Task 1: Your task is to write an analysis of at least three different radio commercials. You should use the information and the headings below to help you structure your analysis.
Renegade Cologne
The man advertising the cologne has a cheesy, low pitched voice and talks with a sense of seduction. The volume isn’t quiet and it isn’t loud it’s just the volume that people talk at. The advert carries a smooth rhythm cutting between situations and how the male using the product reacts in them and then to another male advertising the cologne. This advert was clearly produced in a high quality studio due to the quality of sound experienced. As for cultural codes, the advert is American as is the accent. The dialect consists of standard English vocabulary, there is no slang involved. There’s old western cowboy music behind the ‘voice’. The atmosphere created by the ‘voice’ connotes a mix of; seduction, confidence, masculinity and comedy. Each voice clearly and cleanly has it’s own space with the only thing accompanying them being sound effects or a music bed. The entire advert is humorous from start to end featuring outrageous situations and cheesy lines from the advertiser. The advert is, in effect, one big parody of your classic cologne advert, with it's overwhelming and hilarious atmosphere of seduction and zany humor.
The Cavern Of Sorrow
This advert is humorous because it features two children arguing about who's better at a computer game called 'The Cavern Of Sorrow'. There is a chorus that says; "The Cavern Of Sorrow!" in a deep bellowing voice, this happens 3 times and is fairly humorous because of it’s repetition and it’s reference to the classic medieval video game genre. The voice of the man describing the game could be described as; humble and happy; he also sounds like he could be middle-aged. The advert does have a rhythm; The kids argue with each other saying things like; “You can’t beat me stupid, I’m invisible!” “I’ve got invisibility-seeing glasses dumbass!” There’s periodic cuts to the man who highlights things in an informational manor that you can do in the game in a way that would appeal heavily to the target audience. The music bed is an exert from Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Second Movement which adds to the whole ‘old’ feeling of the advert along with the mention of swords and other things that connote the change in era. The tone of voice throughout the advert changes because it goes from arguing children to a happy man telling us about how great the game is which is a humorous juxtaposition.
‘Diary’ Coca-Cola
This advert has the great concept of presenting the diary of an ice cube. It’s as if we’re listening to the ice cube talk about his days; “Light on… Light Off… Light On… Light Off.” Then after a while the ice cube sounds surprised as he’s obviously been put into a glass at this point some dance music fades in whilst the Coca-Cola is being poured to emphasize how great Coca-Cola is. As the drink is being poured we hear the ice cube sounding very happy and excited connoting that an ice cube’s ultimate achievement is to be put into a glass of Coca-Cola. The ice cube’s voice is that of an average male, quite monotone and boring to start off with to connote that he’s bored and in need of new surroundings. It’s obvious what’s happening when the ice cube is taken from the freezer because we hear the coke fizzing and the glass jingling along with the Coca-Cola music coming in signifying that the ice cube has achieved his goal. As for the cultural codes the ice cube sounds like he’s from somewhere like London going on his accent, the atmosphere created by his voice when he’s bored at the start is probably represents the working days for people going to work; “Light on… Light off…” almost like; "going to work… coming home from work." There’s a day-in, day-out sort of feeling attached with the voice and in turn a strong feeling of personal relation. I think in this advert Coca-Cola want to achieve long term brand awareness as opposed to trying to promote a new product.
Task 2: Create 2 very short commercials (15 seconds) use a different style and purpose for each one. Try and make the style and purpose very obvious and specify which type of radio station you will be advertising on and why?
WoW Advert
The advert is solely informational and I can see it being broadcast internationally since World Of Warcraft is a widely-played international game.
Bulmers Cider Advert
The style is tempting with a hint of seduction because of the music and tone of voice. This advert would be broadcasted nationally seen as Bulmers is a British drink.
Task 2 Continued: Briefly explain how radio advertising is regulated and find out what and where the cap codes are. You must then produce a short commercial which breaks at least three of the CAP codes. Write an analysis of which codes were broken and how.
Obviously you can’t just say anything when making a radio advertisement, you have to be conscious of a set of rules and regulations called the CAP Codes. CAP are a company that claims to protect consumers and create a level playing field for advertisers with their set of codes that advertisers must follow in order for their advert to be allowed to air. The CAP Codes can be located on the website where they are listed in sections.
