Blog Post 6: Research into Existing TV Commercials (other genres)

I researched this topic to more fully understand conventions of TV commercials while also giving me potential ideas and genre hybridity for my own adverts.

Sources used were;

Youtube Playlist

Channel 4

First I researched and analysed 11 adverts from different advertising genres to find conventions for different genres. The categories were Modern, Humorous, Pastiche, Controversial, Seductive and Public Service Announcement. This helped me to get a better grasp on different types of advertising, helping to shape the genre of my own advert.

  

Humour

Controversial

Seductive

PSA

Modern

Pastiche

Adverts are usually fast-paced, concise, single minded with a simple message usually because they have limited time to deliver the message. They usually have a quick pace of edit; varied camera shots; engaging soundtrack, sound effects, voice over and dialogue; they adhere the ASA Code; often use emotion or humour to create memorability and deliver information to the consumer and a way to purchase or call to action towards the advert.

The Oreo Whisper Challenge was an advert made in 2014 and was premiered in the Superbowl commercial break.

There are conventional techniques of product placement and images of the product and there is a close-up on the food. The advert is set in a library, which is a relatable setting for all ages, appealing to different target audiences and the mass market. There is an animated title card at the end of the advert with the branding and product. Camera shots vary, with ranging close-ups, long and mid-shots for interest and for comedic effect. The editing follows the action across the screen, it is chronological with a match-on-action at times and it is all fast paced to create chaos and humour. There is dialogue and there are sound effects to help tell the story effectively and a voiceover is added at the end to resolve the advert and reinforce the message of the advert and the brand name and aim. It adheres to the ASA code as there are opinions voiced but both sides of the argument are shown so there is no false or misleading claim of one part of the cookie being better than the other, also the slapstick is comedic and is obviously unrealistic and no real damage is inflicted. It is memorable as it's funny and makes the audience laugh and therefore more likely to remember and share it. It may have intertextuality with many action or fight scenes in movies and TV shows, especially in the mystery and teen drama genres.

The Adventures In Imagination - M&S Food was an advert made in 2014 for the Autumn food season. 

The conventional techniques are focusing on the product throughout, helping to keep it at the centre of attention and convey a clear message. The location is against a dark background with no set location, allowing this to appeal to the mass market. This background also makes the food pop out and remain the centre of attention and only action in frame. The brand values shown in this advert are that the food is delicious luxury and a good quality and the food speaks for itself with no gimmicks, or explanation needed. There is minimal on-screen text apart from the title at the beginning and the brand name on the title card at the end. The camera shots are varied in different angles of the food however the food remains the centre of attention and close-up shots are used throughout to focus on the product. The editing is fast-paced yet broken up through either speeding or slowing a shot to change the tempo and create variation. It is also edited to the music. There is no dialogue, but there are sound effects of the food along with a non-diegetic soundtrack. This advert is targeted at a wealthier middle-class audience who care about quality and aesthetic over price and convenience. It adheres to the ASA code by showing a balanced diet and showing a range of healthy products. This advert doesn't use any intertextual references but may have genre hybridity with the Apple iPhone adverts which show the phone against a black background with no gimmicks and only non-diegetic music, similar to this. 

This research was beneficial to my project as it showed me general conventions of TV adverts and different styles and genres of commercials. It also allowed me to look at these in detail and pick apart the components of each advert, inspiring me and giving me ideas for my own adverts. It also helped to give me some potential intertextuality and genre hybridity for my own adverts and I will take this research forward into the planning stage.

Blog Post 5: Research into Existing TV Commercials for Takeaway Food Delivery Services

I researched existing TV commercials to find conventions of these adverts and how existing commercials successfully attract target audiences and promote a brand's USP effectively. This was to help ensure that my USP is effectively conveyed and my target audience is captured.

Sources used were;

Youtube playlist

Channel 4

Wikipedia

I began my research by analysing 10 food delivery and similar food adverts. This helped to give me conventions for this genre of food adverts. These conventions were the widely used techniques in every aspect of food delivery commercials and therefore I have considered them as conventions.

Conventions of food delivery adverts

My analysis was widespread over 13 components that make up adverts, not all adverts used every component of advertising, yet collectively every box has been addressed.

