Research
Report
I formed primary research for my product, which I chose
(Dr Pepper) because I needed to find out what the general feeling was towards
the drink. I wanted to know what people thought of the brand because it would
give me an idea of how many people would be interested in the advert and who
wouldn’t. To do this I had to investigate what the general public liked or
disliked about previous Dr Pepper adverts and what could be improved/changed in
the future. I chose to create and send out a questionnaire because I think by
researching this way; it would be a more entertaining way for both me and
whoever I sent the questionnaire too as it is simple to fill in.
1. Primary Research
1.1
Questionnaire (Quantitative):
The purpose of my questionnaire was to find out how
popular Dr Pepper actually is and what people think of it overall. My questions
were effective because it gave me a wider outline to how successful the product
is. The pie charts on the right are my questionnaire results. There are only
seven pie charts because three of the questions, which were open answers, were
too complicated to put onto a graph, as they were all differ ent answers.
As you can see from the results on the right, most people
had tried Dr Pepper before. This tells me that the product is successful and
most people have heard of it and tried it out even if they weren’t fond of the
taste. This told me that because the product was popular, there was a reason to
make my advert.
This research technique worked well because I found out
what I wanted from what I asked and as well as that, the people who I sent out
the questionnaire to enjoyed answering the questions because they were simple
and easy to answer.
1.2 Focus Group (Qualitative)
The purpose for my focus group was to find out what the
public thought of the previous Dr Pepper adverts, I did this so it would help
me workout what makes a successful advert and what doesn’t. As well as knowing
what makes a successful advert, this would give me an idea on what I need to
include in my own advert e.g) humour. I asked multiple questions relating to
what they thought of the adverts overall. The questions I asked were quite
basic yet effective. The answers from my focus group varied a bit because there
were things about the two adverts that they liked but at the same time there
were things that they didn’t like.
The participants in my focus group agreed that the target
audience was clear as there always seemed to be a teenager drinking the drink
stating "It’s always a teenager drinking it so it has a clear target
audience". They also settled that the slogan was memorable and it was
ironic saying things such as "whenever they mention the slogan, it tends
to be the worst then happens". I also included open questions in my
questionnaire instead of just choosing ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. I didn’t show the three
open questions in my questions due to the fact that everyone who took part in
the questionnaire answered differently to those certain questions.
This research technique also worked well because they were
open questions and answers and so people could freely express how they felt
about the adverts and not have to pick one response.
1.3 Analysis (Qualitative)
Advert
1: Dr Pepper Advert
1. In this advert, the
product being sold is Dr Pepper. The advert does make it clear that it is
promoting Dr Pepper because at the start, the actor goes to a Dr Pepper vending
machine and buys one and then throughout the advert, you carry on seeing the
product. I think the advert is more focused on creating a personality towards
to product as they use a lot of humour to make the advert successful. By doing
this, it makes the drink much better known as people remember the advert.
2. The general mood of
the advert is fun and cheerful, although the actor is in a bad situation – it
makes the audience laugh. The advertisers are very clever with their slogan and
the subject of their adverts because as we know the slogan is ‘What’s the worst
that could happen?’ and so they try their hardest to make a realistic situation
the worst it could be. They are very ironic in their adverts and this makes an
advert effective.
3. There is only music at
the end of the advert and yet with the circumstances of what just happened, it
is cheerful music with what sounds like a choir chanting ‘What’s the worst that
could happen?’ while everyone is laughing at the actor. By having happy music
play in the background, this makes the advert funnier although we try our
hardest to feel sorry for him knowing what situation he’s in. There is no voice
over.
4. Again, the advert
tries to get your attention by using humour and making it as funny as possible.
It raises interest by discussing a subject, interesting all target audiences
but mostly teenagers, which was about the main characters little finger
although everyone who heard the conversation thought it was something slightly
ruder.
5. Demographics show that
the product is aimed mostly towards teenagers in this particular advert because
throughout the advert, you see mostly people who are from around 15-19 and so
that’s why it would be most likely aimed at that target audience. In this
advert it is mostly revolved around males drinking the drink and this is the
same in the second advert.
