted audience are.

As you may recognise in the Apple advertisement, the product tends to only use plain colours. Why is this?

They are using mainly the colours black and silver but with a little purple on the flower in the middle of the phone. Now lets imagine the advertisement with lots of bright and powerful colours. Imagine the back of the phone is white with lots of pink and purple just like the Nerf Rebelle product. Do you think this phone will sell?

I personally do not. A phone is meant to be a smart and professional product that is designed well to catch their target audience's attention. Here with the nerf colours, it would send out mixed signals.

The bright pink and purple colours stand out meaning this product is mainly aimed towards a girl. At the age of around 6, a young boy would not be interested in a product with pink and purple on because he associated those colours with a girl. Same with girls. The would not buy a product with lots of blue and green on at such a young age because these colours are associated with a boy. Just by the colours of a product, we can tell a lot about the product. i.e the gender or who the type of person would be buying this product. For example, the simple black and corresponding grey on the iPhone suggests you are very much the architecture who likes their phone looking professional and not too young. Whereas someone who has a bright yellow or red phone, obviously does not care too much about the professional look as they would rather have their phone looking bright and colourful. The advertiser and business company would need to look into the colours deeply as they do not want to lose their target audience.

Apple's target audience is quite clearly meant for young adults aged 16-25/35. We know this because of it's smart look, professional and business standard features such as Microsoft applications and finally, the way in which it is presented. It is always shown as plain and simple in the advertisements. The advertisements is never cluttered with information. This is because they want you to be intrigued into the design prospects for you to then click and find out more. Rather the advertisement of the Nerf Rebelle, gives you all the information and once for you to know and be intrigued into the product. This is how we see the difference in the target audiences. From a professional office or business worker in their early 20's/30's to a young child aged around 6. Preferably a girl who loves the outdoors seeing as the bright pink bow is for outdoors purposes only.

Font

This brings us to the font. The next thing we look at after being intrigued by the colours of the advertisement or magazine is the way in which the font is organised. This can tell us a lot about who the target audience is.

Firstly, as shown below the font used for the iPhone 6 advertisement is clear and bold with nothing fancy. The font has the little logo of the Apple product at the beginning of the title and then the name of the product. My first thoughts when seeing this font was suddenly interested. Being a older teenager who loves phones and gadgets, this font immediately appealed to me because of the plain and simplistic design. The font told me that the product appeals to older teenagers/young adults and that it is a professional well designed phone. I was told this from the font because of it being black only with the smooth look to each letter. It made me want to look into what the product is.

The second font 'sureshot crossbow' is a more bold font than the 'iPhone 6'. It immediately appeals to young boys seeng as it is so big, bold and harsh. Boys tend to be more boisterous rather than laid back and chilled therefore a title that is very harsh and sharp, immediately speaks to boys. The colours being red and yellow are fire-like meaning danger and threat. This also speaks to young boys as they like to play a little rough. I believe this font appeals to boys aged around 6-12.

The 'Nerf Rebelle' advertisement is a very good font. It is almost unexpected as usually pointy and harsh corners of letters would be associated with boys. However, the harsh corners corresponds with the theme of the product as the colours and the bold parts on other letters, suggests this product is for girls. The highlight of the font also suggests this is for young girls as it is a bright saturated pink rather than a pastel colour which would be for maybe an older generation. Maybe the pointed corners suggests the product is for the brave young girls who loves the outdoors rather than most girls whom would rather play with barbie dolls.

It is important to really focus on your font when creating your products casing, cover or advertisement because the font is the very first thing a person looks at before looking deeper or buying the product. If the font is too small or does not carry out the right message or signals as it should, then the clientele will immediately lose interest. Sometimes the font not only connects with its target audience but it tells a story too. It tells the story of what the product is about or what it will be about. It may give hidden spoils like a trailer. An example of this would be a product I made myself about Bipolar. The title sequence was messy and all over the place as the symptoms of Bipolar are. This gave the audience hidden spoilers into what they should be expecting from the product.

Sequence

Sequences are what makes the video product. Whether its a trailer to a film or short film, music video, or video advertisement, they are all short sequences to tease the target audiences into watching or getting the full product. The teaser of something is very important because it is the first thing that the audience watches. It makes up their mind to whether the product is going to be worth watching or buying. If the trailer, music video or teaser does not look very appealing then the target audience will not look into the product further and they will give off a bad review to others.

Usually fast and short cuts within a sequence is targeted towards a younger age group. This is because lots of fast actions showing the most important parts of the sequence, keeps the targeted audience of around 6-16 entertained. A younger audience tend to get bored easily when the same storyline or action is dragged on too long. With the shots being fast, it shows multiple different angles of the action or product before going onto the next most important actions. This is usually seen within film trailers but could also be seen within video advertisements for technology while having dialogue to draw the audience in.

The way in which a sequence is put together is largely important because it shows you exactly who the targeted audience is for the film or product. For example, film trailers are designed to cut from each progression line of the story. By this I mean the trailer would need to show a part of the beginning, action in the middle and end. Not giving away too much of the story but enough to show what is happening and taking place.This maybe within action adventure films, romance drama films, sci-fi or any film that includes the conventions of a beginning, middle and end. Even advertisements or album covers, show a teaser of what is going to be inside which is very important for the targeted audience to see.

This advertisements is advertising the product 'iPhone X'. As I was saying about the fast, short cuts entertaining a younger audience, is not always the case. From this advertisement, we see that they have used long, smooth cuts to demonstrate and show off the point they are making. In the beginning of the advertisement, the camera glides across the top of the product to show the smooth off edge screen. This camera movement is shown throughout the whole of the advertisement from beginning to end. Why is this? I believe that they have used this camera movements for this sequence to show the smooth, sleek and professional angles of the product. From this, we can identify that the target audience would have to be around 20-40 to understand the technical terms and words in the sequence, be enticed by the few colours there are in the video, not need to be entertained by fast action shots as they are more interested in seeing every angle of the product and watching what it can do. This proves that although there are basic rules advertisements follow such as dialogue in the video and keeping it short usually about a minute, the sequence and selection of content varies depending on the targeted audience. The professional, high class men and women who love sleek designs like this iPhone, would be intrigued in the slow and steady shots in the sequence rather than a child who would need pictures, lots of colour, enthusiastic dialogue and fast paced shots showing actions within the sequence.

In comparison to the 'iPhone X' commercial, this new Nerf commercial is as expected. Fast action paced shots, colourful products, kids the same age as the targeted audience playing with the toys to show its lots of fun, enthusiastic dialogue with text is what you expect from a kids commercial. Its fun, interesting and keep the kids entertained unlike the 'iPhone X' commercial where it is slow, simple and professional. We clearly see the difference in target audiences due to how the sequences are put together.

Sound

Sound works alongside the visuals. Without the sound, there is no commercials, movie trailers, music videos and many other video products. Sound can be used in a variety of different ways such as dialogue, music, backing tracks on commercials so its not too bland, sound effects such as a click of a button or part of an action etc etc. There are plenty different ways in which sound is used for the product you want to create. Sound is what is always there without you even realising. Its job is to keep its target audience entertained instead of getting bored because this can have a big impact on the end product.

This product uses mainly dialogue and sound effects to make the actions more dramatic for young children. Within the first second of the commercial, we hear a zooming sound as the camera is getting closer to the text and we hear a crackling sound like the font is breaking. The font gets slightly blurry as it zooms away from it. The sound effect here enhances the actions of what is going on for example, the zooming where if it was actually filmed, wind would rush past the camera making that whoosing sound. In a children based commercial, it is important to have lots of enthusiastic dialogue telling the children what the product is and what it does in the simplistic vocabulary possible, for them to understand.

Looking back to this commercial in terms of sound, the dialogue is more bland and standard rather than enthusiastic, showing that the product is aimed towards the older generation of 20-40. The sound effects are more bland too, they sound more neutral and smooth like the phone looks. There is more of a backing track rather than sound effects because the commercial wants their target audience to feel more relaxed into listening about the product rather than it being upbeat. From this, we tell that the targeted audience is much older as it is not as entertaining than kids commercials due to it reaching out to more professional older people.

Implicit, explicit connotations and denotations of a product.

This music video is very negative and unhappy because of the theme and the tone of the song. The colour grading reacts accordingly to the song as it puts the audience and the words in perspective for the meaning. This means that the audience can easily feel the emotion of the song by watching the visuals accompanied, as the colour represents the anger and feelings of the artist. This allows the audience to feel as though they are angry or upset over simply watching and listening to the song.

By the music video, the denotations subjectively tell us the music video is serious by the facial expressions, dull clothing and colour grading. The music also starts off at a dull low note meaning the notes are meaningful.

Even though this music video is animated, we as an audience immediately discover the connotations and denotations behind it. For example, we first see the comparisons within the two main characters whom are a contrast within happiness and depression. The two screenshots below shows the clear comparisons within the beginning of the music video.

These two images shown above are gaming cover art. They are the art work you see on the cover of the games disk and case or game download on the console. This art work is what advertises the game.

Why is gaming art work important?

Gaming artwork is very important as any product is. Where it is a music video, album artwork, films or product advertisement. The artwork is what shows off the product. It is also what the audience gets to recognise the game and product by. Even without seeing the title, if you see the artwork with the characters and background, you would instantly recognise the game or product due to the art work being everywhere. The artwork is on the disk and disk case, on the game download on the console, online and may even be advertised on tv or online if it is partnered with another brand or company.

What are the instant connotations and denotations of these products? How can we compare them?

Firstly, 'Splatoon 2' is aimed towards younger children aged 7+. This is because there is no violence or sexual behaviour encountered in the game at all. The aim of the game is to simply paint the map with your coloured ink. Whichever colour has been splatted around the map the most, that is the team that wins. It is simple and easy and fun for children. The cartoon characters are fun and interesting and the bright colours entertains the young audience. The denotations of this product is that it is colourful and uses cartoon characters. The implications we get from this is that it is aimed towards young children because we see the cartoon characters having fun. We imply that the game is easy and simply as it looks childish and colourful and does not look very complex at all.