The first CAP code I broke was '2.25 Sound Effects' by using the sound effect of screeching tyres. This isn't allowed as it could distract drivers making them think that there is a screeching car nearby. The second code I broke was '2.12 Sexual Discrimination' because after the car has screeched and the man has shouted it says "Clearly a woman in a Skoda." This also breaks the '2.7 Denigration' code because it puts Skoda in a light that suggests it is an inadequate car brand. The '2.4 Superlative Claims' code is also broken when it states; "The absolute best satellite navigation system on the entire market!" While this might be the opinion of a group of people it does not make it factually true therefore these claims are not allowed to be made.
Task 3: Watch the video below. Describe the following:
- How is the sales team divided up?
- What would happen if a company like Coca-Cola wanted to advertise with Galaxy?
- What does CPT mean and how does it help advertisers negotiate a price with their client?
- On average how much would a national advert cost per week?
- How many weeks would Galaxy advise their client to run the advert for and why?
- In what other ways could a client advertise with Galaxy aside from radio adverts?
Galaxy would advise a new advertiser to do an advertising campaign with them for 3 months because that's how long it should take for the majority of listeners to listen to the advert 3 or 4 times, which is round about how many times people have to listen to an advert in order for it to sink in. On average an advertiser would be looking at spending around £4,000 a week to broadcast an advert nationally. Galaxy advises advertisers to put 15% of their budget aside to put towards the production of their advert. Apart from producing an advert clients can get their name heard through sponsoring, weather it be the traffic & travel, the weather or various shows broadcast on Galaxy. Sponsoring can be a good way to get your name out there because if you're sponsoring the traffic & travel you're sponsoring something that's giving information to people therefore your name adopts a feel-good image.
Task 4: You are creating an advert for a new beer that is aimed at working men. Click on the hyperlink below and go through the process of finding an appropriate voice-over. Explain your actions and explain why you ended up choosing your particular voice-over.
I chose Chris Finch as the person I'd want a voice-over from if I was making a commercial to sell beer. The reasons behind this are; His accent, it's Bolton/Manchester and he sounds like a typical working-class lad, this is a prime example of personal identity and personal relations, both suggested by the uses and gratifications theory. The tone of his voice is friendly, happy, enthusiastic and lively, quite like the attitude of many young men. Chris is known for doing Formula 1 adverts so he could be farmiliar to his male target audience audience. I believe working men will want to hear a man selling beer to them in the form of a voice-over rather than a woman due to the relation and personal identity although if this was a television advert they'd probably want to see a woman involved because that's the generic typical male interests; women, beer, cars, football.
Task 4 Continued: Listen to the advert below and use it to explain why voice-overs are so important in radio advertising.
Voice-overs are terribly important in radio advertising because without them there would be just sound effects and music. The voice is capable of doing a lot of things for example: entertaining, giving information, building interest e.t.c. Also voice-overs can come in many different forms, as the advert illustrates to us. The pitch, tone, dialect and accent of a voice establishes a mood and gives off certain vibes depending on what it sounds like. For example, in shampoo adverts they're likely to use a woman's voice and it's likely to be of a smooth rhythm and you could probably use words like soothing, soft and sensual to describe it. Whereas if you hear an advert for a new horror film the voice will be male, it will be of a much lower pitch and probably more gruff than smooth. A certain atmosphere can be created with each different voice which is why voice-overs are near compulsory in radio advertising if the creator wants to use the full potential of their advert.
Task 5: In 300 words explain the role of MCPS and PRS generally. Explain how fees for using commercial music are decided upon and explain the annual fee for PGFM to use commercial music when creating adverts and explain the fees for Classic FM, Radio Aire and Galaxy.
MCPS (Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society) and the PRS (Performing Right Society) are a not-for-profit UK collecting organization that ensures composers, songwriters and publishers receive their royalties. The royalties are collected from live performances to TV and radio use, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. MCPS-PRS became an operational alliance as of September 1997 and has been working that way ever since. Both of the companies are under the 'PRS For Music' brand, which was adopted in 2009. PRS get their money when a music performance (live or recorded) happens, from radio and television broadcasts and online. MCPS generates its income from licensing fees from the recording of the members' music in many formats including CDs and DVDs. Since both of the organisations are not-for-profit the money they collect mostly goes to the writers, composers and music publishers but of course the alliance have to take a administration/commission fee for themselves to cover operating costs and things of that sort.
