You can find all my research and planning evidence for my NEA under the label 'AS Research and Planning'. This is located in the top right corner of my blog. I hope you enjoy!
Below, I have embedded the final version of my two adverts. I put a lot of time and effort into creating them and I am extremely pleased with the results.
I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this process. From the initial research and planning, to watching my adverts come to life, it has been such an incredible project to work on.
I conducted market research on my target audience in order to receive feedback on my final adverts. I created a focus group of 2 males and 2 females from my target audience and gave them questions to fill in about my adverts. I asked questions that tested their understanding of the brand YourFood and the audience that they thought the advert would appeal to. Additionally, I asked them if they enjoyed the adverts and how likely they would be to order from YourFood.
Below, I have embedded the table of questions that I gave to the focus group.
Feedback sheet
I received a lot of positive feedback and a few minor suggestions for improvement.
Below I have embedded the responses I received from the group.
Positive comments:
'YourFood seems like a service that won't let you down. They are reliable and deliver when they say they will.'
'The advert was very funny when the girl opened her pizza box and a light shined on her.'
'I like the fact that the LGBT community is portrayed in a positive way'
Suggested Improvements:
No mention of what you can order from YourFood. It seems like a pizza delivery app.
Had to watch it twice to fully understand the break up story.
I am very happy with the audience feedback as they seemed to enjoy the advert and find it funny. They enjoyed the narratives and understood the main brand values of YourFood that I hoped would come across in the advert. They also gave very reasonable critiques of my adverts that I would change in hindsight. For example, I should not have assumed my audience knew that YourFood was a food delivery service and I should have clarified that at the start.
In order to receive feedback before the deadline, I created a review copy of my adverts that would be watched and critiqued by my peers and my teacher.
Below are the review copies of both adverts.
The review process was such a crucial part of the project. I received lots of constructive criticism from my peers, which allowed me to adjust my adverts before uploading the final copy. Other people were able to spot minor mistakes that I was unable to spot myself.
Issues that were pointed out to me included:
sounding issues with the dialogue in my second advert
grading issues in the first advert as the actors looked too blue
the logo at the end faded in too quickly
the voice over at the end wasn't loud enough in the first advert
I was able to take this feedback and use it to improve my work. This ensured that the final products were the best that they could be.
I created rough cuts of my adverts to see whether I needed to adjust anything in order to make the adverts flow better.
It was the first time I was able to highlight any mistakes with the narrative and flow of my advert.
Below, I have embedded the rough cuts of both my adverts.
This was very beneficial to the process of creating my real adverts. I got a real sense of how the adverts would look and ways that I could change them to make them look better.
I received lots of feedback from my teachers and peers. Some issues were highlighted to me about continuity errors, bad acting and unclear narrative.
From this feedback I decided to change:
some of the actors to ensure that the acting was better and more believable
I added scenes to the adverts in order to clarify the narrative
I added more dialogue to make the story flow more smoothly
I changed the couple in the second advert to a lesbian couple so that I could include positive representations of the LGBT community
I created a shoot-board to help me organise the order in which I would film my shots in on the day of the shoot. This document made the filming process so much simpler, as I was able to focus on my shots rather than where I would have to move to next.
I organised the shots in a way that meant I wouldn't have to move the camera to a different location after filming every shot. I did this by grouping all the shots that were filmed in the same location together, and putting them on the shoot board together.
Below I have embedded 2 extracts from the shoot-boards of both of my adverts.
storyboard for advert 1 page 1
storyboard for advert 1 page 2
storyboard for advert 2 page 1
storyboard for advert 2 page 2
The shoot-board was so essential to my project. It allowed the shooting experience to flow smoothly as there were very little location changes. I was also able to write down the number of takes and the best takes for the shots that I had taken. This saved me lots of time in the editing process as I didn't have to watch all the shots back to decide what the best take was.
Having a kit list is crucial when borrowing and sharing kit.
It is a quick and easy way to check that you have all the kit that you need for you shoot, leaving you feeling prepared and confident. It is also easy for you to make sure that you have repacked all of the equipment properly before handing it over to your partner.
Below, I have embedded an image of the kit list.
