Detailed research

DETAILED
RESEARCH
Advertisements

Identify the institutions for these adverts and
the institutional codes employed by the
institution:■ M&S autumn adverts were created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R who are a full
service, integrated creative agency. They offer a robust range of marketing services and
capabilities that they adapt to their clients individual needs. They are home to some of the
country's biggest and best loved brands including M&S, Lloyds Banking Group and the
BBC. 22 years ago was when the agency was founded on one clear principle; to create
"ideas before, and beyond advertising" – this has most certainly been encapsulated in the
M&S adverts for autumn which are the ones that this agency created the ideas for.
■ Despite its complexity, the making of M&S's first advert was surprisingly simple, with two
French film-makers, two home economists and a helper – plus two advertising executives –
working in a small room in Paris, with a table covered in a black cloth and lots of M&S food
■ There are no computer generated images or special effects added afterwards in a studio.
The only trick used is time-lapse photography – speeding things up, or slowing them down.
Despite looking slick and high budget, the advert did not, in fact, cost millions of pounds to
make, though it did take 18 months of hard work.
■ RKCR/Y&R have a variety of other food/drink based clients in the advertising community
such as Volvic, Babybel, Danone and Ferrero Rocher.

Identify the institutions for these adverts and the
institutional codes employed by the institution:
RKCR/Y&R have clients consisting of a large variety of brands from Babybel and Volvic
to First Choice and the BBC. Their clients consist of a large assortment, however this
doesn't affect their ideas for adverts. This creative agency know what is appealing for
an audience when it comes to food/drink based adverts because they have worked with
Ferrero Rocher, Danone, Volvic, Babybel, Boursin, The Laughing Cow and M&S
Adventures in Imagination food range.
Even if the advert isn't food based, codes that have been employed in them through
RKCR/Y&R's ideas consist of extreme creativity, vibrancy and colour. In the Lloyds
advert, it used pictures to compliment the words the narrator was saying e.g. Four, all
sorts, free. These have been illustrated to the right.
Additionally, their artistic approach to
adverts is by far the most common and
evident technique in the adverts of the
clients they've worked with. Volvic is the
perfect example of this, as the finishing
result of a time lapse wall painter is bursting
with Imaginatiin and creativity.

What are the key selling points of these
adverts?■ M&S adverts are visually pleasing, and they appear extremely artistic
in the way the food being advertised is filmed. M&S intended to
create adverts that matched their "adventures in imagination" title,
which is what has been done, through the fast paced, surreal and
explosive techniques. Therefore, a key selling point of these adverts
is most certainly the photogenic close ups of food items, bursting with
colour, quite literally. If the M&S food that undergoes a twirl, burst or
slice didn't have this unique creative twist, the food wouldn't appeal
to the audience as effortlessly as it currently does. The food has
been filmed to look as though it has an imagination of its own, and
this is definitely an attractive trait.
■ Another key selling point of the advert would have to be the vast
amount of food that is actually filmed. In my codal analysis, I
discovered that 31 items of food were advertised in just a 30 second
commercial. This allows for each food to have nearly a second on
screen. This choice meant that M&S could reach out to a mixture of
people, all with different tastes. Having a large amount of creative
food shots thrown at the audience in such a short amount of time
increases the amount of varied audience they can attract – definitely
a large key selling point of the advertisement.

How do these adverts establish genre?
■ I wouldn't say that the genre of these M&S
adverts are specific, or clearly evident. They
conform to certain techniques, such as the artistic
editing/approach to the food. The food also has
quite a dramatic effect when certain items
randomly explode, and have a slashing sound
effect when a knife cuts a vegetable for example.
So there are certain things applied to the adverts
such as artistic and dramatic effects. I actually
listed these two aspects under my genre question
in my questionnaire as part of my primary
research, and lots of my audience would prefer to
watch an artistic advert out of the 4 suggestions I
gave them (artistic, humorous, dramatic, surreal)
– and these M&S adverts are most certainly
artistic. This is evident through the attractive food
that they shoot and the flattering appearance a
simple piece of meat can have when being
captured under bright lighting - also through how
they present some of the dishes and ingredients
in the commercials.

