Promotional Video Analysis

Promotional Video Analysis

"Free Stock Trading by Trading 212" Trading 212 Advert

This advert is typically seen on youtube or other websites but can be found at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8". This advert opens up with a mid-shot of a man staring at the camera, speaking in a deep grizzled voice. He begins to address the camera and the audience directly, in this case challenging us to skip the advert, this is a common convention when it comes to adverts seen on youtube or other online sites as the audience is typically given the choice to skip the advert after the first few seconds, in challenging us to skip the advert it grabs the attention of the audience and in my first-hand experience, I know it can sometimes keep someone watching until at least further into the video. After this first brief introduction and people have chosen to stay around post skip button the advert proceeds in its narrative, In this case, showing off a rich man living in his palace of luxury while the narrator (The man we see at the start of the video) is telling us about what sort of character he really is, in doing this he describes a greedy man who likes to steal the audience's money, this description helps portray this man as the antagonist in this simple narrative, putting the members of the audience against him. These shots of the man continue as we see him literally burning his money, this not so subtle implication suggests that he is stupidly rich while appealing to the audience as an element of desire, as the audience wants what he has, during this time the narrator is talking about how all of this is the audience's money, in fact, he is repeating himself to get the message across to the audience that they are losing money to guys like this. The advert cuts back to a close up of the narrator as he is holding a coin, he then proceeds to explain that all this is happening because the audience is paying for things that should be free. In doing this he grabs the attention of the audience again through the keyword "free", in doing this the audience's attention changes from the narrator and all the visuals we have seen so far and instead focuses on what the narrator is saying as money is an important point in nearly everyone's lives and in bringing up a way of saving money most people will be interested. The video cuts back to the narrative of these rich men however instead of being happy and rich they are being rained on by these pennies that the narrator was holding being shown in quite a discomfort, this suggests that these rich and powerful men won't be happy with this idea that the narrator is explaining. This is when the narrator begins to explain what the product he is advertising is, before this, there was no mention of the product what so ever and there is only around 15seconds left of the advert, this is because the company used this time to make sure they grabbed the audiences attention through flashy visuals and a unique narrative, seeing this as the most time-consuming element in their marketing scheme. The narrator explains what the product is with it being revealed that this is an advert for a stock trading app, while this is happening keywords are shown on the screen with them being almost unmissable for the audience to see. These keywords are "ZERO COMMISSION STOCK TRADING". Doing this shows this as being the key point the advertisers want to make when talking about this product, therefore showing off the key elements of the app making it unmissable for the audience. The video then transitions into a red overlay revealing the coin to say "0 Commission" therefore revealing why it was damaging towards these rich men. This is followed up by a brief showing off what the app looks like on a smartphone as the text next to it portrays key information such as the name of the company, repetition of their key marketing point and a hashtag to help build social media buzz around their product. The final thing the video tells you is that it is the UK's no1 trading help, this helps the product through making it seem more trustworthy to someone who has never heard of this product before and therefore may be persuading them to try it out. This video targets an ABC1 and an older age range such as 30+ years of age as this is the range that would have the money spare to invest in stocks unlike a lower age and social standing where their money would be tighter. The psychographic that this video appeals to would be the Aspirers and or the Succeeders. This advert would attract the Aspirers through them being quite materialistic and wanting their social status to increase as they care about how they are perceived, this app would help them with that as the promise to become rich through trading would help them live this materialistic lifestyle while also upping their image and appearance. The Succeeders would be also targetted within this video through their strong goals and work ethic, the app would do this by offering them a way to reach their goals of becoming rich through the hard work that they put in.