 

Deliveroo; eat more amazing has conventional techniques of product placement and partnered brand placement throughout the advert. There are a range of locations including restaurants, urban setting and home/kitchen table. This attracts an urban target audience and the location of restaurants shows the cross between takeaway and restaurant food offered by the company. The brand values are amazing and good quality food with a strong sense of choice. There is a title card at the end of the advert, which has the endline, logo, brand name, app purchasing details and website details. The camera shots are a mixture of moving and static shots which follows the food. Birds-eye view is also used. The editing is slow-paced on eating and fast-paced on delivery shots, in a montage form. The sound is all non-diegetic soundtrack with no voiceover or dialogue. The representations created are to appeal to urban professionals (reflection of food in office blocks) and urban people who enjoy good quality good. Their values are that they deliver everywhere and sell high quality food with a range of choice. There is genre hybridity as the reflections of the food in the glass is similar to luxury adverts such as watches, cars and adverts - where glass and mirrors are often used.

Dominoes Delivery; Ferris Bueller copy has conventional techniques of product placement, humour and pastiche. The locations match the original Ferris Bueller movie, using back gardens, roads and suburban areas. The brand values are that it is important, good food, fast and efficient with the use of the tracker app. There is the on-screen text of visual scales used on the app, logo and end line - tying the campaign and message together. The camera shots are mostly a mixture of medium and long shots with a close-up on the app and on the food. The edit is fast-paced, uses the 180-degree rule and contains sweeping and moving shots with match-on-action. There is a soundtrack, voiceover, sound effects and dialogue. This advert is cross-generational as it's entertaining and relatable for younger generations and nostalgic for older generations. Main values are that it's quick, accessible and fun. It is memorable as it uses humour to convey the main message and it also copies a classic movie - making it memorable. It is intertextual to Ferris Bueller's Day Off and adheres to ASA rules as he runs next to the road, not near or in front of the passing car. 

This research was important to my research as it helped to show me existing advert and campaign ideas. It also showed me conventions of the specific genre, helping me to incorporate some of these conventions into my own adverts. Specifically, I will definitely use close-ups of food in my advertising campaign as this is a very strong convention.

Blog Post 4: The Target Audience (Males and Females 16-25)

I researched this to find out about my target audience and their preferences and desires. This ensured my TV advertising campaign would be relevant to this audience and would successfully capture their attention and engage them in the advertising.

Sources used were;

The Telegraph

Marketing Weekly Magazine

Survey completed by the target market

good Food Magazine

When advertising to students and the younger generation, you are advertising to a tech-savvy target audience. They are still developing new interests and spending and consumption patterns - making them impressionable and a good audience to try and influence.

There are 1.9 million students aged between 18-25 in the UK and 99% of them own a phone with the main aim of accessing the internet and using apps on the go. Therefore they can easily download a food delivery app and would easily be able to set it up and order from it without any hassle. There is a large demand from this target audience for food delivery and takeaway services. 16-25 year olds are spending more on food than any other age group because they don't have the facilities or knowledge to cook. This age group spends an average of £63.65 a week on food. They spend an average of £19.61 on takeaway and £28.26 eating in cafes or restaurants a week. This demonstrates the demand for the service.

Channel 4 has a broad target audience, shows like Hollyoaks are aired daily and are tailored for a young 16-25 target audience. Therefore at certain times, my target audience and the Channel 4 audience greatly overlap. 

To research this further, we created a questionnaire and sent it to people we knew within the target audience, receiving 41 responses. The original questionnaire is attached below.

The responses from our target audience helped me to understand what the target audience required from a food delivery service, along with information about their food, lifestyle and TV viewing patterns. The results are below:

 

This research was crucial in my project as it helped to demonstrate the needs and demands of the 16-25 target audience, giving me knowledge of their consumption and spending patterns. This will allow me to appeal to my target audience, allowing me to successfully fulfill the brief. I will take this into account when creating my proposal and my individual advert ideas. 

Blog Post 3: The ASA BCAP Code

I researched this to understand what restrictions and rules are placed on TV adverts to be approved for broadcast. This helped me as I learnt how my adverts should adhere to these rules and this was taken into account when considering my initial planning, idea and consequent proposal.

Sources used were;

ASA - BCAP Code

ASA top complained ads
New York Post

The ASA BCAP code is the UK rulebook for non-broadcast adverts, sales promotions and direct marketing communications. It is a legal set of rules all advertisers must adhere to for the safety of the British public. I researched this by looking at the ASA BCAP code online and picked out the rules that are useful and applicable to this project.

Compliance 

• Adverts must comply with the law and broadcasters must make that a condition of acceptance.
• Adverts must reflect the spirit, not merely the letter, of the code.

Recognition of Advertising

• Adverts must be obviously distinguishable from editorial content. The audience should quickly recognise the message as an advert.
• TV adverts must not refer to themselves in a way that might lead viewers to believe they are watching a programme.

Misleading Advertising

• Adverts must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
• They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear manner.
• Adverts must not exaggerate the capability or performance of a product or service.