Kit checklist
Before the equipment was released to me, there were several document that I needed to sign. The first document was a contract stating that I understood the responsibility associated with taking equipment out of school. This contact also had to be signed by a parent, to show that they were fully aware of their role in the safe guarding of the equipment.
This document is shown below.
The second document was an equipment release form that stated the title of the project, the kit number and the details of both me and my partner.
It also showed that I had been trained in how to handle all the equipment properly.
I created a cast list in the format of a table. I included the name, image and description of the actors, the role they were playing and any costume and props that they would need on the day. This was an easy way for me to organise my cast and make sure that I had a diverse range of ethnicity and genders being represented in my adverts.
My cast list for both weekends of the shoot are shown below.
My cast a crew list for the main shoot
My cast and crew list for the re-shoot
I created a time-plan of the day of the shoot so that I could let my actors know how many hours I would need them for. The time-plan was also crucial as I was sharing equipment with another student. By organising the times that we both needed the camera, we were able to shoot and hand over equipment without any hassle. It also ensured that we both had equal time to shoot our adverts.
I created a location reccie to ensure that I had a variety of locations to shoot my adverts in. The brief specifically demands that two different settings are used across the two adverts and so I made sure that I had permission to shoot in various locations. My shoot took place at my house and so I had to make sure that both of my parents were happy with all the arrangements.
Because all my shots took place in my house, there was limited risks when filming. Some of the dangers that I mentioned in my risk assessment included:
tripping over camera equipment
careful of ornaments in the room
making sure all exits are clear
Location and Risk Assessment document
This document really helped make the day of my shoot hassle free, as I had already thought about all of the risks and how to overcome them.
The practice shoot was the first time that I got a sense of whether on not my adverts made sense. It also helped me to see if the angles and shots worked well together and whether I should adapt the dialogue.
I met up with two other media students and we all helped each other to film our adverts. It was a very fun process as it was the first time I really saw my advert coming to life.
Below, I have embedded the practice edits of both my adverts.
This was very beneficial to my project. I noticed flaws in the narratives of both my adverts and so I decided to rethink the story lines. I also realised that the angles I used were very boring and so I decided to change some of the long shots to close ups to make the shot typed more varied.
I created storyboards in order to map out my ideas for my adverts. I used post-it notes to draw out my individual shots and then placed them in the order that I wanted them to appear in the advert. I decided to use different colour post-it notes to represent different shot types. This way, it was easy for me to see if I had a variety of shot types.
Below, I have embedded the storyboards that I created for both my adverts.
Storyboard for Advert 1
Storyboard for Advert 2
This process was beneficial to my project as I was able to plan out what I wanted each of my shots to look like. Using post-it notes made the process a lot easier as I was able to move the shots about and take them off if I no longer wanted them in the advert.
I created timelines for both of my adverts to plan out how long I intended for each shot to last. I did this to ensure that my advert would add up to a total of 30 seconds, as this is the time specified in the brief.
Below, I have embedded the timelines for both my adverts.
Timeline for advert 1
Timeline for advert 2
This was essential to create during the planning process as I was able to refer back to it when creating my storyboards. By taking time to break down my individual shots and allocate time for them, I was also able to see whether or not shots would last too long. This was crucial as it prompted me to change some of the dialogue so that I could shorten some shots.
My initial proposal was a way for me to present my initial ideas. It allowed me to check that the story-lines for both my adverts made sense and met the demands of the brief. Firstly, I created a draft proposal that contained my first ideas for my two adverts. I discussed my initial ideas in class and received lots of feedback from the teacher and my peers on ways that i could improve the narrative. With the feedback in mind, I adapted my ideas until I was confident that they both were to a good standard.
Initial ideas about characters, region and settings
Ideas about brand identity and a slogan to capture it
Ideas about the music and product placement in the advert
Outline of advert 1
Outline of advert 2
This was the real starting point of the project and allowed me brainstorm lots of ideas about how I wanted my adverts to be.
When creating my proposal, I made sure that I took several things into account so that the initial ideas fulfilled the demands of the brief. For example, I needed to make sure that the themes in my adverts appealed to my target audience and that they were suitable to be broadcasted on Channel 4.
