Blog Post 7: Research into Existing TV Commercials in Other Forms (E.g Online, Print, Billboard)

In order to fully understand a brands marketing campaign, I researched into other forms of advertising such as adverts seen on magazines, billboards or online. I did this by searching various terms on google as well as finding adverts on the underground train lines.

One of my favourite food delivery adverts are from deliveroo as their minimalistic yet eye-catching print adverts are hard to miss around London. By cutting the person's top part of their face helps the viewer focus on the grin each person which brings a positive atmosphere to the advert. There are many vibrant and complimenting colours in the advert which match the brand identity as well as bring a more modern and youthful colour scheme.




Audi produced a series of adverts promote their newest but slightly cheaper range of cars. The break down of the car is intriguing for most people and makes them want to look more closely at the advert. There are several other faster cars inside the outside car, this was done connote the power of the new car. The distinguishing features from each car inside the cars make a great puzzle for car enthusiasts, and this helps the advert target its niche-r audience of car lovers.

Another notable print advert is the Nescafe advert which shows an alarm clock looking like a cup of coffee. This is a relatable sentiment for many people as when they wake up in the morning, they drink a cup of coffee. The focal image is large and surrounded by a gradient background so the focus is all on the focal image. The richer tones of red have subtle connotations of luxury which gives the brand a more prime feel.

I like these adverts as they are straight to the point and with a clear message that can be seen easily. This more colourful and sometimes minimalistic type of advert is more popular in print adverts nowadays as people only skim over the adverts, so the message must be clearly given in the time the viewer sees it. I will be applying this idea to my advert as I want the audience to clearly understand the story and its resolution.

Blog Post 6: Research into Existing TV Commercials (Other Genres)

I did this so I could find out how other food companies connote their brand. This was done by searching through videos on Youtube and compiling a playlist of them, this can be accessed via my Blog Post 5

Here are the two adverts I learnt most from:

M&S; Adventures in Fiesta

• The way they show the food is said to be called 'Food Porn'
• The advert is extravagant and exciting as there is
• Lots of eye-catching action
• Many bright colours against a black background to help them stand out
• This helps glorify the food and bring about positive connotations towards the brand and the food they produce
• The advert is cut/edited to the beat of the music. This makes the advert very satisfying to watch and in turn quite memorable

McDonald's; Dead Dad Advert

• The advert tells the story of a boy discovering what his dad was like
• Lots of emotive appeal
• Sets up story with a cute kid going through a collection of memorabilia
• Collection of items fit for an older person, so they aren’t his
• Final reveal to all questions: what was dad like?
• Sombre atmosphere created through darker colour grading and slow paced editing
• Desaturated colour scheme and the constant sad look on the kid’s face also emphasise this
• Very English family; shown through location, accent, actors, clothing
• Script is showing how all of the dad’s attributes are juxtaposing all of the kids attributes, and makes the audience feel bad for him
• He lights up when he thinks of something to ask about his dad, then is disappointed that he doesn’t get the answer he wants
• Lots of long and empty shots to connote his loneliness
• A couple close ups to emphasise his sad emotions
• Most shots have a lot of space and area around the child
• Mother kinda ignores the kid’s look on his face
• “1:09 Mother walks off shot for just long enough to capture the feelings of isolation and abandonment before...
• 1:10 ...*THE LOGO REVEAL!* Smiles, happiness, eye contact between the mother and the son, finally 
• Note the logo was distinctly absent from the exterior shots just gone 
• Colour grading seems to get subtly warmer too.  Outside McDonald’s = cold, sad, lonely.  Inside McDonald’s = warm, happy, social.”
• 1:16 Oh wow, who knew a Filet-o-Fish® could be so poetic?  The moment he opened the packaging the connection to his father he so desperately longed to find was revealed.”
• Very cute and adorable way to finish if belief was suspended
• Positive connections to the product
• If belief not suspended then it’s very funny to see
• The Logo has it’s own 5 seconds at the end for anchorage
• Super clear and minimalistic design
• Minimal text
• Colour scheme associated with the brand
• How they style the burger
• Food shows everything that it has
• Very perfectionist and idealistic
• Made to look extremely appetising
• Shiny, puffed up and is starting to make me hungry

This was very much useful to my final advert as it only confirmed what we previously thought the conventions of TV ads were by watching a wider range of adverts. This also meant I was able to look at a larger variety of ideas to incorporate into my own advert and I used many of these typical ad conventions such as title cards and voice over in my own advert as seen in these other adverts.