6.
Although this particular advert hasn’t got much to do with
identifying where people have insecurities and trying to change that - in the
advert, the main woman actor says “He needs to be more careful where he puts
that thing” and although she is talking about something else, this can also
represent the boy spilling the drink and needs to be more careful with what he
does.
Advert
2: Dr Pepper Advert
1. Again, the product
being sold is Dr Pepper. The advert is less clear than Advert 1 but you can
still tell it is for the specific product. The advert is focused more on
creating a feeling and personality by not constantly talking about how amazing
the drink is but instead creates a humorous story which people would enjoy and
so are more likely to buy the product. They portray comicalness in the brand by
making the adverts and I personally think this is the more successful way of
advertising a product/brand.
2. Again, the general
mood of the advert is happy and funny for the audience anyway. I have come to
the conclusion that the advertisers for Dr Pepper have decided to stick with
the amusing adverts as they probably consume the most income from these adverts
instead of previous ones.
3. Yet again, the same
music plays at the end and once more it is a cheery tone despite the awful
situation. It does make the mood entertaining because of the wit. I think
people’s perception of the voice would change if the voice was a different
gender or race because it would sound completely different and may not sound as
joyful and sarcastic. Even if the voice was a male let alone a different race,
then the music would have a different feel to it.
4. The advert tries to
get the audiences attention by creating a witty story where viewers will know
exactly what happened but the girl in it wont and so it’s very amusing for the
spectators.
5. This advert is
different to the first one in terms of whom it is aimed at. This is because in
the advert, the person who offers a Dr Pepper is in fact an older man who is a
father. This shows that both younger and older people drink the product and can
be for anyone. Who is this advert aimed towards? Use demographics,
psychographics and ideology to explain who the audience is. How does the advert
use these characteristics to appeal to the target audience?
6.
The advert tries to fulfill the needs of the audience to
want a Dr Pepper although the way they portray the product is quite an unusual
way to do so compared to other advertisements. Again, using the slogan as an
example they make out that if you buy the drink, something bad will happen.
Stop Motion Text 1: The PEN Story
1.
What is the technique of the stop motion? How is it achieved? Why is it
appealing?
Every
other photos they have skipped a few bits so it isn’t as smooth as most stop
motion videos. This is a successful way for the particular video and theme of
it because it doesn’t need to be completely smooth to make it interesting and
clever.
2.
How/why does that particular technique suit the subject of the stop motion?
It
suits the subject of the stop motion because as it is shown through photos, you
can clearly see what’s going on even if you don’t necessarily have every single
second shown.
3.
Is there any sound? Explain how it is used and why it is effective.
The
sound used in the text is a song being sung by a male. The song which has been
chosen relates to the stop motion text itself. The song has lyrics which are
“The years are flashing by and everything will change but way deep down inside
we all just stay the same.” The video being 1,800 photos of showing someone
grow up and go through their life, the lyrics work quite well meaning it is
effective because we listen to the music while watching what’s happening and it
reminds people that that is the case.
4.
Describe the pace of the stop motion. Is it effective?
The
pace of the stop motion is quite fast but this is effective because it means
viewers won’t get bored while watching it because so much is happening in a
short amount of time and it’s a story that people would want to carry on
watching to see what happens.
5.
Identify any of the 12 Principles of Animation that are used.
There
wasn’t much use of 12 principles because of the reason that it was photos taken
of other photos but within that, there was ‘Pose to Pose Animation’ used
because obviously you need to know what to do when someone will take the photo
otherwise it could be blurry/out of focus and won’t look professional.
6.
Describe the set design. Do the characters interact with the set?
No,
the characters do not interact with the set purely because it’s a set of photos
showing someone growing from a boy to a man and the key events that happen
through his life so its not real life. The 1,800 photos taken are placed next
to each other and go around a house through different rooms.
7.
How many different parts move at once in a scene? Is there a lot of movement,
or just some parts? Is it effective? Why?
