Client Brief

Your brief is to create a new cross-media advertising campaign to assist in recruiting the best GCSE students in the local area to attend College@Deyes when they are picking their sixth form for next year.

The college would like you to include 2017's results in the campaign, as well as include some reference to the new builds recently introduced to the site.

The campaign must also make reference to the overall student experience offered at College@Deyes.

D2

Firstly, the brief told me to “create a new cross-media advertising campaign” so therefore I had to make sure I made at least two different forms of advertisement. I did this by creating a print advertisement in the form of a bus stop poster and an audio advert that I plan to have put on music streaming services. I chose that platform especially because my research showed me that 87% of students listen to music through a streaming service such as Spotify instead of using more traditional methods such as the radio. To enforce the idea of cross-media, I also chose to use a QR code on my print advert to take the audience to the College@Deyes website and I told them to check out their social media pages, indicating which platforms they’re based on using the logos. E.g. Instagram.

The next thing that the client has specified is that the campaign must be able to recruit “the best GCSE students” so I made sure to mention some facts that should appeal to high achieving students. One example of this is comes from my audio advert, in which one of the narrator states “with 54% of students achieving A*-B results across all subjects”. This informs the listener that College@Deyes has a great record and implies that if you’re capable you will be able to get the results you want. This covers another specification as they want 2017’s results in the campaign. Not only did they have to be high achievers, but they also needed to be from the local area. That’s why my bus stop advert is planned to be displayed in local bus stops. For example, bus stops that are near schools and train stations throughout the local area. Location support can also be used for the music streaming services so that the advert is targeted at those in the specified area.

Another thing the campaign must do is make reference to the “new builds” and the “overall student experience”. To make sure I cover this, I mentioned them both across my campaign, with one of the new builds being showcased on my print advert and the experience in my audio advert. On my print advert I included a picture of the College@Deyes common room from the outside, so the modern design is on show and to let the audience get an idea of the quality of the facilities College@Deyes possesses. Then a narrator in my audio advert describes the college environment as “enjoyable” and “hard working”. This description alongside the enthusiastic tone of voice of the narrator could influence the listener to really believe what is being said. 

M3

For my radio advert, I had to consider the conventions of radio advertising to make sure the one I make was made to a professional standard that fits in well with the current radio adverts in circulation today. One convention I had to consider was the length. Average adverts that appear on music streaming services (where I plan on placing my advert) often last between 30 seconds and a minute. My advert is just over a minute as it means it follows closely to the convention and I believe that amount is the appropriate time for me to be able to fit the content that I want in. It allows me to not only describe the school in a positive way but also to give the listener all the information they need to find out more. In the style in which the advert is presented with the 3 voices always switching and finishing each other’s sentences makes sure it stays interesting, giving the advert the feeling that it isn’t too long. To fit what I wanted to be said in during this time I needed to create a script. Within this I made sure that there was not only a suitable amount of talking, but also that there was appropriate facts and figures that backed up the message the advert was trying to give. A particular fact that did this was that 54% of students achieve A*-B across all subjects. This fact is mainly used to appeal to and to attract the higher achieving students that the brief outlined, as it will let the listener know that College@Deyes is somewhere that can facilitate high achievers and help them to achieve what they know they can. The speech in the advert should also be persuasive, to do this I have used a mixture of persuasive language and persuasive tone. One method is to be direct and to speak to the listener in an attempt to make them feel like they’re involved and to make them want to think and question themselves based on what the advert has told them. The advert uses direct address by sayings things like “this is the perfect place for you to study”. “You” is a word that is continually used throughout to reach out to the listener. Onto the tone of voice, this is enthusiastic and positive throughout, with a friendly feel to it. This can be persuasive as it makes the listener feel that the narrators only want the best for the listener and what they’re recommending can help them. Questions are also asked throughout the first half of the advert in another attempt to make the listener think. Sound effects are also used in the advert, for example a pen writing on paper, just to keep the advert refreshing as just dialogue may become tiring.

