Creating the magazine advert

We started with adding the main image and text to add to the brand identity the poster has the same text layout and main image as the digipak:

We then added links to the artist's twitter and facebook pages, as well as his official webite, www.bryanadams.com. After this we used the convention of having logos of specific retailers on the advert, in our case these were HMV and itunes. This is because using big name retailers offer suggestions of where to purchase the album but also if big names back the album it encourages more people to buy it as it's more avaliable and shows outside sources like the artist as well.

Finally we added a smart phone scanner and the logo of our artist's record label, A&M. We did this because are target audience is predominately 17 year old men meaning they have access to and understand new technology such as smartphones meaning we can promote the artist and album on a larger scale and gain access to more markets and more people. 

Final choice for magazine advert

This is the draft we have chosen to make in to our magazine advert:

We chose this draft as it was the most popular during the feedback session, it's also I feel the best overall out of the four drafts.  

Magazine advert drafts

Here our the drafts for our group's magazine advert:

Above is the first draft, the main image is the album's front cover, which fits a convention of magazine adverts, other conventions it follows are, having specific tracks mentioned in the advert as well as specific retailers and critics ratings. During the class feedback session this design was popular as it was simple but also eye catching.  

This design is again conventional as the main image and mentions specific songs, a secondary image is a photo of the artist that is used in the digipak as this adds to the artist's brand identity. After pitching it to the class they said that including a "promotional offer" on the advert was a good idea. 

This design doesn't follow the convention of having the album cover as the main image instead opting for a photo of the artist with the album cover as a secondary image. This design was not as popular with the class after the pitch. The feedback was that the layout of the text was wrong and their was too much going on overall.

This design also chooses a photo of the artist rather than the album cover as it's main image, breaking the convention. Conventions it does follow are mentioning specific songs, critic's ratings, and a release date. 



Analysis of a magazine advert #2

The magazine advert I'm going to analyse is for the Green Day album"21st Century Breakdown"

The advert follows the convention of having the album cover as the advert's main image, it also has the same colour scheme and font as the album cover,which is a graffiti style font and a colour scheme of red, yellow and white. This makes the advert really stand out and helps with the artist's brand identity as this image featured heavily in music videos and tours that supported this album. Also the grafitti style font and main image done in the style of graffiti artwork not only follows the convention for using artwork significant to the artist but it also reflects the themes of anarchy and unrest reflected in the album as well as highlighting some of the connotations of the word "Breakdown". This I feel makes the main image stand out more as despite it's connotations of anarchy and vandalism it's quite a loveing image which therefore shows a good contrast between the image and the background and makes it stand out.

 

One thing I feel is unconventional but works is the use of a tagline at the top of the advert "The wait is finally over". This along with the advert's overall layout and style of the main image makes the advert seem like a film poster rather than an advert for an album.

A convention the advert for "21st Century Breakdown" does follow is having a release date, a web adress for the artist's website, www.greenday.com and a reference to a specific song to increase brand identity and promote the single in general, in this case the song is "Know Your Enemy". 

  

    

Analysis of a magazine advert

The magazine advert I'm going to analyse is for "Only By The Night" by Kings of Leon.

The advert follows the convention of having the album's front cover as it's main image, this convention is then expanded as the advert's text is the same font and colour scheme as the album. This also adds to the artist's brand identity as if the album's cover is everywhere it makes the artist and the album more recognisable. However I feel using the font may be a problem as often magazine adverts are only glanced at and it's difficult to read the text like this, meaning the advert relies even more heavily on the main image to grab the audience's attention.

Another convention the magazine advert follows is having a release date, this is a different colour to the rest of the advert's text because instead of green or white the release date is red. The use of the red text on a black background makes the writing stand out more, therefore making the advert more eye catching. The advert also follows the conventions of having the artist's official website, www.kingsofleon.com and the logo of the artist's record label, which in this case is Columbia.

Finally. the advert follows the convention of highlighting specific songs from the album, in this case these are "Use Somebody" and "Sex on Fire"

  

Conventions of magazine advertisements

Conventions of magazine advertisements on Prezi

Brand identity

Brand identity is a logo, tag line, or image with an aim to instantly gain recognition for the artist and set the mood for the audience.

For example The Darkness album "One Way Ticket To Hell" has the band's logo in the top corner, gaining the recognition and the image of a train helps set the mood of a rock album with a fast tempo, as well as linking with the album's name. This image is then used in the Magazine advert for the album to add to the recognition and brand identity.