Blog Post 7: Research Into Existing TV Commercials In Other Forms (Online, Print, Billboard)

This research was useful for me to compare print adverts to the TV adverts I looked at. It allowed me to see what other forms of advertising do differently and allowed me more inspirations for branding and slogans. It was also interesting to see how a singular image on a print ad would grab the attention of any audience member.

Just Eat: "I've had the Thai of my life":
- I liked this advert because it revolved around a pun of a famous song that such a wide target demographic can relate to. It creates humour and an appeal to the Just Eat product, making the audience laugh and already form a liking to the product.
- Their slogan "Get that mini fist bump feeling" was imbedded at the bottom of the advert so the audience automatically recognise it's Just Eat, creating more popularity for the product as more people start to recognise it.
-The red Just Eat logo stands out as it contrasts with the blue background, making it a striking, bold, eye catching advert.
- The "tap the app" at the bottom shows media convergence and tells you how to access the it which is important since it's needed to use it.

Just Eat: "Spice things up in the Bedroom Tonight":
- The chopsticks, one of the main focuses of the advert represent oriental food, showing that Just Eat has a variety of cuisines.
- The food, which is another one of the main focuses, is placed and edited really well, almost looking shiny, making the food look delicious and appetising which sells the brand and makes the audience want to buy the food.
- The advert is very colourful and eye catching which is important so the audience see your advert easily and take your product into consideration.
- Again, the Just Eat logo in the corner makes the advert easy to identify, especially through the white text on the red background which Just Eat use in all their product logos.
- I found the pun very humorous and memorable and think that teenagers and adults, the main demographic of the product would find this very comedic, showing the brand values of a youthful and current product, unafraid to take risks, especially with their advertising.
- The direct address, call to action and imperative language on the advert entice and engage the audience since it's telling them what to do.

I learnt a lot from this research, especially about slogans and logos, ensuring the branding is remained consistent. From these two adverts, compared to the TV ones, Just Eat's branding is prominent in both especially when looking at the font and colour palette which is also used in their logo and slogans on TV. This gave me the idea to involve my business card in both adverts and a Your Food logo at the end to constantly reference to my brand throughout.

Blog Post 6: Research Into Existing TV Commercials (Other Genres)

This research allowed me to see a useful comparison to take-away food delivery service adverts. It allowed me to spot the general conventions of a TV advert as well as by genre. It finalised my ideas for branding, representation and style for the genre I am working with. It was very useful to see further representation and advertising techniques such as emotional appeal, comedy and narrative telling in 'general' adverts.
The adverts I watched and their common features:
- Persil 'Dirt is Good', Crunchy Nut 2017 UK Ad, M&S Food 'Spend it Well', McDonalds 'Bold Move' UK.
- Popular or catchy music
- A close up of the product
- Voice over at the end
- Voice over followed with their product or logo
- A catchy slogan

M&S Food 'Spend it Well':

- 'Shake of You' by Ed Sheehan playing behind the shots of the food which will attract and entertain a wide number of the audience since it's so popular and makes the advert fun, youthful and the noises the food make when it's fried for example, is perfectly in time with the music, making the advert slick and impressive.
- The editing in the video is very clever, with many closeup and mid shots of the food, each couple shots of the food is interspersed with a shot portraying an element of nature that has the same movement as the food which makes. This makes the advert memorable since it's so satisfying for the viewer to watch. Since the food has been prepared so nicely we get a sense that M&S brand values represent good quality and tasty food with exciting flavours and textures, which, through the highly slick video and high end branding of the logo (black and white), looks as if is aimed at a more middle class audience.
- There is a voiceover throughout the whole advert asking rhetorical questions about the viewer's current food which engages and persuades he/she to buy the delicious food shown on camera at M&S. This voiceover goes through to the end, where on screen text of 'M&S Spend it Well' is shown.

