TV Advert Production - Task 2

This is the advert I am analysing first. It is an advert for the energy drink ‘Red Bull’. 


Representation
‘Red Bull’ is the brand being represented in this advert.  It is represented by an animated portrayal of artist Leonardo Da Vinci. In the advert, Da Vinci paints the recognisable image of a Red Bull can, whilst explaining to his friend what it is and what it does. The friend is not enamoured with idea and claims that Da Vinci is going crazy, until the artist is swept off the floor by his drawing as it comes to life and flies up into the sky and out of shot.
It could  be represented in an animated way for a number of reasons. For a start, it is a cheap way of making an advert, as opposed to having to hire kit, locations and actors. Also, as the advert requires some sort of portrayal of someone flying, it is a lot easier to create this via animation rather than spending a lot of time and money creating a real life-looking flying effect. 
Another reason may be, the fact that the animation in this advert is very simple. The simplicity allows the focus of the advert to come out a lot clearer than if there was a lot more for the audience to look at. There is also a significant amount of dialogue on the advert, and this may be the main focus, therefore the animation may just be images to accompany what is being said, rather than being the main way of communication with the audience.
Another reason it could be represented in this way is because of the target audience. People in their late teens and early 20s will remember when cartoons and animation were made like this and it may catch their attention.


Audience
I believe that the target audience for this advert is late teens up to mid thirties. Red Bull is illegal to sell to anyone under 16 so that excludes them. However, I get the feeling that this product is aimed at young people. It is an energy drink so it is also aimed at active people who may need an energy boost.
I wouldn’t say that this advert is aimed at any particular class, however, with almost all products these days, there are cheaper alternatives. So it’s likely to be the slightly richer people who buy the actual Red Bull brand instead of cheaper energy drinks. Another thing is the fact that the advert uses Leonardo Da Vinci. This suggests that it may be aimed at the more sophisticated of people.
In terms of Young and Rubicam’s Four Consumers, I would say that this advert is aimed at the Mainstreamers and Aspirers. Red Bull is quite a well known and big brand, and so both the mainstreamers and aspirers would like this, because it is not only a drink, but also almost a fashion statement. It is also very popular and mainstreamers may see this as a positive.
In Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles, the advert in my opinion would be aimed at the Actualizers and possibly Achievers, but mostly Experiencers. Red Bull is an energy drink and this may appeal to the Experiencers because they are said to be Outgoing, Travellers, Impatient and Impulsive, which suggests that they are active. Therefore an energy drink would be useful.
The main and most important message of the advert is that ‘Red Bull gives you wings’. Obviously it does not literally give you wings, it simply means that it gives you energy. This would appeal to anyone active because they would need energy if they are doing a lot of active things such as physical work or sport. 
I am personally doubtful about whether the advert is very effective or not. The target audience appears to be young, active people, however they have used the image of a 1400s artist. This is not to say that the young and active people have not heard of Leonardo Da Vinci, it just doesn’t seem like the sort of topic they’d be particularly interested in, and may not grab their attention.


Institution
The advert is very successful when it comes to brand association. For a start, it is part of a group of adverts all made by the same company, which are all made in the same style,  and therefore just the start of the advert may be recognised just by specific style of animation that has been used. Then there is the fact that the logo (and drink can, the logo is on it) is very prominent and on show for the entire length of the advert, it is also the main focus of the shot throughout the advert.
On the rare occasion that someone may not have already seen a can of Red Bull and not know what it looks like, the advert changes that. There is a clear display of the product, and it appears for enough time for someone to be able to recognise it if they then saw it in a shop.


Language
The whole of the advert is animated, with one title at the end, which reads ‘Red Bull gives you wiiings.’ This title is small, in black, and at the bottom of the screen at the end, however being on a white background it does stand out quite well. It fades in quickly, stays on screen for 3 seconds, and then disappears 1 second before the end. 
The editing is incredibly simple, the advert stays on the same shot for most of the advert, only using a different shot at the very end for the last second. They are clean cuts, which suits the basic style of the advert. 
The sound is simple too. The main focus of the sound in this advert is the dialogue being said by the characters in the advert, however this is accompanied by some sort of wind instrument, perhaps a flute, doing a few single notes here and there. It is not full enough to be classed as music, and is not particularly noticeable unless you are  actually trying to listen for it. It does not do much for the advert or really affect it in any way.
The advert does not contain any intertextuality unless you count the fact that it has a similar theme to the other Red Bull commercials, regarding the ‘Gives you wings’ aspect. And obviously Leonardo Da Vinci wasn’t an original idea by the people who created the advert.


