P1 Describe an existing media advertising campaign

P1 Memorable adverts

Memorable advert 

This is a Pepsi advert from December 2001 directed by Patrick Sherman in which a kid uses two cans of Coke so that he can reach the Pepsi button to buy a Pepsi, leaving without the two cans of coke. 

This was banned because it was too blatantly stating an advantage over direct competition without backing it up, I'm also not sure how they got away with copyright issues. This ad is memorable because it's a brave statement by Pepsi, not pulling any punches. It lulls you into thinking it's a Coke commercial at first which I think makes it more memorable as a Pepsi ad. 

Making a product appeal more to young audiences 

A service that is typically advertised through very dull and matter of fact advertising to older generations is life assurance. It typically features a person presenting facts or guilt tripping the adult into getting life assurance so their family can afford a funeral. To make life assurance appeal to a younger target audience maybe around 20 yrs old I would instead make the advert very action packed, with people doing lots of extreme sports such as skydiving, surfing, motocross etc without even mentioning any facts or guilt tripping - just a logo at the end. I think this would engage the young target audience a lot more and make them see this service as a less 'grown up' and boring thing to have, allowing them to have more fun conscious free. This would also offer the opportunity to have action sport celebrity endorsement to make the product seem more youthful and desirable. Obviously this would never happen because this is one of the most heavily regulated industries in terms of advertising and marketing, but if it were allowed that could be effective. 

Celebrity Endorsement 

Ed Sheeran (Celebrity) Heinz endorsement

Sheeran was chosen to be in this advert because of his renowned and vocal love for tomato ketchup - because he apparently messaged Heinz with the ad idea. He is on of the largest UK celebrities and is very popular among the older TA who are most likely to be purchasing condiments. The aim of this advert was clearly to promote Heinz ketchup and get the consumer to purchase it next time they're choosing between ketchups, because the product has been reinforced into their decision.  I think that this advert was very useful in it's use of the celebrity because it appeals to the working class audience by making it relatable through Ed. His storyline is funny for middle class people which gets them engaged, whilst also being appealing for the working class as it shows an anti-wealth standpoint. 

Mr Beast (youtuber/influencer) honey endorsement 

In this advert which was featured as a little 53 second extract in one of the youtuber's videos, he installs Honey (a browser extension) onto his Mum's computer to show the ease of use. Mr Beast was chosen as he is one of the largest and most relevant channels on YouTube with a very consistent and young viewership. His videos typically have high engagement due to the large ideas which means that many people will watch through the ad. In addition, his followers are typically quite young and easily impressionable, often buying whatever he says. The aim of this advert was to increase awareness for Honey and increase their downloads, which it did successfully. I think the advert was successful in its use of the celebrity but only because he has a very large following so they are guaranteed increased sales, there is no correlation between Mr Beast's brand and Honey like with Ed and Heinz. Although much like Ed with Heinz, Mr Beast has now endorsed Honey multiple times. 

Shock advertising or 'shockvertising' 

Shock advertising is a from of advertising that "deliberately, rather than inadvertently, startles and offends its audience. This is done by violating norms for social values and personal ideas. This is done by using taboo subjects, this generates a more memorable brand/ cause awareness. It can be wildly successful or backfire terribly. 

The first advertisement in this compilation is an example of shockvertising used to raise awareness for house fires killing children, called "On your child's life". It features a young boy directly addressing parents to swear on their Childs life that they will test their smoke alarms to give their family a better chance of surviving a house fire. The direct address in this advert is part of the shock factor involved as well as the boy fading away at the end to infer his death to add to the already intense sense of guilt this advert effectively creates. "You did promise didn't you?" 

P2 Evaluate the brief

 The brief 

1. The brief states that we are to create a cross media advertising campaign for a TV drama which involves at least three different advert products across mediums as well as producing a brand ident and a concept for an interactive app (with an avatar and quiz feature.) These products must be ready to be published 2 weeks before the TV drama's release at the latest. Friday 8th April 2022.

2. The aims and objectives for this brief are to generate interest in the programme before and during its release with a solid, relevant and low budget (£15000) advertising campaign. This means market research into how we can best interest the 15-21 year old target audience - looking at conventions etc. We aim to produce at least 3 different cross media products alongside the concepts for an interactive app. 

