Different
Structures & Techniques of Advertising
TV is very important
medium of advertising. It covers a Massive geographical area and Market units.
Depending on the audience and product or service, the form of an advert will
vary. There are many types of Television advertisements on our screens compared
to a few years ago and are mostly categorised into form and style. These styles
and forms help promote the product or service to the right target audience.
This allows the audience to connect and or recognise the advert, promoting the
brands product or services.
Structure (Form)
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Animation
Animation is the act of movement
created by displaying a series of pictures, or frames. There are a wide range of techniques used in
animation from 2D images all the way to Computer –Generated Imagery (CGI). It
is used for many reasons like grabbing the attention of audiences keeping them
engaged as we all being able to quickly and concisely communicate your message.
Animation is also used to help create the impossible which otherwise wouldn’t
be able to re-create in real life as well as creating a sense of surrealism. Some
disadvantages of using animation in TV advertisements is that if you use too much
it can become quite distracting and annoying for the views potentially putting
them off the product or service. Creating even the simplest animation can be
very time consuming and costly, needing the skills used in software and
animating techniques is a must to create a decent looking animation.
Examples:
The John Lewis Christmas Advert (2013)
The
‘Running with Cats’ Advert by MoneySuperMarket.com
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Mini Fictions
In many scenarios TV
advertisements commonly favour the use of a mini fiction narrative. This type
of commercial advertising centres around the idea of a very short story,
typically not much longer than a minute long.
These narratives include a main individual/protagonist who is presented
with a situation within which they have to successfully operate to overcome
some sort of problem or issue. The characters main function in the
advertisement is to connect/identify with audiences helping establish some sort
of relatable feeling to the narrative occurring. Mini fictions are structured like a short
story or film, usually ending with the reveal of the product at the end of the
advert. The success of a mini fiction is
centralized around the use of aesthetic cinematography and mise-en-scène to
give it the feel of a TV show or film instead of an advertisement. This captures the viewer’s attention to the
product/brand compelling them to recognize and remember the advert. These
narratives can create a sense of suspense gripping viewers all the way though
until they announce the product or plot at the end. The problems with mini fictions is the cost,
time and effort to create them, due to the vast detail and authenticity when
being produce leads to exceeding costs.
Examples:
The ‘Make
Love. Not War.’ Lynx Piece Deodorant | Lynx UK
‘Left
Twix or Right Twix?’ Twix TV Advert
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Documentaries
The documentary style
of advertising is commonly used by charities and by government organisations
for infomercials. These types of
advertisements are relatively low-budget due to the fact that they don’t take
much creativity to make, having a simplistic style. The features of this type
of advertisement are the use of a narrator addressing the viewers acknowledging
their presence and therefore giving it the feel of a documentary. Being most
popular with charities they typically use facts and information to inform
viewers of the charity, telling a sad non-fictional story without exaggerating
anything. This can grab the attention of viewers often getting people to donate
to their foundation. One of the
disadvantages of this style of advertising is that there are so many that
people can be put off from donating all together as well as not having enough
money to donate to more than one cause at
a time.
‘Monday’s
Dog’ Dogs Trust TV Advert
‘Homeless’
The Salvation Army | Christmas Advert
-
Talking Heads
Talking heads is a
form of advertising when a customer who has supposedly used a product before
talks directly to the views explaining how good the product is and how it has
impacted their lives. Using Real people to feed back on the product they are
trying to sell helps the audience relate to the people in the adverts and hence
the products. This is because they are normal everyday people who are usually
in the same situation as the viewers, establishing that connection. These remarks/recommendations can be exclaimed
by a popular celebrity or a professional expert on the product being
advertised. This form of advertisement
is most commonly used on house hold products like toothpaste, makeup or hair
removal etc but can be applied to most products. These types of adverts use
little creativity and mainly focus on persuading the audience to purchase their
product. Sometimes they will use a comparison with rival products using an
expert (like a dentist for toothpaste) and highlight how their product is
better than the other.
‘Yasmin’
Oral-B Toothpaste Advert
Cillit Bang Advert with Barry Scott
-
Stand Alone
One of the most common
forms of TV advertising is stand alone adverts. Stand alone ads are
advertisements which present a product or service which is not like any
existing advertisements for that brand, product or service. They are rarely longer than a minute and
don’t usually offer any complicated narratives or extremely creative elements. The
main aim of this advertisement is to just simply attract/persuade the audiences
to buy their product. There isn’t really
a significant element that defines or creates a standalone advertisement because
they are mostly all different. Usually being more unique it stands out from
others but can quite easily loose brand identity for the product or company
within the advert.
‘Yell 118 247 Directory Heaven’ By Weebl TV Advert
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Series
Advertisements
Series advertisements
are similar to mini fiction however the message that they are putting across is
usually know before the end of the advert. Compared to the ‘stand alone’ this
form of advertisement promotes the same brand/product. The series has a
continuing narrative from advert to advert; this allows the audiences to
identify with the product being shown without even seeing it. Normally these
adverts use the same characters throughout the different commercials or having the
same scenario making them very recognizable. Commonly having some sort of
humorous twist as well as incorporating lots of creativity and lots of cinematography.
Sometimes these adverts stretch on for many years becoming more recognizable
but can get very boring and annoying very quickly for the viewers.
