Example analysis 1

Researching Existing Products

Researching similar products will allow me to learn the codes and conventions of advertising campaigns. I’m going to be analysing and deconstructing an advertising campaign for Nestlé’s Oats and more and paying particular attention to how media language has been used and any messages about the product or brand that Nestle are trying to communicate. The Nestle Oats and more campaign consists of 2 prints adverts and 5 television advertisements, each television advertisement is an average of 30 seconds long. It fits the definition of an advertising campaign as it consists of a coordinated series of adverts that work with synergy and are broadcast across more than one media platform.

The codes and conventions that seem to be coming across through the TV adverts is that the last shot is of the product; in this case they show the product range. Nestle Oats and more come in three different variations, honey, almond and raisin. The mise-en-scene is important as

they locate the product in the place in the house where it’s most likely to be consumed, in the kitchen. In addition to the product being a feature in the last shot we also see the slogan “Too delicious to share” this same slogan also features on the print adverts. An observation that I made is that the campaign has two slogans the one I’ve mentioned already and the other one is “You won’t like it”. The last shot also features the Nestle whole grain cereal logo, to connote the health benefits of the cereal. The characters used in the adverts make up the members of a family; they don’t all feature in each TV advert but across the series of adverts. We have the father, who

Example analysis 2

is the key character and features in all of the adverts, the mother, and 6 children. By using these characters and the serialised nature of the adverts we could say that there is an element of intertextuality and compare the structure to soap operas. This is common with advertising campaigns as British Telecom have done the same thing, and years ago Kenco Coffee. This serialised nature allows the audience to get attached to characters and can influence them to be the product being advertised.

The way that codes and conventions and media language have been employed is through the use of camerawork, dialogue between characters and the voice over. In each advert there is always time for the characters to describe what’s in

the product, for example “crunchy clusters, delicious oat flakes, and crispy almonds”, this is then reiterated by the voiceover at the end accompanied by a close up of the cereal in a bowl, so that we can see what they’re talking about, it also makes the product look far more appealing to the consumer rather than just seeing the box. The box is important and features most of the time in the centre of a shot or in close up in someone’s hand, there need to be a shot of the product in with the packaging to allow for consumer recognition, so that when they go to the super market they can remember what the product look like. The main representations and messages that are communicated through the TV adverts is that of family, the father is the head of the family and the mother and the children seem to do as he says.

Example analysis 3

The print adverts in the campaign are constructed in such a way that the audience would have to of seen the TV adverts to fully understand them. Case is point would be the main copy on the advert “I always thought nothing was too good for my kids. Until now.” From having knowing of the TV advert I would guess that this is the father ‘speaking’ in the advert. The copy is printed so that it bends around the bowl, this could connote the father’s possessiveness over his Oats and more, as in the TV adverts he never wants to share his cereal.

In both adverts the layout is the same this helps to keep a sense of consistency and unity across the whole campaign. A picture of the product in it’s packaging is placed in the bottom right corner, and next to it we have the slogan “Too good to share” and just the TV adverts we also have a description of the cereal. In both print adverts the Oats and more is featured in a cereal bowl using a close up shot, this makes the cereal look more appealing to the consumer. The colour palette used for the adverts matches the ‘flavour’ of the cereal, the Honey Oats and more advert has a yellow colour palette and the Raisin Oats and more a purple colour palette.

Example analysis 4

The target audience for this campaign would be families and the individuals with the families as represented in the TV adverts. The family includes parents – father and mother – and children of various age ranges. The humour in how it appeals to children is through the use of the father, he tells the children that won’t like the cereal and it’s not good for them. In real life, generally when a parent says not to do something a child wants to do it even more, therefore the product is made appealing to children as being something that’s forbidden. Overall I believe that this campaign is a good campaign and utilises the codes and conventions of a campaign including using different media platforms having a theme, and being directed at a particular target audience. It also makes use of the persuasive techniques pathos and ethos. Pathos through the way the voiceover describes the cereal making it seem desirable almost in much the same way the Marks and Spencer “This is not just food, its M&S food’ TV advert campaign worked. Ethos is used slightly with the use of Nestlé’s whole grain logo, providing creditability for the product.