McDonalds: 'Bold Move' UK Advert:

- I feel this advert is aimed at a teen demographic but adults could also enjoy it too as it reflects back on their teenage years.
- When we see the boy's imagination, an edgy, alternative, upbeat song is played while we see many mid and long shots put together and sharply edited to form a montage-like video to portray teen angst. This section of the advert, especially with a lower saturation of colour and a 'dusty' filter when the boy and girl are together, shows an intertextual reference to the famous teen programme 'Skins'. Since so many people engaged with this programme is broadens the appeal of the target demographic and makes the advert more memorable, showing McDonalds is a youthful brand.
- It again, ends with a voice over, followed by their logo, followed by their slogan, which I found out was the typical order when looking at conventional techniques of adverts.

This research was useful to me because it allowed me to analyse more adverts so I could further explore how intertextuality and brand attitudes and believes were conveyed. Both adverts have inspired me to not be afraid to make my advert youthful and full of vitality. At least in one of them, I will add a catchy song because it makes the adverts more memorable and I think I will also show a close up of the food on screen, like the M&S to entice the audience and really make them want the service of my company. I also like the idea of the food noises being in time with the music. I think I  will explore this by trying to fit the skating shots in my first advert to the music, producing a slick, cool advert, perfect for my target demographic.

Blog Post 5: Research Into Existing Tv Commercials for Take-Away Food Delivery Services

I researched existing adverts for take-away delivery services to understand the conventions used and how I could use these conventions in my own advert that the audiene would expect to see. Anaylysing the videos closely helped me understand exactly how adverts and representations are created, allowing me to takie inspirations for my own advert.

When looking at the adverts, overall, they tended to contain:

-  A home setting

-  Quick and easy delivery

-  Oriental food

-  Intertextuality

-  Diverse people

-  A voice over at the end to sell the app

-  A logo of the app

-  An example of media convergence such as ordering through an app.

-  The use of social media

-  Comedy

When looking at adverts in closer, analytical detail, I found this:

Just Eat, Magic is Real:

- The setting used was a typical street of the UK with many take-away restaurants on it to convey the different types of cuisines Just Eat have to offer

- They represented many people from diffedrent backgrounds, showing a wide range of diversity which broadens the appeal of the service to the target demographic and shows their values as an all inclusive brand.

- The advert was released around the same time as the film La La Land and the style of music and lyrics used in the advert is very jazzy and musical theatre, making the advert current and memorable and appealing not just to fans of La La Land but to everyone.

- The ending of the advert, where the delivery man carries on singing, adds a comedic aspect to the advert, making him seem funny and joyful, coveying Just Eat's values of friendly and approachable  delivery staff they have working for them.

Just Eat, Manband:

- This advert starts with a group of men in a living room, a homely setting and a common convention used to portray the value of conveneince the brand represent.

-  Accurate and clear intertextuality of The Backstreet Boys is shown as they twist the lyrics to their song 'Everybody' in the pastiche-like advert combing elements of a coventional advert and a music video conveying the genre hybridity. Again, used to appeal not just to fans of The Backstreet Boys but to everyone, by creating a memorable and comedic advert.

- Even though all four men are at a gathering, there is no alcohol in the advert which, especially appealing to all audiences, fits well with the ASA code and guidelines.

Just Eat, Balti Rocks:

-  At the beginning of the advert is a couple speaking about what they want to order, again, in a home setting. Here, there is simply dialogue and no background noise, however, when the man starts singing, we start to hear diegetic sound effects of fire and brick breakage as the advert opens up an over exggerted and make-believe world where the man performs his song. The advert ends with a non-diegetic voice over telling the viewer to download the app as a just eat logo as on sreen text appears followed with a clicking sound effect.

-  Since Just Eat have to produce a memorable advert that sells and promotes their service in just 30 seconds, the editing is really consise and quick, making the advert slick and keeping the audience engaged.

- The advert mainly consists of mid and mid-long shots which are every so often intersperced with a close up and wide shot. The majority of the shots being mid and mid-long, keep the audience eniced and intruiged with the advert, making it exciting.

