TV advertisement evaluation
The Brief
The task given was to re-brand/re-market a product. The product we chose to re-brand was Brut which is an aftershave and deodorant for men. In our group we looked at the products we researched and done a presentation on and finally together decided on Brut being the best option because we had a few ideas on what we can do for Brut and seemed like a good product to re-brand to a new target audience. The current target audience for Brut is older men, so we decided as a group to try and appeal this product to teenage males. We chose teenage males because we thought it would be interesting and exciting to film an advert to appeal to a younger audience and how we would go about doing this when the main target audience is older men.
The finished product and feedback
We collected feedback from our chosen target audience on the finished advert by using questionnaires on http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/ and uploading them on-line to sites such as Facebook/Twitter because these social networking sites are a great way to get feedback and even more so for our advert because of our target audience is teenage males and these sites are popular to teenagers. However getting feedback from people on the internet can be unreliable as you're not sure entirely sure who is answering your survey and if they're answering honestly but nevertheless you've got to go with it and just work with what feedback you collected. We also gathered feedback from our classmates which helped because they could give great and informative feedback as they also created an advert for a new target audience.
I think our Brut advert managed to get the main message across to our target audience that the advert was aimed at male teenagers as 100% of people which answered my survey said they think the advert is aimed at teenage males. This tells me our advert was successful in re-branding this product to a new demographic and had many aspects which tell the viewers it's aimed at teenage males. I think the advert had an appropriate impact on the audience that Brut isn't just for older men but also for teenagers by making it look fun as my feedback tells me they really enjoyed it, "It was all pretty good." and liked the different activities in the advert, "I liked the cool backwards Frisbee throw at the end".
For our advert we thought about how we wanted the advert to look and what we wanted in it to try and appeal to a teenage audience and grab viewers attention to actually watch the advert.
For the main protagonist we used a young male teenager because our target audience is male teenagers the audience will instantly know who the audience we're trying to appeal to is. The use of using a teenager as the main character will help other teenagers relate and desire the product more because they want to be like the protagonist in the advert.
For props we of course used Brut aftershave because that is the product we're advertising, we also used a football, Frisbee and skateboard which are all sporty objects because we needed them to create our montage of "teenage" activities. The use of these props and activities help sell Brut because it gives the message that if you were Brut, you will feel good about yourself and get out there and do something exciting.
For cinematography we used extreme close ups of the Brut product so viewers can clearly see what the name "Brut" and that it is the main product in focus because it takes up the entire shot. We also used POV shots from the protagonists point of view putting the Brut onto his hands. This puts the viewers in the protagonists perspective persuading them to buy the product. The close ups were success in grabbing viewers attention because people said "The cool close up of the bottle" and another "The extreme close up camera shots" grabbed their attention the most. For the skateboard scene we used canted angles and panning following the skateboard. The camera movements helps make the advert look appealing and exciting to a teenage audience, grabbing their attention.
For the sound we used an upbeat soundtrack throughout the entire advert which will create excitement and works well if the fast paced shots of the montage of activates. The results from my survey tells me that the soundtrack used was successful in the advert because one of the questions was "What part of the advert attracted your attention?" Some people said "The music starting up" and "The background music". At the end of the advert we used a "banging" sound effect of the logo appearing with a voice over saying the slogan "Get Fresh, Get Active, Get Brut". This helps grab the viewers attention with the voice over and sound effect to show the importance of Brut. The feedback I got tells me the ending worked well because they said their favourite part was "The display of the slogan at the end"The part with the frisbee and the "Get fresh, Get Active, Get Brut."and "The phrase at the end". However the ending did get some mixed views because for one of the questions in my survey was "What improvements would you make?" and feedback was "Get a better voice over presenter" and "A more enthusiastic voice actor to read the slogan out".
For the editing we used short cuts throughout the montage to keep it fast paced which works well with the fast upbeat soundtrack and makes the advert look more exciting for a teenage audience. We thought the cuts had to be short for a teenage audience so the advert wouldn't be too long and they would stay focused and watch the advert. We also used a fade transition when the protagonist was opening the Brut bottle and tipping some onto his hands. The fade helped speed up the process of him putting on the Brut by cutting bits of it out and adding a fade to make it look smooth and professional. We done this to make it less long winded of him applying it and less boring for the viewers.
