Unit 30.1.1

1. Explain what TV advertising is...

A television advertisement is a video clip broadcasted onto the TV intent on promoting a product. Its job is to persuade the audience to purchase the product by using techniques tested either on focus groups or that are generally given good response. The advert must therefore, somehow, appeal to the company's target market.

2. List three characteristics of  TV adverts

In many TV adverts, such as the Churchill insurance commercial, characters are used. This is so that the audience can relate with something instead of just the product. Repetition is another characteristic many adverts contain, it's done to remind the viewer of the product and also to reassure them. An example of this would be Churchill's "oh yes" catchphrase, it's said as the dog is asked about the product. In order to target certain audiences, companies create adverts with differences to persuade people of different ages, genders and even sexual orientations. Clothing and perfume companies such as Calvin Klein use human desires to attract consumers.

3. Answer questions on http://newmediateacher3.blogspot.com/2011/10/history-of-tv-advertising.html

- Video 1

The average American consumes upward of three thousand advertisements in one day. Adverts are on and in many things and people feel they are everywhere.  Places include Television, Films, Posters, Blimps and more. The second most uttered word is actually Coca-Cola. As most people don't make a connection with a product or indeed any inanimate object characters, whether animated or acted out by animals or people, companies use characters in their adverts. A successful advert would be Marlboro man. Marlboro, the cigarette company, had flat sales and the personality appearing on the advertisement more than tripled their sales. An example of an unsuccessful advertising campaign would be the Ford Edsel. Though the advertising techniques were good, the more the product was seen the more it was disliked; this is due to the product's design.

- Video 2

To help advertisers work out what methods of advertising were most effective (more likely to work) they would bring in focus groups. Focus groups would be people from the target audience the company wants to sell to and they'd be asked what they want to see from a product and also what would make them want to purchase the product. Back when advertising was considered a science of sorts, the most effective methods of advertising were repetition, jingles, the use of characters (majorly dogs and babies) and keeping a continuous campaign, i.e. McDonalds' "You deserve a break" campaign.

- Video 3

Advertisers realised that they had to stop TV viewers from switching to different channels when advertisements came up and have been using pyrotechnics as a method of doing so. Pyrotechnics are a display that is eye-catching and engaging. They also deduced that in order to make the adverts effective, they had to make the viewer feel important and also that the product would, in some way, make them feel happy. For over a decade now people have believed that the internet is the future of advertising. Cookies track internet users and their preferences; this means that when a banner is on a site or a advertisement pops up, it is usually to do with what they have searched and is more likely to interest them.