When looking at these adverts, I realised I wanted to make my advert memorable and visually striking for the viewer hence the slight comedy I have added in my adverts such as the Your Food card logo hitting the actors in the face. The ManBand advert was the most memorable for me due to the genre hybridity used, this is something I used for my skating advert, since the beginning section is a slick montage. However, looking at food-delivery adverts made me realise that there are no companies in the take-away industry with a USP of food delivery at any time of the day and any where, e.g if you wanted to order food at four in the morning, there isn't a service which shows they can overcome this issue therefore, this is something I really wanted to communicate in my advert. 

Blog Post 4: The Target Audience (Males and Females 16-25)

I researched my target demographic to find out about the lifestyles of the different age groups and genders and take into consideration their views on existing take-away food delivery brands and my ideas for my advert. I did this through asking questions to a variety of friends I have from ages 16-24, the age range the brief stated. When summarising the data, I put together this list:

-  The age category from 16-18 mostly live with their parents.
-  They are usually heavily dependent on social media.
-  They don't have much money. Especially university students. However, teens who live with their parents, often get pocket money or minimum wage from a part time job.
-  Watch and interact with some, and if not, a lot of TV.
-  Many teens I spoke to enjoy using apps like Just Eat because of the convenience and ease while using the app
-  Especially the younger side of the demographic, tend to have a preference to more unconventional adverts since they are more interesting.
-  One of the top cuisines ordered is Chinese.
- They like the convenience of ordering the food at an unusual hour and eating it in the comfort of their home/dorm.

I also researched 'UK Tribes', known as 'the home of UK youth research' which was actually created by Channel 4, the channel I will be creating an advert for. They split the youth of today into five categories: 'Alternative', 'Mainstream', 'Leading Edge', 'Urban' and 'Aspirant' which were then further analysed to create several 'genres' of people. When reading their information of different kinds of people, I realised just how broad and expansive the youth of today is and truly how many different kinds of people there are. This made me realise how important it was that I made my advert diverse. Also, with a lot of the 'tribes' they named, social media and technology was highly involved in each of them, further backing my point as to how ingrained our generation is with it. Since this website was created by Channel 4, I feel it's important to involve these ideas since it will match and fit with the Channel's identity well.

When reviewing what people have said to me, I found out that males and females more or less had the same opinion. However, I didn't gather as much research on people outside of my age group (16-18).  This has helped me make sure my advert appeals to all ages by conveying an all-inclusive takeaway service which doesn't favour the younger side of the demographic. I am thinking of having one of my adverts in a skate park and one at home so the university students can also relate to it since they will not be spending time at home.

Sources:

https://www.uktribes.com

Blog Post 3: The ASA BCAP Code

I researched the ASA BCAP code to make sure I wouldn't add anything unacceptable to my advert before I started planning. It was a good idea to make sure I knew what was and wasn't acceptable in adverts on TV.

- The ASA want to protect people, especially children by working to ensure that every advert on TV is appropriate.

I had to make sure:

-  It didn't condone the use of alcohol, restricted video games and using cars irresponsibly.

-  It doesn't encourage bad nutritional habits.

-  It doesn't promote foods high in fat and sugar (to lower the rate of obesity in the UK.)

-  It isn't misleading and is recognisable as an advert. 

-  Marketers don't speak falsely of their product.

-  It doesn't cause physical or mental harm especially to those under 18.

-  It shouldn’t be offensive to any race, religion or minority. 

-  It shouldn't pressure the watcher into buying the product.

-  It shouldn't hide any important information.

I looked at the Skittles 2014 advert that got banned everywhere it was broadcast:

I feel this is because: 

- It's content was offensive due to its sexual nature. 

- It was borderline pornographic which is another rule on the ASA BCAP code.

- It would be extremely inappropriate for any child under 18 to view.

- It is very misleading and you think you're watching something which isn't at all an advert at first.