How successful are these adverts? Identify
which elements do and do not work for you:
■ In my opinion, these M&S adverts are extremely successful. They have that "wow"
factor with their artistic approach to the food, and the idea is full of imagination
which oozes out of the screen when watching them. The adverts don't drag on for a
lengthy time period or encourage boredom in the audience because they are filmed
for just the right amount of time, commonly varying from 10-40 seconds except for
the first release.
■ An element that could possibly not work for some people is the lack of information
regarding the prices of certain foods. M&S bring out a specific range in their store
depending on the season or holiday, however if an audience aren't informed of any
prices, and they watch adverts based on supermarkets with their "deals this
season" perhaps, it could sway them towards this store instead of M&S's as they
know the prices of things before they visit the shop.
■ Overall, the M&S adverts have a lot more successful elements involved with them
than they do unsuccessful. These adverts have been referred to by the fans and
critics as being food porn, with a number of other companies copying the idea, such
as Aldi and, most recently, Waitrose.

What appears to be the target audience for
these adverts and how are they explicitly
targeted in the adverts?
■ The target audience for these adverts appears to mainly focus on
adults or young adults; mainly those who are interested in cooking
tasty homemade meals. Because M&S foods are shot in a way that
they look like they come under the "fine dining" category, it could be
suggested that a lot of their target audience would be for those who
enjoy the finer things in life.
■ Furthermore, the types of meals and food items that are filmed in lots
of their adverts include a lot of meats and fish, which would appeal to
adults above 20/25 – not typically 10-15 year olds. If you wanted to
appeal to a younger audience, you wouldn't advertise an endless
amount of vegetables and food such as Lobster.

institution:
■ Innocent's company film their own videos. They have a production team who work with
ToastTV Agency on the idea, put it into practise and as a result, create the overall
media product. Pete ("the best in business") looks after the fruit. He picks it and preens
it and makes sure that the fruit is of good quality to feature in their adverts. Helen is the
director who is described as being firm but fair and is guiding Innocent towards "sunlit
uplands". Their team all work on the advert together, and then it is down to an agency
(ToastTV) to help them air their ads on the television.
■ ToastTV is an agency that specialises in results-driven video campaigns unlike
agencies who aren't video experts or production companies who lack strategic vision.
They were founded in 2002 and are a company who love to story-tell and also enjoy
film-making in the digital age. Toast are in the era where genuine audience
engagement, participation and community are the truest measures of success. They
have worked with Innocent by researching their current content and building a picture of
what it is that their audience would want from an advert before creating and producing
something.

institution:■ ToastTV have worked on a lot of charity adverts and campaigns
within their agency, which doesn't hold much relation to Innocent.
However they have worked on lots of TV commercials including
Innocent, Ancestry, Evans Cycles and City Index. These adverts
are all short ones consisting of no more than a minute. Because of
their versatile approach to adverts and brands, there are no real
evident examples of institutional codes that occur in more than one
of their adverts.
■ Innocent however, considering they work on all of their adverts in
their own studio, have created an endless amount of creative
media products advertising their juices and smoothies. The codes
that they keep consistent in their commercials are most certainly
the visual codes. There are always bright and vibrant shots of the
bottle against a naturistic background with some of the ingredients
surrounding the packaging. The technical codes are also
consistent in their ads as there is always a popping sound effect
used for when a fruit "magically" (moving image) appears on
screen. They also often use poles with card on the end or arrows

adverts?
There are many key selling points featured in these adverts. As the adverts are child friendly and have a
target audience of young people (as well as the older generation) there are elements featured in the
commercials that conform to the appropriate techniques used to advertise to a young audience. First of all,
moving image is a technique that is common in nearly all of their adverts. This isn't too much of a
complicated filming technique which makes it easily watchable for young people and could perhaps
impress the youngsters as they'll find it clever and fascinating. Another key selling point of these adverts to
their young audience is the bright and vibrant colours that are featured all throughout each advert. As the
subject of the advert is smoothies/fruits, this means that it is bound to be filled with a combination of
attractive colours. The master shots of the packaging is always filmed with the ingredients grouped around
it, never on its own.
Additionally, Innocent adverts illustrate the healthy benefits of their drinks which is
another selling point of their commercials. One glass (250ml) of their smoothie would
give you 2 of your 5 a day, which is displayed through the use of illustrations – again,
child friendly (keeping to the conventions for their target audience). This fact could
immediately encourage a parent to purchase a carton of the product to give to their