There
is a lot of movement due to the fact that in every photo the character(s) are
moving and walking but I think a lot of the movement is the camera following
the photos around the house. I feel it is effective because it emphasizes on
the story even more.
8.
Do you think the subject could be done more effectively using a different form
of film or animation?
I
think if they had taken more photos, there would have been less of a big jump
from picture to picture and we would have been able to see more detail and more
accuracy.
Stop
Motion Text 2 - John Lewis Home Insurance Advert 2013
1.
What is the technique of the stop motion? How is it achieved? Why is it
appealing?
In
this advert they used stop-frame animation. It is very appealing because it
works so well due to the fact that it runs so smoothly and has had a lot of
time and effort put in to making it the best it could be.
2.
How/why does that particular technique suit the subject of the stop motion?
I
think the particular technique suits the subject of the stop motion because
it’s based around your belongings and the things you have in your home that you
perhaps don't value enough but couldn’t live without. It shows everything
important in the house including the people who live there coming together and
having a photo at the end and they showed it well through the stop-frame
animation.
3.
Is there any sound? Explain how it is used and why it is effective.
There
is music in the background is a cover of Fleetwood Mac ‘Don’t Stop’ covered by
Nina Nesbitt. I think the song goes quite well with it because it is a cheerful
song running with a cheerful message.
4.
Describe the pace of the stop motion. Is it effective?
The
pace of the stop motion is quite fast which is good because it means it looks
like everything moving is moving completely on its own and looks like it is
being filmed rather than having individual photos taken.
5.
Identify any of the 12 Principles of Animation that are used.
I
think every principle was used in the advert.
6.
Describe the set design. Do the characters interact with the set?
The
advert is set in and around a house until the end where it is shot outside of
the house. The characters do interact with the set as they are carried along on
pieces of furniture including sofas and a bed. Everything from cutlery to toy
army soldiers are marched outside of the house to have a photo taken and so you
see everything come to life in different rooms which I thought was clever.
7.
How many different parts move at once in a scene? Is there a lot of movement,
or just some parts? Is it effective? Why?
There
is a lot of movement all at once. This is quite effective because it means it
looks realistic and so it grips the audience’s attention because they would be
intrigued on knowing how it was done.
8.
Do you think the subject could be done more effectively using a different form
of film or animation?
No
I don’t think it should have been done another way because the producers
clearly wanted that outcome and it looked really talented in the end.
The purpose of my textual analysis was to find out more
about why existing adverts are as they are. I established what the advertisers
plan to do and the outcome they want from their adverts for Dr Pepper. I also
analyzed the adverts and texts so I could have an idea on how to make my Stop
Motion advert successful and what I need to do for that to happen. For both
adverts I analyzed I realized that the advertisers for Dr Pepper go down the
humour path to persuade different audiences to buy their product. They use
irony in a lot of their work to amuse viewers which means they are more likely
to buy something from them. Although their slogan is ‘What’s the worst that
could happen?’ they make the advert not the worst that could happen but very
bad. You would think that this would put people off buying the drink but in
fact it doesn’t, it sometimes even entices them to try and see if anything did
happen although it wouldn’t.
2. Secondary Research
2.1 Books: Form
In
this part of my secondary research I am going to research into Advertising.
This will hopefully broaden my knowledge of the subject I’m making an advert on
to decide what techniques to use. I wanted to find secondary research on my
product I have chosen which is Dr Pepper but unfortunately there will be no
books on it and so my teacher and I agreed to focus on advertising but internet
research will have a lot more for the product.
2.1.1
(Nick Lacey, January 2002), Media Institutions and Audiences – Key Concepts
in Media Studies, Palgrave Macmillan Limited
·
“The estimated
cost of buying a 30-second slot in the nation's most popular soap opera,
Coronation Street, stands at a staggering £100,000”
·
“Obviously the
more audience a region delivers, the more it can charge”
·
“The amount
companies spend on advertising is also extremely sensitive to the economic
conditions of the time: when recession hits, advertising, alone with jobs, is
cut.”