In comparison, Counter strike Global Offensive is aged rated 17+. This is because the game is seen as blood and intense violence. We can almost imply what the age rating is going to be by the artwork front cover. Comparing to Splatoon 2, Counter Strike is much more mature and graphic as you can see by the detailed human like characters on the front. The denotations of this is that there are are detailed and graphic characters on the front with fire around them. We also see detailed broken down buildings such as a room as the surroundings. The connotations of this is that the film is going to be violent and graphic due to such detailed characters and surroundings. We can also see that the place is surrounded by fire meaning there is going to be death and blood involved. We can compare this to Splatoon 2 which we can clearly tell would not contain blood and gore like this game would.

Further music video analysis

This music video 'Rap God' by Eminem, has over 559M views. Why is this? who is the targeted audience for this video and how has the targeted audience varied with this video? I believe that this video has such a wide audience due to the lyrics of the song. The lyrics of the song connects with varies people which is why they might find it interesting to listen to. However saying this, a proportion of the audience do not understand the lyrics as they are so rapid, therefore they watch the video based upon how quick he can rap. It is visually entertaining due to the colourful neon lines and edited parts and entertaining due to how fast he can rap. This is where he gets his name 'Rap God' from the song.

The target audience for Eminem is around 16-20. Although there are explicit and rude lyrics within the video, not all his music videos are that bad therefore they reach out to a younger audience as well as an older one. Although the target audience is around 16-20, a much wider range of age groups and people watch this music video due to the outstanding rap. The speed of the rap is outstanding therefore, most people watch this stunned due to how talented the artist is.

The colours are pretty dull and plain meaning the lyrics are dark and meaningful. The lyrics have a pretty dull tone to them. We know this due to the facial expressions of the artist which are always serious, the colour grading of the scenes, the sharp shots and movements that do not flow and do not feel calming and finally, the harsh tone of the artist makes the audience feel slightly down due to the song almost telling you to feel that way.

3 examples of research in promotional materials

What is a promotional material?
A promotional material is a material or media in which promotes the album, singer, artist or similar artists in relation to what you like or listen to. Youtube does this a lot. It promotes the artists album and singles on itunes for the audience to purchase. it advertises other songs and hit singles which intrigues the audience into clicking on that song, giving the artist more views, likes and subscribers meaning more income for them.

My first example of a promotional material is Youtube advertisements. As you can see in the images shown below, there are plenty of advertisements within Youtube videos. This is a promotional material because it allows for the audience to see various other music videos and albums while listening to a song. This proves to be a promotional material because of the bright colours and text that intrigues the audience to then click on a similar song or other songs by the same artist. If the audience like the song, they may then see that it is on itunes and may decide to purchase the album or single.

How does the text influence the promotional material?

The text plays a big part with these Youtube advertisements as it is one of the main factors which promotes the product by telling the audience what the product is and who it is aimed at by the way the font is styled. For example, the song 'Juju On That Beat' promotes itself by having its own video and album cover advertisements for people to click on and download in itunes. The title is a dark shaded red, the font fits the theme of the song so the audience can instantly have connotations and opinions on the music, to whether it will appeal for them or not.

How does the colour influence the promotional material?

A promotional material is what advertises and grabs the attention of clientele. If the promotional material is dull and plain, we know that it would not attract the attention span of young children. If the colours were bold and bright, more young children would be interested as professionalism does not appeal to a younger audience. The colours may promote the advertisement by catching the attention span of those whom are interested in pop/rap which we can clearly see from the genre of the artwork. If the colours are solid and do not have several tones, it is usually because the artwork is directed to a younger or teenage audience rather than an older one. The big and boldness stands out as younger audiences don't tend to look into close detail.

To summarise, the colour on this advertisement is mainly light grey with a touch of red. The red stands out from the grey in the title and the trousers of the character to attract its audience. The red promotes the itunes advert as it is what sells the audience.

Who is the target audience of the 'Juju On That Beat' itunes advert?

I believe that this advertisement is aimed at 14 -17 year olds as it is not mature and serious. The clothing style of the characters is a little funky, the words are a little weird and in my opinion, not many people over the age of 17 would buy this song.

I believe that this advertisement did become very popular with older school children due to being in the top 50 on itunes a while ago. Therefore, this is a large advertisement as people will be intrigued into clicking on it and listening to it on itunes.

It is a small scaled advertisement as it is on the side of a Youtube video but it is big enough for the audience to see and click on it.

Is there a theme to the advertisement?

I do not think that there is a particular theme to this advertisement however, I have noticed that every album and singles cover for this song, is always using the same colour scheme and font style for the audience to recognise it. For example, the red font matching the red trousers of the character. This promotes the product due to people having something to recognise it by and know what it is before they buy it. By its 'style'.

What are the designs of the advertisement?

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/advertisement_and_marketing_communications/advertisement_design.htm

"Thus, design is one of the most fundamental features of an ad."

"There is neither a magical formula nor pre-defined rules to combine lines, colors, images, typefaces, and other graphic elements to create an eye-catching ad. However, design depends upon the requirement of the client and features, functions, appearance, and nature of the product.

Execution of a well-thought out layout and design has an impressive effect on consumers. A smartly articulated design encourages or in other words subtly compels people to buy the product."

How to develop a creative design?

"Designing is all about creative idea and creative idea is solely dependent upon the clear understanding of a project’s goal. Once the project is clear, one needs to do a little market research to understand the behavior of potential customers.

Punchline, eye-catching heading, succinct content body, and relevant image (if any required) must be figured out in advance. If you have all equipment ready with you, you can develop a creative design."

This website I collected this information from, is a very good website to see how to effectively create the design you are looking for in an advertisement or client work. This will help me with my own client work due to understanding the design elements of a product.

The design for the 'Juju On That Beat' advertisement is somewhat clean and professional although the bold colours reach out to a younger audience.

How does this advertisement deliver? This advertisement delivers its needs to the target audience by promoting the single on itunes. It is the same single from the music video being watched however, it is also a link to take you to the itunes platform that allows you to purchase the song. This also allows for the artist to be making income. It delivers by making the audience engaged into the song.

What are the key characteristics of a promotional product?

https://www.boundlessnetwork.com/6-characteristics-of-effective-promotional-products/

1. Useful - A promotional product that seems to be useful to its audience is always a positive sign. If the artist was a drummer then having drum sticks as part of their merchandise would become really useful and successful as the target audience would buy this product.

The advertisement 'Juju On That Beat' is seen to be useful as it is eye catching and allows the audience to access another platform of the artist immediately.

2. Well designed - You want the promotional product to be well designed as it is all about the looks when the target audience looks at the merchandise. The most common and popular merchandise such as clothing, needs to look visually stunning to the target audience or it will not sell.

The advertisement 'Juju On That Beat' is a well deigned advertisement as it is colour co-ordinated and designed very professionally with a clear and funky font to attract its audience.

3. High quality - The promotional product needs to look professional and high quality or it will not sell. Cheap looking products will reflect negatively against the company and it will soon be worn out and thrown in the bin.

The 'Juju On That Beat' advertisement, I believe is a very high quality product as it seems to sell very easily. All of the 'Juju On That Beat' products look similar so that the audience will be able to recognise it before reading it.

4. Informative - "Giving an item that educates someone about what the company does or provides useful information of interest to a specific audience can be extremely valuable. This implies that the company is thoughtful and in touch with their audience, and have their best interests in mind. Examples include branding an app for your phone that provides information on a particular subject matter, or including a branded insert page in a book about a relevant topic."

My specific advertisement I am looking at, is very informative. Because the brand has a specific colour co-ordination and layout, it is not confusing to the audience. The audience know what the product is before reading it and they know who the target audience is due to the colour and look of the advertisement. Meaning it is easy to see what genre of music the advertisement is promoting and who the target audience is.

5. Desirable - "Understanding the target audience and their wants and needs is important when determining the right product. Always consider the type of event, location, or venue where the promotion will happen at as it will help identify the mindset of the target audience and their specific needs at that time."

The requirements of the 'Juju On That Beat' advertisement is to reach out to a young audience. Meaning the colours would need to be bright and stand out, the font would need to look funky and cool whereas a more professional advert like the iPhone X, it would need to look more standard and professional.

6. Sentimental - "Promotional products can be powerful when they speak to a certain passion or memory. Meaningful connections can then be created between the brand and the recipient as a result of having shared an experience that was meaningful and the recipient will always have something to remember it by, for example a charity event that holds personal meaning or company recognition event."

I personally do not believe this product to be sentimental. This is because I do not see any hidden connotations or meanings behind the front cover. However, I do know of a promotional product that does contain hidden meaning and connotations. This product would be the album cover of Ed Sheeran's albums. They are not of him, they are of little symbolic signs that gives meaning to every album and single he creates. To show the words have meaning. Another artist who does this would be Adele. Adele names each of her albums after her age at the time. The album and singles are all about her life and what is going on at that time and point in her life. Her songs are almost like a journey of whats going on through the ages of Adele. Her albums are sentimental due to having much more meaning than just a album title.

What are the codes and conventions of the advertisement 'Juju On That Beat'?

The codes and conventions of this advertisement would be the genre. The genre of this single is Hip Hop; Trap. We as the audience may not have know that the song had trap music in however we can clearly tell that the single is going to be hip hop. The stylish yet funky font, big bold colours, character with weird clothing on the advertisement is all the conventions of a hip hop song. Meaning the audience would immediately know the genre and target audience due to having an up beat and colourful advertisement cover.

How does the advertisement speak to its audience?

This advertisement speaks to its audience by conveying the conventions of a young hip hop, trap song. These conventions of being young and lively, connect with the audience which immediately grabs the attention of 14 - 17 year olds. Any younger or older people looking at this advertisement, would not really understand or appeal to it due to it either not being their type of genre they like or their age. For example, older people may not understand the slang vocabulary used. The advertisements speaks to its audience through colour and style.

To summarise the 'Juju On That Beat' advertisement, it is a promotional material because of how it advertises the song's music video on itunes. This is a good example of a promotional material because of how the increase of singles purchased for this album has increased over the passed few years when watching the music video. The music video is also like an advertisement due to you needing the internet and the time to watch the video. From itunes, it allows you to listen to the song anytime at anyplace without using data. Having a small scaled advertisement that conveys colour and the interests of the target audience, it works well as a promotional material.