Ideology
The ideology of this advert is simple and clear to understand. ‘Red Bull gives you wiiings.’ is a strong indication of what this commercial wants it’s audience to understand, however  it isn’t quite all black and white. Obviously an energy drink literally giving someone wings would be rather far fetched, but the advert expects their target market to understand this and not interpret the tag-line so literally. Of course what the advert is really trying to convey is the fact that Red Bull fills the drinker with energy, and possibly make them feel as if they are, or could be, flying. 


Narrative
The Red Bull advert is basically a small animated story in itself. There are two characters, one being Leonardo Da Vinci and the other being his sidekick or some sort of friend. Basically, Leonardo is painting something, and his sidekick is wondering what it is, and isn’t exactly enamoured with what he sees at first. Leonardo eventually finishes his painting, which happens to be of the product being advertised, and suddenly it comes alive, flying off the paper and carrying Da Vinci with it. The friend is in disbelief. 
I wouldn’t say that the story within this advert really conforms with Tordorov’s narrative theory, as it isn’t really long enough to be effectively structured, and the story doesn’t really end with an equilibrium, more like a miniature cliff hanger.


Genre
This advert would most probably be put into the humour genre because of the exaggerated accents and the unusually abnormal situation, it is also not very serious. Another genre that could it could be fitted 
into would be animation because it is purely animation based.
The iconography used in this advert would be the appearance of Leonardo Da Vinci, being a famous artist and an icon in today’s world. Another use of iconology could be the use of the Red Bull can image, a sight that is fairly common these days and is arguably the reprehensive of energy drinks as a whole today.


The advertising techniques here would be the use of Wit and Humour, simply because the advert is funny and the use of the visuals is amusing, especially when the can comes to life and flies away.
To conclude, I do not think that the advert in itself is very successful. It does not grab my attention particularly, it does not do anything to make the advert or product remain in my head (like adverts such as the ‘Go Compare’ commercial which repeats itself until you remember it). However, because it is one of many similar adverts advertising Red Bull, this gives it a slight head start, because people are likely to recognise it from one of the other Red Bull adverts they have seen and then watch it to see what happens. Another thing I would say is, I don’t think they have chosen the right characters (Leonardo Da Vinci and friend) because they are not the sort of people that the target audience are likely to relate to, or even know about.








This is the second advert I am analysing.


Representation.
In this advert, it is ‘Tango Clear’, a varation of the well known ‘Tango’ fizzy drink. Here, it is represented as the fruit ingredients it is made with, in this case, oranges, apples, lemons and melons, among others. It is being represented in this way to show the audience that the drinks have these ingredients in them, and possibly lead the audience into a false sense of thinking that this drink is healthier than it actually is. The drink is also fizzy, and the fact that the fruits are bouncing down the street may be an attempt to portray this. 


Audience
I feel that this advert is aimed at a very wide target audience. It is a spectacle which may attract the attention of someone very young, or equally someone rather old, and it is the kind of thing which would amaze both rich and poor people, so it is difficult to pinpoint an exact target audience for this specific advert.
I believe that this advert would appeal to many of  the VALs, such as Actualisers, Achievers, Experiencers, and Makers. I think this because all of these types do not have binds on trying new things. There are the Experiencers which may enjoy the advert because it is different and new and exciting, the Actualisers, Achievers and Makers who may see the advert and find it interesting, and then have enough money to try the product out because they were pulled in by it’s commercial.
In relation to Young and Rubicam’s four Consumers, I think that Mainstreamers and Aspirers would be the ones that this advert is aimed at. The Mainstreamers would want to try this new drink because everyone else is trying it and talking about the advert. The Aspirers would want to purchase the drink to show others that they are current and can afford to but all the latest products from the latest adverts.
Personally I believe that this advert is successful at attracting it’s target audience, and maybe even more than the target audience. It is quite amazing and could potentially become a talking point which may lead to more sales. Having an advert which is very vague on who it’s target audience is can sometimes be a very bad idea, however sometimes it can pull off really well. In the case of this advert, I think it’s the latter. 