A PRS music licence costs from £66 a year depending on the size of the business and the way in which the music is being played. The fees for stations like Classic FM, Radio Aire and Galaxy are dependent on how many listeners they manage to draw in. Obviously the fees for these commercial radio stations are going to be considerably more than the ones PGFM has to pay because of the broadcast range and the vast difference in the amount of listeners. The royalty rate increases with the NBR (Net Broadcasting Revenue) except when the total music use takes up less than 15% of the broadcasting time then the rate is always at 1% regardless of the NBR. The NBR bandwidths are adjusted each year according/corresponding with inflation (RPI).
Task 6: Identify a client and the sector your client is working in.
The radio has been a constant medium since its golden years in the 1930’s. It’s seemingly invincible lifespan, coupled with the fact that analogue radio appears in the majority of homes and DAB digital radio is on the rise, points to the undeniable benefit of radio advertising.
“DAB digital radio in 50% of UK households by 2010”
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dab-digital-radio-in-50-of-uk-households-by-2010-forecast
PGFM is a local radio station, run by local students. It has a real connection with the Pudsey community and gives the students of Pudsey Grangefield a unique and useful experience. Due to this, PGFM gets a lot of listeners from in and around the Pudsey area.
I can see radio advertising benefiting our client greatly. The shop is a hairdresser’s called Katherine’s, who’s main customers are female OAP’s, the exact sort of person that would be likely to tune into PGFM because they are Pudsey citizens who will be interested in it’s students and the advancements of their town, plus they have a lot of free time on their hands.
Task 7: Write up your client's brief. Explain the service or product they are offering, who they want to sell to and why. You should set out your brief in the same way as the example posted below.
“DAB digital radio in 50% of UK households by 2010”
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dab-digital-radio-in-50-of-uk-households-by-2010-forecast
PGFM is a local radio station, run by local students. It has a real connection with the Pudsey community and gives the students of Pudsey Grangefield a unique and useful experience. Due to this, PGFM gets a lot of listeners from in and around the Pudsey area.
I can see radio advertising benefiting our client greatly. The shop is a hairdresser’s called Katherine’s, who’s main customers are female OAP’s, the exact sort of person that would be likely to tune into PGFM because they are Pudsey citizens who will be interested in it’s students and the advancements of their town, plus they have a lot of free time on their hands.
Task 7: Write up your client's brief. Explain the service or product they are offering, who they want to sell to and why. You should set out your brief in the same way as the example posted below.
Task 8: Produce 2 proposals for scripts based for scripts based in 2 different styles and then report back to your client.
Proposal 1
We want to take a classic advert approach for this proposal. To explain, we don't want a narrative and we simply want to advertise the hairdressers in the classic format, highlighting the good points about it and stating the whereabouts of the shop and some prices. Because the shop has a very feminine atmosphere we want to go into the actual hairdressers and get some voice-overs from the employees, and maybe some from the customers in order to reassure the target audience. We also want the music bed to be the kind of music you'd hear on an old wireless radio because this will appeal to the target audience, and other people will be able to appreciate the authenticity. We'll obviously end the advert with the details of the shop's location and their phone number so that people can ring up and book an appointment, we could also do this ending with the employees voices, this also gives the advert an organic feeling.
Proposal 2
The approach for this idea is a bit different because we want it to have more of a narrative. The advert is going to start with the sound of someone cutting with scissors repeatedly and a jaunty, generic jingle tune then another person saying “What on earth are you doing?” then the person doing the cutting is going to say “I’m cutting high prices!” then we’ll have a generic studio audience laughter followed by the details of Katherine’s hair salon, the jaunty jingle will play throughout the whole advert and fade out at the end.
Client's Verdict
The client said he felt much more comfortable with us using the first proposal because he said it looked like we'd given it more thought and he thought the end product would turn out better than if we used the second one. He liked the idea of using voice-overs from the employees because when customers come to the shop they might recognize the voices.
Task 9: Complete first draft of script and then consult the client and document feedback.
Script 1st Draft
Old 1930’s slow Jazz fades in
JULIE: Here at Katherine’s Hair Salon we constantly strive to give our customers the best service at the lowest possible price, but don’t take our word for it!
OAP #1: Vox-pop from OAP #1
OAP #2: Vox-pop from OAP #2
OAP #3: Vox-pop from OAP #3
DEBBIE: And there you have it! The customer is always right! Book an appointment today! Dial 0113 2570510 or just pop-in, our address is; 35 Lowtown, Pudsey.
