Radio Commercial Review (Silver Showers)

My favourite radio commercial was the one by Silver Showers, a smooth and fairly sultry pitch for a Gatsby product.

What I liked about it was how calm and practiced the voice for the advertisement sounded. The recording quality isn't as good as it could have been, but the voice more than made up for it with its good enunciation. This is a quality to look for in a good radio advertisement: good diction that ensures that listeners do not miss out on anything. There's no replay button on a radio advertisement -- one playthrough and it's gone.

The writing of the advertisement was correctly done. The voice started out with a suggestive listing of the product's qualities that built up to a climactic announcement of the product itself. It followed the traditional "I am the..." list format that has served so many advertisements well and which, while not entirely original, functions well as a pitch for a Gatsby product. It is sure and decisive, enhancing the product's image as a personal care product.

The soundtrack was clean, well-chosen, and well-edited. The smooth jazz track fits well with an advertisement for a personal care product, and also emphasizes on the sultry/sexy side of the entire pitch. I was impressed with how the pitch built up to a generally feelgood, upbeat atmosphere, coinciding well with the enthusiastic identification of the product, with clear naming of the product's details.

Many of the radio advertisements posted up were good, but I think that the one done by Silver Showers is one of the best so far.

Reflection Post 5

This week's lecture and tutorial were all about creating a radio ad for a product, specifically towards university students. Creating or writing something like this is never an easy task as there are a few pointers that you need to take note of.

One of the few pointers that you need to take note in writing an effective radio ad is the length of your radio ad. Depending on your slot in the radio advertisement (15s, 30s, or 60s), you must be sure of the time limit you are given and you have to be precise. Therefore, while writing (eg.) for a 30 second advertisement, you should have 7-8 lines. It's not easy, as you need to cram in all your important information into it while leaving an impression in the listeners' mind.

Another pointer to take note is to plan what you want to say in the radio ad. While you want to inform your listeners with as much as info as you can, try to keep it clear and concise and only make list on the important and necessary points. Also, you wouldn't want to list out too many different points, you will not want your listeners to go all confused. Thus, it is not easy as you need to know what is necessary and what is not. Just because you have 30 seconds of airtime, doesn't mean you should cram the ad will full of words but are unnecessary. 

The third point is to use a strong opening statement in your radio ad. You don't have much time in a 30 seconds ad. Thus, it is important to get the listeners' attention in the first few lines. It's not an easy task writing one as you need to create a question, preferably an open-ended one that all listeners can relate to.

The fourth point is to include key attributes of the company and the company's personality into the radio ad. This is also not an easy task as you need to know and understand your company well. Without having a clear understanding of the company, you wouldn't be able to show the key attributes and the personality in the ad. Therefore, the ad wouldn't be as effective as it would have.

The final point that is needed to be taken account for is to write an effective contact info for your radio ad. Even though they are just a phone number or a website address, not everyone could remember them in 5 seconds or less. Therefore, writing an effective one so that the listeners could remember it is not an easy task. By using simple numbers like 1300-88-2525 (Pizza Hut) or 1300-888-333 (Domino Pizza), it could help listeners remember the numbers easily. Also, by writing them in a jingle, it could also help the listeners recall them easily too.

In conclusion, writing an effective radio ad is not an easy job as you need to take note of a few points that are needed to create an effective one. With these points, you will make worth of that 30 seconds of ad knowing that listeners will listen and also remember some info from it.

By: Renvin Kaur Sidhu

Radio Commercial.

I personally think that the best radio commercial was Grey Inc.'s radio commercial. Besides thinking that Karen's group come up with the most amazing work, I have a number of actual reasons why I think their ad was the best out of all of us. 

First and foremost, the most important factor in a radio commercial is the language. Being able to be heard and/or understood is vital in a radio commercial. The announcers which I think were Rainer and Nabila were very clear and concise about what they were saying. Their grammar and language were spot on and their voices were heard clearly. Also, they did a really good job on squeezing in an "eerie" situation in the 30 second time frame given.

That aside, I thought that the sound effects were very suitable with what they were trying to say. At the intro, Nabila was building up the audience's attention by having a theatretical dramatic speech and then Rainer brought it down with the main point. While he was doing that, the music also became less dramatic and I thought that was very fitting. Dramatic, but point still being delievered. With that also the service/product name is mention repeatedly to put the brand name into the listeners mind so that they could remember. That's the best way to deliver a message through a radio commercial. It is simple and yet a clear message that was given out on what the service/product offers in just 30 seconds.