When managing to get the code down to main categories to consider when designing my advert, I narrowed it down to accuracy, harm and offence, making claims without strong evidence, social responsibility around cars/driving and no alcohol or 18+ computer games to be shown throughout the running time of my advert. 

Source: ASA website

Blog Post 2: Channel 4

I followed my research on industry with researching Channel 4 mainly for me to understand where my target audience would fit into when looking at scheduling and to see what Channel 4 stands for and represents.

When researching Channel 4, I found out that:

-  They want to be a catalyst for social change.

-  They stand up for diversity around the UK.

-  They're inclusive, experimental and innovative.

-  It attracts mainly ABC1 social economic groups and with it's variety of programmes ranging from informative documentaries to alternative, quirky shows. -  Channel 4 is the UK's only publicly owned, comercially-funded public service broadcaster.

- Channel 4 was the first service to host programmes late at night and through the night - probably one of the main contributors as to why a youthful demographic engages with the service.

All this information led to how well the service fit with my target audience, especially when looking at the scheduling of the channel.

- I found out that there are 10,000,000 users registered to Channel 4 and 50% of them are 16-24 year olds. Proving the vitality and entertainment Channel 4 has to its company.

- Over 18,000,000 people across the UK engaged with Bake Off on Channel 4 whether it was on All4, to catch up, or on live television.

-  When looking at the Channel 4 schedule, on Tuesday for example, we have The Simpsons, followed by Hollyoaks, then followed by Bake Off appearing from 6pm-9pm, where many people aged 16-24 will engage most in. Therefore, I shall pay for my airtime to place my advert in in these slots:

- Monday: 18:30 (after The Simpsons and before Hollyoaks)

- Tuesday: 20.15 (throughout Bake Off)

- Wednesday: 18:30 (after The Simpsons and before Hollyoaks)

- Thursday:  23:00 (after Naked Attraction and before Gogglebox - aim at older ages of demographic)

- Friday: 12:00 (in between The Simpsons 11:30am and Channel 4 news - appeals to uni students)

This research was useful to me because it stimulated the idea of making my advert diverse and youthful so it could appeal to the Channel 4 demographic well, making experimental and innovative

https://www.channel4.com/tv-guide

Blog Post 1: Existing Take-Away Food Delivery Services / Industry

I initially started off my research with searching existing take-away food delivery services. I felt this would further my knowledge on what's currently in the market and would clearly tell me what my competition would be.

- I found out that the main delivery services available in the UK were Just Eat, Hungry House, Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

-   I found that Deliveroo and Uber Eats, having a pricy £3.50 delivery charge and deliveries from more expensive restaurants like Byron Burgers, were considered more high end companies compared to Just Eat which delivered from your local take-away restaurants.

-  I thought it was very interesting how all companies allowed you to track how and when your order was being made and delivered on the app itself, which I considered a clever and imaginative USP. 

-  Whether it was Just Eat's simple time line of the preparation of your food or the capability to actually track the car your food was being delivered in on Uber Eats, I feel all companies promoted efficient delivery services and really conveyed the convenience of their company. 

When researching Just Eat I found out that:

-  Just Eat is the longest running take-away delivery service and Hungry House was bought by Just Eat in 2017, making Just East a highly growing and well known, trusted service.

-  Recently in the news, Just Eat got critiscised from delivering from restaurants with poor hygene ratings even as bad as 0/5 stars, meaning in the lower end of the market, a trust between customer and company has been slighlty broken.

- However, Just Eat now allows you to leave a review on the restaurant  you ordered from. I feel this is a very useful selling point because it helps customers discover new restaurants that have promote good hygene suit them the most.

- Just Eat is extremely easy to use, giving the option to use either cash or card.

- I found my Just Eat research through downloading the app and looking at their website:

https://www.just-eat.co.uk/

From this research, I discovered I really wanted to portray the use of convenience my service will offer the costumer- quick, hassle free delivery through a user friendly app.