Birds Eye Chicken Dippers Advert

This promotional video originally aired on national television taking up a typical 30second ad slot and was seen on most channels in an afternoon slot, this conforms to conventions seen within traditional dinner based adverts, as the advert is shown around dinner time where people are hungry as it tries to attract more attention from the audience, this is typical from food-based adverts as they try to influence audiences when most susceptible, this being when people are hungry. This advert can be seen nowadays on Youtube at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu4On7qJ_8". The advert opens up with an establishing shot of a man's kitchen as he goes to open up his freezer, in opening the advert in this way to establishes a brief world for the audience to connect to, as nearly everyone watching would have a kitchen somewhat similar to this, in allowing the audience to see this kitchen it not only creates a brief connection between the audience and the advert but it also sets the mood for the video, with a kitchen suggesting the advert be based around food, therefore in opening the promotional video like this, the audience can connect to the video and have a brief understanding of what its about within the first second and without any dialogue being spoken. The promotional video proceeds cutting to an over the shoulder shot of the freezer, the man then opens the freezer door revealing a plush polar bear laying on his side taking up most of the almost empty freezer. This shot immediately grabs the attention of the audience as this sort of imagery is unique within promotional videos and would not be something in which the audience would see a lot of. Once the audiences attention is grabbed through the interesting visual that is the plush polar bear they can see the freezer is almost empty with the only piece of food left recognizable being the birds-eye product, this element of mise en scene helps the director create an element of brand identity as this would be the same box that audiences would see on the shop shelves. This shot is followed up by the Polar bear speaking to the man in the kitchen, a shot-reverse-shot is used to show the man's reaction to this whole situation, first looking shocked that the polar bear is talking then looking confused at why the bear feels "neglected". In doing this it opens up a brief narrative between these two characters that help hold the interest of the audience as they would want to see where this conversation between the two would be going.  This is followed by the Polar bear speaking about dinner time, with the emphasis being on dinner and what to feed the kids. This shot is proceeded by a close-up shot of the product in the freezer as the Polar bear points to it, repeating "Dippers", this helps get the name of the product in the audience's head making it even more rememberable for the audience and creating an even stronger brand identity. This is the part of the promotional video in which the audience is the man in the kitchen especially when it comes to what the polar bear is saying, this is the case as the polar bear silences the doubt of the man in the kitchen and the audience about having dippers for dinner, he does this through sharing the fact that they are 100% chicken, this is directed towards the audience silencing any doubt about the quality of the product as he also mentions that not every other type of dipper is 100% chicken. This is an important point in this promotional video as not only does the company (speaking as the polar bear) silence any doubt the audience (being portrayed as the man in the kitchen) has about the quality of the product thus portraying it in a positive way but they also portray other dipper products in a negative light through saying not every other dipper is 100% chicken, in doing this they place doubt in the mind of the audience about their competition without naming any brands to avoid legal action. Following this, the conversation between the polar bear and the man (which is a metaphor for the company and the audience)  begins to come to an end when as the freezer door begins to shut the polar bear holds it open, a close-up shot of the polar bears face is used, the polar bear then states "Don't be a stranger", this relates to the audience towards the product as the company is telling them not to be a stranger towards their products such as the advertised dippers. This concludes the basic narrative of the video, however, it does not conclude the promotional video, the shot then cuts to an extreme close up of the chicken dipper, this shot is there to show the product off in a flattering way helping influence them to buy it one last time. While this is happening a voice-over begins restating the fact that these dippers are 100% real chicken, a key point that they want to make during this video. The final shot of the video then occurs revealing their slogan at the same time the voice over says it "We're only content with 100%" followed by their logo, this not only ensures the audience of the quality of the product but also creates another element of brand identity through the slogan and logo of the company. The demographics for this video would be C1C2DE with it being advertised to working-class families who might not have time to cook full proper meals and instead would use a product like Birds Eye as a substitute.