I also created a print advertisement that involved common conventions. One of these was the use of a logo. This is essential as it ties the advertisement to an organisation/brand which makes the poster easier to recognise but also helps the organisation/brand to become more recognisable and allow the audience to find out a bit more about them through the content of the print advertisement. I followed this by inserting the College@Deyes logo into the top left hand corner. Another convention is the house style of the organisation in question. Just like the logo it helps the audience to recognise an organisation/brand and it can be a memorable part of the advert that they will associate it with in the future. I also believe I used a good mixture of text and images. Text was used direct the audience onto somewhere that they can find out further information such as the contact details (email, phone number and address- another convention) and the hashtag, which could spark conversation online and lead users to their online accounts. Images that were inserted included the logo, a picture of the common room and a QR code. The logo was used for reasons that have already been explained, the picture of the common room was used to give an idea to the audience of the facilities (and it was also outlined in the brief) and the QR code is to allow the audience to scan it and then be taken to the College@Deyes website for them to find more information.

To keep consistency in my campaign I used the same slogan as I did on my print advert, “leap to success”. This tells the listener that College@Deyes can get you from one step of your life to another, and that the next part will be one of success. I believe that this is an important message for a college/sixth form to deliver as the next step after it is a large one for people who go. It can often include university, apprenticeships, or something else. This consistency will make the campaign recognisable and help the audience to associate the advert with College@Deyes, which will in turn make it easier to remember. Another convention of radio adverts I used was music. The music I chose was catchy and upbeat to keep the positive atmosphere of the advert going. The final thing I made sure to do was to let the listener know what to do after the advert. This is to direct them to find out more about College@Deyes. I did this by telling the user they can “contact us at” and then followed it with the URL to the College@Deyes website and their phone number.

M1 #3- Print Advertisement Analysis

M1 #2- Audio Advertisement Analysis

One crucial element within this advert was the person talking. He spoke with such enthusiasm in his voice, in such a happy tone that it gives off a very warming and friendly impression of the college. This could go a long way in securing open day visitors (the main purpose of the advert) as it influences them to have a to imagine the college as a friendly environment for those who go there. Not only is the delivery important, but also the content. Within this advert, the colleges open day is advertised, so the script must be able to give the relevant information in the short time available. This was executed well in tis advert as from the very start, the narrator states “this Saturday” in reference to when the open day is taking place. Then at the end, the narrator recaps on this (by saying “open day, this Saturday, from 11 till 3”), to reiterate the main point of the advert. This is an attempt to make the listener remember that piece of information once they are done listening to the advert. On the second time, the narrator is more informative and gives specifics, this is good as it is very useful to the listener if they do want to go to the open day, but it also gives off a better impression of the college, as it shows them trying to help you as much as possible. However, they do not give an address, this may seem like it was forgotten about, but it may have been intentional in an attempt to get the listener to find out more themselves. This is because it may divert more traffic onto the colleges website. The content of the advert also includes information about the college in general such as courses and qualification types available (“art, design, and digital media” and the narrator informing the listener that the college offers degrees, foundations and extended diplomas). This all helps in the long term task of securing the students, as it will spark their interest in the college if it offers subjects they like. This is done to instantly reach their intended target audience, and to filter out any students that may not be interested. This can help make the open day an efficient one that could be worth holding and funding, as the students there are already interested in the subjects on offer, meaning they should pay more attention and get the most out of it.

The next convention they’ve used is actually an English language technique, this is direct address. The advert tells the audience to “begin your creative journey”, the word creative refers back to the subjects and courses that the college offers, with, art and digital media being the core focus of the colleges attention. This is persuasive language which also refers to the type of students they want at the college, creative people who will be suitable for the courses on offer. The word journey is also used to make the idea of spending the next two years of their lives at the college more exciting, making it appeal to the listener more than just a regular college. Instead of just having someone voice being the only audio, they have also added light, up-beat music to add another dimension to the advert to make it more entertaining. The music is louder, and more attention grabbing at the beginning, to make sure the audience in listening, and then it becomes quieter nearer the end while the narrator is making important points and recapping on the start of the advert. Lowering the volume of music is done to focus the attention of the listener on what is being said, rather than what is going on in the background. Finally, the advert didn’t out stay its welcome, with a length of 20 seconds being very appropriate for what was said. This keeps it short and sweet so the attention of the listener isn’t lost due to it being stretched out longer than necessary.