Old 1930’s slow Jazz fades out
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Client Feedback
Overall the script pleases me, it is almost exactly what I'd want the shop to be represented as and I think it will gain acclaim from existing customers and quite possibly attract new ones. The idea of using customers and employees in the advert really grounds the advert into reality and really captures the local atmosphere of the salon. I feel that this is the main selling point of the advertisement. However one thing I will suggest; I think the advert would be better if you took a 1st person approach. To elaborate, imagine walking into the salon with a sound recorder, this is what I want the advert to emulate. I feel this would further enhance the previously mentioned atmosphere, I will not go into too much detail of how I want it to sound because I feel you need some room to be creative and I don't want it to be too restricted.
Task 10: Complete final draft of radio script and print off sufficient copies for voice actors.
Script Final Draft
Footsteps on concrete, door open, entrance bell chimes.
'Take The A Train' by Duke Ellington fades in.
JULIE: Hello, welcome to Katherine’s hair salon! Would you like a cup of tea?
OAP #1: Vox-pop from OAP #1
OAP #2: Vox-pop from OAP #2
OAP #3: Vox-pop from OAP #3
DEBBIE: We hope to see you soon! So book an appointment today! Dial 0113 2570510 or just pop-in, our address is; 35 Lowtown, Pudsey.
EVERYONE: BYEEEEEEE!!!
'Take The A Train' by Duke Ellington fades out.
Task 11: Create a radio commercial for your chosen client.
Task 12: Complete an evaluation using the template below and be sure to include the feedback you have received from your client.
Purpose
In my personal opinion we definitely achieved our purpose of making a successful radio advert based on mine and my partners feelings and the feedback we've received from teachers, parents and fellow classmates. We've been told that the advert greatly appeals to it's target audience by a teacher and that it was "Like the nicest biscuit you've ever tasted". Before we had even shown it to any of the primary target audience we'd recieved heavily positive feedback regarding the style our advert carries. Throughout the advert we gave strictly positive messages concerning Katherine's and the service they sell. The advert did only include females, which is ironic because it was created by 2 males, I don't think there is any representation issues tied in with this, we used solely female voices purely to appeal to the primary target audience. The music track is crucial in creating the atmosphere in our advert, because it's an old 1940's jazz instrumental and greatly links with Katherine's primary target audience. The music has an old recording quality which makes it sound more appropriate and like it's being played on an old wireless which makes it appeal further to the target audience. The language was adiquite because it was mostly standard english with small bits of slang used around the local area, the old women we recieved voice-overs from also had quite thick yorkshire accents, which is lovely for the people we're aiming this advert at.
The technical side of things ran very smoothly, in fact we made the entire advert in about the space of a day. The levels we're fine once we lowered the volume of the music in GarageBand and raised the volume of the voices slightly. We didn't cut off anyone's voice, but during the recording for the address and phone number the woman speaking said "O-double" twice, luckily Danny was able to zoom in close enough to edit this small mistake out of the finished product. I think the advert contains enough variety to appeal to the target audience and in essence achieve it's purpose. An external voice-recorder was used to record the voices, me and Danny took the recorder over to Katherine's to collect the voices we needed. The editing was smooth and quick, there wasn't much that needed doing except collecting a few sound effects, leveling out the volumes and lining everything up together then we we're pretty much done. I think in an advert of a similar genre made by another company there would be constant reassurances of their affordable prices and quality service, aswell as stating their address and phone number and/or website. Professional advert creators do have a fair few advantages over us, apart from being professionals, they have professional equipment, they have the amount of money to use copyrighted music and hire celebrity voices to speak in their adverts.
I didn't learn any new skills in the making of this advert simply because I didn't do anything I haven't done before. I think my contribution to the production of the advert was substantial, my strength came when we went to Katherine's because I recorded everyone speak and told them what they needed to know, I think I also did well on the paper work with things like the script writing and the brief. One of my weaknesses I suppose was editing seen as I didn't do any, we just got back into class after the recording and Danny sat and did it all, I sat at the side of him and contributed somewhat verbally. I believe I was a good team member and I think me and Danny make a good team when it comes to producing because our imaginations are vivid and we can come up with good ideas together. Another reason why we're a good team is because we always listen to one another, even if it turns into a disagreement or an argument, we almost always come to some sort of compromise where everyone's happy.
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