Blog Post 5: Research into Existing TV Commercials for Take-Away Food Delivery Services

I researched this because I wanted to find out the conventions of food delivery adverts and what made each advert successful. I did this by making a playlist on YouTube and compiling a range of adverts to look at.

A screenshot of the Youtube Playlist, You can click here to access the playlist on Youtube

These two adverts had the most impact on my work:

Deliveroo; Eat More Amazing

• City setting
• Reminds me of the start of a TV show through the use of an establishing shot and long shots
• The unique part of the advert blends into these long shots seamlessly
• It is first subtly shown through the reflection, and then more focus is drawn to it
• Implies the blending of normal mundane life with a fun alternative
• Very Comical and exaggerated
• Shown through (presumably) the POV of a person which allows the viewer to assume that this could be something they could see themselves
• Cinematic like you would see in a TV show or film
• A range of shot types to make it interesting
• Match cut at the end to link the fictional story to the audience member
• Very chill and relaxed music - positive connotations of service
• End Card flicks through many restaurants, then ends up on Deliveroo logo with their slogan
• Use of their blue and white colour palette
• Slow and Chilled paced editing to fit daydream mood

Hungry House; Space

• Establishing shot at beginning of space station
• Introduces a problem connoted by the stomach growl
• Comical and slightly exaggerated acting to help convey the story whilst making it seem like a true possibility - realism
• An easy method is shown - 2 taps on the phone
• Almost instant response
• Positive representation of the service
• Sound design to show heroicness of the delivery
• Comedic stuff to make it fun and enjoyable
• Seemingly ‘Perfect’ and delicious food is shown on screen to highlight the end product
• Idealise service to make it seem more appealing
• Joy and happiness in astronaut’s eyes when eating food
• Logo at the end with a website to anchor the company into the viewer’s mind
• Links adverts to the same marketing campaign

This was beneficial to my project as it gave me a couple of ideas about what my adverts could be about while also finding out the many conventions that I should follow in my adverts such as an ending title card.

Blog Post 4: The Target Audience (Males and Females Aged 16-25)

According to our brief, our adverts had to target Males and Females aged 16-25. Researching into this demographic and finding their interests helped me create some initial ideas that could widely appeal to the audiences.

In 2005, Channel 4 created Crowd DNA in order to study how TV could satisfy every audience's needs. One aspect of the project focused on youth culture and offered a tribal breakdown based on what the people had in common (Music, Fashion, Sport etc.). This became a big part of the project and was soon named 'UK Tribes' with a brief to explore and extend the research of youth culture in an honest and realistic matter. Luckily, this age group was 16-25 matching our brief exactly. Here is what I found out:

There are 5 main tribes within the community:

• Tribe
• Attributes that make the tribe identifiable
• Thoughts on how that could influence my advert

• Mainstream
• The backbone of society. There are generally seen as the 'cool kids' and have a strong emphasis on conformity
• People such as Chavs, Sports Junkies, Fangirls and Blingers
• Listens to Itunes top 100 and EDM House party music
• Chav looks inspire 'Leading Edge' trends
• Emergency food for parties or certain situations, so a 24/7 service may be of use?

• Leading Edge
• Proactive people
• All about doing, creating, debating, performing etc.
• With the new use of technology, voicing original ideas is much easier
• We're a delivery service, so we need a lot of varied restaurants to accommodate all types of people, especially picky/fancy ones
• Uniqueness to brand to make it more appealing?