I took inspiration from the Vodafone 2018 advert staring Martin Freeman when creating my first advert. In the advert, Martin appears to be breaking up with his girlfriend, but in the end we discover that he has been trying to end a contract with an unreliable broadband service. Similarly, in my advert the main character initially appears to be breaking up with his partner, however we soon discover that he is leaving an unreliable food service so he can order from 'YourFood' instead. I therefore used intertextuality by referring to the typical break up story seen in so many films, shows and adverts.
I researched other forms of advertising such as billboards and online adverts to get a sense of how brands create consistent marketing campaigns across different media platforms. It was also a good way for me to understand the importance of good slogans, logos and focal images that are used to grab audiences attention.
I particularly liked Deliveroo's print adverts that I have embedded below.
Print adverts
They all use:
bold turquoise background colour
white on screen text
a strong focal image of delicious looking food
brand logo in the bottom right corner
a link to the app store for the audience to download the app
the slogan 'eat more amazing'
Two of them also use alliteration to make the on-screen text stand out more. This is a clever technique used to grab the audience attention as the phrases are catchy and memorable. They also refer to different places/things that relate to the audience as 'work' and 'telly' are things that are part of their routines. Finally, the reference to Wagamamas, a well known and loved brand, suggests that Deliveroo are also a brand that should be loved and respected.
Advert on a billboard
Above we see a billboard advertising Deliveroo. It uses the same bright turquoise colour and white text as the print posters, making the advert instantly recognisable as Deliveroo.
Deliveroo app
Deliveroo website
The website and app also use the same colour scheme and font as the print adverts and so they are consistent with Deliveroo's branding. The easy way to order food and be able to track when it is coming is also very appealing to the audience as it shows them that Deliveroo is a quick and reliable service.
Screenshot from a Deliveroo advert
The Deliveroo TV advert is also consistent with the other forms of advertising. The commercial shows giant food floating around the city. This image of food is seen in the focal images on the billboards, posters and online advertising for Deliveroo.
I learnt a lot about synergy and creating a strong marketing campaign from this research. It is essential to make sure that your branding is consistent across all media platforms to make your brand instantly recognisable to the public. I discovered that brands typically use the same colour palette, font scheme and similar focal images in all forms of advertising to create synergy. I am going to do this in both of my adverts in order to create a strong marketing campaign.
I researched into existing TV commercials to identify their conventions. This was a good way to compare other genres with food delivery and see the different techniques that are used to sell products. It helped me to see how companies use humour, intertextuality and emotive appeal to advertise their products and I was able to take inspiration from these different techniques.
I looked at several different food company adverts such as Dominoes, Pizza Hut, McDonalds and Burger King. However the advert that most stood out to me was KFC's advert celebrating 50 years of their service and so I decided to analyse it in more depth.
The advert is centred around the life of an adopted boy. The foster family is represented in a positive light by welcoming their son into their lives with open arms and trying really hard to make him feel at home. KFC have done this to represent diversity in a good way and to show t
At the beginning of the advert, we see the family eating a KFC bargain bucket for dinner. The food is shown as a symbol of happiness as it helps the family to break down barriers and become closer. We therefore associate KFC with happiness, love and bringing people closer together. The main setting is the family home, however the viewers briefly see the boys school, the football pitch where he plays games and the beach where he spends time with family and friends.
The advert is memorable as it uses emotional appeal to grip the audience. We follow the boy on his emotional journey through life, sticking with him through the good and bad times. We see how he develops and becomes a real part of his new family who accept him for who he is. There is slow, reflective music in the background which connotes that the boy is growing up and going through a journey that the audience get to watch and be a part of.
The fast paced editing reflects how time passes very quickly and remind the audience that they should appreciate everything they have in their lives, especially their family. This message reflects KFC's brand values as the advert is about celebrating family. KFC want their audience to feel like part of a big family, showing that the brand cares for its customers.
I also decided to look at delivery service adverts such as Amazon which I decided to analyse in more detail.
This advert also revolves around the importance of families and how crucial it is to appreciate the people in our lives.
At the beginning of the advert, we see a young women using the amazon app to find the perfect gift for someone that she cares about. We later find out that this is a little girl, who we assume is part of her family. The use of the app shows the convenience of ordering with amazon, as it is a quick and easy way to find what you need without having to go out looking for it.