We can see that the colour schemes and proportions are what contrasts the two feelings. On the left, everything is more dull and dark and broken or disproportioned. While on the left, everything is perfectly proportioned, bright and cheerful which is what changes the audiences connotation of whats happening and what is going to happen.

For my second example of a promotional material, I will be looking at Spotify advertisements which are music related, and advertisements of music on the radio. I will be looking at how these products are a promotional material.

As we see by the first image shown below, Spotify has its own advertisement to intrigue people into buying the premium version. The free version of Spotify, acts as an advertisement itself due to it being like a taster so people can get a little hint of what Spotify is all about. However, it contains lots and lots of adverts due to it being free. This includes Spotify ads to show how big the Spotify community is and the premium version which is said to be much better than the free version. The Spotify adverts are very recognisable due to always being the same font style, same font size, same colour and same theme. Sometimes the text is different and background is different on the advertisements but the basis of the advertisement stays the same.

Spotify's advertisements can be based all on audio for example, someone talking about the new album or singles of an artist, or it could be visual where the advertisement is an image with a hyperlink that takes you to various other platforms.

Radio advertisements can also promote in various of ways and forms. Below is a advert used on the radio to promote a product. It shows how products can be promoted using audio. Sometimes, the radio may also talk about a particular product in a positive way for it to be promoted.

For my next promotional material example, I will be looking at live performances leaflets. How do the leaflets make you want to see the artist live and why might this help the audience purchase the music?

The image shown above is the leaflet of Adele's concert. It is used to promote her live shows and tours when she is in a certain country or town. It is a promotional material as it is used to promote Adele and her music at a live performance. The leaflet entices the audience into purchasing a ticket for her live performance. 62% of Adele's audience are women which is obviously her target audience. Her audience is slightly older and usually have families. Whereas artists such as Beyonce, has a mostly male audience due to her sexuality and nudity in her album covers and music videos.

How does the text influence the promotional material?

The text influences the promotional material by being simple and plain. There isn't loads of text boxes dotted everywhere with lots of writing, it is just showing the date and the place of the show. It gets the audience excited for when you find out more info such as where you get the tickets, where exactly is the concert placed and the times. You may also find out various other information. This leaflet just gets the audience excited for it. By having hardly any text, only the date, country and town of the tour, it strives the audience to find out more. This promotes the product due to the audience getting ready for the tickets.

How is the colour used to promote the material?

The colour does not immediately stand out as soon as you see the product. The beige background and black contrasts very well. Beige does go very nicely with black and white as it is an in-between colour meaning the leaflet looks visually attractive. A leaflet is all down to the looks and design. If it looks messy and not colour co-ordinated then people will not want to buy the tickets to the live show meaning the promotional leaflet is a fail. The fact that it looks professional due to the simplistic and modern colours with the touch of red lips on Adele's face, makes the audience attracted to her lips. We are attracted to her lips due to it being bright and bold which stands out from the simple colours in the background. The colours do not clash but they sure do stand out. I also like how the black shadowing of Adele is in pop art form. It is different, original and fun. It suits the target audience.

Who is the targeted audience for this promotional material?

I believe that the leaflet for Adele's live show, to be aimed at the age group of 20 - 25. Even though some younger people and older people love her music, the tickets are only available for people the age of 18 or over. People who are into pop, R&B, and soul music, are often over the age of 20. Adele's music may not be the most upbeat meaning a younger audience would not necessarily want to listen to it. We can see by this leaflet also that the simplicity and colour choices are aimed towards a middle aged audience of 20-25 due to it not bursting the seem with bold and bright colours or funky font. The font is pretty elegant and standard.

Is this a large or small scaled advertisement?

I believe this advertisement to be pretty small. Usually leaflets are only a A4 size that are plastered in popular areas where people will see them. Sometimes they may be put on billboards but for leaflets alone, they are very small scaled.

Is this a popular advertisement or not?

I believe this advertisement to be big. Due to Adele being famous and having a lot of fans, the slightest of advertisements and leaflets and the fans will instantly love and be excited for the product or release of the tickets. This pre-leaflet of the concert is one of the biggest advertisements due to it making its audience feel excited for the tickets and further information.

Does this advertisement have a theme?
I don't personally see a theme in this advertisement as usually all Adele's leaflet advertisements are different. The only constant theme I can see is that It is usually Adele's face on the cover and it is always pop art. The colour schemes change however it is always simple and professional and there is never much writing only the date and place. I think the theme works well as an advertisement as it does not give away too much information yet enough to keep the audience excited. It is always elegant and professional looking also.

What is the design of the leaflet?

Again, the design of the leaflet is always subject to change slightly over time and with different concerts Adele is doing but, the writing is usually always subjected to the top and centre to show the important information and Adele is usually always in pop art under this.

What does this leaflet deliver for its audience?

The leaflet is delivered to the audience either online, before a show, handed out around public areas or seen in various places where concerts may be held. It delivers the most important information the audience need to then be excited for the final product which in this case is the live show.

What are the key characteristics of the product?

1. Useful - This product does not provide immediate value to the audience however, it does provide them with immediate key details of the product such as date and place which is very useful to know. The audience may want to make sure they are at that time and place in advanced incase it is very far away. They may book a holiday there to see the artist on that date.

2. Well designed - I believe that this product is well designed as it is professional looking. The colour is very well co-ordinated which makes the leaflet visually stunning. The colour and test has been well thought out on the page as it links and connects very nicely, leading your eye from event to event.

3. High quality - This product is very high quality as it is professional looking and is not pixelated when blown up. We see that a lot of time and effort has gone into this product as the design specifications are really good. It has done its job of enticing more fans to buying the new upcoming products therefore it is high quality as it has done the artist a favour.

4. Informative - This product is informative due to showing the dates and place of the live performance. It allows for the fans from across the world, to get there in time. Or if people already live in this location, it allows for them to prepare and save money for the tickets as they know the performance is coming. The product shows thoughtfulness due to it being pre-released before the exact times and days of the show. It allows you to be prepared that there is this show coming up.

5. Desirable - This product does understand who its target audience is. Not only the age but who they may be as people. What genre of music they like, who they are and what they like and what stereotypical group they may be in. The leaflet is professional therefore immediately, we associate this with an older age group of 20-25 and we also associate it with professional people. People who will have enough money for the concert, people who like their music to have value and wisdom behind. People who also do not follow the stereotype of being 'cool' or following the trends of music due to rap being one of the most popular genres listened to today. The product shows this by the elegant and professional text and the well colour ordinated foreground and background. It all links and connects with its targeted audience.

6. Sentimental - This product shows power. If we look at the pose of Adele's face in the centre of the leaflet, we see that she looks elegant and serious. We see that she takes her work very seriously due to her pose and posture. She is the centre of the leaflet showing it is all about her, she is the star so she is showing confidence and pride by being the centre of attention. We see from the product that Adele's pose is meaningful show she is more than an artist so you should purchase and be excited for the upcoming event as it is Adele's event. Artist like no other.

The codes and conventions of the leaflet is the professionalism and elegancy. This is because the aim of the leaflet is to carry the requirements of the target audience. If the leaflet does not have a taste of elegance, drama or professionalism, the target audience would not be as interested. They are interested in the style of the artist and the style of the leaflet that connects you to the artist. Without these features, there would be no conventions of a successful product.

How does the advertisement speak to its audience?

The advertisement speaks and connects with its target audience by having the codes and conventions to give the product a sense of elegance and professionalism. It really connects with the audience because yo can easily tell who the targeted audience are for the product. We as an audience automatically appeal to this product as we know we are the right age group. If it appeals to our senses then we know immediately that the product speaks to us due to us liking this style of music.

Unknown Track - Unknown Artist

00:00 / 00:00

TASK 2 - Research on music promotion

"Music promotion is big business. Here is a typical scenario in a recording company: You, the recording artist, have signed a recording contract with a major record label. The record label makes your album and ships it to a distributor that sells it to stores. The record label then begins the massive promotion of your music. This promotional effort requires a lot of work by a lot of people."

"Promotion: These people are responsible for getting your music played on the radio -- which is essentially the total goal of the program because if you can get played enough on the radio, you'll sell more records, see more demand for concerts, and everyone makes more money."

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/top-402.htm

In my own words, I believe that music promotion is what the music industry is all about. Without music promotion, music would be nothing. Cover art, music videos, albums covers and adverts is what gets the singles and albums recognised and into the industry.

What promotional material types are there?

Music (album covers, art work, music video, trailer, teaser)
Games (art work, trailer, teaser, game preview, images, explanations showing what it is)
Radio (promoting other songs and artists)
TV (broadcasts, live, opinions promoting products, advertisements between programmes and films, sponsored ads etc)
Social media (images showing what you can do, what your doing or interests, what you offer, products you have made and where people can contact you... potential commissions)
Film (sponsorships, like disney where they include other films the company has made into the film e.g. the nemo toy in monsters inc)

Music promotion research to the song 'The Lazy Song' by Bruno Mars

For our music promotion research, my group has decided to have the artist Bruno Mars as our clientele. We are making a new music video for Bruno Mars's song 'The Lazy Song'. This music video will help promote him by entertaining the target audience by matching the visuals with the audio. To create this music video, we will be creating our own monkey masks in the style of Bruno Mars to represent him as an artist. We printed out plenty of monkey mask jpg images on A3 sized paper, placed them and cut them out on card, cut out the eye holes and mouth holes, made holes for the string, measured our heads and tided on the string to the mask. We did this for 5 or 6 masks and we was then ready to film. Our research, planning, mood boards and storyboards allowed us to know exactly where we are filming and what we are doing.

To film the music video, we used an editing suite where we placed the camera on the window seal with a mask underneath to face it up a little. We then had the music video playing on a mac so we knew we was in time with the song and that our dancing is matching with the lyrics. When editing, we cut out the beginning and the end as we was getting in place, cut out the audio and placed in the audio of the song. We then made a few tweaks.

