Lucazade

 

using Gareth Bale, and international star to promote the drink. USP

staring directly at the viewer to give a sense of direct address

white border to portray bales importance in the advert

to right corner includes Bales stats such as he teams and achievements

enhanced blue eyes to make him seem more machine like and powerful

meant to look more technology based

scientifically prove, applying that whatever you think the drink can do, it can do

YES in the bottom right corner which actually says nothing 

Bale had recently been sold to Real Madrid for £80 million pounds which was the most expensive signing of all time 

bright eye catching yellow and blue font associated with Lucozade

 what makes this advert conventional

direct address

very serious

masculine

eye catching colors contract each other

confidence

celebrity endorsement

aimed at younger people into sport

scientific

aimed more at men but not exclusively

LUCOZADE

Lucozade was originally owned by a British pharmaceutical company

owned by multi national conglomerate GalxoSmiothkline, sold to Japanese company Suntory

was originally branded as a medical drink to help with sickness in the 70s but later changed to accompany the rave scene in the 80s and later a sports drink.

the 'I believe' campaign was a £4 million pound digital marketing campaign including many famous sports aesthetes like Gareth bale and Oxlade chamberlain calming to drink to be 'better than water' and the perfect drink for a sports athlete, resulting in them changing their slogan to 'in a different league' which coin-sided with Gareth bales £80 Million move to La Liga team Real Madrid

Media Language and representation 

product placement in the right hand corner using the 'rule of thirds' having the brand be represented as a solution

high key lighting creates an upbeat mode of address with the blue and yellow color palette matching the brands packaging with connotations of masculinity

Anchoring text 'in a different league' has a double meaning as at the time bale was in the process of moving to Real Madrid, meaning he was literally playing in a different league

Bale is using direct address staring seriously at the viewer as to almost challenge the viewer who will most likely be male.

robotic Steele blue eyes to make him seem unnaturally powerful thanks to Lucozade

Minecraft Exam question

 impact on economic factors: *Microsoft have more money to adverting the game. can sell to larger range of markets like Sony players, Xbox and others. can fund 

Explain the impact of economic factors on video game production, distribution and consumption That Minecraft had.

Minecraft in its early stages saved large amounts of money due to the game not using much marketing i order to generate sales. Like most independent or `indie` games it relied on word of mouth through its niche audience of moders to sell the game on PCs. due to Mojang not having a massive budget, the game was sold exclusively to PCs and would not reach consoles such as Xbox and PlayStations till mid 2012. this was all changed in 2014 however when conglomerate Microsoft, owner of AAA games companies like Bethesda and Bungie, decided to purchase Mojang and Microsoft for $2.5billion. This Gave Minecraft the budget and resources of a AAA game and allowed them to market the game to a wider audience. This is the case with many AAA games as having backing from a large developer like Microsoft means they have more resources for things such as marketing, allowing them to attract players from all demographics. this will also benefit the game when it comes to things like events to promote them, for example, Minecon. the event has been hosted every year since 2010 and with funding from Microsoft, allowed Mojang to host it all over the world. This will increase game consumption massively the events will increase global knowledge of the game. more than would be possible through word of mouth.

Rewrite

In the modern age of video games development their are two main types, AAA and 'indie. AAA games are published by massive companies like Bethesda, Activison and Electronic Arts and tend to have large budgets. due to this the games can afford lengthy 20-50 hour long stories with more realistic graphics and mechanics as well as hiring A-list actors to play characters in the games, such as Idris Elba in NBA 2K20 or Matthew Perry in the Fallout franchise. Whilst indie games will tend to come from either small companies or small development teams with very little budgets, often leading to developers funding the games out of their own pockets or crowd funding. Due to the lower budget of these games they will tend to last much shorter run times as well as have more artistic graphics as realistic graphics will be too expensive. Another major difference with the two types of games is their marketing and sales. As AAA games usually caused in the range of £100 to produce, they must drum up enough excitement for the game in order to make a profit on it and mainly will do this through massive cinematic trailers and events. Whereas indie games, being funded through crowd funding, do not require the same range of sales to make a profit and subsequently don't rely on much marketing.

this all changed when Minecraft was released. Being officially released in 2009 by Markus Persson and his small studio mojang on PC, the game seemed to show all the traits of an indie title while stylised blocky graphics, a lack of any major story and little to no known marketing. The game was built around the idea of creative and with its two original modes, creative or survival, allowed players to try their luck and seeing what challenge the game had to offer, or let their imaginations create whatever they desired. The game used a coding language called java and because of this, allowed the moding community to experiment with several different additions to Minecraft with mods like the Aether really emphasising the creative freedoms the game provided. Due to the game having a very limited budget it relied on sales through word of mouth between its niche modder audience to generate sales. However due to the games popularity and universal appeal it was soon being played and streamed by massive influencers like captain sparkle and Stampylonghead on the website YouTube. At the time this was unheard of as a way of marketing and showed just how profitable it could be as Minecraft's sales soared in popularity within its first year. Minecraft didn't stop their with their first Minecon, a Minecraft festival, being held in the summer of 2010 attracting fans of all ages. This changed the landscape of video games as originally massive events like this were reserved for AAA games and being development company and showed just how popular this small indie game truly was. 