"Facebook, Here Together" Facebook Advert

This advert for Facebook was typically aired on the web, on sites typically like youtube. The video is from 2018 and is no longer airing, however, it can still be found on youtube at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs". The video opens up with an add friend prompt, this is the only thing shown on the screen, taking center stage. In opening the video like this it shows the purpose of the product without having to say a word, in this case making friends. This prompt to add a friend is also the same prompt used in the product, in doing this it creates a feeling of familiarity between the audience and the product being advertised so if someone was to use Facebook because of this advert they would already have an idea of how the site would be laid out, this creates an element of brand identity for the audience to relate to and it makes their product seem more user friendly and easier to use as a new user would already have an idea of the layout because of this promotional video. The video proceeds with a cursor moving over to the add friends button as a soft yet joyful tune begin to play. The choice of song is very important within this promotional video as it begins playing within the first second of the video and is one of the first things the audience would notice, therefore a welcoming tune was used to help draw audiences in and also to convey the product in a positive and welcoming light. Following on from this more of the user interface for the product is revealed, showing the friends section, this style of the promotional video, with showing the product in use, and in this case, its user interface links back to my previous point I mentioned when talking about the "add friends" prompt as it gets the user familiar with the product while creating brand identity, making the product more familiar and noticeable with audiences. This style is continued throughout the promotional video. While the audience is still on the friend's screen and the music has been introduced a voice over then begins playing, the male voice begins talking about friends, while the video flicks through photos of people on Facebook, during this time the voiceover talks about how you get to connect with new people, advertising one of the main features of the product in a friendly and welcoming way. While this voiceover talks about some of the people that they have connected with such as old friends the video cuts, changing its style showing a close up shot of someone's mouth with braces smiling, during this time the voiceover speaks about connecting to people from their middle school. This has been used to change up the video so they are not just scrolling through a feed but instead putting a face to what the voice over is saying, in doing this it helps retain the attention of the audience so they're not just looking at the same feed for the minute-long video even though this shot only lasts a second until it cuts back to the feed, it feeds the audience something new to make sure they are still paying attention. The voice-over continues with the same style previously mentioned until it mentions an ex-girlfriend, the feed then shows how the audience can change their relationship status, again showing off features of the product making the audience more familiar with it. The video repeats this when the voiceover mentions birthdays, showing the audience how they can use the app to wish happy birthday to their friends. The video uses this style of showing what the voiceover says through features in the app, thus making it seem like Facebook can do pretty much everything. The video repeats this style again talking about how he can discover stuff about his family and friends, mentioning his uncle was in a band, by showing off the status feed that allows people to share stuff with each other. Following on from this, the voiceover mentions meeting new people through the product while uttering the phrase "And just like that we felt a little less alone", in saying a phrase like this it helps promote a positive message through this video while linking this app towards this positive feeling, this suggests to the audience that if they use the product they will feel like this, helping reach out to the audience who might feel like they need something like this. After this positive message, the video takes a tonal turn, from here the voiceover brings up problems with the app that have been made public, although this would usually be very stupid of a promotional video to do, this was a very popular topic that everyone knew about at the time of this release and rather than hiding from it, the video takes this time to amend this problem to audience members by talking about their mistakes and how they have fixed them. While the voice-over is saying all this the screen is getting filled with spam until the audience can't see the feed anymore until the voice-over utters "That's going to change", once this is said the screen wipes reverting back to the previous style of video as the voice-over begins to mention how they are changing these mistakes and are going back to how they once were, much like how the style of video has reverted. This is where the voice-over begins to talk about how the product is going to focus on respecting and protecting the privacy of its users. The final stage of the video talks about how great the app was and will be again while showing heartwarming videos on the feed such as a newborn baby, to help switch the tone back and entice audiences again. Once this is done the video cuts to the phrase "Here Together", creating a sense of community between the audience and the product. The final shot of the video is the Facebook logo, showing the brand identity for audiences to see and recognize elsewhere. This video offers up an apology to audiences as well as being a promotional video to help try and win back the trust of audiences that they lost previously in the year. The psychographic audience this video targets are Mainstreamers, as the video tries to appeal to a wide range of people while offering safety and security when it reassures audiences that their privacy is safe.