For our album cover, we went out on campus where the woodlands area is and got a photographer to take plenty of pictures. We done various shoots and positions and picked out the few best ones and edited a little to suite our album cover. We also planned for this too so we knew exactly what we was doing.

The music video promotes the song by adding visuals to it. Making the lyrics have meaning and something to relate to. The album cover and images makes the single visually attractive. It makes people want to click on the song and listen to it or buy it. Both the album cover and music video works as an advertisement to make the audience want to purchase and listen to the song.

Connotations and Denotations of the album cover and music video.

The album cover is very bright and cheerful. This gives a very good representation for the single as the audience will see the single as bright, funny, relaxed and happy. The song is relatable as it and the music video is very laid back and chilled. Meaning people know the feeling of not wanting to get out of your bed somedays. The location of the album cover is very green. The bright green grass and overhanging tree suggests positivity and fun. A bit like the style of Bruno Mars, the music video and album cover was supposed to be just a bit of fun rather than anything too serious. Even though we wanted to make the best product we possibly could for the clientele, it was supposed to have that relaxed, one take vibe to it. I believe that the album cover does deliver to its audience by showing the happiness and positivity of who the artist is.

The music video delivers to its audience by carrying the same style of relaxation and positivity. It brightens up the mood of the audience which is its way of advertising the artist. The music video also gives you the visuals to connect with the audio giving the song much more meaning. The clothing, facial expressions, posture of the characters all say a lot about the theme of the video as it gives the audience the impression of informality or formality.

Secondary research of Bruno Mars:

Bruno Mars's real name is actually Peter Gene Hernandez. He is an American singe, song-writer multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and choreographer. He was originally born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Why have I researched into Bruno Mars's background when I am trying to create a similar product for his single as he is my client?

Well, before working for my clientele, I always believe that it is important to do a little research into their background so I know for sure who I will be working for. This will also help me identify what product they would like me to make and how I will be making it due to researching is style and various other products he has made. Below is some secondary research analysis into various other products the artist has made.

Shown above is another one of Bruno Mars's music videos for his single. In relation to The Lazy Song, Bruno Mars likes to come close into the foreground of the shot very often. This is his way of interacting to his audience by being the main attraction. He wears bigger and brighter clothing than the other dancers and he always makes a point of being centre in the shot or in the foreground. This music video also has somewhat of a casual theme to it too. Even though the main artist is singing and dancing across the city with his group of backing dancers, the fact that they are all just dancing and getting up close to the camera, still gives us that casual and cool feel to the music video. As if it has not been rehearsed but they are just doing what they want and when they want on camera. His dance moved match the lyrics sometimes so that is eye catching but it looks very natural still.

This music video 'That's What I Like' by Bruno Mars, also demonstrates the theme of Bruno Mars. The theme that I am analysing to be demonstrated in the music video I am creating for the artist. I think Bruno Mars's style is laziness and casualness. Again in this video, Bruno Mars is a choreographer so a lot of his moves are probably natural and look natural even though they have been rehearsed. All this music video is, is Bruno Mars dancing in relation to the song. Their are slight visual effects and neon lines matching the dance moves to the lyrics of the song, but it is done in a way that looks 100% natural rather than having a lot of rehearsing which he probably had but doesn't show. It makes the audience want to jump up out their seat and dance. Whether the audience can dance or not, Bruno Mars makes it look easy by being natural.

By this secondary research into Bruno Mars, I now see who he is as an artist, what his particular style is within his music videos and album covers and how I am going to demonstrate this within the music video I am going to create for him as my client.

Shown above is some of Bruno Mars's album covers. We see that Bruno Mars's name is in red on both album covers. This may suggest how big and bold he is as an artist. I like the plain and simplistic look to the album covers which makes it very eye catching.

With the album cover me and my group created, I believe to be too cluttered. To represent Bruno Mars, I believe that Adam who acted as Bruno Mars in our music video, should have done a professional photo-shoot on his own. This would of shown the repetitive and unique style like Bruno Mars. I feel that this should have been shot with a green screen or plain back drop.

Connotation and Denotation

Our final music video product (practice to show our upcoming client):

To improve the music video product, we should have filmed it in a different location or various other locations. We originally planned on filming in the Creative Hub. However, it was being used therefore we filming in the editing suite. We should have filmed outside or in the social zone. Just to make the location more interesting, fun and appealing rather than a blank wall and a door. Next time, we will practice this more and do more dancing moves once practiced as we did not have much time, we would be a lot more natural and use various other location backgrounds.

Our final album cover artwork:

To improve the album cover art work, I think that we should have used a more professional image where all of our masks were on. Maybe a better location to show laziness and relaxation and maybe matching casual outfits too.

Shown below are 3 mind maps that I have created for this project. The first mind map shows the shooting schedule, requirements, props and constrains. The second mind map shows our initial music promotion ideas for the music video. The third mind map, shows potential ideas and plans for the album cover. The mind maps allowed us to brain storm various ideas and plans of what we want to create. How we may want it to look as a final product and what may be the requirements from the target audience.

The plan for our final product:

Monday: Research into what a music promotional material is, analyse a music video and mind map different ideas for who is going to be our client.

Tuesday: Research into the chosen artist. Research what music video we are going to do and how we are going to do it. With more mind maps

Wednesday: Film the music video, edit music video, shoot the album cover and edit it then evaluate.

Planning and testing the product:

Firstly, we are going to make the monkey masks for the music video. We are going to follow the structured plan shown above to make sure we are on track to meeting our client's goal.

We decided to do The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars because each of us in the group love the theme of his music. We love how it doesn't necessarily mean anything it is just simply a song that most people can relate to by having a cosy evening doing nothing. If lifts the mood of the audience and puts a smile on your face by engaging the audience into what they wish was their presence.

How does a large scaled promotional material compare to a small scaled promotional material?

As shown above, the billboards that are advertising Adele's new album and concert, are one of the biggest advertisements in the industry. Billboards are definitely the larger scaled promotions compared to adverts on the side of YouTube videos or hand out leaflets that advertises the artist's concert coming up.

On the image on the far left, the text is one of the most intriguing parts of the advertisement. The first thing we see when looking at this advertisement is 'Adele', the second piece of text we notice is in red and bold saying 'sold out'. Why would Adele have her own billboard for her upcoming concert if it has already been sold out? Well, even though the concert tickets have been sold out, the billboard still promotes the artist by making the audience either excited for the concert or excited for the release date of her singles and album. It shows how popular and great she is that everyone has rushed to by a ticket for the concert. It makes the audience excited and proud of her doing so well. It says how big of an artist she really is, even to have her own billboard.

Again, the font and the colours of the advertisement are recognisable due to being the same type of font and colours as other advertisements for Adele. It makes Adele seem powerful and professional due to her titles and text being professional and colour co-ordinated.

The image represents Adele as being strong and talented. The fact that it is in black and white and is showing Adele's strong stance where you can hear her vocals even though they're is no sound. The audience almost imagine how she sounds in that current moment.

The other billboards that say '4 emmy awards' in big bold writing and 'the new album, available now' or 'outstanding variety special' with Adele standing strong to her audience raising one arm in the air shows that this is her passion and victory.

How are billboards promotional materials? How do they promote the artist Adele?

Billboards are a large scaled advertisement for a reason. They are used to catch the attention of fast moving cars and vehicles on highways, main roads and roundabouts in the centre of cities. Some billboard advertisements are also shown on the side of buses to promote a product or artist. An example is where they have billboards is above motorways or in Chatham town centre as you drive past the roundabout. They also have lots of billboards in La California and all around the world.

Billboards are supposed to be big, bold and entertaining. I they are boring and dull, they will not catch the attention of vehicles and fast moving cars.

The way billboards promote themselves is by being so big that you cannot miss them wherever you are or however fast you are going on the motorway. They entertain the audience and remind them of the artist's new album, single, products or concerts. It intrigues the reader and provides them with basic information.

Find examples of brands and identify themes in design and delivery.

For my first example, I am going to be looking at the brand 'Nike'. I will then be comparing this brand to the brand 'Adidas'. They are both sport brands and similar in their ways except their themes and designs are completely different.

“Nike’s growth has come from great products, careful, thoughtful distribution and excellent marketing,” footwear expert Matt Powell of industry analysis group NPD told us. “In the sneaker business product always comes first. Great marketing can never lift bad product.” - https://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/11/09/nike-adidas-market-shares/

"Nike designed for every movement, every dunk on primetime, every embarrassment in a concrete park somewhere. It matched point for point the new breed of athletes with their multiple modes of play." - https://news.nike.com/news/nike-presents-20-designs-that-changed-the-game This shows the audience that the Nike brand is all about sports and the comfort of the foot. It shows that it is designed to be the most comfortable and skilled out on the field.

"Catering to powerful players by redefining Air, the Nike Air Force 180 Low represented a significant evolution and extension of Nike Basketball’s design language. At the time of this shoe’s release, Nike Air was almost 14 years old and Visible Air was five. How do you build on those pressurised foundations? By adding 50% more cushioning. Strapping down the player for superior support, it was clear that the 180 and power basketball went together like Barkley and controversy. When this Force hit the hardwood during the summer of 1992, victory was guaranteed. While the shoe has seen plenty of colours, that red, white and blue with a fade to gold represents an iconic moment in sneaker and sporting history. The Nike Air Force 180 Low is a classic shoe —cushioned to protect, but built to intimidate."

Again, by saying this it shows how the brands design is to cater for skill and comfort rather than look.

"A lot can change in four years. As the biggest global stage for sports is set up again in a new location, it’s time for the Nike Hyperdunk to make another statement. The landmark innovations of 2008 — Nike Flywire and Nike Lunarlon — have evolved significantly for basketball use, perfecting the formula for breathable, responsive, durable, locked-down performance."

