Unit 44: advertisements for radio

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...

Commercial one is for "Nando's" restaurants. It primarily focuses on the Mexican theme of the brand incorporating the use of a male voice over to do so in a Mexican accent. The use of this is to signify Nando's with Mexican food, and thus allows a listener an audience to understand 'whats in store' if they go to the restaurant itself. The accent used allows for an informal tone to the business and therefore creates a friendly and 'fun' atmosphere to the place. It allows a sense of 'joy' as its comical tone makes us smile.  Again a good point about the accent is that we familiarize ourselves with it, in the sense we hear the accent and instantly think of Nando's.

Moving on, The music bed also portrays a friendly 'vibe' which fits in well with the overall theme. Although being quiet and only played at the beginning and end of the advert, i feel it is a necessary part of the advertisement itself as it allows a focus on the more 'creative' side of the company. It makes us feel welcomed into the advert and again leaves us happy at the end. As pointed out before the Mexican theme creates an informal tone which we are not cautious of, the music helps this to be presented. 


A radio station i would place this type of advertisement on would be BBC radio one or Capital FM (formally known as Galaxy) this would be because Nando's is typically a place for young adults. BBC radio one and Capital FM both are aimed at young adults and teens which would mean that the advert would be well suited here.

Finally, i feel that the colloquial language used in the speech is effective as, even if we do not fully understand what the person is saying when talking about his brother, we feel invited into hearing about Nando's itself and what the man has to say to us. 

Commercial two is an advertisement for Alton towers during Halloween time. Using a male, informal and recognizable voice over the advert begins with a 'layed back' attitude. The use of this is to satirize the attitude of teens during scary experiences. He then goes on to state that people have left him alone, this signifies his fear and excites the listener. The echoed voice is used to represent the fact he is in a dark tunnel and therefore symbolizes one of the rides without stating which one. This is used as a hook to draw the listener into wanting to find the ride then taking action to do so, this would mean that the purpose of the ad has been made. 

After this, the 'typical' Alton towers music bed is used which allows the listener to recognize and trust the business. The music bed also fits in to the theme of fear as its juxtaposition of soft 'ballet' style notes against the imagery of isolation entraps a thought of 'mind-play' at the listener. The music makes the listener feel on edge and again the purpose of the ad is brought to attention. 


The next voice over is an older male, which has been recognized as a main voice over on many of the Alton towers advertisements, even on TV. He is announcing the deals made from Alton towers and by doing so has become a trusted voice who represents the business well. 

commercial three...This advertisement is one advertising the chocolate bar, 'Kit Kat'. Its aims are simple, they are raising awareness of the brand and selling the product to listeners, generating more sales for the company.

The advertisement itself is misleading to begin with due to the commentary style voice over. The commentator takes us into a rugby match which, although effective, only draws the attention of a male who enjoys sports. Then as the tongue twisters of the rugby names appear, there is a comic element which appeals to a wider target audience who enjoy comedy.

The voices are male, mid-aged and friendly. This makes the product more approachable and reliable as we begin to trust them and believe what they say. The commentator seems to be struggling with the long and complicated names, then the voice over of a calm male voice is used to bring in the product awareness and the initial tag-line for the product 'have a break, have a Kit Kat'. Commenting on the voices in this advert, i notice that it is all male, which would identify the target audience of males. The voice is low-pitched and fast paced, following the typical qualities of a commentator and his much recognized exhaustion. The comic element kicks in through the mis-pronunciation of the rugby names, he cannot seem to pronounce the names and therefore creates a game for the listeners to play. This creates audience interaction and a fun and iconic advert to listen to. Being a voice which is typical to its genre means that the audience will be specific to sports. As the voice over converts into that of a male who speaks in received pronunciation, we are introduced to the product. This voice seems to be more positive and happy, being the savior of the commentator, offering him a solution to his exhaustion (the Kit Kat). By this i mean that the product will give you the chance to take a break and it will relax and calm your day.

The ambiance behind the advert is that which you would expect in a rugby match, the crowd noises and the echo of the commentator. In my opinion the use of the crowd connotes a sense of victory, not particularly for the match but for the product itself. Its almost as if the crowd is cheering for the Kit Kat, therefore making it seem more appealing to the listeners.

Task 2: Create 2 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?

Task 2 cont...: 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.

