2. Real Video
• Structures and techniques of TV advertising
– It’s been put together by starting off with a slow panning
shot of a hospital corridor. The colours here are very
bright and feminine, however the protagonist is very
darker and has a bit more of a muted colour scheme.
Shot change to the protagonist kissing his wife who is
holding a baby and cut to a bright pink room where the
protagonist sits down on a green chair. He is the only
man in the room so it suggests that the whole advert is
aimed towards men in a “female world.” In the center of
the screen, you can see a single can of Irn Bru. The Irn
Bru stands out because it’s bright and colourful, but not
a pink.
• Factors of Persuasion
– The advert uses a linear narrative to help the viewer
understand what’s going on, better than if it was all over
the place. The narrative of the advert is funny and that
helps draw in a secondary audience of people who have
been shown and will share the video, thus getting the
word around about Irn Bru.
• Styles of advertising
– The advert is a successful realist product and it’s use of
humour is ideal. It is almost a parody of other canned
drink adverts such as Coca Cola where the protagonist of
those is usually drinking a can of whatever beverage
they’re advertising. The Irn Bru advert, however, mocks
that in a liberal sense, with the protagonist drinking the
can of Irn Bru but then hilarity ensues. It’s a much more
relaxed advert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibuLgsVcQUY
3. My Video
• Structures and techniques of TV advertising
– Pack shot. Slow motion. My advert has a linear
narrative and the way that I’ve cut the footage
up makes it seem like both actors are in the
same place. I have used a pack shot to show off
the product and used slow motion to (not so
subtly) show a can of Irn Bru.
• Factors of Persuasion
– My product features a comedic take on adverts
as it’s over the top and in the style of a dodgy
blockbuster movie pastiche. This makes my
product comedic and purposefully bad. My
product also shows the logo of the advertised
product. This can be a persuasive technique as
people can actually know what the advert is
about. A lot of adverts for cars (for example)
tend to keep it vague until the very end.
• Styles of advertising
– My advert is a parody that is in the style of an
old broken VHS tape. I did this as I thought it
would be an interesting style. Not many adverts
seem to have a parody style, except for Irn Bru.
Most Irn Bru adverts are parodies of canned
drink advertisements where they drink from
the can in a strange way to show the brand.
4. Real Advergame
• Structures and techniques of advergames
– There is a central character lifting “weights” but
the weights are cans of sugar free Irn Bru. The
game is supposed to represent the Highland
games, therefor targeting the drink’s primary
audience of Scots. There is a bar on either side
that fills when you tap the keys shown on the
game.
• Factors of Persuasion
– The product uses a rewarding factor of
persuasion. It suggests that by drinking Irn Bru
sugar free, you’ll have the strength to win the
Highland games. It also has a point system
which helps motivate you to keep going.
• Styles of advertising
– The advert is successful as it is targeted towards
a very specific audience. I feel as if the audience
is part of the “emulator” psychographic and is
specifically geared towards people from
Scotland. This is because of the themes of
strength and manliness.
5. My Advergame
• Structures and techniques of advergames
– My own advergame features sprites that fade
out, a credits, time and point system, a spinning
line which represents a sonar and a start
button. It’s made in the style of an old arcade
game so that it links with my 80s style video
advert.
• Factors of Persuasion
– My advergame isn’t really that good as you
can’t really tell it’s for Irn Bru, aside from the
label that says so. It does have a rewards
system however, as it has a points counter that
rises and falls when you collect certain things. I
did plan for it to have an instructions page
where it tells you that the strange battery
shapes are actually cans of Irn Bru and the
worm things are Nessie.
• Styles of advertising
– My advergame is in the style of an old arcade
game so it has themes of nostalgia, harkening
back to the days of arcade machines with coin
slots. This might appeal to a mixture of
“belonger” and “needs driven” psychographics.
6. Video Comparison
• Compare each of your products to the similar professional advert
– My advert is pretty different to the professional one as it is a completely different style. Both
adverts are comedic, however they’re comedic in a different way. Mine is a meta style advert
that breaks the fourth wall, whereas the professional one is a sketch comedy style advert that
is in a self contained universe, a bit like a sitcom. The professional one is very realistic. The
camera work is consistent. My advert is shot bad on purpose, the editing is crude and rough. It
is anti realist as the sound effects are over the top, such as having an explosion for a can
hitting the ground. If I could change my advert, I would have it set in an arcade, so that it
incorporates my advergame more.
7. Advergame Comparison
• Compare each of your products to the similar professional advert
– Both games are different, but they have similar aspects. Both games have a time system and a
points counter. This is a useful technique in video games as it motivates the player to keep
playing in order to get a higher score. The technical qualities of my game are lacklustre as I
didn’t actually make it into a game, rather just a stand-by screen. The fading sprites are
technically impressive as they took a while to animate. If I could change my advert, I would
definitely try and animate it to have some gameplay.