The rest of the advert shows all of the amazon parcels travelling to people all around the world. The advert uses emotive appeal as the boxes are singing 'Give a little bit', a song about love and happiness. This suggest to the audience that Amazon really care about your happiness and will do everything that they can to help you show your loved ones that you care.
I have learnt a lot from analysing adverts from other genres. I discovered that love, relationships and family are three big themes that are involved in a lot of adverts across lots of different genres. This has inspired to me create my adverts with one of these themes in mind in order to create emotive appeal in my adverts. This will persuade the audience to order from YourFood.
I researched existing food delivery service adverts to identify the conventions used in these types of commercials. I would then be able to use these conventions in my own adverts in order to make them seem like real, competitive take-away adverts.
I started off by watching a broad range of take-away TV commercials that I found on youtube. I then chose 10 different adverts and used a table to help me record the different components that made up each advert. The research record table is embedded below.
Research record
Take-away adverts usually include the following conventions:
brand logo
music
a wide variety of camera shots
fast paced editing
different settings
humour
genre hybridity
intertextuality
I found that some of the adverts didn't contain all of the conventions, however all of the conventions were seen across all 10 adverts collectively. I decided to analyse Just Eat's 'Madras, Baby!' advert in more depth.
The advert starts off with a couple deciding what to order from just eat. The man passes over his tablet to his girlfriend so that she can scroll through the app to decide what type of food she wants. We see that there are lots of options to choose from, suggesting that Just Eat offer a wide variety of cuisines on offer. The use of the app also shows that it is easy and simple to order food from Just Eat, persuading the audience to use the service.
The iconic 90's hit 'I see you baby' then starts playing as the room changes into a dream like setting. The girl is now standing inside of a chicken madras curry, surrounded by four men in orange latex outfits, who appear to be part of her dream. The lyrics to the song have been changed so that it is now about chicken madras. The use of intertextuality with 90s pop music is nostalgic for the audience as most of them will have heard this iconic pop song before. The dream like setting and funny costumes also create humour for the audience, making the advert more appealing to them.
The advert then ends with the woman waking up from her day dream. Her boyfriend is slightly confused as he orders the curry which provides additional humour for the audience. The Just Eat website icon then appears on the screen and the voiceover reads out the slogan 'get that mini fist bump feeling'. The slogan suggests that ordering from Just Eat will make you feel great and so persuades the audience to order.
I also looked into Just Eat's 'Balti Rocks!' advert as this was part of the same campaign. This tied in with my project as I am creating 2 adverts that need to look consistent and promote the same brand. I was therefore able to see how Just Eat managed to achieve synergy across 2 different adverts.
They both use:
a domestic setting with the couple deciding what they want to order from Just Eat
iconic songs where the lyrics have been changed to revolve around food ('I see you baby' - Amanda groove and 'I need a hero' - Bonnie Tyler)
funny costumes with 'Just Eat' printed on them
same logo
same slogan
The adverts also have both male and female protagonists. This is appealing to both men and women and has inspired me to think about the types of characters I will use in my adverts to create appeal with my own target audience.
This research was very helpful to me as I will be able to use the conventions that I have found in food delivery adverts in my own advert campaign. For example, I plan to use humour and intertextuality in both of my adverts as this will make them more memorable. The adverts that influenced me most where the two adverts above from Just Eat and Uber Eats 'The new Uber Eats is here'. This because they both use different techniques to persuade the audience to use their services. Just Eat uses humour and intertextuality, whereas Uber Eats shows the audience that they are speedy and reliable through fast paced editing and upbeat music.
It was crucial to research the target audience in order to gather information about their current interests and lifestyle. I was also able to gather knowledge about their preferences when it comes to take-away's. I was then able to use this information to tailor my adverts in a way that would appeal them.
Channel 4 conducted research into the different youth groups that consume the media. For example, 'the main streamers' are a group of people that tend to enjoy the mainstream music, fashion and TV of today. I did lots of research into these different 'UK tribes' to get an understanding of things that they like to do.