Before a Radio advertisement can be aired, they have to be regulated beforehand. When produced the advertisement must be checked for offensive material using the ASA CAP codes. These codes identify the types of things which cannot be put on an advertisement. When checked, the advert is then put on the aire and is played as usual. The ASA are informed if the advertisements receive any complaints. If this happens there will be an investigation, taking the advert off aire to do so. When completed the advert will hear the verdict and if it depending on the results a further action will be taken whether it be taken of the aire for good or whether it will continue to play.

TASK 3:


Galaxy organize their advertising into three teams; one in London, one in Manchester and one that is local (Leeds). Each team have the responsibility of going out and representing Galaxy to advertising agencies in their region. At the London team we would see more well-known products for example, coke, who would want a more national advertisement rather than a regional one. The other teams in Manchester and Leeds would be more local and therefore would reach out to all potential advertisers in their area for example, night clubs, motor dealership and public service messages (knife crime/change4life). Galaxy primarily aim to reach to the key demographic of 20-25 year old and as a result the night club adverts and car dealerships would be ideal to reach out to this specific audience. Saying this there is a more wider secondary audience of all ages, this means that advertisers with a target audience of the older generation would also be reached and put on air as we can never tell who is listening. Continuing with the coke advertisement, we can see that this would be for the broader audience due to the product being one which is recognized and popular around england. The company would therefore ask for the advertisement to be less specific and more broad in advertising the product itself. 
About one million listeners tune in to galaxy every week on an average of 8 hours a week meaning that the cost of advertising is significant in producing the advertisements themselves. Using CPT (cost per thousand) Galaxy charge the same price of around £4000 per week for a three month period on the air. This is the flat rate for every company however it all depends on the length of the advert and what is in the advert itself. They use the tree month contract as a way of getting the message of the advert across to the consumers listening to the station, for example, the meerkat advert was at first a comedic, talking meerkat which made the audience laugh, then as people began to recognize it they began to look into the product. This is what galaxy also aim to do with their advertisements on the shows. Making the adverts also will cost the advertisers a budget of 15% of airtime for the production, which is about £600 for the ad. Other ways of advertising on the station would be through sponsors of the weather, show-biz news and travel. I would think that this time would appeal to the more national companies rather than the local companies as it would be a prime time and therefore a competitive time to air. Using the 'new media' advertisements can be put online, this is another way to advertise with Galaxy FM 

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.

A typical male Yorkshire voice would instantly hit my mind when producing a beer advert as it would follow the traditional approach on a beer brewing company. It fits in with the lines of appeal of nostalgia as it would relate strongly to the rural scenery and imagery of drinking beer in the past. Yorkshire is traditionally known for brewing beers and bitters and so by using this particular voice i would be connecting the product to its history and background. Doing this allows the audience to trust the drink and therefore will be more likely to buy the product, it will attract a sense of recognition and will become more easily approachable. I have chosen to use a male voice as this would appeal more to the male, working class audience, which would be my primary target audience due to the stereotypical role of beer in society. The male will be in his 20's as i am advertising a new beer and aim to make it popular with the new generation as well as the old, and therefore by doing so could even use an old and a young male voice over in the ad. It will follow a modern style, and therefore the voice will need to be modern, upbeat and friendly. Looking through the voice over gallery i would choose the voice of Glen Doherty as his voice is young modern and could be edgy, all of which i would need to use in my advert for the beer company. His voice also would appeal to the working class as it gives a sense of personal identity, especially in the area of Yorkshire. Also, as it is casual and relaxed, it would appeal greatly to the working class being not only new and modern but a beer which is approachable and fun.

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.

The roles of the MCPS and PRS is to collect and pay royalties to its members (recording artists) when there music is wanted to be played in a number of ways. For example when the music is being played on any format which is distributed to the public, also if the artists songs are being performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online through certain websites. However, some websites such as youtube and groove-shark enable songs to be played with no fee. They allow consumers to download modern songs for free and also play and listen to them live. 


Every year to the MPRS a commercial radio station like PGFM, who have 0-100,000 listeners, have to pay a fee of £2,775.15, however some more popular commercial stations would pay up to £10,562 per year to use recorded music. Therefore we see that the more listeners a station would have, the more they have to pay per year to play the recorded music. 