• Urban 
• Urban Tribes are strongly influenced by what they see and experience in their immediate environment
• Urbans are best known for music – from R'n'B, grime, UK bass and funky to old school jungle and rap
• Fashion-wise, streetwear rules – from classic sports brands to independent urban labels, such as Adidas. Drawing inspiration from US street fashion, these Tribes were among the first to adopt the baseball jacket and snapback combo – a look now adopted by Leading Edge Tribes aplenty.
• Lots of being independent and leading their own way in life, driven by what they enjoy, whether that be fashion, money or just relaxing
• Customizability
• Reliability
• Accessibility

• Aspirant
• Very modern teenage look, hoodies, jeans and headphones
• Trendies, vloggers, hipsters, Hypebeasts (wearing said brand)
• Love of music, festivals, fashion and football
• Slight boost with help from the internet; Youtube and Instagram playing a heavy role

• Alt
• Known as the Internet culture
• Gamers, Superfans, Alternative music lovers, geeks
• A massive tribe, becoming increasingly bigger
• Love using technology and the internet so that accessibility will be crucial

• Overall;
• Upbeat music is generally the most appealing to a wide variety of audiences
• Each group is looking for their own uniqueness of how to represent themselves to everyone else
• Lots of influence from the internet and technology
• This is still a general overview, a singular person will have their own hobbies and things they like
• Lots of focus on community and bringing people together

This research was incredibly vital as it helped me target the different groups of people within my target audience whilst being able to find aspects of the advert that are occurring throughout the groups. The research affected my choices about actors and clothing options as I wanted to help the viewers relate to the characters within the advert.

Blog Post 3: The ASA BCAP Code

I researched the ASA BCAP code so I could find out what I would not be allowed to show in my adverts. I did this by visiting the official ASA website and reading through their relevant guidelines finding what would be applicable to my adverts.


The main principles from the ASA I noted were that:

• The advert cannot cause distress or contain anything that is likely to cause physical or mental harm
• No loud or obnoxious sounds can be used
• Cannot encourage child obesity
• We are a food delivery service so I cannot imply any unhealthy habits
• Obvious exaggerations ("puffery") and claims that the average consumer who sees the advertisement is unlikely to take literally are allowed provided they do not materially mislead
• Must a very obvious exaggeration that the viewer could recognize
• Subjective claims must not mislead the audience; advertisements must not imply that expressions of opinion are objective claims
• Can't say promises without proof
• Advertisements that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, consumers about either the advertised product or service or the competing product or service.
• There is a thin border when talking about competitors

The 3 chapters that were most relevant to my adverts. These can be found at
https://www.asa.org.uk/codes-and-rulings/advertising-codes/broadcast-code.html

This research helped my project as it helped me rule out ideas that were inappropriate and broke the ASA codes.  I was also able to read the code in greater detail than I already knew, for example, I cannot feature any video games that have certain age restrictions and I cannot involve alcohol in my advert, both aspects that impacted an advert.

Blog Post 2: Channel 4

Researching Channel 4 was a key part of my research as their company mottos and values are vital to understand in order for my advert to fit in the Channel and best use their outreach. Channel 4's website, their annual report and Wikipedia articles gave lots of information about scheduling, the TV shows that they air and other useful information.

A comparison of Channel 4 to other popular channels in the UK

Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster launched in 1982 as a 4th accompanying channel to BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. With 11 sister channels and 5.28% of all audience share, Channel 4 is an ever-growing broadcaster striving to reach more people than ever. 

Channel 4 has a list of aims to achieve each year, as part of the public statutory remit. It consists of 15 elements including:

• Encouraging innovation and experimentation
• Provide educational content
• Reflecting the cultural diversity in the UK
• Inspiring change in people's lives
• Supporting Young People

Channel 4's annual report demonstrated its growing ambition to support diversity throughout all the content aired, not only black, asain and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, but also a rising change in the perspective of the LGBT community.

With the rising popularity of on-demand TV, Channel 4 introduced All4, a way for the viewers to watch most programmes that have aired recently, whenever they wish to watch it. This proved to be a huge success; for example, "The End of the F**** World's full boxset was released on All4, 3.1 Million users watched the series within 100 days of the programme launching. 69% of these finished the whole series on the same day.