SunLife Guaranteed Funeral Plan TV Ad: Summer Fete 60seconds

This promotional video originally aired on television in 2019, advertising funeral plans to audiences. The length of the promotional video sits at 60 seconds however a 30second cut of the video was produced for television as well. This was because 60second commercial slots can be very expensive so they would only show the 60-second video a few times, and instead have the 30second promotional video playing the majority of the time. The video can now be found on youtube at the link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pc7tjKjfo. The video opens up with an establishing shot of a summer fete, this shot creates an element of diegeses, a world for the video to be set in. As the audience is introduced to this event through visuals, people are shown in the shot walking past enjoying the event, this helps create this natural and candid feel to the video as the audience sees these natural things such as real life. As this group of people walks past the video cuts to a close-up shot of a chalkboard previously in the shot, this chalkboard states of a special guest judge, this being Alan Titchmarsh. This element of star power is used to entice audiences and to grab their attention as if they see a celebrity that they like, they will be more likely to stick around for the rest of the video. After around a second the shot cuts to Alan Titchmarsh judging the competition before turning to the camera addressing the audience directly. At this time graphics overlay the corners of the screen with the company logo taking the top right, the product taking the top left (Guaranteed Funeral Plan), and their contact details on the bottom of the screen. These stay there for the rest of the promotional video giving the audience ample time to write down the contact number or to remember the company logo, in doing this it creates an element of brand identity for the audience to relate to, letting them recognize the company in other advertisements or if they decide at another time they might want this product. Going back to Alan Titchmarsh, he turns and speaks to the audience directly, he speaks about flowers using them as a metaphor for life and how it's unpredictable. The shot then cuts to a family at this event, an elderly man and his granddaughter enjoying themselves. The promotional video cuts back to Alan Titchmarsh were he carries on his previous point by adding on that, unlike life this funeral plan can be relied on and is guaranteed. This is used to not so subtly suggest the product to the audience, he elaborates on this in his next point where he begins to talk about all the perks that this product has compared to other funeral plans. While he talks about this the logo in the top right briefly switches to a sticker with 5 stars and 100% payout written on it, in doing this the promotional video looks more official, even though these 5 stars don't necessarily mean anything it still reassures the audience making them trust the product even more. On from this, the video cuts from Alan Titchmarsh back to the elderly man and his granddaughter while Alan Titchmarsh still speaks over the video, the video shows the man and his granddaughter laughing and joking around having a good time, these visuals of family goes with the voiceover as it talks about how this product is the most cost-effective while making sure your family does not have to worry about paying for a funeral. Alan Titchmarsh then finishes his role in the video as he says one final thing about the product, the fact it gives people peace of mind and allows them to carry on enjoying life. As the event comes to an end and Alan Titchmarsh crowns the winner of this competition a different voice over starts playing, this voiceover repeats the contact details for the product while trying to entice audiences one last time offering them a free gift card if they sign up today. the video comes to an end with the voice-over saying "Give your family happy memories, not money worries". As the video comes to an end the contact details move to the left of the screen taking up most of the space and reminding audiences one last time how to contact and also about the free gift card to help tempt them in. Overall this video uses star power to try and reach out to its target audience, with most of the video including this star power using it to talk about how good their product is from a person the audience might look up to. If this doesn't work the company incorporates a last-ditch attempt to get the audience to get the product through offering out gift cards to those who signup. The sole purpose of this product is to persuade audiences to buy this product and if not at least familiarise them with the company through its constant use of brand identity throughout. The demographic audience that this promotional video reaches out towards is BC1 who wouldn't mind putting money aside just in case of a situation like an unexpected death, with the age range being 50+ as the video says it is specifically targeted towards them. The psychographic audiences that this video reaches out to are the Resigned and the Mainstreamers, it reaches out to the Resigned through their respect of traditional ways and seeking survival, in this case, the product does not offer survival to the person buying it but it would help the family survive financially, and it reaches out to the Mainstreamers through offering financial security, this being what they seek.

Reference List

Trading 212, (2018) Free Stock Trading by Trading 212 [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8

Birds Eye (2010)Birds Eye Chicken Dippers Advert [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu4On7qJ_8

Facebook, (2018) Facebook, Here Together [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs

Sunlife, (2019) SunLife Guaranteed Funeral Plan TV Ad: Summer Fete 60seconds [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pc7tjKjfo