M3 (U20): Explain how the created media components comply with the codes and conventions of the media sectors & D2 (U20): How the technical and aesthetic properties of the adverts meet the requirements of the client brief and the pre-production plan you made

Codes and Conventions

Whilst designing and creating our adverts we made sure to follow a variety of codes and conventions in order to make our campaign as successful and marketable as possible. 

In total, three adverts were created as part of the overall campaign:

• An A2 sized printed poster which can be placed inside buildings as well as outside public spaces such as bus stop or train stations
• A large landscape billboard which is placed outdoors in highly visible positions such as city centers.
• A digital media graphic, which is the A2 poster recycled, and adjusted to fit a social media post.

In order to make sure our adverts fit the standard codes and conventions of advertising we took some inspiration form existing and well established fizzy drink marketing campaigns. I will be going into further detail about this in this document

A2 Printed Poster

Posters that had a heavy inspiration on our own were those which portrayed some sort of splash surrounding the product, such as the one below made by Sprite. We decided to do our own take on this aesthetic with the intention of making the viewer feel like they need the product. As we can see, our PhizzWizzard can is placed in the middle of the poster, whilst exploding with the drink inside, as well as a splash of water occupying the space around it. This directly ties into the product's release data (late spring/early summer) when the temperatures will be hot making consumers crave a cold and refreshing beverage. Similarly to other posters, we made sure that the colors are bold but true to our brand, in order to make the association between them and the product embedded in the customers sub-conscious.

In both of the adverts, the product is the main focus of the poster, even lacking minor details such as social media icons, in order to make the message sharp and clear. As opposed to the Sprite advert, ours nicely shows off the design of the can label as an added bonus, with the goal of making it stand out amongst shelves in supermarkets and other types of stores. Finally, some turquoise, orange and red laces were added to the background of the product. The color scheme was inspired by our pre-production material, specifically the mood board. There was one image of a retro 80s pattern which could easily be associated with the rise of arcades and neon decorations. This was included with the aim of appealing to the mature target audience.

Outdoor Billboard

Our billboard advert was also largely inspired by other billboards of similar nature. Since we want the advert to be visible from afar we needed to make sure that the product is clearly visible and can grab the consumers attention; especially if it's located in places populated with other billboards. We made sure that unlike the poster, the billboard doesn't feature any small text, which wouldn't be visible from longer sightlines. Similarly to the example below, the product is clearly the main focus point of the advert. This is because unlike with posters, which often feature creative double meanings and visual jokes, we want the message to be obvious and reach as big of an audience as possible.

Social Media Promotion

In order to expand my campaign into a sector outside print and outdoor advertising I branched out into social media marketing. The platform I chose for this is Twitter; this is because of it's wide range of tools and methods available on the website, which brands can use to sell products and promote events. This includes paying Twitter to promote posts (making them appear on everyone's feeds regardless of their followed topics) or paying influencers to promote products for you using the hashtag #ad; just to name a few. 

In order to make our advert competitive we followed trends some trends which are followed by other social media advertisers. We firstly made our own PhizzWizzard social media account with an appropriate name and profile picture, so that we can interact with general users in the comments and direct messages. This creates a stronger bond between the brand and customer as well as improves the brand identity. We then edited our poster to fit the aspect ratio of the Twitter post, so that the product is viewable from the timeline. Lastly, we made a social media post using the picture as well as an attractive caption, with the aim of appealing to users. We also made sure to use our own unique hashtag #PheelThePhizz , which acts as a call to action for fans to further connect with the product, and develop a liking for it's image.

Evaluating Client Brief Accuracy

In order to create a cross-media campaign which fit what the client desires, I had to follow a specific brief. In this document, I will be evaluating how well I met the client requirements, and how well I have appealed to the target audience.

Carter Soft Drinks require an advertising campaign for their latest fizzy drink, named Phizzwizzard.

This drink tastes of strawberry laces and the liquid is red in colour, however, it is sugar free and only contains natural colourings and flavourings.

This drink is only to be sold in cans, aiming at a retro audience of 30-somethings who mostly had cans when young as well as major audience of young people aged 13-18.

The campaign needs to include at least three different adverts to launch their cross-media campaign.

Logo - In order to establish the brand identity I had to create a universal logo which I could use across all my adverts. I had to make sure that it can be scaled up and down as it will be located on various adverts situated in different media sectors. This is why I decided to use Adobe Illustrator as opposed to Photoshop, since it's a vector art software. This means that rather than containing pixels my logo is shaped using coordinates and mathematical operations, which makes it easily scalable without losing any quality. The logo itself features double meaning as it can be perceived in two different ways.

1. A can with a straw being served on top of a plate; which reflects the products exclusive canned packaging specified in the brief which should attract the "30-something" audience
2. A wizard/magician hat with two eyes below, which is a play on words of the product name, this secondary portrayal should attract a younger audience especially school children

The font I used as part of the logo also meets Carter Soft Drinks requirements as it resembles strawberry laces which is the flavour of the drink the client specified in the brief.

House style - With the intention of making my campaign recognisable across several adverts of a cross-media campaign, I came up with a house style which fitted the client-brief. The house-style includes a red-white theme which reflects the strawberry lace flavour. The entire house-style is also inspired by retro american art deco and cinematography, which should further resonate within the mature audience. The calligraphic fonts I used are also give off a retro atmosphere.

Target Audience - As I've already partially explained, I am aiming to appeal to two target audiences which were requested by the client brief. One is a retro audience of 30+ year olds, and the other is a major audience of young people aged between 13 and 18. In addition to what I've already said in regards to the house-style and logo, In my planned TV advert I was aiming to integrate an arcade setting, which would further resonate with the retro audience. This was to create a sense of nostalgia as the millennial generation grew up at a time when arcades boomed. In my TV storyboard, I was also planning to include a man in a wizard costume, which would be the mascot of the campaign, as I've researched thar brands with mascots aimed at children usually beat competitors and resonate with younger audiences more.

Legal and Ethical - In terms of Legal and Ethical issues I believe I have committed no false advertisement or misleading messages. An issue which might come up is the fact that the campaign promotes fizzy drinks to children. Although our fizzy drink is sugar free, children can still become addicted and reach for products which are far more unhealthy. Another issue is that our font combined with the colour might be perceived too similar to the 'Coca-Cola' logo, which is one of our competitors. This means that the house-style might have to go through some regulations in order to make sure the brand isn't thrown into a high cost court-case.

Why the different platforms fit the client requirements

TV - I chose the TV media sector as a part of my campaign mix because statistically it contains a predominantly large amount of millennial consumers. TV is very popular with members of the mature audience due to them growing up with it and also because they have less average knowledge of the internet and new technology. TV also allows me to research which TV channels have the most mature viewers and in response tailor the ads to the appropriate ones.

Social Media - As opposed to the TV sector, the social media sector helps the campaign appeal to the major younger audience. It has been proven that social media is very popular with teenagers and young adults in the 21st century, which combined with the low cost of promotion, provides a great opportunity to attract more younger consumers.

Print/Outdoor - The poster and billboard which I created give the entire campaign an additional boost in promotion to both of the target audiences. They are made to be specifically generic and straight to the point, not favouring one individual over another. The fact that they are located in public locations with high traffic, means that they will get a lot of views from teenagers, 30 year olds, as well as general audience members.

By advertising across all of these different platforms I have effectively targeted the campaign towards all the different target audiences which were provided by the client brief.