Analysis of 2 Adverts on Heart

NatWest Advert

The advert for NatWest banking begins with a song with music in the background. The music continues when the voiceover is on as well. In the song the man singing describes how easy the NatWest ISA is. It is a humorous song. The female voice for the voiceover also emphasises how easy it is.

Ford Fiesta Advert

The advert for the Ford Focus has a narrative which is humorous. It is between two men, one who has locked himself in a room to cry about a review of the car which didn't contain many of the things that the car has.The other man is reassuring him of how great the car is and lists many good things about it. There is no music or sound effects in the advert, except when the man opens the door, when you hear the door handle turn. The advert ends with a voiceover that names the product and the brand, and gives the price.

Analysis of 2 Adverts on Capital

Morrisons Advert

The advert for Morrisons has background music the whole way through the advert. It is upbeat music, helping the advert sound happy and positive. The advert has a voiceover of a male's voice who describes flowers for good deals for Mother's day.

Anchor Cheese

The advert for Anchor Mature Cheddar Cheese has music throughout the advert in the background while a male voiceover describes the cheese. His voice is soothing and goes well with the calming music.

Analysis of 2 Adverts on talkSPORT

Heinz Beanz

The advert for 'Heinz Beanz' is of 2 little boys who are brothers, one of them listing things that his younger brother doesn't like which are good for you but says he does like Heinz Beanz - he then goes on to describe how they are good for you. There is no music in the advert and there are no sound effects either. There is a voiceover at the end by a woman who ends the advert with the slogan, 'it has to be Heinz'.

British Gas

There advert for British Gas contains music throughout in the background. It starts with a sound effect of a door opening quickly and then a female voice telling someone how much they saved on a new jumper. A male voice then responds by telling her an even better saving he made using British Gas. There is then a female voiceover which repeats the incredible deals and savings that the sale is offering. The advert ends with details of when the sale ends and a phone number and website for British Gas, and the slogan for the company, 'looking after your world'.

Greatest Hits Album Advert - Rough

(opening bars from Hey Brother)

Voiceover: Dance, the greatest hits compilation by Swedish house sensation Avicii. Featuring 'Hey Brother' 'I Could Be The One' 'Wake Me Up' 'Silhouettes' and 'Addicted To You'. (use famous bits from each song). Available exclusively on iTunes from Monday. Dance, by Avicii.

Travel Company Advert - Rough

Here's another potential idea for an advert, for a holiday company.

Capital City Holidays

Sound effects of outside of school

Woman 1 - (positive and upbeat) Are you okay Sue? You look exhausted!

Woman 2 - (tired and stressed) Yeah, I've been trying to sort this summers holiday but its jut such a hassle! I've spent hours on comparison websites and i still haven't worked out where we're going.

Women 1 (positive and upbeat) Why don't you try Capital City Holidays! Their website's so easy to use, they have amazing deals and their holidays are taylor made for your exact needs.

"Booking a holiday with Capital City Holidays couldn't be easier! With thousands of destinations to choose from, including weekend city breaks in the UK (music or sounds effects that suggest a UK holiday), destinations across Europe (music to suggest a European destination e.g. paris), and exotic international holidays for the more adventurous (exotic music or sounds of extreme sports) we've got it all covered at Capital City Holidays. See our range of destinations at capitalcityholidays.co.uk or call our holiday hotline on 0800 155 1565 and speak to one of our advisers.

Woman 1 - Hi Sue. Love the tan!

Woman 2 - We've just got back from Barbados. It was the most relaxing holiday ever.

Capital City Holidays. Stress Free Travel

Nakd Breakfast Bar Advert - Rough

Here's the first idea for one of my adverts, for a breakfast bar.

(yawning sound effect)

Voiceover: Struggling to get going in the morning?

(sound effects of busy rush hour or train station announcers)

Voiceover: The mooring rush hour wearing you down?

(sounds effects of busy work place/call centre)

Voiceover: Exhausted before your working day even begins? (party music - a contrast to the sound effects above).Then get Nakd! Nakd breakfast bars are a great way to start the day. They're nutritious and healthy without compromising on taste. Our breakfast bars are made from delicious natural ingredients, such as fruit and nuts and are wheat and dairy free with no added sugar. Nakd breakfast bars, get Nakd today.

