TV Advertisement Evaluation

The Brief: 'Unilever is inviting advertising agencies to participate in this exciting opportunity to carry our message out to new consumers'.

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We were asked to re-brand a Unilever product to a new target audience. As a group we chose to re-brand Magnum for men. The majority of the group decided the advert plan was the best for us due to the accessibility of locations. The current target audience for Magnum is middle class women, we decided to change this so it would be aimed towards young men.

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The finished product and feedback:

I created a survey on Survey Monkey and we shared this amongst friends and family alongside the advert on YouTube. In order to collect results from people that fit our target audience better than class peers I asked a friend in America to share it with people she knows.

One of the reoccurring comments was that; the narrative wasn't very clear. After reviewing the advert I do definitely agree that our narrative is lacking an important detail. If we were to re-film I would suggest adding a close up of an alarm for work going off on the phone in the pub scene, rather than him just checking the time as it isn't clear that this is his motive. However some did find that not knowing made them watch the whole advert.

A positive review was that the Magnum did look enjoyable at the end ('worth the wait'). Almost everyone asked enjoyed the final shots where Luca takes bites out of the Magnum. The sound of him biting and final shallow focused shot of the Magnum made it appear desirable, multiple people said that they would act upon this and buy one in class feedback. Based on this I would say we succeeded in getting the message "buy Magnum's" across. This is an example of how our ad follows AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). The action music grabs the audiences attention; not knowing captivates their interest; they feel desire for the product and therefor act by purchasing one. Over 50% of the people who took the survey were more than slightly likely to purchase a Magnum after watching the advert.

Many people liked the humour coming from the shop sequence and dog chase, however a few people commented it might be better without the snow. The reason behind the snow is because our original idea consisted of Luca running through multiple scenarios (rain, snow etc) and due to how long it takes to film with the dog we thought it best to keep it as it was. If we had the opportunity to re-film it I think we would so we at least have the option as to what flows better.

There were technical problems when shooting some scenes. In the pub due to filming right next to a window the actors were underexposed where as the window itself was overexposed. After talking to Sean we now know that to combat this we would have had to changed the metering settings, probably to spot metering. During the beginning of shooting we used a lot of tripod shots which, after reviewing, we realised made the advert too "clean". By this I mean that it seemed to forced and stiffed, however when we introduced hand held shots the flow was smoother and editing was easier. Some scenes however, such as the shop scene, would have been improved if we used a shoulder rig as during filming my hand was very unsteady and makes the shot look unprofessional. The editing was also criticised in the survey however they didn't share what was wrong with it and how it could be improved. Elements of our advert looked professional, such as the ending shot when using 50mm lens. By using this lens we were able to create such a shallow depth of field so Luca appeared softer while the Magnum was the main focus.

Another example of good sound would also be the pub scene. The ambient sound worked creating almost a documentary feel, making the advert seem plausible, as well as the shots jumping slightly in time creating a nice style. There are some moments however where it would have been better if we had not faded out our main backing music. Some feedback we received was that a sharp cut to contrast the difference between the "action" music and "shop" music would have increased its comedy value. We were also told we should have tried this towards the end where the music faded out, then faded back in, to experiment with the different effects.

We were careful with our use of mise-en-scene during the filming of the advert. Things like the dog being the same colour as the Magnum were considered before shooting, how the snow was a good contrast to his fur as well as it being cold like an ice cream. You could tell where the location was; the shop had food a fridge and a worker in the background; the office consisted of a desk and computer; finally the pub contained music, beer mats and drinks.

The target audience wasn't as clear as we would have like as not everyone understood it was for men or the correct age range, although the majority did. To make this clearer it would have been helpful if we had a young adult willing to act the role Luca played. However this wasn't possible as the people we knew were normally working while we were at college and not reliable. I think this is why the audience couldn't connect with the advert.

Our advert does stick to the BCAP code and advertising regulations. We do not lie about the product, there is nothing that could exploit the trust that those under 18 have in parents etc. We present the product as an ice cream, which is what it is, therefor it isn't unclear on its purpose.

BCAP Code

3.2 Advertisements must not mislead consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.

4.1 Advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical, mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18.

4.2 Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards.

4.3 Advertisements must not exploit the special trust that persons under the age of 18 place in parents, guardians, teachers or other persons.

Personal Reflection:

Our final advert is rather different from our original idea, however there are still elements that were carried into the finished product. The original idea consisted of our actor to run through different scenarios, fading from each one, and him finding a Magnum at the end. This then evolved into our actor being spoke to by God, informing him of a Magnum for men so he runs to the church to find it glowing like a gift from the heavens.We started shooting for this idea however had to change it when we discovered we wouldn't be allowed to film in the church. Our backup plan for this was to film in the cemetery instead, the actor would be late for a funeral and offer a bouquet of Magnums rather than flowers. We however decided to scrap this idea as the target audience wouldn't be towards young men. In the end we decided that he could be with his friends, in a pub, late for work but he still has time to stop off for a Magnum.

Overall I think my involvement with the project was good. I helped create the storyboards with Viv, the shooting schedule and \actively participated when filming. I also provided the dog for one of the sequences and asked permission from the community centre/pub to use for filming. We also all shared input to the editing, so even if someone wasn't editing directly at the time they could still share their opinion or change it.

First Ending

Second Ending