Common interests among the group included:
Spending time with loved ones
Making sure to get a bit of 'me time'
attending music festivals
not having to spend too much money on take aways
From this research, I discovered that spending time with loved ones was a very important aspect of their lives. I therefore plan to use the idea of love and relationships in my adverts to appeal to the target audience.
I also conducted research into my target audience of 16-25 year olds by creating a survey along with my peers that we sent out to everyone that we knew within the target audience. We received 41 responses to questions asking about lifestyle and opinions of food delivery services. The survey has been embedded below.
Below I have embedded some of the results from the survey.
How often the target audience use food delivery apps
Importance of different aspects of food delivery services
From the research, we can see that only 17.1% of the target audience have never ordered from food delivery services and/or restaurants. This shows how much demand there is for take-aways amongst the audience.
We also asked the audience what aspect of a food delivery service they thought was the most important. The following 5 aspects were ranked the most important:
quality of food
good hygiene rating
speed of service
range of restaurants
temperature of food
The research that I did was crucial to my understanding of the target audience. I learnt that my target audience is made up of different demographics, each with different interests and lifestyles. I now know that I need to think about how I am going to create my adverts in order to appeal to the whole target audience instead of just one part of it. I plan to do this by using a variety of ages, genders and ethnicities to represent lots of different social groups in my adverts.
Additionally, I have learnt a lot about my audiences consumption patterns and I now know what types of food they enjoy to eat most. I can use this knowledge to my advantage by using Pizza in my advert as I know that this is a food loved by my target audience. This will persuade them to use YourFood as they will see that they enjoy the cuisines on offer.
sources:
Channel 4 UK Tribes research study
Survey replies on google docs survey from the target audience (male and female, 16-25)
The ASA BCAP code is a set of regulations that every advert must be checked against before being aired on television. It was crucial to research what these rules were so that I was aware about what I could and couldn't put in my adverts for them to be suitable to broadcast.
In total, there are 32 rules and regulations, however only 6 relate to advertising a food delivery service. These include:
misleading advertising
alcohol or 18+ video games
harm and offence
food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims
social responsibility around cars, roads and driving
avoid promoting competition
Some adverts are banned after being aired if the ASA receives complaints. For example the McDonald's advert that I have embedded below received over 100 complains and was therefore banned.
The advert is about a young boy who has recently lost his father. He asks his mum what his dad was like and it seems that he is the complete opposite to him. His father was great at football, but the young boy can't kick a ball and his father was a 'right catch' but the young boy doesn't get any female attention. However right at the end of the advert, the mother and son go into McDonalds and the boy orders the same thing that his dad used to oder.
The advert was said to be insensitive about child bereavement and used grief in order to sell fast food. People were absolutely outraged and McDonalds has since apologised.
It is vey important to know about the codes that I need to adhere to when creating my adverts so that I don't break any of the rules accidentally. I plan not to make any inaccurate claims about the food that YourFood delivers and I also intend not to include any violence in either of my adverts.
I researched Channel 4 in order to understand more about the platform that my advert would be broadcast on. I researched the types of shows that Channel 4 broadcast, their main target audience and their schedule so I could see where my advert would fit in. I wanted to make sure that my advert adopted the 'Channel 4 style' so that it would appeal to their audiences.
I also researched the types of adverts that were being broadcast at prime time during the week to see whether my adverts would fit in with them.
Channel 4 Logo
Channel 4 is a public service broadcaster that was launched on 2nd November 1982. It has become a parent company to other subsidies including E4, More 4 and Film 4, which all attract more niche target audiences. However, Channel 4's core audience are 16-34 year olds as they broadcast a wide range of shows that appeal to a large audience.
Channel 4 is a unique brand, with an edgier, more risky image that other public service broadcasters as their content is more controversial. They capture the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society through the way that they represent characters in their shows, meaning that they have broad appeal.
Channel 4 was established with a remit of public service obligations. They must provide a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which:
demonstrates innovation, experimentation and creativity
appeals to the interests of a culturally diverse society
is of educational value
Channel 4 aim to extend the choice available to viewers, appealing to tastes and interests not generally catered for by other broadcasters. By doing this, they are encouraging innovation.