Harm and offence 

• Adverts must not contain anything that could cause physical, mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18.
• Adverts must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards.
• Adverts must not include material that is likely to condone or encourage behaviour that prejudices health of safety.

Food, Food Supplements and Associated Health and Nutrition Claims

• Adverts must avoid anything likely to condone or encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle, especially in children.
• Adverts must not condone or encourage excessive consumption of any food.
• Nutrition claims must comply with the criteria in the EU Register.
• References to general benefits of a nutrient or food for overall good health or health-related wee-being are acceptable only if accompanied by a specific authorised health claim.

As my advert will be slotted on Channel 4 commercial breaks before the watershed time of 9pm, my adverts must have no reference towards gambling, sexually-orientated adverts and news or current affairs (especially of a tragic nature). The adverts must not juxtapose the nature of the programme in terms of suitability for the audience age group. 

An advert removed from the air for breaking the ASA code was a McDonald's advert featuring a boy and his mother talking about his dead father. The boy became visibly upset as he found few similarities between him and the father that his mother described and then felt better when he found out his father liked the same McDonald's order as he does. The ad attracted 256 complaints, saying that it was trivialising grief, was likely to cause distress to those who have experienced a close family death and was distasteful to compare an emotive theme to a fast food promotion. The fast-food chain pulled the ads immediately without any investigation and issued an apology.

This research taught me the main rules to consider when making my advert and how to keep the adverts suitable for the demographic and potential audience watching the program at the time of the commercial break. This will help my advert to remain suitable and truthful to the audience. I will take this information forward into the planning phase and proposal phase, to ensure my adverts fully fit the brief - which requires my adverts to be suitable and strictly adhere to the ASA code.

Blog Post 2: Channel 4

I researched Channel 4 to learn more about the medium and programming my adverts will be broadcast on. I also wanted to know the type of potential audience for my advert and the best time slots for my adverts to be shown in. 

The sources used were;

Channel 4

All 4

Wikipedia

TV Guide 

Marketing Weekly Magazine

Channel 4 is a British television broadcaster in the UK and Ireland that began transmission on 2nd November 1982. Channel 4 was launched to give variety to British TV along with ITV to stop the TV monopoly held by the BBC. Channel 4 was established to voice minorities and people who are culturally different - it has gained a reputation for being trendy and alternative - whereas BBC is aimed more at families and a traditional family entertainment. It is well known for its recognisable and unchanged logo of nine differently shaped locks that create a number 4. 

Channel 4 Idents

Channel 4 has a target audience of 16-34 year-olds due to their programming content and the brand has branched out to expand their target audience. E4, for example, has a young target audience and the TV schedule caters for this audience to ensure satisfaction and loyalty to the channel. The channel 4 brand is now a parent company for subsidiary channels like E4, Film 4, All 4. These channels are more niche and each attracts a specific, niche target audience.

The End of the F***ing World

 Channel 4 and it's subsidiaries premiere new directors such as Johnathan Entwistle who directed the British Academy Nominated series The End Of The F***ing World. They also bring USA programs to England such as Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. 

Channel 4 uses non-offensive comedy and often the advertising broadcast during commercial breaks correlate with the type of program broadcast. For example, The Great British Bake Off has been sponsored by Lyle's Golden Syrup, Dr. Oetker and Amazon - who advertised baking related scenarios with the new Amazon Alexa. This targetted advertising is more successful at tapping into the correct target audience watching the program and unites the brand and consumer through the common interest of the program.

Channel 4 is owned by the 'Channel 4 Television Company', they are overseen by the 'Department for Culture, Media and Sport' who are headed up by the Government. Therefore Channel 4 is indirectly a Public Service Broadcaster. They used to have public funding but are now self-funded by the use of advertising, sponsorship and sales of shows to other companies such as Netflix. 

Channel 4 has a Public Service Remit which they have to adhere to, part of it being: 

to represent minorities and different cultures,
 Educate, Entertain, Inform,
challenge the status quo,
be distinctive,
nurture new and existing talent,
support UK broadcasting,
 be innovative,
 stimulate public debate on contemporary issues,
 inspire change. 

Therefore these are the brand's main values and aim over the brand and subsidiary channels.

Hollyoaks has a 16-24 target audience with an average of 3-7 million viewers every time it's on air. It has strong youth-related storylines, is aired every weekday and finishes at 7pm - the starting time for my advert placement. To target my desired audience and fulfill the brief, I would want to place my adverts after this program everyday to ensure my target audience has an opportunity to see my adverts, giving my brand the best possible exposure with the target audience. The Great British Bake Off is aired from 8pm - 9:15pm on Tuesday, averaging 5.7 million to 7.5 million viewers for the final. As my ending time for advert placement is 9pm, I would want to place my adverts in the 4 commercial breaks from 8pm -9pm every Tuesday. This would also give my advert good exposure to a large number of my target audience.