"The result is a soft, yet responsive, foundation. The element that truly changes the game forever is a new Nike+ Pressure Sensor built into each shoe that collects information about the user’s movement and then wirelessly transmits data to his or her phone." - https://news.nike.com/news/nike-presents-20-designs-that-changed-the-game

This shows how now new technologies are being brung into Nike so they can connect to their phone through an app. Nike is keeping up with the technology to keep their customers from losing interest. Nike also does other products such as clothing, accessories and tennis rackets, balls e.t.c but the main focus for Nike is of course the shoe wear. They always try to keep the design modern, comfortable, skilful for all sports including basketball. As time goes on, their theme and design changes slightly to still appeal for their targeted audience but looks and colour has only recently came into mind as they mainly focus on comfort.

Nike always has the Nike tick on the shoe and clothing to symbolise the brand that people can recognise. Adidas's three stripes is what promotes the brand as the design is effective and fashionable.

"It’s no secret that Nike and adidas aren’t the best of friends; with lawsuits, poached superstar endorsements and defecting designers, the Three Stripes has made serious attempts to dethrone its all-conquering arch-rival in the past few years.

While in the fashion world, adidas has enjoyed a healthy resurgence thanks to its designer collaborations, faithful reissues of timeless classics and the headline-grabbing YEEZY Season project, in reality the brand is dwarfed by Nike – which owns a whopping 48% of the USA’s footwear market, while adidas’s 9% share has declined every year since 2011." - https://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/11/09/nike-adidas-market-shares/

This tells us that Adidas cares a lot about their look of the product rather than comfort and skill.

Adidas's theme is the three stripes with blue writing. Nike's theme is the Nike tick with red writing. Nike's main goal is for their shoes to deliver the comfort and durability thats expected. Nike is now introducing social media technology with the shoe but still focuses on comfort rather than look. Whereas, Adidas focuses mostly on look and promoting them self rather than comfort and skill like Nike.

As we can see by the image on the right, Nike owns the market by far because of their comfort and durability. Even star signing have not made much of an impact on the Adidas brand due to the audience knowing how the shoe feels. They know Nike is the most comfortable and that is what promotes the brand.

"The Three Stripes’ recent star signings – James Harden, Kanye West, NIGO and Pharrell Williams – haven’t made much difference to its bottom line, although no doubt the German brand is making serious attempts to change that in the future."

To conclude, the theme of Nike is the classic Nike tick with blue writing on its advertisements. Nike shoes tend to be a little wide and bulky because it is all about the comfort, feel and durability in sports particularly basketball. Nike delivers the comfort and feel to its audience as this is what promotes the audience. As well as Usain Bolt being the star signing.

Adidas's theme is blue writing and three stripes. The brand mainly focuses on the look of the shoe more than the skill, feel and durability for sports.

Codes and Conventions

What are the codes and conventions?

The codes and conventions of music videos are the different techniques used to construct meaning in them. These techniques can be divided into two types; technical and symbolic.

Reasons for codes and conventions

Codes and conventions allows the audience to be familiar with a particular genre. As they get used to recognising the different conventions within a genre, it provides a clear structure for the audience to understand and be familiar with.

Codes and conventions also ensure the lyrics of a song fit in with the video of how we expect it to be.

Linguistic

The linguistic content within a commercial is based around facts, sometimes rhetorical questions and direct address to draw the reader into the product.

For a magazine, the linguistic content would be using more slang and punctuation for emphasis as magazines use a lot conversation, action and quoted depending on the type of magazine.

The linguistic content within a film trailer would use facts to tell the audience the release dates and information and conversation from character to character taken from the film.

Different products use different linguistic content to reach out to their target audience. In the case of a magazine, the linguistic content would be much stronger than a music video or film trailer. This is because the front cover of the magazine wants to draw the attention of the reader in by the key elements of the action. Even if it is exaggerated. The linguistic content such as 'The Greatest' provides interest for the reader as they believe that the magazine is going to be good. 'Mad Max', 'Ben-Hur', 'Spartacus' also entices the reader as it tells you who the magazine is starring and what films or other magazines are inside. By the linguistic content within this magazine, we can tell that this magazine is aimed towards 12-17 year olds. We can also tell that the target audience is mainly boys due to the boyish content such as 'Jaws' which is not particularly a girls film choice. The boys aimed for this magazine must also be a little bit of a film nerd seeing as the magazine is based around films and actors. Many other boys who just watch films occasionally, would not tend to go for this type of magazine.

The linguistic content always changes for the type of magazine or product it is and for the target audience. For a boyish, nerdy magazine, the linguist content including the front cover, tends to use more actors and films that film nerds would tend to read. Rather than magazines aimed towards older generations or girls where they would contain more about the news or beauty, technology or weather. We see the variety in the audiences as not every magazine or product would suit every variety of people.

Symbolic

What might the different features of products symbolise? In the magazine shown above, we see that the big and the bold batman dressed in black is standing in a powerful stance. This may symbolise that the magazine is targeted towards boys seeing as the black that batman dresses in, is dangerous and powerful which may intrigue a young male audience.

The big bold text that stands out is very man-like. The fact that all the writing is red except the main titles in which are white so you can see them gives a sign of danger and on edge feel as though there is a lot of action and suspense within the magazine. Th black suit batman is wearing also reflects the gradient of the black at the top of the magazine. Showing red and black; the most dangerous feel to a magazine.

I also like how batman is the main focus of the magazine. He covers the main title showing most young nerdy boys would know the title of the magazine already as it is a fairly popular one so they cover part of it to show you the main focus of the image. Intriguing the target audience to buy it. With the magazine only being cheap, this also symbolises the target range of boys who gets this magazine. Seeing as they're at school and would not have much money only pocket money or change.

In comparison, this magazine is aimed towards girls aged 13-16. I believe that this magazine is for girls in that age range because of the young teenage vibe going from the colours to the volume in headlines and images. Whereas the young boys magazine was mainly text with the main character in bold at the font which looked pretty 'cool', this magazine has plenty of images scattered everywhere which will peek the interest of a young teenage girl who is into all the gossip, it has headlines everywhere stating facts, quotes of stars, intriguing lines such as 'your hottest lads revealed!' which will obviously peak the interest of the young girls and lastly, it has girly colours such as pink and yellow. What girl wouldn't take interest to that?

The drama 'fame, friendships and fall outs' may also interest young girls as they are usually into a bit of drama. Carrying around reading a cool looking magazine like this would make them feel as though they are much older and popular which may be one of the reasons why they pick this magazine. Rather than a wordy novel which may attract more nerdy people who like reading. The main peek of interest in this magazine is Taylor Swift in the middle, by having Taylor Swift in the middle of the magazine, instantly symbolises a girlies teen magazine as teens dream of looking like their famous idols.

Technical

The technical techniques is how the meaning is conveyed using technical equipment. For example, the way camera angles are used, different types of shots, sound either diegetic or non-diegetic sound, the pace of the editing style and how this would connect with the targeted audience and the genre. Even magazines are split into different genres. We can see how these different genres also fit different people.

The magazine shown below on the left uses the rule of thirds to make sure that the main star of the magazine, in the centre to show the importance of what the magazine will be about. Not just Taylor Swift but fame and gossip. The close up of her face shows her make up and posey facial expressions which also intrigues teenage girls as they are into the new fashion and make up tips especially from celebrities.

The way in which the front cover of the magazine is on the left, gives the front cover image depth as the pink and yellow theme fits Taylor's yellow hair and pink lips. the colour scheme links and with the text, headlines and images down the left and right of the rule of thirds, it gives Taylor depth which draws the young audience into looking at her as the main focus of the image.

The magazine on the right has more depth than the one on the left. As it is aimed to a slightly younger target audience of 9-13, it only really has batman as the main focus of the image. It is colour co-ordinated well as the boyish colour scheme fits the main theme of the image. Especially bing for a teenage boy. With batman covering part of the title, it gives the cover a more creative look instead of being plan and normal. The way in which batman is stood, slightly to the side with his muscly arms slightly bent, it gives the audience a sense of a superhero whether you know who batman is or not. It makes young boys think he is cool. It allows them to look up to him as he is a dark superhero who has unnatural powers. The organisation of this page is very clever as yes you may not completely see all of the writing on the page but enough for you to see what it says.

Visual and Audio

The visual and audio within a product should always be connected. The visual means nothing without audio and the audio means nothing without the visual. The audio is what tells the audience what the subject on screen is and doing. The visual is how we see and interpret the subject. Whether we like it or dislike, it allows us to connect visually to the subject rather than imagining it as we do with story books.

If they do not connect, it could give the audience false connotations and interpretations. This would lose the interest of the target audience as they do not know what to think of the particular product or scene as it does not make sense. For example, interpreting the colour red as danger rather than romance. This can have a big impact on the product.

This is an example of a very bad product showing how both the visual and the audio do not connect or work well together:

As you can see, this music video was chosen at random because the visuals and the audio just does not work. This is in my opinion of course but the audio does not work with the visuals at all. The audio does not link or connect in anyway so as an audience, we find this very confusing and hard to watch as we do not really know what is happening. The audio sounds like the woman is singing to an audience on stage as it is echoed and away from the microphone. Because of this, we expect the visuals to show us her singing live or to an audience. The fact that the woman is wondering around the streets and is not singing to the audio, it does not match meaning it does not work well as a music video should. The song should not only have links being in time with the visuals but should make sense.

On the other hand, this music video works very well.. The visuals and the audio works in time and makes sense. The video was chosen again at random but I liked how the visual effects are simple yet effective as they are in time with the words. The singer is in really good time with the lyrics which makes the video look visually attractive and the effects also links the images with the words meaning the audience are also visually entertained as they can understand the words better because there are effects to link with the lyrics. The artists clothing also links in with the theme of the song which makes it easier to watch.

As I have just demonstrated, the visuals and the audio really does need to link. This is crucial to your target audience as they need to be entertained by the product. If the visuals and audio does not make sense then they will immediately lose interest. This needs to be looked at and thought about in order for your product to be successful. Not just with music videos but anything in which requires audio and visuals. Even dialogue needs to be looked at as you do not want your audience losing interest or becoming confused.

Construction of Content

Narratives

The narrative is a story. Whether it is a music video, album cover or magazine, the narrative tells the story even from the front cover. The cover art tells the audience the story and the purpose of the product which is very important. Without a story, the product has no meaning. Even within advertisements, the advertisement shows the story of what the product is. Everything needs to have somewhat of a story to have meaning behind it. Here is an example of a product with a narrative.

