Ancillary Task 2 - Newspaper Radio Advert - Research

Radio is mainly seen as an entertainment source for primarily driving, and background noise at work. These are two key times to bear in mind when creating an advertisement, as you want to taylor the ad to suit those sorts of times and environments. For example, using loud, intrusive, fast music, people may not take in the information if they happened to be sat in a quiet, working office environment. 

If you buy any radio advertising, it is useful to be aired during drive time, as this is prime opportunity to catch people's attention when they have nothing else to focus on apart from driving. 

At home, radio use decreases as people these days can use iPods and computers to listen to the music they enjoy without necessarily needing to tune into a radio show. This way they can avoid commercial interruption. 

The radio industry understands that many people don't want to be interrupted with advertising while trying to listen to music. Many times radio stations use this fact in order to promote themselves by offering "more music, less commercials". 

However, there are many good reasons to advertise on radio to, such as the following:

1. "Research proves that radio regularly reaches consumers within 2 hours of their largest purchase of the day." It is convenient to advertise to these consumers when they are on their way to the shops in their cars!
2. Radio has the potential to be played anywhere, at home, work or at play. This means products have a good chance of being advertised to the right person at the right time.
3. Radio sells with intimacy - some could argue that without the flashy images and bright text used in some television or newspaper adverts, radio allows the message to be put across more gently, making people more inclined to purchase certain items.
4. Sounds on radio adverts can evoke emotion from the audience, as they have the ability to use their imaginations when picturing the images suggested by the sounds a company or product manufacturer chooses to put in their advertisement. For example, a child laughing or a large band playing.
5. Radio devotes less than 1/5 of it's time to advertising, or roughly 10 minutes of advertising per hour. So it is less cluttered with information, less adverts will make the target demographic pay more attention and memory to each advert individually.
6. The costs to advertise via radio grow less than any other form of advertising.
7. Newspapers and TV are 'reach' media, which means they reach large varying numbers of people. Which is obviously a very useful thing when trying to advertise a product. However, psychologists say that "consumers need to be exposed to an advert or a message at least 3 times before the information begins to penetrate". This is made easier by radio advertising, as this way smaller companies can afford to do get enough frequency to effectively sell their product.  
8. Radio allows you to place your advert in a place where your target demographic are likely to hear it. Radio's targeting ability based on music genre and type of radio station can save companies money.
9. Only 1 advert can be played and listened to at once on the radio! So when you pay for advertising space, the time in which your advert is played, all the attention is simply one the company's one product. Unlike in newspapers or magazines perhaps, where 10 different adverts can all appear on the same page at the same time. 

Also, as part of my radio advert research, I decided to have a look at some existing radio adverts that I have heard in the past, and analyse what music, sound effects and voices they used in their adverts so I could use some of these ideas in my own work. I also thought by doing this I could begin to get an understanding of what makes an effective radio advert. 

 

The first radio advert I chose to analyse was for The Medical Foundation and it was called 'Future'. This advert begins with just a man speaking, and he has a fairly humorous voice and is speaking about what he wants to happen after he dies. "I want hundreds of people in inconsolable tears!" he says about his funeral, (in a jokey way). This is a clever way of attracting people's attention as they might be initially quite surprised at this man's opinion's on his own funeral! By having a middle aged man's voice, this suggests that this is the sort of age that this radio advert is aiming to appeal for. It would be inappropraite for example to have a child's voice talking about their own funeral, and people may take more offence if this was the case! After listening to this radio advert, I have began to consider what sort of age I wish to have speaking over my radio advert. I will opt to have someone older, with a more mature voice as my target demographic is for people aged 24-50, so having someone young speak over my advert may not be entirely appropriate when aiming to reach my audience. It also includes some more serious facts about the foundation, to balance out the advert after hearing the man speak humorously about his own funeral. This advert has no music over it whatsoever, and I think this is effective in this case so not to detract from the the information the man is trying to get across. Before listening to this advert, I had not considered not using any music at all over my advert, but after hearing this I think I will think more carefully about whether music is entirely necessary for my own work, or whether this will just make it difficult to understand and make out the information. I will experiment with Garage-band and Audacity when it comes to creating my own product to see which way works best.