Appropriate Products to Advertise on my Station

Phone companies:
Virgin
Orange
EE
T-Mobile

This would appeal to my audience because my target audience are all at an age where not only do they have phones but are likely to want good deals with companies as they use their phones a lot.

Car insurance:
Diamond
Aviva
Churchill
BlueSure

This would appeal to my audience because not only will the adults be interested in cheap deals for car insurance, but it will also appeal to the 17/18 year olds who are just starting to drive. It is also good as the people who are listening to the radio and to the advert might be in their car.












Yoghurt:
Muller Corner
Activia
Petits Filous

This would appeal to my audience because women who are listening may want to keep fit and healthy but also parents who are listening may want to be children's yoghurt for their children as a snack.














Travel companies:
Thomas Cook
Best at Travel

This would appeal to my audience because my audience consists of parents who may want to book holidays with their families, single people who want to travel or even teenagers who are wanting to go away with their friends.












Breads:
Hovis
Warbutons

This would appeal to my audience because bread is a necessity food which people of all ages eat and is something that all shops sell meaning the audience of mums may go out and buy for them and their families.












Perfumes/Colognes:
Chanel No. 5
Dior
Diesel
1 Million
Creed

This would appeal to my audience because perfumes/cologne are something all of my audience would wear as they are in the right age range and also because my audience is for both men and women. It is also something that one may by as a present for someone else.













Makeup:
Mac
Bobbi Brown
Benefit

This would appeal to my audience because the age range of women listening to the radio station would all wear makeup.
















Opticians:
Supersavers
Weston
Boots

This would appeal to my audience because many people wear glasses of all age ranges and genders.

Analysis of 2 Adverts from the Radioville Website

I have chosen to analyse 2 contrasting adverts from the Radioville website - one for a new hybrid car made by Lexus and one for a Yorkie chocolate muffin made by Nestle.

The advert for the Lexus has no narrative and the voiceover delivers information about certain features of the car in particular, the car's smooth performance and the fact that it is environmentally friendly. The advert features music that plays throughout - it is a soothing, classical instrumental that is used to reflect the smooth performance.

The advert for the Yorkie chocolate muffin uses different techniques. There is no music but there are sound effects, of traffic in the background and the rustling of the wrapper. This advert does have a narrative - a funny conversation between two brothers, one of which becomes emotional upon receiving the chocolate muffin. The advert ends with a voiceover that names the product and the brand.

One key feature of both adverts is the idea of representation that is used to target very specific audiences. The voiceover in the Lexus advert has a calming tone and sounds quite sophisticated, reflecting the type of audience that is likely to buy this kind of car. The representations in the Yorkie advert are more stereotypically masculine, less sophisticated and in keeping with the typical branding of Yorkie products. Representation and audience are issues that I will consider very carefully when writing my own adverts.

These adverts have given me some idea about the conventions and structure of radio advertisements. But I feel I need to listen to a wider range of adverts to get more ideas about the way the adverts are constructed.

If you would like to listen to the adverts that I have analysed please click on the Radioville link below. Click on the 'hear our stuff' link and then click on either the 'Switch' Lexus advert or the 'Bro' Yorkie Muffin advert.

Radioville

Analysis of Radio Adverts

BigSmoke FM is a commercial radio station so I want to include adverts in my script as this will make my radio station sound more authentic but will also give me another opportunity to think carefully about my audience. I am going to draw up a list of potential products that would be suitable for my target audience but before that, I need to listen to adverts on existing radio stations to get an idea about how adverts are structured and the ways that they use music and sound effects.

Radioville

I have listened to a selection of radio adverts on the radioville websites which have helped me think about the various different elements that are contained with radio adverts such as the use of music, sound effects, different voices for characters in the adverts and representatives of the company or product that is being advertised. I have also noticed that some adverts simply deliver information about the product, whilst other adverts seem to have a narrative with characters interacting with each other.