Finally in 2014, Minecraft and Mojang studios were bought by massive media conglomerate Microsoft for $2.5 billion. This was monumental in the gaming world as it meant that not only had Minecraft lost its status as an indie title, but had become apart of one of the 3 major games companies in the world and was arguably now their biggest game. Microsoft set about making changes as by increasing the games cross platform availability. the game had only recently made the jump to consoles the previous year and Microsoft introduced the PS4 and Xbox one editions later that year.  this massively altered the games distribution as now the game was available to millions of current gen console players and sales began to rise eventually reaching 176 million by 2020 becoming the highest selling game of all time, a far cry from the 4 million copies the game had sold by 2011. Microsoft also began to introduce synergy with other brands such as Lego to increase sales, they released skin in game of popular movie and video game characters like from star wars and fallout. They also planned and released a virtual reality version of the game, something which creator notch was firmly against due to the VR company oculus being owned by Facebook. It is every much evident to see just how different the game has been operated during its time as independent and AAA as originally the game seemed smaller with creator Notch caring more about making the game he wanted than making as much money as possible. Whilst under Microsoft its clear the use of synergy with Lego and main character Steve's impending introducing into video game phenomenon Super Smash Bros that Microsoft are more concerned with maximising profits.

old spice exam question due for friday

 

viewpoints-an attitude of mind or the circumstances of an individual that conduce to such an attitude

ideology- a system of ideas, ideals and beliefs 

subversive-seeking or intending to change something

                                          question

explain how viewpoints and ideologies are communicated by the media language used in adverts. use the old spice Bahamas advert (2010) to help you

masculinity- uses masculinity with the intention that it will attract the men who believe the brand will make them appear more masculine

will also appeal to women who Want to but it for their partners.

Appeals to younger demographic by using a current big name athlete of the time to attract fans to the brand

 In the advert, the actor, portrayed by Isaiah Mustafa, directly addresses the women watching the advert saying "hello ladies" this is because Mustafa is a former professional athlete and is in incredible physical shape which are traits commonly found to be desirable in men. he then proceeds to encourage them to look at him and look at their partners before  mockingly proclaim "sadly, he isn't me" referring to the woman's boyfriend or husband. this is to target the women watching the ad to encourage them to buy the product in order to make their partners appear more desirable. The ad also challenges the men watching it by directly addressing the women and offering them everything they could want from tickets to 'that thing you love' to diamonds whilst making constant and intense eye contact, all this is done to encourage men watching this to go out and buy the product by subtly hinting at the ideology that those who wear Old Spice are more attractive and will steal your partner from you. 

The advert is also representing the brands new image. Old Spice was typically targeted at 40-60 year old men and always promoted itself on the ideologies of rugged, powerful masculinity. with this advert and ad they try to almost reimagine themselves by going for a more wacky, colorful image in an attempt to change their target demographic to a younger audience who don't hold the same values as the older generation. This is evident with the use of actor Isaiah Mustafa who would be a well known name to younger audiences in 2010, it is also visible in the little use of any common masculine traits you would find in a typical male fragrance advert aside from the drawing of the woman sunbathing on Mustafa's chest.

assessment feedback

a lack of question focus

comments on how media language helps represent brand ideologies

references to the specific ideologies and viewpoints

examples of specific media language use in the advert , and how they reflect the desired brand language

 

Old spice

the old spice advert is an unconventional Fragrance advert in that a typical male fragrance advert would dark, mysterious, powerful and focused while at this advert was more comedic with its appearance, along with filling the image with bombastic imagery to catch the attention of the viewer. However, they advert still clings to its roots of desolating a masculine image with the former nfl wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa staring intensely into the camera with a smug look in his face. The image also includes many small details which indicate masculinity, such as the man fishing out a shark in the top left of the image

TV Advert

similarities

everything seems to be sloping off of him

 direct address

explosions

water

natural world

sports (bob sledding, kayaking)

celebrations 

why did old spice change their brand

the main reason that old spice did this was to stand out and appeal to a younger audience, they had been associated with rugged manliness, the brand began in 1937 with an emphasis of selling to the older demographic 40-60 year old men. Proctor and gamble, a multi conglomerate which owns old spice, realized that they were going to have to change the product if they wished for it to stay relevant so in 2010 decided to change the companies image. they wanted to target a new audience of 18-34 year old both male and females. For their new brand launch and opening advert they acquired former NFL star turned actor Isaiah Mustafa. The advert was deliberately humours, bright and detailed which was completely unheard of in modern advertising as most fragrance ads were dark, mysterious and luring.

however the ad still clung to its roots of masculinity, challenging the male target by directly addressing the women (who by 70% of men's toiletries) and claiming "I'm the man your man could be". The ad was a massive success as in its first week it grossed 40 million views on YouTube.

how has the context of this old spice advert shaped what we see in the design?

