Advert Analysis

In order to design my flatplans for my own advert, I have picked two music genres similar to my own and I am going to analyse what makes them appeal to their target audience.

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Here is the Kings of Leon magazine advert. On first appearances we can immediately see the advert has the green night vision interpretation. This is directly linked to the title of their album "Only by the night." By making this link the advert has depth and meaning whilst maintaining a consistency of a theme throughout.

In addition to this, the four member of the bands faces are morphing into animals found at night, we see the eyes and feathers of an owl. The way we see this is through the interpretation of a night scope. I can tell this by the way the image is split into four. This works well as there are also four members of the band so the theme works well in all aspects.

The way the facial features are arranged on the cover, allows the band to still be seen. This is so that the target audience can still recognise who this advert belongs to, but due to the obscure nature of the image it will also raw them in to look longer, therefore forcing them to read the advert an register an interest. Ultimately this will lead to sales.

The Black banner at the top is used to make the white text stand out more. The font is bold and upper case. Underscores are used to separate the words as the theme of computer technology is kept throughout. The title uses a white font which we notice is only used when displaying them most important information on the advert and therefore against the black background we notice the title after the image. The image stands out most on the page and the eye is drawn to that immediately, however when obscurity of the image hits,. the eye looks up for the title of the band and finally to the text below.

Once again at the bottom of the advert we see the same font used, and the title of the album "Only by the night" appears to be the same size as the name of the band. This is because theses are the two most vital pieces of information in the advert. People read an advert quickly either when passing a billboard or flicking through a magazine. Therefore the information should be kept to a minimum to keep the attention of the audience and get the main information across.

The title of the album is in a green font, this is to make the connection between the green night time vision look of the image with its meaning in the title. Once again to maintain the theme we see the same font as the band title.

Underneath this we see smaller white font which says "The new album includes: sex on fire, crawl and use somebody." By using this as a subheading a reader will look closer to read the writing which is intentionally put in a smaller font. The information it contains is in interest to the audience as it details important information bout the contents of the album the poster is advert sing.

The advert only details the successful number 1 hits that are on the C.D. As two of the songs on the advert have been number 1 and the "crawl" is a new entry into the charts that is tipped to do well. By doing this the advert engages the audience by the two songs they will recognise, and then interests the audience and they are not likely to have heard of this new song unless they have the album, therefore encouraging them to buy it.

Below this we see "Released September 22, 2008" This is all bold block capitals as it is more eye-catching. It is also in a red colour, to emphasise the importance of this information. This information is linked the the sale date of the C.D so therefore is large in size bold and bright to ensure it stands out most on the advert and cannot be missed.

Finally, at the very bottom of the advert there are some legal components such as the record label logo the band are signed to as well as their website. This is http://www.columbia.co.uk/. As well as the bans website http://www.kingsofleon.co.uk/. This is done so that fans can find out more information, and to widen a potential fan base.

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This Ladyhawke advert poses an element of simplicity. Overall the advert is small and elongated. Typically found in a magazine.

Unlike the advert above this is just advertising her new single, however it details a lot more information and text. It is clear the advert is relying more on the text than the image that appears to the left.

The advert is made to look like it is drawn or painted by hand. I know this because of the way the letters are different sizes and the background is made to look like sugar paper with splashes if paint on it.

The image made to look drawn and very artistically done like a watercolour. Is of a cat cover in a white sheet. The image is seemingly random, and with no direct link to the artist. This reflects her random and obscure approach to her advert style.

The title of the band is once again in block capitals and exactly as it appears on her single cover. This is to maintain a running theme, and also the block capitals stand out more to the eye of the audience. The title is white filled with a black running line around the letters. The letters are not all the same size and are aligned left. This is once again to add to the random and artistic style of the advert.

Underneath the title we see the name of the song, now all in lower case letters, this appears in a simple and almost child like font which links the the messy painting and child like illustration. The tile of the song itself "dusk til dawn" also matches this descriptions as it is not grammatically correct.

We then see, "single out now" upper case, as it has importance to the sale of the single. This is therefore in black and bold font, and stands out most on the page in comparison to any of the other text.

Below this the text becomes much more dense and all in the same black font, this is suggesting that this text has importance. It details on one line the artists that feature in her single, and on the second the realease date of her album. This doesn't stand out at all mainly because the purpose of this advert to to make the release of her single known. I would have thought another advert would be made for her album nearer the release date. However by putting the date there for her album she is also making this information known, be it small.

Underneath this is a list of tour dates, this will be to widen her fan base in readiness for the release of her album.

Finally there are tow equally spaced web addresses of both Ladyhawke and her label. This once again is linked to the fans and them finding out more information, as they may have seen this advert on a passing bus or billboard and didn't catch when the artist will be touring in their area. The website will allow them to research this more.

The advert used the same main two colours throughout beige and black this is to maintain a them and to add to the consistency of the advert. However behind the main title there are splashes of different colours made to look like paint. These colours include, red yellow, purple and blue. On first look these splashes are not linked, until you look below the image and see the name of the record company Ladyhawke is signed to written in colourful letters. This shows the record label have their stamp all over the artist.

The way this advert has been designed says to me this artist is up and coming, the tour dates listed suggest she wants to widen her fan base, and the fact she is only advertising the single, shows she is getting a taste for the market. This suggests this advert isn't as powerful in selling her single due to its size and how little it stands out.

Having done this research I feel I am now able to think more about the design of my own advert and the impact it will have on the Target audience.