I have also listened to a range of adverts on a number of radio stations including, Capital, Heart and talkSPORT. At the moment, I am less concerned with listening to adverts for the kinds of products that would be suitable for my target audience but more concerned with identifying the key conventions of adverts so that I can include them in my own.

My analysis of the adverts that I have listened to will be on future posts.

Research into Audience - Radio Station Websites

I thought that it may be a good idea to see if the websites of certain radio stations helped give an indication of who their target audience might be. I have looked at the home pages for Capital FM, Heart FM and Classic FM.

Capital FM Website Homepage

Capital's homepage is very colourful and quirky which appeals to an audience of teenagers to people in their mid 30's/40's. It is aimed at both genders and this is clear because none of the stories are aimed at just girls or just boys. It's filled with pictures and news stories on hot gossip and current music. The music which is shown on the homepage being played is contemporary music by artists such as Jessie J or Avicii.

Classic FM Website Homepage

Classic FM is aimed at an older audience because of lack of colour or pictures compared to Capital. The font is in italics which may indicate a more sophisticated audience. As well as the homepage being black and white, the big picture in the centre is also black and white, making it seemed quite old fashioned.

Heart FM Website Homepage

You can instantly tell that Heart is aimed at females for many reasons. The name is clearly aimed at women and the websites is pink and very pretty. It also contains stories on its homepage which are aimed at women such us 'Sexiest Men In Their Pants'. Like Capital, it plays current music, however, the majority of the songs are to do with love. This also makes the gender target audience women.

Having analysed audience from the websites I feel mine is closest to Capital because I want my station to appeal to both genders and the age range audience of 15-45 is very similar to Capital's audience.

My Character of Service Sheet

Below is the OFCOM character of service sheet I have created for my radio station, BigSmoke FM. As you can see it includes information about audience reach, the type of music played, target audience in terms of age and the station frequency.

Station Name - Focus Group

I have conducted the focus group into my station name and the most popular name by far was BigSmoke FM.

We discussed the pros and cons for each name before giving each station a mark out of 10 and then taking an average. Urban FM scored an average of 5 out of 10 - it was popular among some members of the focus group but many suggested that it suggested type of music rather than the fact that the station was in London.

London FM scored the lowest marks getting an average of 3 out of 10. I found this quite surprising but members of the focus group all thought that it was the least exciting name on my list. One person even suggested that it was already the name of an existing radio station.

Thames FM also scored reasonably an average of 5.5 out of 10. Those in favour of the name suggested that it instantly said London to them but others felt quite strongly that it sounded nothing like the name for a radio station and that it wasn't particularly catchy.

Metropolis FM was the second most popular radio station name scoring an average of 7 out of 10 but the clear winner with an average of 8 out of 10 was BigSmoke FM because it was so catchy and appealed to both young members of the focus group and older members equally.

As a result of conducting this focus group, I have decided to go with the name BigSmoke FM.

Potential Names For My Radio Station

My radio station will serve the Greater London area and I want the name of my radio station to reflect the fact that it will be broadcast in London.

Possible names for my station include:

• London FM - This is appropriate because it explicitly suggests that my station will targets audiences in the capital city. My concern is that it is not a particularly exciting or catchy name.

• Thames FM - Audiences will instantly associate this name with London as the River Thames is an iconic feature of London. Because The River Thames also runs through a number of other counties including Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Essex and Kent, this may imply that the radio station is also broadcast in these counties.

• BigSmoke FM - The term 'the Big Smoke' is a nickname for London and seems quite catchy as a name and is a term that many of my older listeners will be familiar with. The only downside for this name is that people might associate it with smoking.

• Metropolis FM - Metropolis is another way of saying major or capitalist city and imp lie that the station serves a major urban area such as London. My real concern about this as a name for my station is that the word itself is a little difficult to say and may not flow particularly well in jingles that would be used to brand the station.

• Urban FM - This is quite a catchy name and it does suggest that the radio station serves a major city. The main problem with it is that it has connotations or Urban dance music, whereas the music played on my station would be contemporary pop music - this name may confuse the audience.

I will be conducting a focus group with 6 people across the age range of my target audience to determine which name they think is most cuttable for my radio station.