Classical FM, and Capital FM would fall in the highest bracket of 5,000,000- 10,000,000 and therefore would have to pay a fee of £10, 562 per annual year. Radio aire  fall in the bracket of 100,000- 500,000 and have to pay the fee of £4,401 per year. 

Task 6: Identify a client and the sector your client is working in.

Our client is a company owned business with multiple bingo halls, the establishment we have chosen is located in Lowtown, Pudsey, the manager of this club is Elizabeth Brooke but the person we contacted and discussed the making of this advert was the assistant manager; Bronwen Tuhey. By creating a brief we came to an agreement of a cost and content of the advert. We had to think about relating the advert to the sector of entertainment retail which was 'gaming', the target audience we aimed for is mainly women and older people (50+) as these are the people with disposable income and the free time during the day. However we also aimed to reach to a younger audience of 18-30.

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.

Client Brief

PROJECT:

Radio advertisement for The Pasadena bingo and social club in Pudsey.

Prepared by: H.A.K productions (Hannah Hussey and Aaron Price), 07736306803, hannah.hussey@hotmail.com

PGS Marketing and Communications

Mount Pleasant road, Pudsey, Leeds, LS28 7ND

Background / Overview

Free bingo every Sunday afternoon.

Wednesday night £9.99 treble chance all night

What is the objective and purpose of the ad?

The ad must attract customers by being friendly and welcoming.

We must mention about the special offers and friendly staff.

The ad also needs to raise awareness of the establishment in the community.

Target Audience. Who are we talking to?

The ad will be aimed at people in the community who have dispensable income and leisure time.

The ad will primarily be aimed at the 18+ age group of people in the local community.

What’s the single most important thing to say?

friendly atmosphere.

What are the supporting rational and emotional ‘reasons to buy?’

The Pasadena Bingo and Social Club is successful business with a solid customer base and a good reputation in the community.

The friendly staff will cater to your needs; they will provide an excellent service, which will make you want to come more and more.

Details that will assist the creative team…

Possible detail

Consumer insights: Vox-pops of local people saying positive things about the Pasadena.

“The Pasadena Bingo cares for their customers, providing an fun and enjoyable experience.”

Description of brand personality: friendly, helpful, enjoyable

Positioning Taglines: Pasadena, passion for bingo

Creative thought starters:

Two little ducks 22, Kelly’s eye number 1, Pasadena bingo provide…

If you love bingo or just want get out come to the Pasadena bingo and social club today…

Do you ever sit at home, wondering what you could do, well if you’re over 18, find your thrill, come to the Pasadena bingo…

Direct response offers? Tell us that you heard about us on this ad and receive a free pen when you come.

Free to join

Mandatory Details:

Lowtown, Pudsey, Leeds, LS28 7BQ

Bingo and social club

Bingo hall and bar.

Budget

1 play per day = £10

3 plays per day = £ 20

5 plays per day = £ 30

Task 8: Produce two proposals for scripts based in two different styles and then report to your client.

Proposal one...

The advert will follow a narrative linear structure of a woman leaving her house "see you later Derick, I'm of to the Pasadena" then entering a bingo hall, she will then be welcomed into the world of bingo, which will be a trigger for the music bed. The music will be in the style of a casino and will contain the ambiance of coins dropping and friendly laughs from a crowd, portraying a fun and exciting establishment. I will use positive lexis such as, "wow!" "fantastic!" and "its amazing!" which will promote the club giving it a great reputation. The narrative will end on her winning the jackpot and cheering. She will leave the bingo, talking to her husband about her day, she will say "wow, what a great day". Then the advert will end with the voice over of a male pronouncing the sufficient data such as the telephone number and address.

SCRIPT:

WOMAN: by Derick, i'm off to the Pasadena.

DERICK: okay hunny, have a good time

[casino style music will become the focus for 5-10 seconds with the ambiance of laughing and coins]

WOMAN:this is amazing!

[Casino noise will continue for 2 seconds]

DERICK: did you have a good day?

WOMAN: It was fantastic!

OTHER MALE: come to the pasadena bingo club today and collect your rewards, come sundays and play main session bingo for free, and come wednesday evenings and pay £9.99 with a treble chance to win, dont miss your chance!,
Pasadena bingo and social club, lowtown, Pudsey, call 0113 257 8145.


Proposal two...