Minecraft

 Minecraft is a sandbox indie game with a focus on creating And crafting and surviving in your own world. The game has a blocky Lego like art style and game mechanic in order to be more visually appealing and unique. The game was first developed and released in 2009 By Markus ‘Notch’ Persson by his small games company Mojang, The game Was released to on pcs and instantly gained a following. One of the major reasons the game was so successful from launch was due to how it appealed to all ages and all types of gamers with it having action, survival, adventure, creative, crafting and a well crafted story to discover.

The game ordered finally targeted the niche audience of those who enjoyed modding and creating their own worlds, however the game became a global hit thanks to the number of content creators making profitable YouTube videos on their time playing the game, showing off what they could create and do in the game. This lead to global events held such as Minecon where the company would gather large audiences of all ages, increasing they’re popularity further. This allowed Mojang to release the game to mobile and console audiences such as players on the Xbox and PlayStation meaning it was virtually on every platform for all to enjoy. This level of popularity eventually lead to Mojang and subsequently minecraft being acquired by business conglomerate Microsoft in 2014 for a total of $2.5billion. After this minecraft began to collaborate with many large names with in-game skins And other texture packs from movies and other forms of media like Star Wars and Harry Potter, the games was also released on the two current consoles the PlayStation4 and Xbox1. This all lead up to the game becoming the best selling video game of all time with 174 million recorded copies sold world wide. 

Fandom theory

A way to explain the success of minecraft and it’s spikes in popularity over the through the past decade could be the fandom theory. Theorised by Henry Jenkins, it details that fans tend to build culture and identity from certain media formats which drives popularity forward. These fandoms can create communities in their own right and collaborate to solve problems and bond over their love of the created culture. This applies massively to minecraft as the creation of fandoms has helped popularise the game and promote it, this leads to more understanding of it which then leads to more sales, resulting in surges in popularity.

Production: the action of manufacturing from a component of raw materials

Distribution: the action of sharing something out among recipients

Circulation: the public availability of knowledge or a product

Consumption: something taken in by the customer or consumer

Conglomerate: a company that owns majority stake in more than one other company

Vertical integration: where a single firm preforms two or more stages of production on a product by merging two firms

Diversification:where a company or product branches into several different markets

Media convergence: when a piece of hardware takes on a 'all in one' function

Synergy: forging connections between products for marketing eg. coca cola/James bond,                    super smash.bros/minecraft. Steve from minecraft has made his first appearance outside of the minecraft game

1. Notch produces 'cavegame' which is later called minecraft

2. Mojang studious is founded

3. minecon held in Las Vegas

4.  Microsoft purchase rights for minecraft 

5. wins BAFTA and teen choice awards

6.  Minecraft earth announced

7. 30 million copies sold

8. Steve announced for Nintendo switch super smash bros 

R.A.I.L

                                          R.A.I.L

Representation

representation in the media is the way a group of society is portrayed to the public, this could be in both a positive light and a negative light, as an example a group such as teenagers may be portrayed as delinquents, leading to the public to viewing them in this way. Often the way certain groups are portrayed may led to a prejudice being built up against them in the media. Theorists like Stuart Hall theorized that the media relies on and creates its own  stereotypes in order to push its own agendas.

Audience 

audience is likely the most important part of media as a whole. The audience is the group of people you wish to reach with your content and can vary by what your content is. when producing media you will always have a target audience in mind, this is the demographic which you are attempting to reach as they will be the most affected by it. 

Media can also have a direct affect on its audience, it can influence human behavior, morals, judgment and perception of specific events. this was theorized by Albert Bandura.  Stuart Hall theorized that there are three types of people when it come to intaking text, the dominant, who accepts the ideology of the media they've seen, the negotiate, who will somewhat agree but will think more rationally about it and the oppositional who will outright disagree with the ideologies all together.

Industry

The media industry is largely dominated by conglomerates, the film and television industry has 5 large competitors: Disney, comcast, CBS, WarnerMedia and Sony. these % companies control 76% of the film industry combined.

The UK press is a also largely dominated by conglomerates, with 59 national newspaper companies in the UK a whole 71% of the national newspaper circulation, leaving the other 56 in control with the remaining 19% worse yet a total of 5 companies control 81% of local newspapers in the UK.

Rupert Murdoch, an Australian business mogul who controls some of the largest newspapers in the US and UK (times, sun, Wall street journal). is a able to enforce his own views through his post.

Language

Media language looks at the ways that the media communicates to its viewers through images, mannerisms, symbols and even stereotypes.

Semiology is the study of symbols and they have, this focuses on connotations as in words and images having different meanings to there literal ones, the media will often use these in tv and posters or articles in order to draw in attention. an example of this would be an image of a man in a dark room staring intensely towards the viewer, straight away the view will notice a sense of mystery and mystique without ever being told to, but through the pre-conceited notion that darkness means mystery they will immediately associate the two. Stereotypes have also been a way of conveying messages in media, although they have been viewed as rather controversial in recent memory, the way they are used is by injecting a type of person who has a pre-conceited notion about them. this can be seen in the controversial Philadelphia cheese advert which used the notion of men being bad parents in order to push there product.