Abstra

Advertising Design student, analysing advertisements. The purpose of this blog is to display work for my university course. Based in Cardiff, portfolio linked below.

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KFC Apology Advert

For this advert, its a promotional piece as well as a PSA due to the chicken shortage in a lot of KFC restaurants. For the creative direction of this advert it shows a empty bucket with Colonel Sanders face on with the letters of KFC rearranged to say "FCK" hinting at messing up and making a huge mistake especially as its a chicken restaurant.  The background of the advert is also of a red wood texture, possibly hinting this advert was shot at a KFC diner table or on the floor. They have posted this onto their social media due to it being the most obvious place to put it where it gained the most attention, it would also  be free media planning due to it costing nothing to post something on social media and with tagging people and retweets it will gain more publicity. This advert is also mainly copy based due to it being a announcement and open letter to audiences who read it. The text is clean, with a bold title text with main text being regular and clear to read.  The target audience would be adults due to them being the main target audience which people get KFC and also possibly mid teens as well, the mutual interest would also be KFC. It could be seen as a bad apology as it tends to pander the audience. The concept is definitely original and quite interesting but I feel its something what seems very basic but gets the message out and its very clear and simplistic. The white text contrasts the red background which makes it clearer and easier to read, I feel this advert is very safe advert wise and doesn't have anything bad about it apart from the pandering. The humorous letter rearrangement makes it a advert what is something what makes it something what differs itself to most adverts where they try to keep all their language clean but with the hint of the swear makes it grab audiences attention but to also make them read more.

There are many issues in which makes this advert bad especially for what the message is portraying with the “FCK” on the bucket, firstly if young kids saw this they wouldn’t understand how bad offensive language is at a young age, a lot of people won’t also read the full message and won’t really understand it and might not care if they just see a somewhat lengthy paragraph. Visually, I feel that the bucket isn’t centered in the poster and the text could be a lot bigger and bolder, for the background or backing, they could have also added white stripes going down like they did with the bucket.

My final thoughts on this poster and design is that its decent for a apology, with social media and tagging friends on posts and also free promotion with pages like “The Lad Bible” and tabloid sites who might post this, it gives KFC more exposure especially those who aren’t a fan of KFC. The thing to remember about the advert is that its also a apology and a response to all of the headlines who talked about the chicken shortage.

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Become Jigsaw Poster

This poster is a promotional teaser poster for 2017’s Jigsaw movie, the 8th installment of the saga. In which the previous posters seem to focus on the traps of the games in the films with dark colours, a hint of what is to come or some gory imagery, this poster has delivered something completely different which the audience isn’t used to normally see. The main feature of this poster is of a Pig mask with long black hair, those who have seen this film will recognize it as the mask in which a Jigsaw killer dons when the games are taking place to conceal their identity but to also stay true to the original being John Kramer. Those who wouldn’t have seen the films wouldn’t understand the poster and the message behind the pig mask.

The aesthetic of the poster is very grungy, showing a lot of contrast and shows how simplicity can work in the finest of ways especially with bringing a message with such little copy. The grunge textures in which I feel are the most important ones to focus on are the scratches, the dust pattern and the different marks on the left hand side of the poster. There then seems to be a rocky pattern or texture as the main backing in which the pig mask is on, showing a very clean and intriguing look to it.

The red text saying “BECOME JIGSAW” seems very menacing but it is a great and effective way to show a new start for Saw and how even the most little of colour can be effective and powerful. The word “Become” seems like an action for us to become Jigasw and to be one of his followers and apprentices. The small text on the footer of the poster shows logos, branding and social media for the movie but also the age certification. Upon researching this online, I found that there were over 2 million search results.

With many movie sites and tabloids giving Jigsaw a lot of attention and with social media, the poster would have definitely got a lot of attention, a lot of comments on a Facebook article about Jigsaw seemed quite positive as a majority looking forward to Jigsaw and its return. There was a fair bit of negative reaction towards it on the article mainly because of people didn’t want it to be another torture porn.

In my opinion, the poster seems to be both completely different but something what would also relate to the whole Saw aesthetic with fans of the films who know about the films and the symbolism behind the mask and how symbolitic pigs are in Saw and also how its very iconic in Kramer’s work. The whole point of Jigsaw was to make the Saw story again and to continue the story but to also make it so that a new audience could watch it in the big screen. After watching the documentary “I Speak For The Dead: The Legacy of Saw”, they describe that they were thinking about making it a prequel, then a sequel or a brand new part of the story, they decided to go for the prequel/sequel approach in which the film would bring back Saw but to a new fresh story with a different feel, different vibes and different palette to the saga. The poster itself looks great as a teaser poster however if it was to make the viewer “Become Jigsaw” I would have it like a shadowy figure handing the pig mask to show the passing of the mantle onto a new apprentice.

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Abstra Apparel - Immortal Hoodie

The posters above advertise a hoodie from Abstra Apparel, there are 2 alternate versions of the poster, with one saying the name of the hoodie and one with a subheading of “Link in bio” advertising that one of the posters are for social media which is the 2nd one and the first poster advert being for social media however not having a action for the audience to select it.

The name “Abstra” looks like Abstract without the “ct” being added on the end so therefore I feel that the designer of the poster has tried to manipulate the poster being in a abstract manner to make it look different and unique.

The hoodie is in the center of the page underneath the brand name and above the heading what states “Immortal Hoodie” with white artistic brushes in the background to add contrast but also to make the hoodie more visible.

Judging from the design of the hoodie, I feel that the audience is fans of alternative fashion with the distorted spiral but the text and design of the poster makes me feel that this is a indie or hipster clothing brand for urban people.

The criticism I have for the poster designs is there is hardly any information in regards to other colours or where I can purchase it. Theres also no price available nor any social media on the posters for upcoming updates in regards to the brand. I would also recommend making the print of the hoodie more prominent in the poster to make the viewer feel more enticed into buying the apparel.

The whole “Link in bio” tagline references a catchphrase said by a lot of influencers but mainly Jake and Logan Paul who are notorious for plugging their merchandise in social media. This makes it more clear that the campaign would be mainly based for social media in comparison for simplistic advertising strategies.

Speaking to the owner of Abstra Apparel, he was able to tell me the insights of a post he made advertising the merchandise, he said that it has a base reach number of 52 and in total 27 interactions in the posts what include profile visits, likes and a lot more, he also won’t say how much profit or purchases was made of the hoodie.

To finalize and summarize, this is a advert campaign based on social media for abstract fashion and style for alternatives and people who have grunge fashion tastes, when interviewing the creator and owner of Abstra Apparel he said that he found the idea of cult and culture with brands like Supreme very interesting and was fascinated why people would spend a lot of money on a shirt with a red rectangle what just says the word Supreme. He also wanted the advert to be clean and appealing especially in regards to Abstra’s brand. Abstra seems to be a very interesting brand and the whole concept with cults in fashion was a very interesting remark in what he mentioned to me, the spiral and the word “Immortal” seems very mysterious and I am looking forward to what potential Abstra will bring to the fashion world.

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VSauce Mindfield Analysis

VSauce is a science channel based on exploring questions and ideas which many people think about, things like is the Earth flat and a lot more. He recently had a YouTube Red series which is a 30-40 minute episode series exploring things like aspects of the human brain and what it would do in situations and scenarios.

The background is a very clean but interesting gradient with the top of the background starting with red and then it fades to a pale skin tone type colour and then fades out with a blue/cyan colour.

The text is very clean and easy on the eyes with the tagline using a pun as the main focus of the poster which is of Michael’s head basically being bent. It appears like the back of the head is like a room or a house with the walls being very dull but it also suits Michael’s aesthetic in my eyes, it is also a very clean style and texture in regards to the walls. The wall also seems to like a open room with Stevens standing on some stairs what are joining the back of the head to the neck, his body posture reminds me a lot like a tutor's position.  The manipulation of the room and Michael's head is blended well, with a good abstract frame around the head with the ceiling like pattern.

Personally, I feel this is a great advert with how minimal but effective it is, the clean text, the good use of font, the manipulation and so much more I can definitely see this advert as a effective advertisement and poster for the YouTube Red series.

Another thing I liken about this is how intriguing it is with there being a mystery with the mind and how clean it is compared to other posters which are created.

The font choices are both clean however the Mind Field logo certainly gives off a totally fresh edge to it, with something funky but appealing for it, the fonts are clean but also very suiting for his style of the show.

The background of the poster is very clean and it seems very minimal and clean however I do feel that it is fairly bland as there is a lot of space what could be used to give off a hint of what the series is about. I feel that without any knowledge of VSauce I wouldn’t know what it is advertising apart from a YouTube Red series and maybe its a mystery thriller due to the head having a very mysterious manipulation and how it is a mysterious image.

The idea of VSauce’s series “Mindfield” is a YouTube Red series so I presume the best way for him to advertise is on the VSauce main channel, his other channels and also social media. With having a YouTube Red Series it isn’t a normal place to see content from a favourite creator. The way they have promoted this series is very interesting, they firstly uploaded the trailer of season 1 of Mindfield on January 11th of 2017 which gained over 28 million views which is above double the amount of subscribers the VSauce  main channel has with a 60,000 to 7,000 like to dislike ratio and over 7,000 comments, the first episode was also uploaded onto the channel for free as YouTube Red serves just like Netflix for original content, it received over 16 million views which is more than his subscriber count with 330,000 people liking the video to 20,000 people disliking it, the video also has over 40,000 comments so I feel that this is very successful.

I feel this was a great way of promoting the series to the audience as it seemed very positive towards engagement and in feedback.

The second season was then unveiled on December 6th of 2017 with over 5 million views and 10,000 people liking the video trailer compared to 4,000 people disliking the video.

The trailer seemed very professional compared to the previous season’s trailer, with good information and good content to tease and entice the viewer. The comments seem negative towards Michael for changing the way the channel is run and how there was only 4 free VSauce videos in 2017. They seem to be mad at Michael for making his content a paid subscription and the video trailer seems very negatively received compared to the Season 1 trailer.

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Mr T Snickers Radio Advert

The advert I will be analysing is Mr T’s Snickers radio advert from 2010. The description of the advert says he talks about instruction manuals. The advert’s choice of media is audio and the target audience would likely be of any gender but focusing towards people who watched Mr T’s show.

The advert begins with a telephone ringing and a male voice saying “Hello”, another males voice replies with “Hello sir, I hear you’re having problems with putting together your new kitty unit.”

The first male says “Oh yeah, the instructions say...” 

He gets interrupted by the man on the phone in which he says “The what now?”,he seems baffled by the young male reading instructions.

The young man then starts to explain by saying “The instruction manual, it makes absolutely no...” He gets interrupted again by a deep voice saying “Stop reading that.” 

The younger male seems anxious when being told to not read it, he asks for a recommendation for what he should use instead. The deeper voice starts by saying “I suggest you use the fact that you’re a man!” In the middle of the sentence the deeper voice then transitions to Mr T’s voice.

The man’s response is “Huh?” Mr T ignores the young mans bafflement and surprise of hearing the voice of Mr T and the response as well. Mr T continues by saying “Guys who got pride, never relied on no guides, sucker! I’ll give you some step by step instructions: Grab Snickers, remove wrapper, bite chocolate and get some nuts!”

The phone is hung up and cuts out, a energetic voice then says “Go to grabsomenuts.tv for more Snickers man coaching.”

The advert then ends with the energetic man promoting the site, personally this was a decent radio advert, it was clean editing wise, it was bold, I personally found it humorous and would definitely remember the advert if I was in the car driving to somewhere. Personally I don’t see that advert to be aired today due to the fact that some people might see Mr T being aggressive and hositle despite that being his character which he is known best for.  The sound effects what were used in the advert were really good and very cleanly edited to fit the 30 second time limit for a radio advert. I can see this being aired on radio stations like Kiss, Radio 1 and Capital FM for their audience mainly being for younger people and for the male demographic which I feel after listening to this advert it was definitely suited for a male audience with all voices what featured in this advert were from males, it had a very interesting plot twist and if I hadn't seen the title of the advert I would have been confused for what they were advertising.

Despite Mr T being a celebrity for more of the older generation I can see young people like myself being the main focus for audience especially as I doubt people who are elderly, female or both being interested in this advert.