Institution
This advert isn’t very successful when it comes to promoting the brand. For the majority of the advert, all that is seen is apples, lemons and oranges bouncing and rolling down the street. The one thing which could be argued is the fact that Tango have always used fruits, especially oranges, in their advertising, and so that could be a hint to the audience that this is a Tango advert. Saying that, it is not a very effective technique to make people guess what you are advertising because a lot of them may not get the message. However, the advert could be considered mesmorising, and may compel people to watch it until the end, by which time we finally find out what is being advertised.
Still, it is not particularly effective, as the brand name is not said or even written in a clear text on the screen, the only thing the audience gets to point them in the right direction is the bottle of drink that the woman is holding at the end, which says the product name on the bottle.


Language
The locations for this advert have been chosen very carefully in order to get the effect that the direction envisaged.  They have chosen a picturesque street in Swansea, which obviously needed to be on a hill in order for the fruits to roll down it. They have chosen a pretty place in order to make the shots worthwhile and nice on the eye, it also makes the advert more pleasant to watch. All the houses on either side of the street are painted in different colours, which also makes the advert more beautiful. 
Most of the advert is filmed on this street except for a few shots, like the small alleyway with old cracked steps, the initial establishing shot which shows the many rows of houses, in which this street is one of, and the corner of the street where there is a bike, leant against a lamp post. 
A lot of the shots are wide shots of all the fruit travelling through the air or down the street, however there are a few close up shots on things which are happening, such as some of the fruits hitting cars and smashing, or a frog jumping out of a drain pipe in amongst all the fruits. These shots mix in well with the wider shots and break the advert down a little bit, making it more interesting to watch. 
The only real way that this advert has been edited is the fact that it has all been slowed down. This has been done so the audience are able to capture more of the action, also less shots are needed because the shots which are there, last longer. It also appears to be more impressive in slow motion, the audience may notice things which they would miss if the shots were at normal speed. Another thing to consider is that this whole advert may have been shot with a heightened frame rate to keep the detail.
There is definitely some intertextuality in this advert. The whole advert is a parody of Sony Bravia’s ‘Bouncing Balls’ advert to promote their new LCD TV. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMl5l6mOySU&feature=related)
The Tango advert copies the Sony advert in such detail, the music is the same, the idea about the bouncing balls (in this case fruit) is the same, the frog jumping out of the drain is the same, and so is the bike on the corner of the street. The differences are the location, and the main focus which are fruits instead of bouncing balls.
The Tango advert was eventually banned for being too much like the Sony Bravia one.


Ideology
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact ideologies of this advert. Because it is a parody, it has not been designed from scratch and therefore the ideologies were not discussed at the point of having these ideas. Obviously with the Sony Bravia advert, the coloured balls bouncing down the street were attempting to convey that the TV which was being advertised can produce beautiful colour and movement to provide  better and more enjoyable viewing experience. Because the Tango advert have simply copied this idea, it doesn’t really work in the same way. The only real thing which I can think of is again the fact that it is advertising a fruity fizzy drink. The advert clearly shows fruit, which immediately lets the viewer know what type of drink it is advertising. The fact that the fruits are bouncing and rolling could be interpreted as the fizziness of the drink, however this does not clearly represent Tango as a brand.
As I have mentioned already, Tango often uses the fruits which flavour the drinks in their advertising campaigns, and so this could also be an ideology of the brand.


Narrative
This advert has no characters or a particular storyline, and is purely concept based. Again, the concepts in this advert would stem back from those in the Sony Bravia advert, and as this is simply a copy, there may not be any particular reasons for advertising the Tango Clear drink in this way other than to parody the advert produced by Sony. 
‘Tango Clear’ is the same as normal Tango except the liquid is clear. This may be the reason why they chose to copy the Sony Bravia advert, because is also is trying to convey to the audience that the TV being advertised is clear to watch.


Genre
The genre of this advert has to be parody, because obviously that is what it is, but speaking about the advert in itself, it could possibly be classed as Innovative. It’s a new and interesting idea that people may not have seen before and brings a fresh insight into making adverts as a whole.


Overall I don’t think that this advert is particularly successful. As a parody it worked really well, and as a short film it was very impressive, but it doesn’t really work as an advert, because as it’s a parody, the style of advert is not geared up for the advertising the drink, because it was originally created to advertise a television.