The second radio advert I chose to analyse was for The Carphone Warehouse and is called 'It's a Miracle'. This advert again, like the advert for The Medical Foundation, has no music playing over the top of the man speaking. Again however, I think it works very well and is effective in making sure that the information in the radio advert is put across to the target demographic Carphone Warehouse is trying to appeal to. I like the conversational style of this advert, where there is a clear dialogue between the man who owns the phone, and the voice representing his 'poorly' or broken phone. Again like the advert before, there is an element of humour to this advert and I have found in my research that this is a very common feature of radio adverts, as it helps make the advert stick in people's heads without the help of visual aids that one might achieve from using television or magazine advertising perhaps. This advert again used a man's voice, but I think in my own advert I may opt for using a female voice to go against the conventions of a lot of adverts using male voices.

Here is my third radio advert I chose to analyse for Thames Water, which is called 'Puddle'. This advert differs slightly from the previous two, because there is a soft, jazz-type music playing quietly in the background behind the man's speaking voice. This upbeat sound is effective because it makes the advert seem more exciting and may make it stick in people's heads more effectively. Again, this advert has chosen to use a male narrator so for my own advert I am going to use a female speaker to challenge this convention. In the background, the voice for the man's wife comes through but quite softly, suggesting she is perhaps in another room calling to him. This gives the advert the feeling that it's recorded in someone's home, which is a clever technique used to suggest that the people speaking in the advert are just like the people they are aiming to appeal for, making the target audience feel that they can relate with these people and therefore will follow their instructions to try and save water for the better for everyone. Out of the three adverts I have analysed so far, this one is my preferred one because I think the use of two people of both genders is more effective in addressing an audience. However in my own advert, I don't plan on using the conversational technique used by many other companies. I may just use one, female voice to speak my entire advert to make it clear and easy to understand, with no distractions. Like I said before though, I will have to wait until I've experimented with Garage-band and Audacity, the programmes I plan on using to create my final radio advert. 

Ancillary Task 1 - Newspaper Poster - Final Product

This is my final newspaper poster which I created on InDesign. 

I used the tagline: "Grab your copy today!" because I felt like it suited my image of a hand 'grabbing' the newspaper and made it clear what  my poster was advertising. 

I edited my photograph using Photoshop, and decided to cut around the outline of my image of a hand holding a copy of my newspaper in order to layer it on top of a plain white background. 

Looking at my final product, if I were to make this poster again I would use perhaps a grey background so the text wouldn't appear to be 'floating' around my image. I think by using a darker coloured background my poster would be easier to make out and recognise as a poster. 

Ancillary Task 1 - Newspaper Poster - Planning

For my own newspaper poster, I have chosen to base my ideas on this poster for The Sun newspaper which I included in my research: 

Before I began planning my own newspaper poster, I thought about the key elements of design that I would have to keep in mind in the creation of my publication:

 

• I thought about what style of photography I would be using, and felt it would be important to use an actual photograph of my newspaper itself, instead of using metaphorical photography like some of the other newspapers used in my research, for example The Daily Mail used a high heeled shoe to represent women's interest as a topic in their newspaper.
 
• I also considered whether I would be using colour on my poster, and decided that this would be a good feature to have, in order to attract my target demographic's attention an compete amongst other publication's posters. I also found in my research that most other newspaper posters featured colour on them, allowing me to recognise this as a positive decision for my own work.
 
• Additionally, I thought about whether I was going to feature any text on my newspaper poster. Initially I planned not to include any, but then decided against this idea in order to make my newspaper poster as clear as possible.

 

I have chosen to select this poster (pictured above) to base the creation of my own design on as I think this is an effective use of photography  used to advertise this specific newspaper. This poster makes it easy to decipher what newspaper is being advertised, in this case The Sun. In my own newspaper poster, I will specifically position my newspaper in my model's hand so the masthead can be easily read by my target demographic. 
I will use a colour photograph, because I plan on having either a white or a grey background and I aim to make the hand holding the newspaper stand out over this background.