The Great British Bake off proved to be one of the most-watched programmes this year for Channel 4, receiving an overall audience share of 54.5% of 16 to 34 year olds. Other shows that this age demographic enjoy are Gogglebox, The Simpsons and Hollyoaks; these shows all air in the evening, from 6pm onwards. The Simpsons airs almost every day at 6pm, Gogglebox airs around 9pm and The Great British Bake Off airs from 8pm; I will place my adverts before, during and after each of these shows.

Overall this research taught me about the values of Channel 4, and how I should use them to help reach more of Channel 4's audience. Shows such as Bake off and Gogglebox have a demographic that suits the 16-25 age range we need to aim so I can put my advert around these shows to maximise my reach.

Blog Post 1: Existing Take-Away Food Delivery Services/ Industry

I researched food takeaway services in order to find the conventions of the services, and understand the industry. I did this by researching the different brands and looking at what made each company unique from the rest. Some companies that I researched into include: Deliveroo, Just Eat, One Delivery, Hungry House and Uber Eats. They can be separated into two different types of delivery service, aggregators, and new delivery. Aggregators work as middle-men, taking orders from customers and giving them to restaurants. The delivery, in this case, is the responsibility of a chosen restaurant. On the contrary, new-delivery services make the same thing, but they take full responsibility for the delivery process, building their own logistics for the best delivery. This is especially useful for those restaurants that don’t have their own drivers. This type of delivery service is becoming much more popular nowadays as it allows the customer to chose from a larger variety of restaurants giving them more choice on what food they want to eat.

A specific look at Just Eat and Deliveroo:
Just Eat is one of the leading companies in this industry, serving over 22.8 million customers around the world. One of their mission is to create the world's greatest food community, and they are already serving over 100 different types of cuisine from 87,000 restaurant partners internationally. Another aim for the company is to make food delivery an exciting experience for both the restaurant business as well as the customer. The use of their app is a great appeal for the younger generation (the main demographic) as phones are greatly intertwined into their lives and this convenience helps to create a stress-free experience. For the customer, Just Eat boasts a significant message throughout its work; choice. However, around the time of which we were doing research, there were many articles about Just Eat in the news as hygiene ratings in their app had been quite hidden and not very easy to obtain. It turns out they had many restaurants on their app that had a 0 hygiene rating which should have meant that they were shut down but Just Eat continued to provide service for them. This problem was mainly due to Just Eat's sign up system that lacked background checks on the restaurants. This allowed for some restaurants to provide food for Just Eat's customers when the restaurant should have closed down.

Deliveroo's app screenshots as seen on the Google Play Store

After being founded 12 years after Just Eat, Deliveroo is a growing competitor in the marketplace, having revenue growth of over 650% year after year. Deliveroo's aim differs from Just Eat's; Deliveroo desires to bring great food direct to customers as fast as possible, in less than 30 minutes. Restaurants who partner with them see their revenue increase by up to 30%, creating thousands of jobs in the restaurant sector. The secret behind Deliveroo's system that helps them compete with bigger companies is their ‘Frank’ algorithm. It is a predictive technology and evaluates the most efficient way of distributing orders based on the location of restaurants, riders and customers.

App and website design:

• Design of the app
• Minimalistic design, modern and attractive
• Spacious
• Bright and colourful to help connote the exciting experience
• A clear colour scheme to match the brand
• Higher end phone in all the shots, however, no phone brand is ever shown
• Actual app services:
• 3 Steps:
• Choose Food and Restaurant(s)
• Where to Deliver to
• How to Pay
• Other additional tabs include
• Offers Page
• Recommended
• Search for nearby restaurants
• Types of food tab and ratings tab
• Data and Cookies used to help the user find food that they may like

This research was extremely useful to my initial plans as they gave me ideas on what my adverts could focus on. Great food and the speed of the delivery seemed to be a very high priority for the other companies as these are the aspects of the service that reflects the company the most. The companies never talk about the prices of the food because as a delivery service, we do not have much control over the base price so this will be reflected in my advert.