This is my research into magazine adverts.

1. Research: Magazine Adverts
For the first of my ancillary texts, I have decided to
create a magazine advert that promotes my
artist’s new album.
Before I create it, I researched some other
examples of magazine adverts in order to gain an
insight into what mine should look like.

2. 1) ELO – A New World Record
The first advert I have decided to
analyse is the Electric Light
Orchestra’s A NewWorld Record.
This is particularly old and plain in
comparison to some of the more
contemporary examples, but I
wanted to take a look at an
example advert that actually
helped to lay the foundations for
future magazine adverts.
This advert is most useful for
identifying the components and
conventions of magazine adverts.

3. Artist name
Album name
Examples of singles
Consistent visual theme
Record label ident
This advert is not
very colourful
(since in 1976
when the advert
was released,
magazines were
rare and printed in
black and white)
but the bare codes
and conventions of
magazine adverts
are still there. The
advert gives a
basic amount of
information as to
not startle or
overwhelm the
reader. There is
not very much text
and the visual
theme on the
magazine advert is
the same theme
that is carried
through on the
digipack for the CD
and for anything
else that the ELO
release.

4. 2) MIKA – The Boy Who Knew Too Much
This more modern magazine
advert was launched in 2009
and advertised the release of
The Boy Who Knew Too Much,
MIKA’s second album.
It follows a very similar ‘vibe’
to my music video and so
decided it would be a great
one to see if I can pick up any
handy hints and tips!

5. The poster follows a very
similar theme to the album
cover. This consistent theming
makes MIKA’s work very
identifiable.
The artist name is the largest piece of text on the
advert. This can also be said for the ELO advert.
The album name is written clearly so that it
is obvious to the audience. This is slightly
different to the ELO advert; the actual album
name was a lot less obvious since it was
written in a sentence.
There is a release date for the album. It is not the
most prominent component of the advert but is
still clear. It follows the same style as the rest of
the advert but is written in a different style to
the artist and album name.
There are examples of singles that you will
find on the album.
There is a link to the website for the artist.
This is a more modern element since
websites are becoming so popular.
There is a record label ident. This seems to
be a lot less obvious than it was on the ELO
advert.

6. Design
The actual design of the advert is
relatively complex in comparison to the
ELO advertisement. The advert is
reflective of the genre of music that it
is promoting, which in this case is pop
music. The background is very ‘busy’
and colourful, which I think is an
advantage when considering the more
‘eye-catching’ elements of the advert,
but is less ideal when looking at how it
makes the text ever so slightly more
difficult to spot quickly and read easily.
The album and artist name is
completely separate from the
additional information on the advert,
which is smaller and more discreet. The
important part (the album and artist
name) is nearer the top of the advert as
well. This is because people who are
interested in the album will be the ones
more in need of the additional
information and so will naturally read
all the way to the bottom.
The design is completely consistent to
the album cover as well. In fact, it
actually uses the same background on
the advert as it does on the album. This
develops a certain artist image.

7. How can I be inspired by this advert?
I think that the actual colourfulness of
the advert is essential when trying to
promote a very happy, cheery song like
Mr. Blue Sky.
However, I do not like how
overwhelmingly ‘busy’ the advert looks.
Although it should be eye-catching and
not look empty, I feel like this advert
looks a little too full and makes the
poster look slightly confusing upon first
glance.
One thing that I particularly like,
however, is how easy the text down the
bottom is to read when it has such a
contrasted background. Although I am
not intending on using black as my
background, I will bare in mind to use a
colour that completely contrasts the
colour of my background.
I love the logo and the artist and album
name are in the same font, except the
artist name is larger and has a slightly
different effect on it to make it look 3D.
I definitely want to do something like
this with my advert.

8. 3) Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday Roman Reloaded
This advert is from 2012 and
advertises Nicki Minaj’s second
album, Pink Friday Roman
Reloaded.
I chose to analyse this advert
since I was interested to see if
it had any similarities to MIKA,
who is also a pop artist.

9. There is a picture of the artist. This is
something that has not been included
on any of the other adverts I have
looked at. My theory is that it is
because she is a female and it
encourages male gaze.
The artist is included on some other
magazine adverts featuring females.
The artist name is, again, bigger than
anything else on the page.
Again, the album name is smaller but
still prominent on the page.
There is a website that readers can go to.
It is even larger than the website that
was in 2009, indicating that over the
years the Internet became an even more
popular source of information.
The record label ident is still on the
advert but is again quite small.