Secondary Research

Famous people to advertise the drink – footballers/singers – this would get teenagers attention    

Pepsi used to have a whole TV advert with two celebrities pretending to fight to win a can of the soft drink – this would have got attention again of teenagers as these were popular at the time and they would have liked them. But also a lot of different audiences would have seen the advert as it would have been global. By using some of the most famous footballers in the world, in one of their campaigns it is pretty hard to miss and knowing that football fans will be likely to see the advert, they can cover a large base of male or female football fans with at least one of the football stars featured. Same goes for the Pepsi advert using singing acts around at the time that are current, they would grab the attention of male or female music fans with one of the big stars featured in the advert.

Pepsi expand there drink by aiming at all different audiences even if they have one main target audience. By bringing out the same drink but with no added sugar or ‘Pepsi Max’ re-inventing the drink to its audience makes the drink seem new.

Areas of Pepsi’s target audience that are mainly aimed at is the sport audience. This shows through the companies’ campaigns with footballers and other celebrities doing sport activities in the companies advert. The adverts producers make the advert look like a big deal, in a big location which could be mistaken for a movie set. The celebrities featured in the advert are clearly shown throughout, with stars that can appeal to both male and female which is important. They can’t focus on either gender more than the other. This advert also shows the celebrities drinking the soft drink, this may also make the audience think that they drink it regularly and they want to do the same as their favourite star.

Pepsi’s slogan is pretty simple, it doesn’t aim at any particular group of their audience it keeps an open slogan stating ‘Pepsi, got to have it’. Compared to other soft drink companies this slogan used is not very catching or one that would be remembered easily by its audience. The colours of the Pepsi logo are very basic and the image isn’t anything in particular just shapes surrounding the name Pepsi.

The advertising techniques that Pepsi use are Testimonial and Wit and Humour. The testimonial advertisement is used through the television adverts. The wit and humour approach to advertising Pepsi use is in imaging. These images would be put up at bus stops, billboards or in magazines. 

 Polar bear used in Coke advertisements going for the crate of Pepsi instead of Coke.

   

Primary Reseach 1

The first advert I analysed was Pepsi. Represented in this advert is four celebrities, they are represented as powerful. This advert is concept based so the celebrities are acting out a gladiator type scene. The celebrities are represented this way as they are the main component to the advert and the main part of the storyline.

The target audience for this advert would be teenagers, 13 – 19 year olds. This is because this advert is using celebrities that this age group would be interested in and would catch the attention of this audience more than others. By using these actors and targeting this age group would make them think that these people like to drink what they are advertising. This age group would possibly look up to the people featured in the advert and would want to drink what they are drinking because they think it is something worth drinking if their favourite famous personality is also drinking it. Throughout the advert the brand of drink is made to look important and something people want to have. This shows the audience that everyone wants to drink it and shows the audience it must be something great by the way the story represents the brand throughout the advert. The celebrities Pink, Beyonce, Britney Spears and Enrique were all associated with the brand Pepsi for a time when these adverts were prime and they had to endorse these products whilst they were still associated and may even have shown them within their own personal projects to show the targeted audience that they do drink Pepsi.

Mis – en – scene in this advert is to make it look like the advert is set in Italy. The crowds are dressed in old attire and the celebrities featured in the advert are wearing clothes gladiators would wear in a fight. Also the weapons they have show they are in a gladiator type scene. All of this is shown at the start of the advert which will make the audience think they are watching some sort of scene from a movie. The location they are in also looks like they are in the coliseum in Italy. The editing in the advert shows all the celebrities first to get the audiences’ attention. The advert also makes direct cuts to the cans of Pepsi a lot to remind you what the advert is for. Sound used in the advert is the crowd cheering and then three of the celebrities break in to song. This is incorporating the fact that they are all artists, but they all sing a song that is relevant to the story of the advert.  Messages the advert tries to convey to the audience is that people die to get their hands on Pepsi and no matter what is happening, Pepsi is better.

 The characters featured in this advert are 3 gladiator fighters and an emperor. The storyline of the advert is these 3 gladiator fighters are going to have a fighting match but they come out into the ring and they just drop their weapons, start singing and all drink Pepsi. This advert is very much concept based, they have used this storyline to show the celebrities as strong people but that they all cave for Pepsi. The genre of the advert is action and humour. The beginning of the advert makes it look like a big budget production but then it uses humour throughout to show that it is an advert and then by showing the brand also makes the audience realise it is an advert. The media genres it uses are wit and humour and also testimonial because it features famous faces to help indorse the product. I think the advert s very successful because it isn’t just a cheap advert for a fizzy drink; it does fool you at first but then uses all the conventions of a soft drink advertising campaign. I also think it is successful because it would appeal to the target audience and sell the product to them.

The second advert I analysed was for Dr. Pepper. People represented in this advert are, pupils in a school, a school boy and a school nurse. The pupils are represented as usual peers that people don’t like to be embarrassed in front of. The school nurse is represented as an old lady and the school boy is represented as an innocent teenager. The people are represented this way because this is a situation the targeted audience can understand this. The target audience for this advert would be again teenagers 13 – 19 year olds even though the advert plot and dialogue would be understood more by later teenage years. They are clearly targeted because of the situation played out in this advert; they would be able to see it happening and understand the people featured in the advert. This advert works because not only the situation is relevant to teenagers but also the humour included in the dialogue will appeal to this age group.

Mis – en – scene used in the advert makes it clear that it is set in a school environment. It shows lockers, classrooms and pupils around a school ground. Editing used in the advert shows the Dr. Pepper logo on the vending machine at the beginning of the advert to make it clear this is an advert for this soft drink. The sound used in this advertisement is mostly dialogue from the characters, and then the slogan of the drink which is put in to a song at the end of the advert to sum it up, and make it something that the audience will remember. The messages that the advert gives the audience is that Dr. Pepper makes any bad situations alright.

Characters featured in the advert are, pupils, a school nurse and a school boy. The storyline is that the boy cuts his finger on the Dr. Pepper vending machine and goes to the school nurse for a plaster but when he opens his drink the nurse accidently switches on the over speaker and the whole school hears them in the first aid room and mistakes her innocent words for something different. The school then walks out to the school with everyone laughing at him. This is when the slogan and the message of the advert come in to play with the adverts concept. The genre of the advert is comedy and the media genre of the advert is wit and humour. By using humour as the genre for your advert you are most likely to get a teenage audiences’ attention.  The advertising techniques that the advert uses are that within the story the incorporate that the drink is fizzy. Without saying to the audience that it is a fizzy drink they bring it in to the story. Also they use a school as the setting for the advert when their targeted audience will be teenagers which will be able to relate with the narrative. I think the advert is successful because the storyline is appealing t its target audience, they have a song that will be easily remembered and they use humour as the genre. These all appeal to the targeted audience.