The narrative of this commercial is based around a journey of self discovery. It brings the audience along the adventure of learning what a journey is and how it allows you to discover yourself in the process. What this has to do with the brand Louis Vuitton, I do not know but this is what a narrative is a lot about. Narratives can come in all different shapes and forms, especially in commercials. Some of them are not quite clear and some of them do not quite match with what the product is but the whole point of a narrative is to have a story and meaning behind the commercial or advertisement brand to make it more interesting. To promote the product but to also make it appeal to a wide audience when broadcasted online or on tv.

A narrative is usually found to be more appealing to a older generation audience such as 25/30. This is because they like to see the story unravel as they have the time and patience whereas a younger generation audience would rather something be short and quick as they do not have the time.

Layout

The layout of a magazine says a lot about who the target audience is. For example, the Empire magazine is much more informal than one which is specifically designed for designer or creative engineer.

The front cover of the Empire magazine is action packed with captions, headlines, images overlapping each other and a main title at the back. The layout attracts the attention of a teenage audience due to being action packed and attractive. Even though there are no spaces and the cover looks very jumbled, the front cover is actually designed and organised better than you think. The most attractive part of the magazine is always on the left hand side. As you can see by the guidelines added in on the image on the right, that strip going down the left hand side is the strip that everyone looks at when choosing a magazine. Why is this? This is because magazines and book stores usually have their books and magazines stacked therefore you can only see the left hand side of the magazine. It allows there to be more room on the shelf for other books and products. This is why magazines are designed for the left hand side to promote the magazine when stacked. As you can see on the front cover on the left, the woman's face and part of her body is in the main focus on the left hand side to draw attention. One character is always overlapping the title Empire as most people already know what the magazine is therefore it looks better to overlap the title with characters to draw the main focus. It is only when you draw the magazine out that you find what else is in the magazine by several other headlines.

On the magazine on the right, we see a lot more text and headlines which is the main focus of this magazine. For example, it says 'massive preview special' along with 'Harry Potter', 'Star Trek' and other highlights of the magazine. This instantly promotes the magazine as it catches the eye of the reader straight away before revealing the whole thing.

This tells us that organisation is very important with magazines. It is important on any cover art but most importantly magazines as the front cover is what sells and promotes the product. Sometimes the layout is repeating in the same series of a magazine to show repetition so the audience recognises that magazine for that same layout and font.

The repetition of something is a good way to promote your product as your uniqueness and differentness of your product will allow the audience to come to terms and recognise your product for the colours or the layout. This is a good way to promote yourself.

Captions

In magazines, pictures are what attracts the audience. The captions are what connects with the images to take away connotations and gives meaning. Similar to anchorage except captions are a lot shorter in detail. It can be a word or a couple of words minimum. You don't want the captions to be too long or you will be the reader. You want the magazine to look as interesting and visually attracting as possible. Anchorage also shows a repeat of whats on the cover of the magazine. For example, the title Empire is always in the same layout with the same colour and the main character is always overlapping the title. Captions gives the reader a little more of an insight into whats in the magazine for example, there might be a picture of a beauty product so the caption would be hair and beauty to label what the picture is, but to show that there is that section and part of that in the magazine to give an insight for the reader.

Empire magazines don't usually tend to have captions as the front cover is just a sneak peak into what will be inside rather than labelling the images but what some of the Empire magazines do do is label who the characters are in the images who will be in the magazines. They name the actor or character and the film and tell you a little bit about them. Not so much the caption but magazines do not tend to leave captions as too much writing gets boring. Single words and short sentences are the best way to catch attention. This is because the magazine is aimed towards a young audience of around 12-16 but older magazines do tend to have captions such as this one. Where it tells you exactly what is in the image. This tv magazine has short captions at the bottom. It tells you what is happening in the image and in that scene. It gives the reader a short insight into what the tv soaps will contain tonight.

Anchorage

Quoted from:

http://cherwellmediaebannister.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/anchorage.html

"Anchorage is when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily.

For instance, in a newspaper, pictures are accompanied by a caption that allows us to understand what the picture is showing us. In films, background music often helps us interpret the scenario. Finally, pictures can often be described with other pictures."

In this magazine shown above, we see Superman in the centre focus of the image. Now if we take away all the words and just leave a new noble hero who nobody has seen or heard of before and we have the title Empire in red. What would be the first intentions of this magazine?

I believe that this character alone would stand out with great pride as a superhero. His posture captures the whole super look. How he is over confident with a strong and powerful body suggests how he can take over the world with one finger. His vain hands shows he is a man and with great power. he veins in his hands almost suggests he is human due to having veins for growth except his muscular arms and abs suggest otherwise. His good looks attracts the audience to the magazine as boys would look up to him as he is a good looking and superior. His clothing shows his muscular energy and power due to it being skin tight. If it was baggy then he would not look to much like a hero as he would look far too casual to care. His dark blue eyes and his dark blue suit match showing he is colour-coordinated. The red super 's' on his chest and the red cape also matches with the red title Empire. It goes very well so the immediate reaction from the audience would be positive as they would want to know who this super hero is and what he does.

The fact that we can then associate this hero as being superman, also intrigues the audience to the magazine. The text added to the magazine then takes away the connotations of who we think this character may be as we are told and get a rough idea to start with. In actual fact, the cover of the magazine does not say anything at all about Superman. It lets you guess who the character is by he's style and looks and letter on his chest. Superman is a very very popular superhero so everyone would know immediately who he is anyway but the fact that the magazine does not mention him, makes you more attracted to him due to him not being named. One of the other things we do see is 'Man of Steel' across the bottom half of the screen. If you were to see this magazine on the shelf then you would see the word man of in steel bold letters with superman's face. This would really attract the audience into looking at this magazine as the cover almost gives you false connotations and lets you guess what is going to happen inside. Anchorage is where the second media text or image takes away the connotations. In this case, the text has taken away the immediate connotations from the images except it has left you in suspense of what is going to happen as they named actions and people in the magazine rather than fitting them to the image on the cover. This is a creative way to display anchorage as it does take away your connotations by being fitted to the magazine except it still makes you wonder what superman is doing on the cover.

How are music videos used for promotion? What do they say about the artist?

Quoted from:

https://www.slideshare.net/robertclackmedia/music-video-28407817

"Fundamentally, a music video is an advertisement."

"It is designed to draw attention to the music and illustrate the song."

A music video "appeals to its audience"

"Often artists/groups are sold as a brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to "buy into the brand"

"A music video provides a great opportunity to increase income. Watching the video may encourage audiences to purchase a number of items; singles, albums, merchandise such as t-shirts, wrist bands etc. It raises the profile of the artist/group and thus encourages audiences to attend tours and/or festivals. It can be an opportunity for product placement." For example One Direction and 'Between Us'.

Often, the artist will create and try to maintain its own image indifferent from other artists to be recognised by across their platforms. Sometimes the audience will pay for their records and music videos by their 'look' rather than their records. However, in other cases, the songs are purchased because of the heart and sole and meaning rather than the 'look' of the artist. For example, Ed Sheeran.

Another purpose to a music video is Synergy. Synergy is when two or more media products work together to benefit from each other. Skyfall is an example of this. The producers of Skyfall and Adele have made arrangements to promote each other. The film Skyfall promotes Adele's music video and Adele's music video promotes the film Skyfall.

Music videos are a strong way to earn income from your record as the amount of views and hits you get on Youtube allows you to earn money from it. More people would watch your music video as it is visually entertaining rather than just audio and it is free. The free music video promotes your record by almost advertising for people to buy your record or album when they like your song.

So, what does it say about the artist?

Depending on what the music video is about, may say certain things about the artist. For example, the Spice girls have their own unique clothing look meaning people would interpret them in different ways. You can see a lot of their personality through their clothing and the story they are telling through the music video.

As we can see by this picture of the Spice Girls, each one of them has their unique style to show the type of person and artist they are. Compared to Miley Cyrus for example, Miley Cyrus is known for her being naked or wearing hardly any clothes suggesting her music videos are being aimed towards men around her age. The Spice Girls are more into their own personality, they would rather show what they like as a person through their clothing rather than following the hottest clothing trends. Jon Bellion who isn't such an out there artist, follows his own casual trend of being smart and tidy rather than the jelled back hair look or showing his body.

A music video can say a lot about the artist. Look closely and see what the story is or their look and how they act. It tells us not only a lot about the artist but who the targeted audience are watching the video. Watch these two music videos shown below. The comparisons are pretty clear and from this we can see the different comparisons within artists music videos.

Jon Bellion does not so much pose and strut, he would rather express himself through the words of his song such as Ed Sheeran. Whereas, Miley Cyrus would rather attract male attention by wearing hardly any clothes and strutting around to attract more attention than the sound of her music. Would the music video sell more of Miley Cyrus than just a single? I think so.

How are album covers used for promotion? What do they say about the artist?

Quoted from:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zw8xfrd/revision/2

The design of an album cover can reflect the genre of its music. This can be seen through the colours, features and iconography.

Album covers will normally have links to record companies and a merchandise website where the artist can benefit from online promotion.

Quoted from:

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/cdcover.htm

"Your cover is your calling card to the record industry and to the consumer... how well you design it and the other graphics for your release could well determine your success or failure as a musician."

"It is the advertisement for your music"

The album cover is an effective and creative way for your introduction to your fan or customer.

Quoted from:

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/htpromotemusic.htm

"The internet is an incredible promotion tool for independent musicians"

The album cover is a great advertisement for your single and album because it almost gives you a taster of what the album or single will be about. Not only that but it gives you a sense of who the artist is and what the genre of music is before listening to it. This is how an album cover is used for promotion. The album cover is what sells the artist into buying and listening to the music. We can see who the target audience is from the cover meaning we would know whether the music is going to be for us or not.

Shown above is a couple of album covers from two different artists. The top two album covers are promoting the artist Ed Sheeran and the bottom two are promoting the artist Miley Cyrus. What are the differences?