I think our finished advert effectively did sell the product to our specified target audience through storyline/narrative (Teenage males) because most of the feedback we got was positive about it. Most seemed to really enjoy it and appeal to the audience successfully. However saying this some feedback I got from people would have preferred more exciting/different activities "Perhaps make the activities a bit more extreme" and "More action with better scenes when aftershave has been applied". This tells me that for some teenage viewers find the activities used were too "normal" and not that exciting. Others said they would show the Brut aftershave attract females "Maybe include how it magically makes girls fall in love with you" and "Use aftershave brand more to its purpose such as attracting females". This is something I agree would help make the advert more appealing to teenage males because it's what teenage males want to do, attract females. However we wanted to change the idea of it attracting females to more feeling good and confident if you wear Brut."
The advert got back very positive feedback however 53.33% of people said they would actually buy the product Brut. This tells me the persuasion techniques in our advert could have been better to try and sell the product to the specified target audience. Going back to what people said about showing the aftershave attracting females, I believe showing this would appeal to teenage males more and increasing the percentage of teenage males wanting to buy Brut. I do think the adverts narrative did work well in persuading the viewers to buy the product because all the different "teenage" activities and upbeat music help give the message that if you wear Brut you will feel good and confident making the viewers desire the product.
The message we were trying to tell teenager males is that Brut isn't just for older men but also for teenagers by making the advert appeal to the specified audience.We done this buy using a younger male actors to appeal to teenage males and identify them. This was successful because 100% viewers who answered my survey knew exactly who the advert was targeted at. We also used a montage of different sports to make the advert look cool and appealing to a male audience My feedback shows this worked because people said their favorite part which attracted their attention the most was the sports, "I liked the cool backwards Frisbee throw", and "The bit when he threw the Frisbee".
I feel our advert is fit for purpose and does look professional and could been shown on television as it complies with the advertising regulations. looking at the BCAP code we made sure our advert didn't have anything which could harm or offense viewers.
I think our final advert matches closely to our original intentions however we did change one of the activities on the storyboard from three teenagers walking down the street, having a laugh and a good time to the three teenagers playing Frisbee. We changed this because watching the footage back the walking down the street shot seemed really boring and dull. My results show the change to the Frisbee was a great change because many people said their favorite part was the Frisbee, "The part with the Frisbee" and "When he threw the Frisbee".We also changed our location during film, when location scouting in the pre-production stage we found a toilet which looked okay for filming as a bathroom, however during the day of shooting we found a better looking area to shoot and changed location.
I am extremely satisfied with our final advert. During filming and the post production stage we kept changing many things in our advert differently and at the end it all paid off because I think it looks much better than I originally thought it would, thanks to our group sharing ideas on what we could improve on. However if I was one thing I would change differently in our advert it would have to change the location we shot in. I think the advert would have looked much better and realistic if we shot in a house bathroom. I am 100% happy with how our advert turned out in the end though, better than expected. My involvement in this product was all round, everyone in our group done a bit of everything such as directing, camerawork, editing and acting where needed. We all worked well together as a group and were each hard working to create a great TV advert.
For props we of course used Brut aftershave because that is the product we're advertising, we also used a football, Frisbee and skateboard which are all sporty objects because we needed them to create our montage of "teenage" activities. The use of these props and activities help sell Brut because it gives the message that if you were Brut, you will feel good about yourself and get out there and do something exciting.
For cinematography we used extreme close ups of the Brut product so viewers can clearly see what the name "Brut" and that it is the main product in focus because it takes up the entire shot. We also used POV shots from the protagonists point of view putting the Brut onto his hands. This puts the viewers in the protagonists perspective persuading them to buy the product. The close ups were success in grabbing viewers attention because people said "The cool close up of the bottle" and another "The extreme close up camera shots" grabbed their attention the most. For the skateboard scene we used canted angles and panning following the skateboard. The camera movements helps make the advert look appealing and exciting to a teenage audience, grabbing their attention.
