Advert Conventions

Above are a few digipak adverts for well known artists such as Wretch 32, Kings of Leon and Kasabian. The adverts all have similarities and differences in the colour themes, style, fonts and images used. They all however, are effective at promoting the artist or band in a number of ways. 

A common convention is to have the digipak style or image incorporated in the advert, this is evident in all of the above as they either use the same photo on the digipak for the advert, or have the digipak itself evident on the advert; this is evident on Wretch 32's advert as the album is featured on the bottom left. Having the album artwork incorporated with the advert allows the record company to promote the album easily, as the audience will see what the album looks like so will be able to recognize it when shopping in music stores such as HMV or iTunes. Due to popularity of adverts having the same image or similar artwork on the digipak our advert must also include either a small image of the front panel of the digipak, or use the same image. This will hopefully make the advert have a more professional look and will allow the audience to easily recognize the advert and digipak as they should look similar.

The adverts from Wretch 32 and Kings of Leon both have promotional text such as 'Out Now' or 'Available At...', these are often a larger size than the majority of the text. This therefore makes the text stand out and will essentially cause the audience to go and buy the album from a shop such as HMV or iTunes, as the information saying where to buy it will let them know easily where they need to go to get the music. I think our advert will incorporate some sort of promotional text such as Out Now as it can help promote the band's music, and will entice the fans to go and buy the album as it is available to them.

Having text which shows quotes from well known companies such as NME, Q and quality newspapers like The Daily Mail and Telegraph can also promote the band to the public and current fans. The Noel Gallagher advert is an example of this as it has a quote from the Telegraph saying 'the best collection of Noel Gallagher tunes since...', this shines a positive light on the album as a well known and trusted newspaper is saying how good the music is in the album. This will also persuade people to buy the bands music, as having feedback from the likes of NME, Q or The Telegraph will offer a stable judgement of the music for possible buyers. These quotes may be part of our advert, as having an opinion of the music will show the audience how someone already likes the content, so this may persuade people to also buy the album.

Noel's Own Digipak Advert

Whilst researching the conventions and typical styles used for adverts in music magazines Jay came across this advert for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. This will give the group a helpful advantage when creating our own music magazine advert, as we can follow and contrast ideas from this advert with the one we shall create. 

The two main parts of this advert is the image of Noel, and the text saying the bands name. This is because the image of Noel is the same one used for one of the bands digipaks, this is the same with the font used for the bands name too. Having these components of the advert being the same to the digipak aids the band in promotion and advertising, as the audience can recognize the imagery used from the digipak of the band.  Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds iconography of the image and especially the band font will therefore be considered when creating our advert, as we too will use the same font used on the digipak and the same photo used to try and make it look professional. 

The advert obviously promotes the bands album, however it is also an effective method for advertising any tour dates, upcoming singles and ways to contact or read up on the bands activity. The advert has clearly stated 'UK Arena Tour 2012' in white font, which is also slightly larger than the surrounding text, this may have been done to attract viewers to notice there will be a tour; which will generate large amounts of income for the band. The text showing the website for the band (link) has been added to show fans where they can go online to see the latest news on the band and any other promotional media such as videos of the band rehearsing or giving interviews. This method of advertising adds to the exclusivity of the band as when fans visit their website and watch videos of them it can create loyalties from fans to the band as the fans are finding out more about their favourite musicians. 

Choosing The Photo For The Advert And Digipak

During a journey to London with Matt and Jay I took some photos which we could possibly use for the digipak and magazine advertisement. We have decided that the image we use for both will be similar if not the same photo, therefore whilst taking the photos I considored camera angle and distance from Glenn as the image has to suit the album cover and an A4 advert.

We chose to use a similar or the same image for both to create a link between the two, this will hopefully make it easier for our target audience to see that the advert promotes the album from Noel Gallagher. We also chose to use this convention as a number of well known artists have done the same, with musicians such as Jessie J, Kasabian and Kings of Leon adopting this method of promotion.

Below are some possible images that the group and I feel may work well for this.

Relating The Advert To The Digipak

Many artists tend to use similar if not the same image on their digipak as well as their album advertisement, this is so a clear link is created between the two promotional platforms. Having the same image on both print media forms in our case is certainly a possibility, if not a necessity as we want the target audience or alternative rock genre to be able to tell that the advert promotes the digipak and vice versa, this will essentially help promotion of our music video too. 

The examples below portray how other musicians use the same image in both their album artwork and magazine advertisement of the album itself. I tried to find if this trend or convention is only for the alternative rock genre (Kasabian and Kings of Leon), however it seems to be a more general one as mainstream artists such as Jessie J use this method too.

 After viewing these digipaks and advertisements, I believe the group and I will follow this convention and use the same photo both ancillary tasks. This is so the maximum amount of promotion can be created for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds which will follow with more sales and higher profits for both band and record company (Sour Mash).