Choosing a slot to schedule my adverts in is very important. The brief demands that my adverts are broadcast at prime time which is between 7-9pm. The typical adverts that feature at this time are normally linked to the show that is on air. For example the Great British Bake Off is sponsored by Lyle's golden syrup and Dr Oetker.
Channel 4 schedule example
Hollyoaks is a prime example of the type of show that I want to schedule my adverts around. Hollyoaks attracts the same target audience as mine (16-25 year olds) as it is about younger characters and the complications that they have to overcome in life. Some themes include violence, love, sexuality, discrimination and death. It is aired every weekday at 18:30, meaning that my target audience will already be tuned into Channel 4 to watch my adverts at 7pm.
The Great British Bake Off attracted an average of 6.1 million viewers when it moved over to Channel 4. A lot of this audience will be people from my target audience and so scheduling my adverts close to GBBO would also maximise my adverts potential of reaching the target audience.
From this research, I have decided to schedule my adverts on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7pm after Hollyoaks. GBBO is scheduled on Tuesdays at 8pm and so the target audience will remain on the channel after Hollyoaks has finished in order to watch it. This will mean that my advert will be viewed by a mass audience, including my target audience. Additionally, Friday is the end of the week and from research, I have seen that my target audience are most likely to order a take-away at the weekend.
I have also learnt a lot about the style of adverts that Channel 4 broadcast, and I intend to feature the certain style in both of my adverts. I plan to demonstrate innovation and creativity through the humour in both of my adverts. I also intend to appeal to the tech-savvy audience by having the YourFood app as an easy way to search for and order food.
By researching into existing take-away food delivery services, I gained a broader understanding of how delivery services work and operate. It is important to learn about why competitive delivery services are successful in the industry today and what they do to promote their brand in a positive light.
I did this by researching the top food delivery services internationally such as Just Eat, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Postmates and DoorDash. I saw the common conventions of food delivery services and the USPs that they use in order to persuade the public to use their service. It also allowed me to identify any gas in the market that I could use to an advantage when creating my brands USP.
The take-away food industry has increased dramatically with £9.9 billion spent on take away's in 2017 and customers spending an average of £30 on take-aways each month. The food delivery industry has also created over 41,000 jobs in the past 7 years.
I looked closely into Just Eat's brand values and vision to get an in depth understanding of how brands operate. Just eat was founded in Denmark in 2001 by 5 entrepreneurs. They are the world leaders in online and mobile food ordering, providing customers with an easy and secure way to order and pay for food on their app and website. Just Eat have 22.8 million regular customers, 87,000 restaurant partners internationally and they serve over 100 different types of cuisine.
Their purpose is to make food discovery exciting for everyone by giving customers more choice than any other company. They support restaurant partners to ensure they get the most out of their business
and they want to raise standards across the industry.
Just eat tailor their marketing to local regions to make sure that the brand is associated with a strong sense of community and bringing people closer together. They have previously sponsored Boris bikes in Edinburgh and local football clubs such as Derby County. More recently, they sponsored the X-Factor, a hit show that received just under 5 million viewers for the final. The X-Factor aired on Saturdays and Sundays at prime time, meaning that the Just Eat adverts would've been viewed by mass audiences. The early evening is also the time when people are most likely to have dinner and after seeing the advert, they may want to treat themselves to a take-away. This was a very clever marketing decision for Just Eat and their sales will have increased dramatically during the time when the X-Factor aired.
Just Eat sponsored Boris bikes
Just Eat sponsored Derby County FC
Just Eat sponsored X-Factor
However, Just Eat recently faced some bad press in regards to its hygiene standards. It was discovered that half of the outlets that are given a rating of zero by the Food Standards Agency in Bristol, Manchester and London appear on the app. Just Eat claim to be taking the matter 'very seriously' as this scandal could damage their reputation as a brand that is trying to 'raise standards'.
Justeat are successful because of:
their active work in the community
Clear brand values that come across in their adverts
Clever marketing campaigns
Clever advertisement strategy's (x-factor)
links to technology and social media (create interaction)
This research was particularly useful to me as it showed me how food delivery services are so successful within their local communities, and ways that they create strong brand values and beliefs that are known by everyone that uses their services.
