Unit 45 Radio Convention
Unit 45 Radio Convention:
In this report I will explain the purposes of radio advertising whilst analysing them. When it comes to advertising there are three main rules. These rules include informing alongside persuading and selling to the targeted audience. However, in order to make an advertisement reach its audience it must have a high platform that it can reach out to first to help with its marketing. This can be achieved by working alongside other radio stations, selling newscasts or holding events and competitions, e.g. the ‘Jingle Bell Ball’ which is held every year by ‘KISS FM’. This helps to get the audience involved by boosting numbers from calls and texts or social media platforms increasing revenue for the events and competitions and radio station itself allowing a gain in profit. Furthermore, I will also be analysing two contrasting styles of radio advertisements, whilst explaining their purposes.
There are different styles of commercial radio advertisements, a few common styles are shock, humour, intertextuality or repetitions. According to many, a successful radio advert must show they have done primary research to enable success in selling to; “Know the audience and understand who is listening to your radio commercial before writing the radio copy. Grab attention by starting strong. Use a great voice over to convey the right message and resonate with the audience. Always test your advertisements to get the best results. Finish with a strong call-to-action to strike when the listener is motivated” (1). These techniques would allow the three main rules of informing, persuading and selling.
The first radio advertisement to be analysed is by the ‘British Heart Foundation’, which already indicates it has a local level of distribution as it would only be aired in Britain. As the advertisement consists of 30 seconds it suggests the producer has complied the information in the advertisement, making it short and precise to get to the point for the audience listening yet also slightly more complex. However, due to the simplicity of only having two characters in the voice over for advert the message being given is easier to understand, as it ends with a catchy slogan “bag it, beat it”. This slogan mentioned from the time mark of 25-28 seconds also uses an intentional pun on the verb “beat” as the charity is for heart conditions, this then makes the audience think back on the thought of the purpose behind the charity allowing a good form of marketing to be used by creating brand awareness. Furthermore, this shows use of persuasive techniques to overall allow increase in revenue as it mentions the benefits of helping the funding of the charity to help those in need.
In this paragraph I will now be discussing the messages and aims of the radio advert. The same ‘British Heart Foundation’ radio commercial also uses a child’s voice to narrate his story of battling a heart problem as he “faced death” and has “the scar to prove it”, creating use of the style shock. By the diegetic sound of the child saying this in the dialogue it makes the audience sympathise for the child as he had to go through such a tough and painful time and is now scarred not only mentally but also physically. On the other hand, as the dialogue and structure are used in a slightly informal tone as if it were the news, (as implied by the diegetic sound used in the background that is commonly used at a time of breaking news), alongside the brave tone of the primary character being the child, it shows how the patients who survive from the money being made come back stronger than before no matter their age. This plays upon the commonly used idiomatic, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’, therefore allowing the message behind the advertisement to be further promoted. The use of the child’s voice as the primary character and the bold male voice for the secondary character also shows they do not have a specific target audience as anyone can have a heart problem; therefore, the charity would be raising money for anyone suffering with a heart condition from any background or class. Furthermore, this increases the ideology that if the audience helps the charity then they will receive a reward of positivity and satisfaction by having helped out to those suffering, as the purpose behind the advert is if one helps out the charity they can then help out those in need from critical heart problems creating a positive circle. Overall making the advertisement fall into the category of love and belonging in ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy’ as it is a theory of human motivation. Therefore, the radio advert gives the contact details of the charity at the end, once the message behind the advertisement has been enforced onto the audience for an increased chance in higher revenue from the advert as a whole for the charity.
The second radio advertisement being analysed has use of a humorous style, this radio advertisement is the Mr T advert for ‘Snickers’ which was released in 2010. This advertisement also similarly consists of 30 seconds in total, however features a dialogue with a structure of an informal phone call between Mr T and a male in distress. The persuasive technique of the voiceover featuring Mr T being featured on the advert shows use of celebrity endorsement, gaining a higher response from the targeted audience as they recognise his voice and often satirical tone overall proving increase in revenue. However, the advert may oppose views of feminists as the dialogue portrays use of gender stereotypes and gender norms by implying men should not be instructed but should take lead, suggesting the message that men are too strong and powerful to be told what to do. Furthermore, the advert implies that this can be achieved for weaker men if they “buy snickers, remove wrapper, eat chocolate, get some nuts” (time mark of 23-27 seconds), by Mr T ironically giving these instructions after mentioning to not follow a guide, it allows the commercial to fall into the category of esteem in ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy’ as if the chocolate would help to give a confidence boost as a reward for eating and purchasing the product allowing a boost in revenue. However, this makes the advert regressive as it reinforces gender stereotypes, which might then make the some of the audience to make complaints to the ASA (Advertisements Standards Authority) or Ofcom due to its immoral teachings as everyone may not have the same sense of humour, therefore making young men to be more of a targeted audience. The ASA or Ofcom are regulators of advertisements to help prevent any offensive or inappropriate advertisements from being aired.
Furthermore, this ‘Snickers’ advert shows use of a humorous style as it playfully uses the pun “get some nuts”, as the chocolate ironically contains nuts and plays upon the common idiomatic ‘grow some balls’ as often associated with men when being seen as weak, once again promoting gender norms. The advert would also have a national level of distribution by using intertextuality from the feature of Mr T due to his world known character from his role as the same character in other movies, overall portraying the advertisement to have a mass audience. As Mr T has a strong star persona and is influencing the weaker male to be more like him, as he also does to the audience, this makes the targeted audience desire to be more masculine and aspire to be like Mr T, which will be achieved by eating the chocolate.
Radio convention bibliography:
1) “Know the audience and understand who is listening to your radio commercial before writing the radio copy.Grab attention by starting strong. Use a great voice over to convey the right message and resonate with the audience. Always test your advertisements to get the best results. Finish with a strong call-to-action to strike when the listener is motivated”
Accessed: 7/12/18
2) British Heart Foundation’ Advert:
3) Mr T ‘Snickers’
Comments
Post a Comment