·
When money is
good, like the 1990’s, advertising spend increases.
·
If the
audience remains, advertising income for each channel is likely to decrease.
·
“Channel 3 has
been a cash cow, for the ITV companies, for over 40 years but now it has
reached a stage where the channel has to be regarded as a 'question mark'.”
·
More money has
to be spent on programmes to simply maintain the audience market share.
·
A way of
measuring the amount of viewers of each T.V channel is by taking a guess on the
audience share each has of television watchers. ITV’s audience, for example
decreased for 1981 onwards but was still commercially dominant.
2.2 Books: Subject
Instead of researching the theme of my product, I am going
to research Animation due to the fact that again there won’t be anything I can
find on Dr Pepper and so my teacher decided it was best to research Animation.
I will do the same topics (advertising and animation) for
2.3 and 2.4.
2.2.1 (Ken A. Priebe, July 2006), The
Art of Stop-Motion Animation, Delmar
·
“Giving your
objects personality and making them appear to think will be expressed through
the timing”
·
I need to
remember how important holds are to the rhythm of my animation and the pacing
of my story.
·
“Not that
human beings are objects but they can also be animated through a process called
pixilation.”
·
“Have a friend
sit in a chair in front of your camera, take a frame, and then have them scoop
up a few inches, and take another frame.”
·
This would
result them in sliding across the room on the chair.
·
Pixilation has
been used in many films.
2.3 Websites: Form
I am doing the same research as 2.1.1 about advertising
but in website form.
·
“One major
benefit of online advertising is the immediate publishing of information that
is not limited by geographic or time constraints.”
·
“Consumers
have greater control over the content they see, affecting the timing,
placement, and visibility of online advertisements.”
·
“Advertising
on social media networks can take the form of direct display ads purchased on
social networks.”
·
“Search engine
marketing is a form of marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing
their visibility in search engine result pages.”
·
“Advertisers
pay each time users click on their listing and are redirected to their
website.”
· Online advertising relies a lot on background and
social targeting to serve personalized ads to consumers.
2.4 Websites: Subject
I am researching more on mostly pixilation and finding out
what makes a good Stop-Motion animation video/advert using pixilation.
·
“Pixilation
was “3D” long before computers got involved in animation”
·
“It’s not a
drawing – It’s REAL, a real world and people, and so our expectations and
reactions as viewers are different.”
·
Personal films
and music videos seem to be used with this certain type of Stop-Motion
animation the most.
·
“This
animation technique goes all the way back to the beginning of animation
history. Pioneer animator Norman McLaren made the short film “Neighbours” while
working for the National Film Board of Canada – probably the finest greenhouse
for experimental animations ever.
As well as researching
pixilation, I wanted to find useful information on Dr Pepper and branding. I
found two websites, which helped me find this information out.
·
“Its target
audience is younger males whom the makers of Dr Pepper believe are turned off
by zero-calorie diet sodas.”
·
“The latest
statistics by RAB Mobile show that men purchase 44.3% of diet soda, with only
9.7% being purchased by men from 18-24, and 15.8% by men from 24-34.”
·
“Having a
target audience is helpful in marketing because you can tailor a product or
service toward that audience.”
·
“The campaign
also risks turning women (and perhaps men) off the Dr Pepper brand itself.”
·
“News can make
a consumer buy a product, but quality and taste is what will keep them coming
back for more.”
·
“Targeting a
certain demographic is perfectly fine and in a lot of cases a smart move, but
alienating another just for press is an entirely different matter.”
·
“As an
entrepreneur or as someone working in any size business, always remember the
big picture regarding your brand.”
Conclusion
The research that I did helped me quite a lot in to
helping me creating my advert and seeing how I could make it better. I wanted
to use pixilation because I feel it has been most successful in adverts/music
videos when using Stop-Motion animation. For 2.3 and 2.4 (websites) it was very
hard to find good information about either advertising or animation and so it
took me while to gather material for that part of my secondary research. I
presented my research/ideas in a clear way where readers could understand what
I was trying to achieve.