Firstly, we see that Ed Sheeran is not on the album cover. Why is this? I believe that it is because its not himself he wants to promote, it is his music. Even in Ed Sheeran's music videos, he just simply sings with not much fancy clothes or movements, he simply just wants his targeted audience to like his music. Instead, his album covers carry symbolic messages of a symbol. To give his singles and albums meaning. Such as erase, divide, multiply etc. This is a clever way to creative promote his music by making each album and single different in their own way. By this, we see who Ed Sheeran is through the personality of his music. We see that by having only a smiley face on his album cover, we see he is a nice nature person who wants to carry the message of happiness through his music so he will intrigue those who want to hear good meaningful songs rather than watch music videos for what the artist is not wearing.

Secondly, we see Miley Cyrus. On the complete opposite end of the scale. She clearly relies on her 'looks' for promotion as men would like to see her pose without much clothing on. This is what she is recognised for therefore is why she is on the front cover of her albums. On one of her album covers we see that it says 'cant be tamed'. This shows her naughty and sneaky personality through these words. Someone who may really love the music by Ed Sheeran, may not necessarily listen to Miley Cyrus which is where you can see the comparisons. Miley is promoted in an entirely different way than Ed Sheeran down to the type of person she is. This also reflects upon the targeted audience as someone who is known for her looks and her music videos, is going to have an audience who likes that attention rather than an audience to just watch the artist stand on stage with a microphone and not moving.

Who created the album cover artwork for Ed Sheeran?

http://www.radiox.co.uk/news/ed-sheeran-painted-own-divide-album-cover/

Actually, Ed Sheeran painted his own album cover to promote his work. Usually big artist like Ed Sheeran, would normally pay an artist to create their artwork and album covers. The fact that Ed Sheeran paints and does it himself, tells us a lot about who he is as a person. If he hired someone to do his artwork, it may be because he wants to look like a good person and not in vein when actually it is completely down to the paid artist who is making him look good rather than himself. As we can see from the news, he is very happy and takes pride in his work for the connotations behind the words. He likes how the album cover shows those connotations clearly for his audience to interrupt maybe their own opinions and meaning.

Miley Cyrus's records are produced by the studio company 'RCA Records' who produce her cover artwork. This shows the difference between Miley Cyrus and Ed Sheeran as she does not take the time and energy into creating the cover album herself but she lets the studio do it for her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangerz

This shows she is slightly less interested in her music or meanings as she would rather pass the work load onto the studio instead.

For my third promotional material research, I will be looking at the music video teaser for 'What Do You Mean' by Justin Bieber.

A teaser trailer is supposed to be visually stunning to its audience for them to be intrigued into the official music video when it comes out. The teaser music video, acts as a promotional product to show that there is a new single and music video coming out soon just not quite yet. A bit like the Adele leaflet I analysed, the teaser trailer does not have much information on because it is just supposed to catch the attention of its audience, to then find the information out at a later date. It is choppy to show you the most important acts the the music video and it shows you the chorus to entertain the audience. It is a teaser trailer so it does not want to give too much away.

How does the text influence the promotional material?

Shown below is the order in which the pieces of text are shown throughout the trailer.

'A Brad Furman film'
'Justin Bieber'
'John Leguizamo'
'0 Days' 'What Do You Mean' 'Justin Bieber'
'JB' - logo is shown throughout

The fact that the text is all in the same font, makes it more visually stunning for the audience due to the font and text all being able to connect. The style of the font matches the video as it is brightly coloured and stylish. The video has lots of different neon coloured lights to appeal to a young audience. The font is colourful and bright, while also being stylish, this matches the theme of the video. I like how the font is young and stylish while the audience are also able to still read it. There is a little Justin Bieber logo in the bottom right hand corner which is a nice touch to show who the artist is and the font at the end, also looks stylish to appeal to young people as it is a count down to show the wait for the teaser trailer is over. It then also reminds you of who the artist is and what the name of the song is called. It links with the lyrics as the chorus of the song is played a lot so the audience get a taster of the song while remembering its name.

How are the colours used to promote the material?

The colours set the overall theme of the video. There are lots of neon and bright coloured lights on the set. It makes the video appeal to a younger audience such as 15 - 17. This is because it makes the video less formal and more entertaining due to the slight smoke and neon lights. It is visually attracting and the font and lights that shine on the characters faces, link making it all the more engaging for a younger audience.

Who is the target audience for this promotional material?
The target audience for this promotional material is around 15 - 17. I think this because of the bright pop colours, the young artist and young actors in the seen also. The target audience cant be too young due to fairly sexual scenes. However, Justin Bieber isn't too old himself therefore he instantly attracts particularly a female audience.

This advertisement is a fairly large scaled advertisement due to it being a video from Youtube. There are much bigger advertisements such as billboards but as a whole, this is a large scaled advertisement which works well so it is big and clear for the audience.

This is a very popular advertisement due to it having 400,156 views currently and a big 32,00 likes. As you can see, this teaser was very successful due to it having so many hits. This means that the video has reached out to many of Justin Bieber's fans as expected and has made a big impact on the video. It also allows for the artist to see whether the single is worth producing or not. If the teaser does not get the hits is expected too then mostly likely, the song will not be released due to it costing too much and not making any income.

Does the teaser have a theme?

The theme of this trailer is a teenage hip hop party theme about a girl who the artist likes. We see this because there are two main characters in the video, romantic neon lights and smoke when things get heated. This gives us the impression that the theme is love.

Does the trailer deliver to its audience?

I believe that this trailer does deliver to its audience due to it giving out enough information of what the song is and the story behind it but not too much where the audience decide if they like it or not. It is very choppy showing you different scenes and arrangements and it uses a lot of transitions to connect each storyline in the trailer. I think it is edited and put together really nicely meaning the target audience should really love it if they are fans of Justin Bieber. It covers all the requirements to be a trailer and all the requirements from the audience such as colours, catchy chorus etc. and with the amount of views that the trailer has got, I should think that the trailer has worked pretty well.

The trailer is designed to catch the attention span of the teenage audience who are into pop music. The trailer is bright and lively and enthusiastic so the target audience would have to match this liveliness. If the trailer has not peeked the interest of whom it was designed for then it means it was not a success.

What are the key characteristics of the product?

1. Useful - I do believe this product to be useful due to it giving out

some information for the artist's new single. Due to the artist being so famous, all the fans will want as much information as possible about their new single or album. This teaser really will get them excited for it. It will also make more people aware that there is a new single coming soon so there potentially will be more views and likes. It may also be another way to earn income from the song. By getting likes and views on the teaser. Just as you would with merchandise.

2. Well designed - The product has to be well designed so the shots and scenes make sense. It cant just be cut up in any way and put some parts together for a trailer. It has to catch the audiences attention and show some information with the vital parts of the music video. It has to be designed and put together well with appropriate transitions to tie the cuts together.

3. High quality - I believe this product to be high quality due to having a certain amount of professionalism to it and it being 1080pp. You can clearly see as the audience that a lot of the time, effort and team work has gone into making this trailer even though it is only a trailer. This makes this a high quality product as it has been organised and designed specifically for the target audience.

4. Informative - The product informs the audience on who the artist is, what the name os the new single is, how the chorus and parts of the song sounds, who the characters are and finally the release date. This information is key to the fans of Justin Bieber due to them wanting a taster of what the product will be like.

5. Desirable - The product connects with its target audience by ensuring it has the codes and conventions needed for a teenage and middle aged audience. For example, the neon colours and smoke especially when things are heated, the middle aged actors, the lyrics and tone of the song. We know this product connects with its audience by having these key elements needed for the targeted age group.

6. Sentimental - I don't particularly think that this product is so much sentimental. There is no connotations or meaning or power behind the product it simply is just a trailer. It is supposed to look amazing and eye catching so the audience are intrigued by it but nothing more. It is just used to promote the single and the trailer itself.

What are the codes and conventions of this product? What makes the product what it is?

The main codes and conventions of this product is what makes the theme. So the lighting is one of the codes and conventions because it makes the product what it is. Its a significant recipe as is the choppy cuts going from action to action. The characters would also be a code and convention due to playing a big part in the product. The artist is the main code and convention as the fans are looking for him. His clothing and mise-en-scene plays a big part as you want to see and feel attracted to the star as it is all about him. He wants to sell himself to the female audience by taking off his shirt or wearing tight clothing to show his muscles. This is what is selling the product to its audience.

Again, as I just answered, this is how the product is sold to its audience. By conveying these requirements to its audience to show off the star, to make the song lively instead of showing vocal ability. His fans either are attracted to him or want to be him. This is why it is important for Justin Bieber to look good as this is what sells the product.

For my final promotional product analysis, I will be looking at one of Mika's album covers. I believe his album covers to be a promotional product material due to it being the first thing the audience see when looking at his music. If the album cover was dull then his audience wouldn't be as interested due to it not being fun or entertaining. The album cover promotes itself through the colour and busy images. The artist keeps his album covers similar due to the audience liking his persistant album covers art works. It makes him different, original and recognisable.

How does the text influence the promotional material?

There is not much text on this album cover however, the text that is on the cover stands out. Immediately the name of the artist 'Mika' really stands out on the album cover. this is big, bold and slightly off centre. The fact that it is white and everything else is not, makes it stand out all the more. The other text on the cover says 'life in a cartoon motion' and the font is very squiggly like a cartoon. I believe that the font promotes the product due to not having much font on there. The font that is on there really stands out to show just how strong and powerful it is. It shows the artists originality and shows that he is creative. It makes people recognise the artist for who he is and it intrigues people into the colourful creativity. It shows positivity.

How is colour used to promote the material?

The colour of the album cover is used to promote the album by entertaining the audience. What makes Mika differ from other artists is his outstanding use of colour and imagery. It is different, bold and creativity. It shows his originality and creativity as an artist which stands out from other artists. The colour of the album cover is so busy with light, dark and pastel colour that anything white like the artist name 'Mika', is made to really stand out. One thing I also find very interesting is how every colour seen on the front of this album cover, is said in Mika's song 'Grace Kelly'.

Who is the target audience for the promotional material?