Lastly, the tagline. The last line that Rainer said in the commercial was so pivotal that it stuck with me even until now. It is something that people would remember. Aside from being unforgettable, it is also relevant to the "product" itself.

These are the reasons why I think that Grey Inc's radio commercial stood out from the rest.

Chen Kee Wei (Blake)

Reflection Post 4

This week's tutorial was about the body copy, that is, the follow-up block(s) of text to the headline that elaborates on the headline's hook. There are different forms or types of body copy generally used, the main ones being straight-line/factual, narrative, testimonial/monologue, humorous/offbeat, descriptive, dialogue, and institutional copy.

One of the most famous examples of testimonial copy is probably the Got Milk? series, an American advertising campaign for cow milk consumption in which celebrities/cultural icons are featured with milk mustaches. The campaign has been running since 1993 and has an instantly recognizable format: a full-blown photo of the appropriately milk-mustached subject and testimonial-style (factual in some cases) copy telling readers why milk is so important to him or her as an individual. Subjects can either be real-world examples:

NASCAR racer Danica Patrick

or fictional ones:

the Fantastic Four.

The testimonial form of body copy relies mostly on a conversational style that draws the reader and makes him or her feel included. The mixing of famous subjects with relaxed, down-to-earth body copy makes it seem as if their successes are due to their usage of the advertised product. The idea is that even the average, "ordinary" reader can also be equally successful if they use that product.

Subjects chosen should be instantly recognizable to all, or at least to the target audience. Choosing a celebrity musician would probably not work for an advertisement targeted at sportspeople.

It is especially important that the copy used is not overly formal. Precision is not paramount in this case. The reader needs to be able to understand the message easily and to grasp it in a way that strikes relevant chords -- senior citizens, for example, would not appreciate copy written in overly young language with unfamiliar jargon. The same goes for the reverse.

The exercise our group did during the tutorial was probably a good example of this, as we struggled to find a writing slant that would make a packet of seaweed flavoured crackers attractive to audiences. Relevance was the key issue, and testimonial body copy would have suited the product perfectly ("I buy so-and-so-forth because it is the perfect snack for a person constantly on the move!").

Media: Print Ad

'Dumb Ways To Die' is a campaign devised by an advertising agency called McCann Melbourne. It is a campaign to create awareness for people to be careful around trains. It appeared in newspapers, local radio, outdoor advertising, throughout the Metro Trains network and on Tumblr. John Mescall, executive creative director of McCann, said "The aim of this campaign is to engage an audience that really doesn't want to hear any kind of safety message, and we think Dumb Ways To Die will."

I personally like the body copy for this advertisement because it is very interesting. I find it creative for a number of reasons. First of all, the graphics of it catches one's attention. It makes the advertisement seem like it is meant for children; it is cute, straight to the point and witty all at the same time.

When it comes to the body copy, I think it is creative because it is again, witty and cute. It also rhymes! Besides the cuteness and wittiness, it also gets the message across. At the end of the body copy it states it's main point - which is to be careful around trains.

source: <http://www.creativebloq.com/inspiration/print-ads-1233780>

Creative Body Copy (LeSportsac)

(Source: http://leblog.lesportsac.com/category/summer-2013-preview/)

Media: Print ad

When I was scrolling, reviewing and surfing for some creative advertisements on the internet, then this ad came across and managed to grab my attention. LeSportsac will be the one I choose for this week's blog post, the most creative body copy. LeSportsac beach collection is a sun drenched escape into a Tropical paradise. The collection trademarks are sporty American styling, wide colours, assortment and lightweight functionality with high performance fabrics and hardware.

The reason why I like this ad is because the LeSportsac used the correct font type and it does have an interesting colour combination at their brand name. The vibrant colour used on the print ad suits really goes well with the brand, and it is able to capture the audiences attention at first sight.

Besides that, on this print ad it shows the happy sunshine girl carrying the LeSportsac backpack, and handbag on the beach and smiling under a big colourful umbrella brings out the joyful and fun feeling that suits so much to the brand (LeSportsac) identity. By looking at this print ad, it gives me the feeling of 'It's summer time, there's nothing more happy than bringing my favourite colourful bags to the beach'.

Where you can forget all your worries, relax under a colourful umbrella, and let the stress melt away! -LeSportsac

By: Michelle Liew