The advertisement will begin with boisterous and exciting Latin style music lasting for 4 seconds; this will entice the audience and invite them into the advert with a feeling of elation. The advert will include special offers and promotion from the bingo club and positive messages about the staff and environment in the establishment "come meet the friendly staff". It is primarily aimed at 18+ therefore needs to have the appropriate voice and tone that will attract the target audience; a mature voice with a mid-pitched tone would be the ideal for my advert (preferably female). Beginning with the lively music i will then introduce the voice of a woman; she will speak in Received Pronunciation and have an up-beat tone. This will connote elation and will portray the company as one which is approachable and friendly. For the details of the club i will use the voice of a man who will speak clearly and will use received pronunciation which will ensure that the details, for example the number and location, are understood by the audience.

SCRIPT:[The music will begin being in the format of a strong Latin beat, this will play for the maximum of five seconds then the voice over of a woman will introduce the advertisement. She will speak in received pronunciation and will be mid-aged.]
FEMALE: Come to the Pasadena bingo club today and collect your rewards, come on Sundays and receive free main session bingo and come on Wednesday evening for only £9.99 with a fantastic treble chance to win!

[cont. with latin style music]

FEMALE: Pasadena bingo and social club, lowtown pudsey, just call 0113 257 8145, thats 0113 257 8145. come now before these fantastic offers still stand!

Task 9: Complete first draft of script and then consult the client and document feedback.

The client feedback was an overall success. They said we had met their expectations and to improve they wanted a few more sound effects. the music bed was fun and catchy, and presented the bingo club well. They enjoyed the whole tone of the production and felt the mixed gender narrative voices were great. There were no other improvements and the clients seemed very pleased.

[The music will begin being in the format of a simple Latin beat, this will play for the maximum of four seconds then the voice over of a woman will introduce the advertisement.]

FEMALE: If your over 18 and are looking for a fun time out, Come to the Pasadena, where you will find fun and excitement in the world of bingo.[excitedly] It's fantastic!. Come on a Sunday afternoon and receive free main session bingo, or come on a Wednesday evening for only £9.99, with a treble chance win. with our big money links every afternoon and evening your guaranteed a great time out. fancy that!. Pasadena bingo, passion for bingo.

[now a male voice will take over presenting the details of the area and number of the clients company, he will speak in received pronunciation and will clearly read the details.]

MALE: The Pasadena bingo and social club Lowtown Pudsey call 01132578145, that's 0113 25781545 be there.

Task 11: Create a radio commercial for your chosen client.

 


Task 12: evaluation

PURPOSE:
The purpose of the radio commercial was to create a friendly, welcoming and cheerful advert for my client. By doing this I needed to incorporate the use of a gentle, female voice and an exciting music bed that would incise my audience and make them want to go to the bingo establishment. Overall I feel I did achieve this purpose as I managed to find a clear, fun, Latin style music bed which, when checked by my client, was decided to be the final song for the finished advertisement. When looking for the song, I found it to be a difficult task. This was due to the amount of songs that were copyrighted; I had to find a song which was both interesting and copyright free. After a search through songs on CD's and on YouTube, I finally found the song on garage band, which seemed like the perfect music bed to go with the scripted speech. The next step was to find a voice which was suitable for the purpose of the advert. I needed to find a female adult voice as the clients business is for over 18's thus I needed to make the advert sound mature as well as welcoming and joyous. In the end I went with a mid-aged, Yorkshire female as I could achieve a sense of personal identity and relationship though the script. In the end I believe I did achieve my purpose and managed to create an advert which I am proud of.

AUDIENCE:

The audience I aimed the advert at was pensioners and women aged 40 +; this simply being that the advertisement is for a Bingo hall in a small area. Primarily, my audience would need to be entertained, informed and have spare time to be able to go out. Therefore, when creating the advert I had to think about what type of effects, music and voices would appeal to them.
REPRESENTATION ISSUES:
As my aim was to create a positive message about the bingo establishment, therefore I incorporated the use of positive lexis into the script for example, 'it's fantastic'. Also due to the fact I was persuading an audience to join the bingo club, my advertisement needed to be biased towards the establishment, making it sound the best I could possibly make it sound. When thinking about voices I used both genders to produce the message that the club caters for men and women, therefore attracting more customers to the business. Before I incorporated all the final representation issues into the advert, I had to discuss the matters with my client. During these discussions we came up with a compromise and finally came up with the finished script and voices.
TECHNICAL ISSUES: