Year 11 Exam Topics - Advertising: Coke Zero and Diet Coke

Advertising and Marketing - Audiences. The Coke Zero/Diet Coke thing.

...it's all in the acesulfame potassium. Ace-K, as it's known in the sweetening business, is an artificial sweetener found in Coke Zero, but not in Diet Coke, which is only sweetened with aspartame. And that's the difference, technically. A little variation in taste (due to the sweetener) and actually a tiny difference in the calories (Coke Zero has a little bit less) and you've got 2 drinks for the price of making one, and a diet drink without the word 'diet' - a whole new marketing possibility.

According to studies, men are reluctant to buy diet drinks, which are traditionally marketed at women and have all the associated diet and lifestyle connotations: something the marketers felt wasn't particularly a male thing. Men, though, were increasingly health-conscious; toning and working out in the gym, running and keeping fit, and needed an alternative to 'girly' Diet Coke or the sugar-loaded regular version.

Pepsi had actually stolen a march on Coke with Pepsi Max, launched in Europe in 1993, and aimed at an active, male market (sponsoring the rollercoaster at Blackpool was a good move in terms of reaching out to its target audience) but it was unavailable in the USA because of licensing problems over the ingredients, and so the Coca-Cola company had the opportunity to hit the global market with the same product, assuming that it passed food safety standards at home and abroad. Coke Zero was introduced to a global market in 2006.

Coke Zero advertising: Our Hero/A taste of life as it should be.

This advertising campaign is squarely aimed at a 20-something male audience (with a bit of movement either side of this demographic) through the linked strands of sex, action and explosions. Hitting the love/belonging and esteem needs on Maslow's Triangle (Hierarchy of Needs - see elsewhere on this blog) the ads present 'our hero' in a range of sticky situations (trapped in his girlfriend's apartment with her parents at the door, in a supermarket bumping into his ex and her massive new man, and in a roadside diner dealing with the tricky issue of how to manage the break-up) In each case the problem in the narrative is resolved thanks to Coke Zero: a swig of the cold, zero-sugar delight and the problem is tackled: SWAT teams, exotic new girlfriends, helicopters, pole dancers and the right words all swing into action once Coke Zero has been put into the mix. It is quite a catalyst.

Remember Todorov's theory of narrative from Year 10?

TODOROV’S THEORY – Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end. The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).

Well, this fits in quite nicely, and you can apply this thinking to these ads. In each one, the equilibrium is established at the start of the advert, so we know where the ad is staring from and what the situation is. In 'The Morning After' we see 'our hero' in bed with an attractive female, who gets out of bed looking spectacularly glamorous, and goes off for a shower, leaving 'our hero' in bed and with the apartment to himself. This equilibrium is interrupted by a knock on the door and the arrival of 'the parents'. At a loss, and not wanting to be caught there by an increasingly angry father, he turns to Coke Zero for the answer, and drinking from the fortunately positioned bottle in the girl's fridge, sparks the reaction that restores the equilibruim through the intervention of a SWAT team complete with bed making guns and dog silencers! A new equilibrium is established as 'our hero' is swept away in the by a helicopters as huge fireballs explode into the sky.

The mise-en-scene in the opening is important for the message for the message of the advet. The room is messy, with clothes and cushions thrown around everywhere (the results of 'the night before' as suggested by 'the morning after' title of the text?) and plates and food containers and bottles and glasses all round. This sets the narrative up for the audience, and gives a lot of detail in the first ten seconds that place the action and establish the situation.

'Our Hero' is a 20-something man, representative of the target audience, (who are supposed to see themselves reflected here and identify with his situation) waking up in bed with an attractive woman, feeling pleased with himself and naturally drawn to the Coke Zero in the fridge. He is fit looking, (semi-clothed/in his vest) healthy and with just enough designer stubble to make it clear that he's not completely clean cut and perfect. In each of the adverts in this campaign, 'our hero' looks similar - a white male, 20-someting, with a little bit of stubble and messy dark hair, who is drawn like magic to the sugar-free powers of Coke Zero.

The Coke Zero effect is the catalyst that changes a difficult situation into one that can be managed by a swig of Coke Zero. In each advert the narrative pauses while we see the drink travelling into the body, into the bloodstream and sparking of a chain of internal combustions and explosions that shake the central character's world. This sequence is punctuated by a dramatic voiceover and captions explaining how Coke Zero presents 'Life As It Should Be', using film stock and skewed effects to make it clear that Coke Zero has ripped up the old story (film) and created something new, something dramatic, and something designed to appeal to men. 'Our Hero' wins, either escaping the tricky situation or having it change to his favour in front of him, because he has had a sip of a sugar-free drink. Exciting stuff!

There is nothing in the advertisements that promotes the health qualities of this drink, and in no way is it marketed as a diet product. Coke Zero will change your world, rescue you, make you feel good, special and wanted, and make spectacular women (including your ex) offer you no-strings sex. You could argue that this is a fairy simple way of advertising, but mix this up with high budget production and Hollywood style effects, and your audience sit up and take notice. Coke Zero sales have increased significantly (49 percent in 2008) as a result of some clever marketing and hitting the right audience.

This all contrasts nicely, then, with

Diet Coke advertising: 11:30/Diet Coke break

What we've actually studied in lessons is a hybrid of the original 1990s '11:30' Diet Coke ad and the updated version made for a more modern audience.

If the Coke Zero advertisements are aimed at men, then the Diet Coke ads are their polar opposites, aimed clearly and specifically at women. The narratives of the three adverts are very similar: women working in exclusively women-only environments (very empowering - they're not just seen as secretaries, and very different to the stay at home women represented in the Persil ads we have looked at) take a break at a particular time to enjoy and objectify the men on offer to them. From their (and the advertiser's) point of view, the men are there to be looked at and enjoyed, as a break from the cut and thrust of the working day.

The 1990s ad has a fairly straightforward narrative: women working in an office let each other know that it is the crucial time of the day: 11:30. This, however, is not time for an executive meeting, or a gossip session, or even a drinks break of their own to ease the stress of the morning. No, in this case 11:30 is the time the builders working outside take a break, and one in particular (and we are led to assume that this is a fairly regular thing) strips off his t-shirt to enjoy the cooling refreshment that is Diet Coke while the women look on, pressed against the window a few floors up, getting steamier by the minute. The music ('I Just Wanna Make Love to You' by Etta James) played over the video track is not particularly subtle, and gives the viewer a clear indication of how all of these women feel about the diet fizz swigging construction worker lingering over his break time refreshment. Interestingly the women themselves aren't seen enjoying Diet Coke - they enjoy it vicariously, which means through someone else, in this case the exhibitionist builder.

The target audience for this advert are supposed to see themselves in the representations of the working women on the screen - women with important jobs who aren't afraid to enjoy the physical appearance of the object of their collective desires...in the 1990s ad the man is purely objectified - there's no interaction with him, and we don't even know for certain if he knows he is being watched so closely!

In the 2008 update of this advert the same backing track is used, and the message is the same, but the women are much more in control of the situations they create to gaze longingly at whatever Diet Coke guy is featured. In 'Lift' the three women use the opportunity of a Diet Coke break (this time they actually get to drink it) to engineer a situation where, by stopping the lift and getting themselves stuck, they get to have a desirable engineer descend from the roof in front of their very eyes. They have made this happen - they are in charge of the situation and by pressing a button can make a man magically appear!

As repairman descends (dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, just enough stubble and a hint of bare skin above his waistband) the camera lingers on the three women in the lift as they suggestively bite lips, twist hair, run their fingers over their cans of Diet Coke and show quite clearly that they're enjoying the situation they've engineered for themselves. As the lift stops and they step out they put their empty cans in a bin containing nothing but empty cans, suggesting that this kind of Diet Coke lift action is not a one-off. This ad is obviously more subtle than the in-your-face punchiness of the Coke Zero ads, and doesn't suggest that the drink will get you the man, only get you the man to look at.

The final Diet Coke ad has the same sort of message and structure - the impending arrival of the Diet Coke delivery guy (working women can't exist without it) sends the office into a state of alert: buttons are undone, cleavage plumped up, legs extended, skirts shortened and photos of husbands unsubtly flipped face down as the jeans and white t-shirted delivery guy, hot and sweaty because of the hard manual task he has (carrying a couple of crates of Diet Coke up in a lift!) comes into the office, is stared at and lusted over by an all-woman office with electricity in the air, and, after he drains his can, one woman, obviously impressed, even runs her finger up and around the can where Diet Coke guy has been.

There is a sense of humour running through the ads: the delivery guy laughs when he realises just how much he is the centre of attention, and I'm sure that the intention of the adverts wasn't to suggest that no matter how powerful a woman's job, and how impressive her office is, a Diet Coke guy can still make her go weak at the knees. Remember, though, that the uses and gratifications theory suggests that not only can audiences choose how they receive a text, they can also choose what to make of it, and it is possible to read the advert this way.

Even though we're dealing with a couple of soft drinks, essentially the same, the way that they have been packaged, branded and marketed tells us a lot about the target audience the advertisers have focussed on. Sex still sells, in many different ways, and as Media students it's importance to notice the differences in how it does, depending on who you're selling to.

Mr G.



Coke Zero - Supermarket



Coke Zero - The Morning After



Diet Coke - Original '11:30 Diet Coke Break'



Diet Coke - 11:30

Year 11 Exam Topics - Advertising. 'A Woman Alone' [Persil]

'A Woman Alone' is a 1959 advert from Persil (produced by JWT advertising) from a simpler time, when there wasn't the multitude of products on offer, and the sole purpose of a washing powder was to get things white. In an age of black and white television (colour television broadcasts didn't start in Britain until 1967) there was no point in saying that a washing powder got things clean - you couldn't really demonstrate one red shirt being cleaner than another - so you had to sell a product on its whitening power. This you can see -look how the white in the advert stands out against the (untouched by Persil) greys of the shirts around it.

These are the kind of things you need to think about in your analysis, and when considering this advert as part of your case study:
Sound

The advert opens with emotional string music, the kind of thing you would find in a romantic drama, particularly in the 1950s. This is designed to tie in with the love the woman in the advert feels for her family, tied in with the care she shows for them by making sure they're Persil whitened.

The other non-diegetic (coming from outside the original recording) sound consists of a male voice over, speaking formal standard English using a RP accent (received pronounciation) This gives him authority, and is designed to make the audience for the advert believe in what he says. He is someone to trust, because he speaks well and is a man. All experts in advertising land at this time were men - this was where the power lay.

The actual words he speaks are:

"This woman is alone...yet not alone. Even though her family may be apart from her, they are still a part of her. Being judged by the care she takes of them. Being judged by how white she keeps their clothes. Being judged by the care she takes of them. Being judged by that same whiteness. So Persil is part of her strength, and their happiness. As a mother she uses Persil. As a wife, she uses Persil. Persil washes whiter."

There are some very interesting messages here: look at how the word 'judged' is used - the advert seems to suggest that she is failing in her duty as a wife and a mother if she doesn't use Persil - she will be letting herself down! The voiceover plays on a woman's guilt: only Persil can save her from the scornful looks of the world (and the other Persil mums who are smug in the knowledge that they 'wash whiter' and are looking after their families properly.

Mise-en-Scene

The physical context of the advertisement is clear: the woman is in a clearly ordered kitchen with neat cups and crockery arranged on the dresser, on the sink, and on the dining table where she is in the process of arranging her kitchen. The table is set, and the kitchen sink is clear in the background, firmly placing her as in role as a woman in her natural place - in the kitchen. Her hair and make up is simple and unfussy, and she is not made a sex object either by her make up or clothes: she is dressed in a unrevealing jumper and an apron - hardly the stuff of glamorous dreams! The product is featured in close up so it is foregrounded, but it isn't shown in use...the advert is not selling the practicalities of washing in Persil, but its results.
School and office locations are both represented as being ordered and calm environments. Colours are toned to allow the 'Persil whiteness' of the clothes highlighted to stand out.

Facial Expressions/Body Language

The central character is often shown looking downwards, either at the soft toy in her hands or in close up, making her drift off and think of her family with a dreamy smile on her face. She doesn't look at or challenge the camera, and she doesn't invite the camera to look directly at her. She is not provocative, but could be seen to be submissive, lowering her eyes, and knowing her place. Even though she is doing boring domestic tasks, the look on her face suggests that she enjoys this and enjoys fulfilling her role as a woman, wife and mother, and it is these last two (the wife and mother roles) that define her as a woman.

Sequence
1. Long shot of kitchen to show domestic setting. Woman clearing up breakfast table. She then picks up child's toy.
2. Cut to close up of her face as she thinks of her child.
3. Cut to close up of child's face with the same dreamy expression. Camera zooms out to show child is obviously in school, sat at a desk by a window. She seems to be wholesome, good, and well behaved, clean and attractive. She is sat next to another pupil whose shirt is noticeably less white. Shot ties in with the words of the voiceover 'being judged...'
4. Cut back to mother's face with loving/longing expression.
5. Cut to husband in an office behind a desk. Juxtaposed (put against) colleague wearing a shirt that is less than gleaming white. He notices this and looks concerned at the grey of his own sleeve in contrast to his colleague's
6. Cut to Persil product being put on a cupboard shelf by female hand. Camera pans to woman's contented and downward gazing face.
7. Zoom out to long shot showing the kitchen. Woman gazes lovingly at her husband and puts her arm through his. They smile at each other and wander over to well behaved and calm child who is playing with bricks on the table. Both parents add a brick and the child completes the pyramid, showing family unity. Child looks happy.
8. Cut to close up pack shot of product with bubbles in background, suggesting sparkle/cleanliness.

Narrative
The narrative or story of the advert is actually quite straightforward. The 'Woman Alone' of the title is not actually alone, because she is always with her family thanks to the magical properties of Persil. By dressing them in gleaming white she is showing her care for them. She is first shown alone, in the kitchen (is this a woman's place?) and then we see what her family are up to without her: her daughter is well behaved at school and rewarded for it, and her husband lights up the office (all thanks to her care). Back at home, the woman is joined by her husband, and then child, in building a pyramid of bricks that symbolise their family unity, and the glue that holds the family together and makes it so strong is the care she shows through the use of Persil.

Representation
This is the interesting one. For a modern audience this advert raises a lot of questions, and it is ripe for exploring. Does it reinforce the stereotype that a woman's place is in the home? Why? What is the woman's role here? How does this differ from that of her husband? Why does she keep looking down in such a submissive way? Is this all her life should revolve around, and should she be content with this? Is this the ideal woman, someone other women should aspire to be. Obviously this doesn't really fit with a modern view of the world, and a 1950s reading of the text would probably be much different, but are there echoes of this world view (and this hegemony) in the Persil advertising website? Bear all these questions in mind when you go into your exam, and you'll ace it!

Mr G.

Year 10 BTEC Homework - assessment task

BTEC Unit 7

Advertising promotion

Assignment 2

Analyse an existing Moving Image and Print advert for the same product. Go for a campaign and chose a TV ad and a print ad that are linked through the same campaign. Use the guidelines we worked through in class for the print ad analysis, (available on the blog – www.chorltonmediabox.blogspot.com) and then work through these similar criteria for the TV ad. There are lots of similarities, but obviously in moving image adverts Action, Narrative and Sound are crucial.

You need to present this as a PowerPoint presentation: your ICT skills will be crucial here. This is an important assessment for your BTEC unit and needs to be done to the best of your ability.

Deadlines: BTEC Diploma (MGA) Tues 15th Dec - you will be presenting them during the lesson.
BTEC Certificate (MGA) Thurs 18th Dec - you will be presenting them during the lesson.

Analysing Moving Image Adverts

Think about and discuss these areas:

Narrative – what is the story of the advert? Does it tell a story, or is it just a creative imaging of the product? (**it is unusual for there to be no story at all) How is this narrative designed to appeal to the audience?

Audience – what is the audience for the product? How do you know? Give as strong a picture of the audience as you can: age, sex, interests, social groups... Some adverts are targeted at a wide demographic, others are for niche products with a much narrower target audience.

Camera work and Editing – how is the advert edited? Does the audience see short, snappy shots, or does the camera linger? What kind of cuts and fades are used? How does the camera move in the advert? What angles and shot types do we see here? What is the effect on the audience?

Sound – what do we hear in the advertisement? Is it diegetic (actual sounds for filming, such as dialogue) or non-diegetic (sounds added in editing)? What is the effect of this on the audience? How does it link to the product?

Lighting – How is are the scenes lit? Is it bright? Dark? what are the meanings of this?

Colour – what is the significance of the colours used in the advert? (ie. red=danger/sex/passion, green=calm/peace, black=darkness/evil/mystery, white=good/peace, blue=cold/mystery, purple=passion/luxury/wealth, gold=rich/luxury...)

Representation – who or what is being represented in this advert? is this a fair and accurate representation? (based on what you know of the world)
Mise-en-scene – what props and other items are in the advert? what is their meaning? Why have they been put there?

and importantly...

What is the USP (unique selling point) of the advert? What’s special about what it’s selling?

Year 11 GCSE Exam - Persil Website

Persil Website

To go along with your own notes, I have annotated 5 pages from the site - use this as you revise to get your head round how Persil are advertising their products. We may have moved into the 21st century, but there are still clear similarities with their mum-focussed adverts of the 1950s and early 60s. Are Persil reinforcing traditional values and supporting women, or are they creating stereotypes and making a woman's place clear?

Mr G.

BTEC Unit 7 - Writing The Proposal

Unit 7: Advertising Production
Writing the Proposal

The proposal is a document in which you set out your ideas to sell to your client. This is your opportunity to show that you understand the product you are selling and the target audience this advert is being aimed at.

You should make sure your proposal covers these issues:

1. What is the advertisement for? In the introduction to your proposal, make sure that you show that you understand the product you are advertising, and give a brief description of it.

2. What shape will the campaign take? Explain the thinking behind producing the TV advert, magazine advert and billboard. Why is this the right choice for your client? What is the slogan for your advert? Remember that in this early stage you are persuading them.

3. Who is your target audience? How have you identified them? How will you make sure that your campaign gets the right audience for your client’s product?

4. What is the current market for this product? Who are the major competitors for this?

5. The TV advert. Give an outline of what you are going to show in the advert? What is the audience going to see and hear, and how is the advert going to sell the product to the target audience. You will need to describe the proposed advert in detail, along with your choice of music and any text planned to be shown. At this stage you don’t need a detailed storyboard/script, but you will need to make it clear that you know exactly what you are doing – your client will want lots of details during the pitch.

6. The magazine advert. Give an outline of what you are going to show in the magazine advert, and how this is going to persuade your client’s audience to buy their product. What is the main image of the advert, and how is this important? What text (copy) is there going to be on the advert, and how is this linked as a campaign to the TV ad? What does it have in common? What colours etc. are you going to use? Why?

7. The billboard advert. Give an outline of what you are going to show in the billboard advert, and how this is going to persuade your client’s audience to buy their product. What is the main image of the advert, and how is this important? What text (copy) is there going to be on the advert, and how is this linked as a campaign to the TV and magazine ad? What does it have in common? How does your campaign slogan fit in here? Remember that the billboard ad will need to be striking – people may not have the opportunity to stop and linger as they see the advert, so it will need to grab their attention instantly.

8. Placement. Explain to your client in the proposal where you are going to place the advertisements and why you have selected these platforms.

9. How you are going to do it. Make it clear to your client that you have a clear idea of how you are going to make the advertisements. Try and make this a ‘real world’ scenario, so this seems as real as possible.

10. Budget. Give your client an estimated budget – they need to know how much this is going to cost them.

11. Timescale. How long do you expect the production process to take? When are you going to have an artefact ready for your client to evaluate?

The proposal needs to be a detailed document, and you need to demonstrate that your advertising agency knows what it is doing, and is able to handle this kind of work. It is a big deal, and it is important that you get it right.

Year 11 GCSE Homework

Deadline: Monday 23rd November

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Using the notes I gave you in the lesson, and focussing on the triangle,

Watch a range of adverts on TV or online.

Think about how they fit the needs identified in Maslow's Hierarchy

Find an example advertisement for each level of need, and write a couple of paragraphs for each advert explaining how it meets this need.

Deadline - Monday 23rd November

Social Value Groups Scale - Year 11 GCSE

Based on Maslow's Heirarchy of needs (see earlier post), this scale identifies social groups that exist in the UK - these groups form useful consumer groups for advertisers to target, alongside the NRS groups.

insight social value groups (uk)

The insight Value Group Ltd carried out a vast study of UK social values and change, and upon its findings established this social value scale. It draws heavily from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. This is the Insight Value Group scale, which claims to be an accurate representation of the groups that exist in the UK today.

social value group characteristics

self actualisers

focused on people and relationships, individualistic and creative, enthusiastically exploring change, 'in a framework of non-prescriptive consideration for others'

innovators

self-confident risk-takers, seeking new and different things, setting their own targets to achieve

esteem seekers

acquisitive and materialistic, aspiring to what they see are symbols of success, including things and experiences

strivers

attaching importance to image and status, as a means of enabling acceptance by their peer group, at the same time holding onto traditional values

contented conformers

wanting to be 'normal', so follow the herd, accepting of their circumstances, they are contented and comfortable in the security of their own making

traditionalists

averse to risk, guided by traditional behaviours and values, quiet and reserved, hanging back and blending in with the crowd

disconnected

detached and resentful, embittered and apathetic, tending to live in the 'ever-present now'

It is unlikely that advertisers will specifically target the disconnected group, who don't show much interest in...well, anything, but all the other groups should be identifable in the target audiences for the adverts you are studying. Being able to talk about the insight Scale will boost your chances of getting good grades in the advertising exam.