■ The genre of these Innocent adverts comes under being child friendly. A clear genre isn't
defined in any of the adverts because they are so simplistic and straight forward. There is
humour in one of them, which could categorise this under the humorous category.
However, the majority of them don't have a clear genre, even though they have particular
elements involved with them e.g. Humorous, artistic, lifestyle and child friendly.
■ The comical elements would be the talking fish that Harry Hill narrates, saying "love it"
"love it" in its fish tank, referring to the Innocent drink. It is unrealistic that the fish actually
drinks Innocent juices and smoothies however this has the potential to make an audience
laugh, especially the youngsters.
 A way in which the artistic genre is established is
through the use of the attractive close ups of the sliced
orange, poured juice , establishing shots of the fruit etc.
 A way in which the child friendly genre is established is
though the use of the uncomplicated camera and
editing work, and the humorous elements (talking fish).

How successful are these adverts? Identify which
elements do and do not work for you:
■ Personally, I find these adverts to be extremely successful for what they are. Even
though a high budget production hasn't gone into the commercials, this doesn't take
away the shine from the facts of Innocent. The elements that work for me are most
certainly the little illustrations that appear on screen accompanied by a pop sound
effect. Many people try their best to eat healthier in their day to day life, so Innocent
bringing out their products which give you 2 of your 5 a day from just one glass is
immediately something that could attract their audience, most certainly myself.
■ There are humorous elements featured in the advert that has Harry Hill as the
narrator, which is something that I find to be a successful attribute to the advert
because any advert that has the ability to make you laugh is one that people will
most likely remember. Comical elements add an extra attraction to the product and
overall commercial which is why I believe it to be a successful feature.
■ I also like Innocent's moving image technique that they use in the majority of their
ads. This technique is simplistic but effective and inspires me for my on advert.

■ The target audience for Innocent drinks consists of a variety of people
of a variety of ages. One group of their target audience would be health
conscious people who are eager to improve their diets and health.
Another type that are part of Innocents target audience would be time-
strained people that want to be healthy but do not have the time to
make healthy food choices or go to the gym, therefore want something
convenient and nutritious. Parents and workers will also be part of
innocents target audience as parents would want to give their children
healthy drinks as an alternative to fizzy pop, and workers may want a
healthy drink as part of their lunch instead of the cafe's typical vending
machine. Finally, young people are also part of innocents target
audience because they may like a smoothie or fresh juice in their
lunchbox, which s parent would most certainly support if it means they
can get their child to eat a little healthier.
■ All of their target audience are explicitly targeted in their adverts
through the illustrations that convey Innocents health benefits. They
display how much fruit goes into one carton, and how much you need to
drink in order to get 2 of your 5 a day through one glassful (250ml).
Children are mostly explicitly targeted through the use of creative
What appears to be the target audience for these adverts
and how are they explicitly targeted in the adverts?

■ Leo Burnett Company, otherwise known as Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc, is an American
globally active advertising company, founded in 1935 in Chicago by Leo Burnett. It is
known as the Leo Burnett group in London, which is one of the most creatively awarded
communications agencies in the UK. They are a truly integrated creative agency and
strongly believe that a great idea can come from anywhere. Their slogan is known as "we
don't make brands famous, we make brands popular" which is something that presents
them as being a company who make sure their brands aren't just known, but are their
customers' first choice.
■ Leo Burnett Company are organised to bring advertising, design, digital, social, shopper
marketing and experimental together. They state that unlike some agencies that have
divisions to service digital, social and experimental, in their agency, there are no walls
between disciplines to get in the way of the best solution for their clients. Their clients brief
them on the problem that they need solved, and LBC come at the problem in a holistic
way. It is this approach that enables them to create truly innovative ideas that go beyond
campaigns and defy norms of what an agency can do to move sales. It is a way of
working that has delivered award-winning work and exceptional ROI for their clients.