This research was beneficial to my project to understand the core values of Channel 4, the viewer demographic, the type of programming broadcast and how the channel operates. I also identified prospective time slots for my adverts to broadcast, with a high number of viewers and good exposure to my target audience. This must be kept in mind while planning, filming and editing my advert to make sure it stays in line with Channel 4 values and adheres to their public service remit.

Blog Post 1: Existing Takeaway Food Delivery Services/Industry

I researched existing Takeaway Food Delivery Services to find out about my competition, their USP's, branding and marketing strategies and to learn about the process of these businesses. It also helped me to gain an understanding of how the app and system of ordering works, and why these brands have been successful. This meant my brand could also follow these conventions and be equally successful. Therefore I would be able to find conventions of these services and a gap in the market for my own service and advertising campaign.

My sources were;

Wikipedia

Marketing Weekly Magazine

just eat target audience PDF

The business oftech

future work technologies

Just Eat PLC

BBC News

Deliveroo Website

JustEat Website

Ubereats Website
McKinsey & Co

In my research, I looked at various food delivery companies who operate or operated in the UK. These were Deliveroo, Ubereats, JustEat and HungryHouse. I looked into each brands history, why they are successful, how they each work and their impacts on society and their clientele. £9.9bn were spent last year in the takeaway food industry and for every £1 that UK consumers spent on food, 12p is spent on takeaways. This shows the clear demand for the service of food delivery through a centralised app or system; with choice, convenience and speed a clear priority. On these apps, customers can pick categories of food, particular restaurants, browse menus, order food, leave and read reviews and securely pay for their orders. This centralisation of delivery food incorporates all components of food delivery and merges them together for speed, efficiency and the best possible experience.

These food delivery companies may also help local businesses to thrive in the saturated and highly competitive market of takeaway and restaurants. In major cities where property is expensive and running costs are high, smaller companies may struggle to stay afloat. Food delivery companies help increase the number of meals going out, advertise your business in ways small businesses would not be able to do independently and gives the business a larger potential clientele over a larger catchment.

JustEat is the largest food delivery service in the world; it is an online food order and delivery service who work with independent takeout food outlets as well as larger chains such as Subway KFC and Burger King. Their HQ is in London and they operate in 13 countries. The company's vision is to 'deliver convenience' as they save the hassle of cooking or ordering directly with a restaurant. They aim to advertise to a target market of 16-34 of web-savvy young professionals using a range of PR stunts, restaurant marketing, TV commercials, social following, product placement and sponsorship. JustEat sponsor the X Factor which gives the company national advertising, awareness and product placement for an average audience of 5.7 - 6.1 million people. They also sponsor Derby Football Club and the Borris Bike scheme in Edinburgh to appeal on a local scale and seem supportive of British initiatives. They have recently increased media spend for further coverage and to increase appeal to various target audiences.

To become a restaurant represented by JustEat, restaurants have to pay a £699 one-off joining fee. This joins their business to the app. The commission fee is 13%-14% per sale. They currently have over 100,000 restaurant partners, 24 million customers worldwide and each restaurant receives an average of 2,300 orders a year through the website. Part of this price also includes the provision of delivery drivers from JustEat. JustEat also takes part in vertical integration through acquisition to eradicate competition and integrate and grow the brand. This helps the company to quickly expand over many different countries as existing business and system has already been set up and established in the area.

Food Inspector in Ealing Takeaway Kitchen

Recently, JustEat has been under fire after a BBC News study discovered 20 out of 31 takeaway shops with a health rating of 0 are advertised and partnered with Just Eat and in Manchester, London and Bristol 50% of takeaway shops with a health rating of 0 were partnered with the brand. This sparked mass fury as the brand is so far doing nothing to highlight this issue on the app and are consequently selling food of unfit standard to the public. This shows a clear oversight from the company which commented they are, "actively working to raise standards".

As a result of my research, I have found the information about general demand for the service, the USP's and visions of the existing brands, benefits for the community and specific business models for companies such as JustEat, imperative in moving forward with my project. They influence the direction of my project as I can now identify successful aspects of the food delivery service and also USP's and gaps in the market for my own brand. This will help me to develop a marketing strategy and a subsequent advertising campaign. This research will be used to help me form my advert proposals and fulfill my brief.