‘Cats with Thumbs’ By Cravendale
‘Gold Blend’ Nescafe – Antony Head
Style
Now that I have
explored the different existing forms of advertisement, I’ll now be looking at
style. This being fairly similar to form but instead of looking at how the
avert is presented it is looking closely at the route that the advertising body
wants the commercial to go down. Meaning
that they can convey how their advertisement is viewed by the audience,
communicating the message they think would be the most effective. This style of
an advertisement mainly aims to target certain people focusing on small
micro-elements of the advert. This can
be conveyed though a range of techniques like shock, humour and emotions
etc.
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Humorous
Humour is a common style of advertising being broad and appealing to
most people. When creating these adverts the main focus is on how they are
going to aim the humour at the audiences. This is because the sense of humour
will be aimed at audiences that the product is made for. Usually the humour can
be tongue in cheek being quite silly and can easily stick in our minds. The
problem with this style of advertisement is that it can be quite hard to
achieve. If the joke is unfunny or taken offensively it can turn into a massive
market disaster.
‘Mr T’ Snickers Advert
‘Tea’ Aldi Advert
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Surreal
Surrealism is
combining unrelated and irrelevant elements to create weird and bizarre scenes.
This style of advertisement can be over the top and can quickly grab the
attention of the consumer. Normally these advertisements have nothing to do
with the product or anything related to it whatsoever. Typically surreal advertisements use the
strange nature of surrealism to gain media attention and get people talking
about the advert. Sometime they are used for a certain brand rather than a
product as it is better to gain popularity though your brand rather than
product, getting it more widely known.
They can easily fall into the trap of having an unfunny surreal
advertisement that many not be weird or gross enough for people to take
interest. This can have a bad effect on your company and your firm.
‘David Lynch’ Playstation 2 Advert
‘Belly’s Gunna Get Ya’ Reebok Advert
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Shocking/Dramatic
This style of
advertising can be a risky option to take but can be very effective if pulled off
properly. The use of shocking and dramatic scenes can very easily grab the attention
of audiences compared to other styles.
Shocking the audience is key here as it would imprint the message of the
advert into their minds. This is typically done in an unpleasant manor making
the audience feel sad/bad as well as distressing and horrifying them. This
style is most commonly used for health and safety messages or government warnings
such as crossing roads and anti-smoking campaigns. The shocking imagery they
would show would make the audience feel negative and unpleasant, then associating
that feeling when for example you come across smoking, unsafe environments or
bad behaviour. Some of the problems with this sort of advertisement is that
they can be very off putting to audiences getting in danger with certain
regulations like the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) or the Advertising
Standards Agency (ASA).
‘DOE Road Safety’ Irish Road Safety Advert
‘If London Were Syria’ Save The Children 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSIpARmq2WI
Sex
Sex, an effective
method of advertisement with a simple message: if you buy our product, women
with have sex with you. A style of advertisement is effective in the way which
it grabs your attention just like a shocking/dramatic advertisement, instead it
grabs your attention in a sexualised way though presenting attractive females
or males on screen. Such commercials can also be seen though personal identity,
giving you the impression that if you use the product that women will be
attracted to you, vice versa making
women feel sexy. It is very challenging to ignore these sexualised
messages due to our normal human behaviour of desiring to be attractive and to propagate.
These styles of advertising are commonly
associated with health and beauty products but can range from alcohol, cars,
gaming and fitness. Some of the problems
with this type of advisement are the controversy behind the sexual implications
shown; being offended by any viewers can lead to the advertisement being taken
down.
‘Secret Obsession’ Eva Mendes –
Calvin Klein
‘Fallen Angels’ Excite Deodorant –
Lynx
Celebrity endorsements are a good way
of advertising your product and getting it recognized by audiences. This style of advertisement involves a well
know person using their fame and notoriety to help promote/sell a product or
service. This helps audiences connect with the celebrities on screen this increases
consumer's remembrance of the advert, consumers are more apt to remember an ad
that is linked with a celebrity endorsement. It can also make a person feel
like they have reached a level of super stardom just from purchasing the
product been shown on TV. This style of advertisement is commonly used by
manufactures of perfumes and clothing but can be applied to almost anything.
Some of the problems with this type of advertisement is that it can be very expensive
(depending on the person) to hire the celebrity to feature in your
advertisement.
Xbox One Advertisement: Aaron
Paul
H&M Bodywear: David Beckham
- Parodic/Intertexual
Parodic/intertextual adverts make
reference to other existing products and texts, making fun of the original
subject matter. If the advert intertextually/parodically references a film, the
meaning and/or humor of the advert may only be understood/appreciated by the audiences
if they are familiar with the film. The meaning of the text may be dependent on
the viewer’s knowledge of the reference making it unfunny and confusing. This
style of advertisement can be funny, comedic and recognizable which makes it enjoyable
for audiences who are familiar with the reference and or joke. Usually this
style of advertisement can be applied to almost anything as long as it is appropriate.
The down side of this being that people not understanding the jokes or references
leading to confusion.
‘Dallas’ Cadbury Fingers Pomo
‘The A-Team’ 118 118
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Nostalgic
Nostalgic adverts play on the fondness
of the past therefore making the audiences remember the ancestral days of a
product or brand. Commonly referring to past events or advertisements of a
product or showcasing the growth of the brand gives the sense of nostalgia. These
advertisements give the audience the feeling of a long lasting relationship and
long lasting quality with the product. This sense of a long lasting
relationship grips the viewers thus making audiences connect with the product. These
sorts of advertisements can get boring over time being shown on TV as well as
making it feel dated.
‘122 years’ Hovis Advert
‘Child of the 90s’ Internet
Explorer
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