■ Leo Burnett has been Kellogg's lead agency for 65 years, and
worked on the new campaign for Special K called "live in colour".
There are currently 3 adverts out now for this campaign.
■ Leo Burnett Group has worked on more than just one Kellogg's
brand. They have also worked with Kellogg's Rice Krispies and
Kellogg's Crunchy Nut. Their campaign for Rice Krispies is "imagine
that" which is again, bursting with creativity just like their Special K
Live In Colour campaign – creativity being an evident institutional
code.
■ LBG have worked with other food companies such as McDonalds. Of
course, this advert is also extremely imaginative and creative just like
many of their other media products. The campaign for McDonalds
was called "The Cow" which involves a few illustrations (like
Innocent's did) conforming to the child friendly genre. Another
institutional code that's featured in pretty much the majority of LBG's
work would have to be their familiarly with food companies and
creating engaging adverts with a narrator and captivating footage.

adverts?
One of the key selling points in these Special K adverts is the reoccurring
red theme that appears in every advert. The reason that this colour is always
apparent in the commercials is because this is the colour of their logo, and
Kelloggs' aim was to have this colour be associated with their product. Red
fruits are consistent in the ads as their appearance is sweet, juicy and
refreshing.
Another selling point of Special K's ads would be the healthy lifestyle that
this food can be a part of. It is a healthy and tasty replacement for other
cereals, containing oats and fruits which are all good foods for you. Special
K can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet which helps women become
slimmer (if they are to eat just a bowl of this every morning) or in
replacement of a fat filled snack during the day.
There is often a model in their adverts with a red dress/towel/swimming
costume on because this can be display their slim healthy body – visually
conveying the outcome eating this cereal can have in your body. For
women, this could be s major selling point for them – as after all, they are
Special K's target audience.

Like Innocent, the genre of Special K adverts explore the healthy lifestyle and have an
artistic approach to the footage. The mood and tone of the advert is definitely feminine,
which will conform to the target audience of this product. The femininity is reinforced
through the colour of the Special K logo which is red. Red has the connotation of love,
which could then be further interpreted as this brand trying to convey the message of
"love your body" as it is this cereal that is supposed to help a woman keep a balanced
diet and eat Special K in replacement of fatty foods, in order to keep in good shape
and give women the confidence that many lack.

How successful are these adverts? Identify which
elements do and do not work for you:
In my opinion, the Special K advert new this year is one that I find not only to be inspirational for my own
advert, but also very captivating. The soundtrack used is "I Can Sing A Rainbow" sung by a woman with a very
angelic tone to her voice. It engrosses you into the advert because it is sung so gently, and the shots are
extremely fast paced with a cut in between each one; it therefore almost hypnotises you whilst you're watching
and listening.
I feel that the close up shots of all of the ingredients that Special K use is an extremely informative method
when trying to engage the audience. If they are aware of the ingredients and flavours that Special K offer, then
there is no enigma code featured in the commercial, as the audience are fully aware of the products details,
and therefore more likely to purchase the product if this cereal is something that catches their tastebuds' fancy.
There is nothing specific in this advert that I don't like. The overall concept of matching the colours of the
ingredients with the colours of the rainbow song is a very creative and imaginative idea that I think works

What appears to be the target audience for these
adverts and how are they explicitly targeted in the
adverts?
■ The target audience for this advert appears to be mostly
females. This is evident through the choice of people that
have been used to be featured in the commercial. Every
now and again throughout the advert there is a shot of a
woman, most of the time doing something active such as
swimming, running and spinning around on the beach with
their child (daughter specifically) on their back. Special K
have conveyed active and happy women in the advert
which an audience could interpret as meaning Special K
cereal contributes to a healthy and happy lifestyle.
■ Special K's female target audience have been explicitly
targeted in the commercial through the use of the women-
only shots, along with female interests such as lipstick,
shoes and dresses. Having these shots interrupt the close
ups of the actual product being advertised represents who
they're trying to attract with this advert – and that is most
certainly women.

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