For the sound we used an upbeat soundtrack throughout the entire advert which will create excitement and works well if the fast paced shots of the montage of activates. The results from my survey tells me that the soundtrack used was successful in the advert because one of the questions was "What part of the advert attracted your attention?" Some people said "The music starting up" and "The background music". At the end of the advert we used a "banging" sound effect of the logo appearing with a voice over saying the slogan "Get Fresh, Get Active, Get Brut". This helps grab the viewers attention with the voice over and sound effect to show the importance of Brut. The feedback I got tells me the ending worked well because they said their favourite part was "The display of the slogan at the end"The part with the frisbee and the "Get fresh, Get Active, Get Brut."and "The phrase at the end". However the ending did get some mixed views because for one of the questions in my survey was "What improvements would you make?" and feedback was "Get a better voice over presenter" and "A more enthusiastic voice actor to read the slogan out".
For the editing we used short cuts throughout the montage to keep it fast paced which works well with the fast upbeat soundtrack and makes the advert look more exciting for a teenage audience. We thought the cuts had to be short for a teenage audience so the advert wouldn't be too long and they would stay focused and watch the advert. We also used a fade transition when the protagonist was opening the Brut bottle and tipping some onto his hands. The fade helped speed up the process of him putting on the Brut by cutting bits of it out and adding a fade to make it look smooth and professional. We done this to make it less long winded of him applying it and less boring for the viewers.
I think our finished advert effectively did sell the product to our specified target audience through storyline/narrative (Teenage males) because most of the feedback we got was positive about it. Most seemed to really enjoy it and appeal to the audience successfully. However saying this some feedback I got from people would have preferred more exciting/different activities "Perhaps make the activities a bit more extreme" and "More action with better scenes when aftershave has been applied". This tells me that for some teenage viewers find the activities used were too "normal" and not that exciting. Others said they would show the Brut aftershave attract females "Maybe include how it magically makes girls fall in love with you" and "Use aftershave brand more to its purpose such as attracting females". This is something I agree would help make the advert more appealing to teenage males because it's what teenage males want to do, attract females. However we wanted to change the idea of it attracting females to more feeling good and confident if you wear Brut."
The message we were trying to tell teenager males is that Brut isn't just for older men but also for teenagers by making the advert appeal to the specified audience.We done this buy using a younger male actors to appeal to teenage males and identify them. This was successful because 100% viewers who answered my survey knew exactly who the advert was targeted at. We also used a montage of different sports to make the advert look cool and appealing to a male audience My feedback shows this worked because people said their favorite part which attracted their attention the most was the sports, "I liked the cool backwards Frisbee throw", and "The bit when he threw the Frisbee".
I feel our advert is fit for purpose and does look professional and could been shown on television as it complies with the advertising regulations. looking at the BCAP code we made sure our advert didn't have anything which could harm or offense viewers.
I think our final advert matches closely to our original intentions however we did change one of the activities on the storyboard from three teenagers walking down the street, having a laugh and a good time to the three teenagers playing Frisbee. We changed this because watching the footage back the walking down the street shot seemed really boring and dull. My results show the change to the Frisbee was a great change because many people said their favorite part was the Frisbee, "The part with the Frisbee" and "When he threw the Frisbee".We also changed our location during film, when location scouting in the pre-production stage we found a toilet which looked okay for filming as a bathroom, however during the day of shooting we found a better looking area to shoot and changed location.
I am extremely satisfied with our final advert. During filming and the post production stage we kept changing many things in our advert differently and at the end it all paid off because I think it looks much better than I originally thought it would, thanks to our group sharing ideas on what we could improve on. However if I was one thing I would change differently in our advert it would have to change the location we shot in. I think the advert would have looked much better and realistic if we shot in a house bathroom. I am 100% happy with how our advert turned out in the end though, better than expected. My involvement in this product was all round, everyone in our group done a bit of everything such as directing, camerawork, editing and acting where needed. We all worked well together as a group and were each hard working to create a great TV advert.
Ed,
ReplyDeleteThis is a solid reflection of our experiences and you have covered everything necessary. Aside from waffling a little in places, this is detailed and shows you have thought about your practice and others' responses to your work. This is a solid merit and if you were to add far more detailed examples, and evidence of feedback, quotes from Ofcom and the ASA, and graphs/charts/more audience responses, you might be aiming towards a distinction.
EllieB