 

I intend on using Photoshop to edit my image, and use the select tool to cut out the section of my newspaper in the hand, so I can then lay it on either a white background or a grey background. I will test to see which of these look better, and plan on justifying each decision I make in the process. 

Ancillary Task 1 - Newspaper Poster - Research

Our next task we are required to do, is to create a poster advertising our newspaper that we created. Before I begin to think about the planning for my own poster, I have decided to base some of my research on existing newspaper posters, and the styles, colour scheme and images they have used. 

Here is a vintage type example of a newspaper poster advertisement that was found in 1896 for The Sun newspaper. Illustrative style posters such as this could be used in modern day advertising as well however, to give a sense that the newspaper has been running for a long time, and give it a traditional British feel. 

By picturing a woman skating across the ice could suggest it to be winter time during the time this poster would have been found. Her clothing is another key indication towards the time in which this poster would have been found, however you could argue that the image is slightly irrelevant to the newspaper or articles found in this newspaper, but this would be hard to tell if this would be the case based on this poster in particular because there is no hint to what could be found in that edition. 

Here is a poster advert again for The Sun newspaper, however this one has not used the same illustrative style as the previous poster. This decision to use a simple photograph of a man's hand grasping the newspaper is simple yet effective, as the meaning behind what they are trying to advertise is clear, even though there has been no text featured on the advert besides the masthead already printed on the newspaper.

This is an effective use of photography as a copy of the newspaper itself is featured, with a person (presumably within the target demographic bracket) holding the publication. The rolled up style of this copy allows the audience to read the masthead of the paper clearly, meaning this is all the information necessary on this ad. I may experiment with using a similar style perhaps for my own ancillary task, to see if it would be as effective with my newspaper layout design.

This is another newspaper poster advert that I have chosen to focus on in my ancillary research, in this case advertising The Daily Mail. 

 The fact that The Daily Mail is a very well known publication has meant that in this case, the title of the paper has not needed to be included at all in this poster, because the font used for the words "Indulge Daily" is recognisable enough to the target audience for them to gain an understanding of what is being advertised without great amount of text included. 

A high heeled shoe has been used as the main image on this poster, with a lipstick put in the place of the heel. These two items being generic, stereotypical items related with women that suggest that there will be content found within this newspaper that is suited to females. The word "indulge" is in red which is the same colour as the lipstick, giving this advert a sort of colour scheme. Red being a good colour when advertising to women, as it connotes ideas of power, female beauty and seduction. One feature I think is interesting about this poster in particular is the background, as it gives the effect that a light is being shone behind the shoe, further suggesting luxury and highlights the shoe itself. I also like the mirror reflection effect placed under the high heel, because it gives the impression the shoe is placed on glass further connoting an idea of female vanity and want for luxury. I may decide to use a similar effect on my own poster, if I choose to focus on the female angle to my newspaper which may not be a good design technique in my case as I have already made my poster very gender neutral. 

This is another advert for The Daily Mail, but this one is advertising the 'weekend' television listings magazine that often comes with the newspaper itself. The back ground is similar to the advert for The Daily Mail itself pictured above, in terms of the background being in a similar style with lighter colouring behind the publication and fading darker as it moves out. 
There is also a similar 'mirroring' reflection effect underneath the main image of the front cover of this accompanying publication, however this time it appears to be more faded, and less crisp than in the image above clearly directed at a female audience. This may be because this poster is not aiming to seem as dramatic as the poster above, and aim for this poster to be more gender neutral and 'friendly'.  

The text along the bottom of this poster in blue lettering is in the same font as the recognisable font for the expected masthead of The Daily Mail allowing the target audience to understand what the poster is for. This is a technique that can only be used with certain newspapers though, because if a masthead is commonly known amongst the public then this technique would lead to confusion and misguidance. 