I believe the target audience for Mika's album, to generally be older than artists like Justin Bieber. I think this because Mika is a lot older himself and throughout his music, he shows maturity. It is not pop and rap that will entertain a younger audience, he sticks to his own style why would mainly intrigue the age group of 25-30. However, although his music seems a lot older, his album covers do not. His album covers look as if they have been drawn by a child. The colour also is not very co-ordinated as everything is mixed and matched in any colour. In a way, this gives a mixed target audience due to the cover looking very child like whereas the song could also reach out to an older audience. Maybe he is looking for an all-rounded audience for his music.

Is it a large scaled or small scaled advertisement?

This advertisement can be either small or large scaled. The album cover could be promoted on a website, used as a link to his itunes, used on Spotify or a CD cover. Therefore, it can come either as a small or large scaled front cover. Whether it is small scaled or large scaled, I believe that it will stand out which is a positive for the artist as his album cover will never go not seen.

Is it a big advertisement?

I do not think it is a very popular album cover as Mika is a very independent artist and because he is so different, I think people will either love or hate his music. Saying this, Mika still is a popular artist today even though the younger generation would not particularly listen to him.

Does the advertisement have a theme?

I think the theme for Mika's art work is a little unrealistic. If we look closely, there are a lot of white cloudy circles at the top suggesting a daydream maybe. There are so many random drawings that do not particularly make sense meaning it may no need to or want to make sense as a whole. Maybe the theme of the product is to be random and positive like some of his songs. Maybe it is supposed to convey the image of your head being stuck in the clouds. The randomised theme is shown throughout all his albums to show his consistency. This is what makes him unique which is key in the industry.

What is the design of the album cover?

Again, the design of the album cover is just very random and childlike. The design is to be random and have objects and colours that are mentioned throughout his singles. In the song 'Grace Kelly' each and every of these colours on the cover are mentioned. Same as the objects, they are also mentioned throughout his singles too.

What does it deliver?

It delivers the theme of being random. This promotes the album as his fans love the fact he is completely random and original. If he was any other way, he would be too similar to other artists. The product is also delivered on many platforms such as itunes advertisements on Youtube, on Spotify, as a CD cover and has also been promoted on the radio a while ago.

What are the key characteristics of the product?

1. Useful - I do not believe that this product is particularly useful although it does help promote the album by giving the audience an image to know the album by. It helps promote the album and be recognised.

2. Well designed - I do believe that the album cover is well designed. Even though the album cover does look very random, it is actually very organised due to relating to the songs he has created in his album. Every childish drawings is shown to be in the clouds where his creativity is created. I believe that the colours and images have been put together very nicely due to relating to himself and his songs.

3. High quality - This promotional product is high quality due to it being professionally organised to speak to the audience. It is not lack of skill that the drawings look childish and all over the place, it is down to messy arrangement and design. This makes the product professional due to wanting to create a childish look to speak to an all-round audience.

4. Informative - The product informs the audience of how random and creativity he is as an artist and what the songs are going to be like in the album. The album cover does not inform too much information however, it does give the audience many connotations of what genre and music type his songs will be like. For example, my first connotations were boosted with positivity, confidence, originality and randomness. People may interpret this in different ways but the connotations are what makes the audience want to listen to the music.

5. Desirable - The product is going for an all-round audience. The cover is very childish and random but some songs are very mature and are talking about adult life. His music can be very varied depending on the theme of the song. Therefore his cover makes sense to be random to reach out to a varied audience for his music. His music is very positive and out-going therefore the audience listening would want to hear a positive themed song.

6. Sentimental - I believe that the album cover art wok does have some deeper meaning. The fact that there is clouds at the top of the album cover, shows his head is in the clouds. The colours show vibrance and in-differentness. Maybe the artist is a little conscious or anxious as he does not want his picture spread across the cover of the album. Maybe he wants to give meaning to the cover for his audience to interpret themselves.

What are the codes and conventions of the album cover?

The codes and conventions of this album cover would be creativity, colour and significant images. This is what makes the product what it is. The colours are powerful and bold giving life the image, the randomness shows creativity of the artist. It also shows how it can appeal to everyone. The images in all different shapes and sizes that look like a child has drawn them, makes you wonder what they relate to. It is only when you listen to all his songs that you can began pieces together the picture of what image is from what song and what the meaning is behind it. This is significant as most artists just have their face on the cover.

How does the album cover speak to its audience?

The album cover speaks to its audience by having different themes throughout his songs that may appeal to different age group and people, a childish front cover to show it can appeal to a young audience too and slight swearing and explicit content in some songs to show maturity for an older aged audience. The artist has thought about everything to try and capture a big all-round audience rather than only sticking to a particular age group. It gives him more likes and a wider spectrum of people listening to his music which is what he wanted.

These images shown below are what someone else has found very interesting about his album cover. This is their analysis:

Compare at least 2 examples. How do they differ?

How does Adele's album cover's compare to Mika's

First off, we can see the complete opposite with artists and music. Adele's album cover has her on the front. We see that Mika's album does not. He uses plenty other ways to promote his music rather than himself. We see the objects and colour are what he wants people to see rather than himself. Maybe his music has meaning and he wanted to show this on the front cover. With Adele's front cover, we see she is the centre focus which means her music is all about her and her life rather than other meanings.

The fact that Adele's album cover is in black and white to contrast her and the title, Mika's album cover is very colourful. What does this say about the artists? Maybe that Adele's story she wants to tell has a very serious tone that she wants to be heard. Maybe the white shows the positivity in her life and the contrasted black shows the death and hard part of her life? Mika shows a more positive first impression. He uses plenty different colours as sun in one of his songs. Maybe he wants to make his album cover as bright and bold as possible to reach out to a younger audience.

Who is the target audience? Adele's audience is 69% female with a target age group of around 20-25 sometimes older. Mika's target audience is more of an all-round audience. He wants many different age groups and people to take interest in his music rather than specifically male, female or a specific age group. Some of his songs have swearing so it is aimed towards a slightly older age group but even so, younger people may also like these songs.

The titles are also a big comparison. Mika's titles on his album covers are big, bold and exaggerated. They also have an element of 3D to show depth. His title looks very childish and bold to stand out. In comparison, Adele uses very sophisticated titles to capture the attention of her audience. It is bold a thin unlike Mika's title that is thick. Every album has her age on also to record her life at the moment, almost like a diary through her music. Mike is a little more random than that. He doesn't make it personal, he keeps it entertaining.

What promotional product was more successful? Justin Bieber's music trailer 'What Do You Mean' or the itunes advert for the song 'Juju On That Beat'?

Both promotional media products are entirely different. It is hard to compare their analyses as they are not the same product however, you can compare their success to show which media product may work better as a promotional material.

Justin Bieber's music trailer has a whopping 401,578 views and a amazing 32,000 likes. This is amazing seeing as it is only a music teaser before the video or audio is released. We do not have an exact figure of views or hits that the Juju On That Beat advertisement has got, but we understand that Justin Bieber's teaser is more popular due to the advertisement being small and on social media that does not allow for the advertisement to be seen. By this I mean YouTube. If you click onto the Juju On That Beat music video on YouTub, to see the itunes advertisement for the single, you have to click in the top right hand corner on information for a list of similar songs and advertisements to drop down. This makes the advertisement hidden as not many people would click to see the advertisements.

A teaser trailer is always seen to be more successful than just an advertisement because if you are on YouTube or other social media platforms, it is very rare for someone to click on an advertisement and interrupt what they're doing to buy a single or click on an advert. Adverts on social media can usually be seen as annoying due to people just wanting to watch and do what they want instead of adverts popping up. Especially on gaming applications on tablets and phones. This is where the adverts get their money, from showings and from people buying the single but it is not often people will click on an advert and buy the product in the middle of their game. This is why Justin Bieber's teaser trailer is most popular due to the audience loving the video. If the video is visually stunning, has a story and is catchy then it will make people want to listen to it again and again due to it sticking in their heads.

The itunes advert is basic with a little colour that is mainly red that is striking to look at. Although it is striking to look at because of the way the red stands out as the main prime colour, there is not much else to the album cover that draws in the attention to a wide audience. It looks very teenage age ranged because of the way it looks like pop and has strong outlines but I do not think anyone older than 17/18 will particularly want to listen or take note of the advertisement.

On the other hand, the colours in the Justin Bieber What Do You Mean teaser, is very bright and bold. There is not just one colour that strikes the audience. There is plenty of different shades. The cover of the music teaser has a mixture of red, pink, blue and black. They are all neon coloured lights to set the mood of the video. It is aimed for a teenage audience however, the theme of the song may also appeal to a middle aged audience too. The cover of the music teaser looks interesting and colourful and fun. This is what advertises the teaser and future music video. The fun and colourful look of it. This is what appeals to the target audience also.

To conclude, I believe that the Justin Bieber teaser video is the most successful due to it meeting the requirements of the target audience and out-beating the dislikes by just under 32,000 likes. This is a great promotional material due to it leaving such a positive feedback within the audience where they will then be excited for the final release of the single and music video. This puts a positive slate on the single which means it will be successful.

This image is a cover of Adele's previous album. It is an example of a smaller scaled promotional material. It covers the same theme of Adele, which is the professional and elegant styled text, it is just a lot smaller scared than billboards.

In comparison to Adele's billboard promotions, her album cover art is used to engage the audience to give them a short story of who Adele is and what her music is like. This is shown by the front cover of her albums. It attracts the audience on various platforms such as Spotify, itunes and anywhere that sells and promotes music.

So, what is more effective? Smaller scaled promotional materials such as album covers and music videos or larger scaled advertisements such as billboards?

I believe that both, small scaled and large scaled advertisements, reach out to their target audience in different ways. Large scaled advertisements may reach out to just as many smaller scaled promotions. It all depends on who your target audience is and what age group. For example, if your product reaches out to young children no older than 10 then is it a good idea to have that product on billboards? yes it may attract the attention of the parent who is buying the product, but, it depends whether the child would like it and want it so a tv advertisement would be more useful in this case.

To conclude, I do not feel that there is an answer to what size or scaled advertisement is more successful as I believe that they reach out to different people for different reasons. I personally, feel that smaller scaled advertisements do work best for the artist Adele although billboards may also work just as well for other people.