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.