Here is another example of a poster advertising a newspaper. This one is for 'The Irish News', and has used a similar image style to the advert I have previously used in my research for 'The Sun' newspaper's advert, in that they have also used a picture of a rolled up newspaper to advertise. 
I think I may decide to use this in my own advert, because my masthead is positioned in an appropriate place along the top of my front page, so it would show up well on my poster if positioned in this way, in order to allow my audience to clearly understand the poster.
The shadowing effect used below the newspaper on this advert is effective as it makes the image appear more 3D, and this is an effect I plan to take full advantage of using Photoshop.
"True to our words" appears to be the slogan for this newspaper, and has been written above the image in white lettering. I will also position my newspaper's tagline somewhere on my poster, "At the head and heart of our community".

Newspaper - Final Product!

My Newspaper Photographs - Before & After Editing

In this blog post I have decided to show my chosen newspaper images, documenting the before and after stages of editing, to show how I made changes to my photographs in order to create effective advertisements.

Front Page

Holiday Advertisement: 

Here is my image before I made any changes to it. I chose to use a photograph of sunglasses on a beach, as these are recognisable, stereotypical things that can be related to holidays. I thought that by using a pair of sunglasses, the reader would be able to tell that a hot destination was being advertised. I also felt the image needed to be brightened up in order for it to catch the attention of my target demographic, and to really highlight the quality of the layout of this photograph. The red and blue prominent colours in this photograph were good features to begin with, as blue is the colour I later chose to feature on my front page. 

This is my photograph after I edited it on Photoshop. I decided to increase the brightness and the contrast of my image, in order to define the colours and brighten up the overall effect of my advert. I used an eraser tool with blurred edges to change the shape of my image, and to allow me to later have my text surrounding the new curved edge. I was pleased with the way the curve worked with the image, as the person's figure in the background was still able to remain visible with the sunglasses on the towel which added an extra element of interest to my picture. 

Houses for Sale Advertisement:

This is my photograph of a house for my advertisement for houses for sale in the local area before editing. I decided to feature a plain, modern house, and chose to capture my image standing straight in front of it to eliminate any uneven shadowing that may mean my image looked unclear.  I was pleased with the timing I chose to take the photograph, as there was clear blue skies making lighting easy to control by standing in certain directions away from the sun. As the image was captured on a clear day, I did not have to spend too much extra time editing clouds or other weather-related obstacles out of my image.

This is my selected image after editing on Photoshop. 

I firstly cropped my image, so to get rid of the road and pavement that was detracting attention from the house itself. I then also changed level of brightness and contrast in order to make the outlines stand out further, and make the image easy to see from a further distance, which I felt was important if it was to be pictured small along the top of my newspaper.

By choosing a semi-detached house on the end of a row of houses, I was able to use an eraser tool to blur out the edge of my photograph without cutting out parts of other houses joint onto the house in my image.



Marina Boat Trips Advertisement:

This is my photograph of Portishead Marina before I did any editing. I wanted to create a vanishing point in my photograph and this helped when later layering my text over the top because I was able to have the writing tiered to get thinner as the boats became further away. I used a high quality photograph that I planned on not making too many changes to later on, as I felt it was already crisp and clear, with the water seeming still and peaceful. This was to connote an idea of calm luxury to the boat trips on offer, instead of the expected choppy nature of the sea that is usually incorporated in adverts for boat trip companies such as the one I am aiming to advertise for.


Here is my finished advert after editing on Photoshop. I used the eraser tool to rub out some of the masts over the sky of the boats, so my text could be layered over a plain white sky background without anything obscuring the text. It was important that the text was made as clear as possible, as I planned on using thin lettering to go with the classy, luxurious theme I wanted to apply to these kinds of boat trips I wanted to advertise for. 



Car Specialist Advertisement:

This is the photograph of a car I used in my advert for a local car specialist before any editing took place. I thought carefully about what position the sun should be in, in order for the car to have even shadows on it to make the paintwork as even as possible. 







Here is my finished advert for a local car specialist company after editing. 
Firstly I cropped around the outline of the car, so I could get rid of the car park background and make the vehicle my main focus amongst the text on this image. I left the brightness and contrast the same on this image, as I felt my photograph was of a high quality that didn't need to be altered in that sense.