Analysing Radio Adverts!

For our second ancillary task, Steve and I have to create a radio advertisement for our brand. So to get an idea of a script, we are looking at a variety of different forms of familiar and well known radio adverts. These sorts of adverts are clearly memorable and effective, therefore it is a good idea use these ideas for our own creation.
 

This first radio advertisement was found on YouTube, and is for the money lending company 'Wonga.' The first key thing to notice about this advertisement is its use of a catchy jingle, following the tune of an existing song, explaining how the company works. This is immediately effective as it provides a unique way of giving information, to a tune that will stay in the audiences' head. However, even though this is an effective method of advertising on the radio, it has the connotations of being very light hearted and fun. Although Steve and I don't want our radio advertisement to be too serious, we feel this kind of jingle wouldn't appeal to the right audience and wouldn't suit the tone of an advert for a sports brand. This sort of advert needs non-diegetic sound such as running footsteps, kicking a ball, or even more dramatic and tense music to add to the idea of the nature of sport being competitive and important. Yet, the script in this advert uses language that Steve and I should consider using for our own advert. For example, phrases such as the idiom 'lend me some dough,' are informal and would appeal to a younger audience. More complex language may appear intimidating to our target audience. 

The end of this advertisement uses a voiceover, whilst playing the part of the jingle that repeats the company name. This is effective as it repeats the name to keep it in the audiences head, whilst also maintaining a light hearted tone throughout. The information provided by the voiceover is concise and not too complex, which is ideal for a radio advert. It simply provides the company aims, and the idea of the company in a nut shell. This is effective as it means that the listener will have to visit the website or call to enquire and find out further information. Steve and I therefore need to remain brief in order to keep our audience wanting more from our brand. In terms of the use of a voice, the speaker is female and uses a cheerful tone, to suit the jingle and general tone. Our speaker will need to be dramatic to suit our tense tone. Maintaining a tone is important for a radio advert where there are no visuals. 

This advert is for the comparison sight 'Confused.com.' This advert doesn't use any music as such, as its main focus is 'Brian the Robot,' who acts as a comparison device. This use of a character is effective as it adds humour and is unique, making it all more memorable. It also has a personal aspect, as the robot is aiming his comparison research at someone. This connotes the idea that the company treats each case individually. The reference to the robot trying to contact his work and telling him he isn't sick also shows rapport, and shows that the company will contact you and treat your case with importance. Steve and I need to try to establish this idea of personal relationships with our audience, as this means the audience can relate and feel as though the product is for them. We could simply use ideas such as synthetic personalisation ('you') and rhetorical questions, as these are simple ways to involve our audience. 
In terms of the voiceover, again this advert uses a voice that sounds like a robot, as this relates to the context and links the whole advert together. This kind of clarity is needed when there are no visuals. The final voice over at the end of the advert is a male who doesn't match the robot. This voice however is only short and speaks quickly and briefly to produce some statistics about the company. This idea of using statistics is effective in showing how successful the company is, therefore this is a good way to end. This method perhaps wouldn't work for Steve and I, as we are not producing an advert for a company. However we can exploit the methods of 'lifestyle fantasy' etc. 

I decided to analyse this advertisements as they are well known (so, effective) and easy to get hold of. However I have also listened to a lot of more recent radio advertisements on nation wide stations such as 'Capital FM.' A particularly good advert on this station I heard was for the new Nintendo product. This was different, as it didn't use a jingle or humour. It simple spoke of the new product and all the things it can do. This was much more formal and was definitely more suited to an older audience who were interested in these gadgets. Steve and I need to remember that our advert is more for people with an interest in sport, therefore making our radio advert based around sport and using sport jargon wouldn't be an entirely bad thing, as long as we maintain the idea of appealing to young adults and both genders. 

Katie Hunt