Existing Advertisement Analysis

In the project I will be creating a magazine advertisement to help promote the artist and inform the reader of the new album. This has been a feature for many years, as there are plenty of music magazines spanning over all genres, such as NME, Billboard, and Vibe. The readers of the magazine will usually listen to the same sort of music that the magazine caters for, so labels will place their artists deliberately in the most suitable magazine.

The style of magazine advertisements is usually similar for all products; a large image of the product or artist and a small amount of bold text, sometimes in the form of a slogan. This trend results in a striking advert that readers will notice as they turn the page, and won't be put off by a wall of text.

The music industry tends to have a similar trend, with a large image of the artist and then the vital information such as the release date added in bold text. The advert I will be taking an in-depth look at is by Stereophonics, ahead of their new album Keep Calm and Carry On. I have chosen this advert as I like the overall visual effect of the page, and works within a media package as the album shares the same image. This is something I can take forward as it is important in my project that the video, digipak and advert share similar aspects. This is to create almost a brand for the band and improve the response from the audience for all three creations when seen in tandem or apart.

Here are images of the front and back covers of the album; as you can see the band and label have decided to use the same setting and image across both the advert, front and back covers of the album. I think this works quite well as the image is quite memorable and can improve the chance of someone recognising the album in a shop after glancing at the advert in a magazine.
The back image on the album is shot at the same zoom and height yet the band has moved from their seats outwards and are laughing and joking. This again shows the band resonating with the album title and adds to the quirkiness of the cover. Furthermore, the viewer gets the contrast as they turn the album over to the back page and see the band almost off camera compared to them sat around having the main promo picture taken.