3. I will be advertising 'The Perfect Drug' a TV drama concept I created in units 21 and 22. This is an action packed teen crime drama with lots of conflict and relatability to appeal to the young and 'less patient' target audience. It covers issues such as corruption, drug abuse and racism - issues very relevant in the minds of the target audience and issues which have proved to gain their interest in other programmes like Breaking Bad and Killing Eve. The drama follows young adults along a morally distorted journey, tracking their journey from heroes to criminals. I think in terms of advertising, short social media adverts and graphics are likely to be most effective in gaining the TA's interest however I do think that a cross media campaign will be very effective because often people are desensitized to social media ads because it's all we see - so something different would capture their attention and outline the different nature of the drama. In terms of visual aspects that appeal to the audience besides characteristics such as 'action packed', I think that vintage creative design which covers clothing, set design and some music would be great in adding a nostalgic and warm feel to the adverts similar to that of 'Sex Education'. 

4. I revisited my Unit 21 P2 Proposal to remind myself about the demographics and psychographics of the 'The Perfect Drug' TA so that I can get a better understanding in my proposal of how to advertise to this specific target audience. The programme will be targeted at UK viewers primarily in the North as it will mainly be shot in Yorkshire but feature some scenes in London and around the UK. To emphasise this UK target audience the characters will be British and possible British traditions will be outlined. These characters will be very diverse in ethnicity as this will better represent the UK’s multiculturalism and broaden the audience. The programme would also highlight issues regarding racism in the North which should raise awareness/understanding. In terms of class this programme would be aimed at middle class/ (B,C1,C2) as it aims to challenge the class divide and also the misconceptions about drug use. This class is also typically the most ‘compliant’ or endorsing of the government so the programme would address this. Education level and income level aren’t too crucial to the target audience for this programme. When thinking about psychographics it

would best appeal to reformers, people seeking social awareness and independent judgement. However, more importantly the psychographics which I would most like this programme to reach would be mainstreamers and resigned, those with more linear and rigid views about class, race, gender, sexuality and government. The themes would address and contrast these rigid views. 15-21 year olds as outlined by the brief and BBC3s intention to acquire younger viewers. 

5. The target audience demographics and psychographics will greatly affect the mediums used to promote the drama because not only does a person's age typify how they engage with different adverts but also their class, income, education etc. This would mean deep research would need to be done into how my 15-21 year old TA best respond to different types of adverts because I am aware that only 33% of this group watch cable TV and therefore for example a TV advert would be ineffective in comparison to maybe a social media snippet. I will also need to look into how the B,C1 and C2 classes respond to advertisement in terms of which forms they consume most and which forms they engage with most as well as how to best appeal to them in my campaign. Furthermore, it would be useful to look into how to best appeal to the mainstreamer and reformer psychographics through advertising as especially for mainstreamers I want to get them watching the programme even though it may challenge their taste. The younger target audience would mean a different scheduling strategy in comparison to an older one because the younger target audience frequently uses social media and therefore a more long-term drip feeding campaign could be more effective than infrequent and large TV ads. 

6. To work out exactly who my target audience is and also how to best advertise to them/utilise the budget, I will need to undertake lots of research. This research will have to span across primary and secondary so that I have a wide and well informed pool of information. As lots of data regarding media consumption can be easily quantified over the years there is an abundance of quantitative data from reliable sources such as BBFC which would tell me exactly what type of media/adverts my TA consumes most. Thanks to social media and data profiling :( we are also able to directly see the direct engagement of advertisements on the social media user. I may also do secondary research besides internet data reports and articles, possibly reading books or academic essays discussing the advertising psychology of my TA. This will help me to better understand the mindset of the consumer and allow for me to create a more effective campaign. I will also undertake primary research such as surveys, interviews or focus groups because although it is time consuming, it provides reliable, specific and qualitative data which will be extremely useful in creating the campaign. I would conduct a survey by designing it using a digital software and then emailing it out to hundreds of students at may school who fit the TA, this allows for me to save time by not having to print or directly ask hundreds of people for responses. 

Requirements table 

D1 Met the requirements?

M1 Script Conventions