Advert Analysis Guinness

 

Television Advert Analysis

What is the ad for/what is the message?

The main purpose of this advert is to entice people into purchasing Guinness. They do this through different means of persuasion such as including things subliminally that may make people think of Guinness. For example, the waves are seen in a black and white colour scheme with the white caps of the waves being above the black waves. This may be a subliminal message by Guinness as the waves and white caps appear to resemble a pint of Guinness. The advert also promotes the message that Guinness is worth the wait due to the fact the advert is over a minute and a half long, this is reinforced by their slogan ‘good things come to those who wait’ which appears at the end of the advert. This therefore means that the main message of the advert is that even though you’re waiting longer, you’ll end up reaping the rewards as the final product is worth the wait. Another purpose of the advert is to show togetherness and social interaction. It implies that Guinness can bring people together and create a healthy environment between people. I think this because it shows the man isolated on the surfboard and alone in the sea and then cuts to him and his friends joking, this could suggest that it’s intended to be drunk with other people or in a lively atmosphere like a pub.

Who is the target audience?

Guinness’ primary demographic are middle aged men. We can infer this on the basis that all the people featured within the advert are middle aged men. This can also be inferred to, based on the fact that Guinness is often stereotyped as being a drink specifically tailored to middle aged men who aspire to be strong or who are already deemed as society’s perception of ‘strong’, plus there are no women involved or no mention of women. Guinness’s secondary demographic are alcohol lovers or frequent pub goers. Just because Guinness is tailored to middle aged men doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed by women or younger men who in this case are the secondary demographic. Guinness is globally revered so this may also help to encourage people who aren’t their primary demographic into purchasing the product.

The primary psychographic of Guinness is middle class, middle aged, white men. These people are classed as being a part of the mainstream population. White people are more typically associated of being a higher wealth and therefore a higher class, hence the activities within this advert following that pattern. Surfing is included within this advert; this isn’t a typical pastime for people of a working class. Furthermore, working class people may not afford to live near the ocean in the first place as house prices are substantially higher in places like Cornwall, further reiterating that this isn’t a common activity. Horses are also included within the advert. Horses are another thing that are associated with people of wealth, with people like Princess Anne competing in horse riding at the Olympics. That alone suggests that horses are for people of a higher wealth, and that them along with surfing may have been purposefully included within the advert in order to appeal to and entice Guinness’ primary psychographic.

The secondary psychographic of Guinness is an older audience consisting of middle to upper class, white men, aged between 60-80. The company has been in operation for over 2 centuries, so it’ll be just as recognizable, if not more recognizable to their age group than the primary target audience. Plus, Guinness used to be labelled as beneficial for the body and provide health elements within the drink. Whilst all those claims may not be true, the customer base (who at that time would’ve been younger) may have continued to purchase the product simply just to liking it and enjoying the lively atmosphere in which it’s commonly drunk in.

When was the advert aired/When would you expect the advert to be aired?

Guinness’ surfer advert was launched in 1999 and first aired on March 17^th on Channel 4. The price of advertising was substantially less then compared to now, this allowed Guinness to advertise on channel 4 more easily because they could afford to advertise on a more mainstream channel due to the initial cost being less. Plus, channel 4 had a large audience at that time meaning that Guinness would be able to reach a wider audience and therefore more potential customers than if it were a smaller channel. I assume that the advert would’ve been shown after the watershed which in the UK is 9pm due to the fact it’s advertising an alcoholic beverage. This would then follow the ASA’s (Advertising Standards Authorities) rules and regulations of being legal, decent, honest and truthful.

What form does the ad take?

The advert takes the form of a stand-alone live action. It wouldn’t be classes as part of a miniseries as the ad doesn’t seem to follow a pattern or show any form of consistency with its other adverts, thus making it a stand-alone. It’s classed as a live action due to the fact that everything in it is real and that nothing was animated. Everything included within the advert such as the people, the horses, the surfboards, the waves and the location were all real and actually were together not edited together. I think this was done in order to make the product more realistic and relatable for the target audience. If the product was tailored to a younger audience, then things like animation would be more appropriate and a more reasonable form for the advert to take. However, the fact that it’s an alcoholic beverage and therefore it’s aimed for an older audience animation wouldn’t have coincided with the product, it’s target audience and Guinness’ company identity.

What style is the ad/What persuasion techniques are used?

The styles incorporated within the advert are intertextuality, dramatic influences and serious elements. Serious elements are seen when the silence occurs at the beginning of the advert, this could be deemed as quite serious as there’s no topic indication and the silence is quite prolonged. This prolonged silence may lead audiences to be confused or even question if their television is broken as it’s a lengthy period before any sound occurs. Intertextuality is the way in which conventions of one genre are alluded to in another. Intertextuality is seen in the Guinness advert with references to Moby Dick and the painting of Neptune’s horses. Both of these incorporate horses in waves, so may be where Guinness drew their inspiration from. Dramatic influences are seen with the close-up establishing shot of the eyes. This shot seems to almost drag from an audience perspective so therefore creates immediate suspense, sets the tone of the advert and sets the scene. The limited colour scheme of black and white also creates an element of suspense as you can’t see the full extent of the advert due to it being a muted colour palette. This may be classed as a persuasion technique as Guinness is famous for being black and having the signature white foam on top. This subtle reference to Guinness may persuade people to purchase the product as it may be easily recognisable to them, therefore making this a clever marketing strategy by Guinness if it does help boost their sales.

Does the ad follow AIDA? If so, how?

I would say the advert somewhat follows AIDA as it could potentially attract the customer as the protagonists are seen taking on typical physical activities. This could potentially attract an audience as Guinness is stereotyped as being drunken by strong men or people who desire to be strong. Due to the fact that the advert includes physical tasks, this may incline an audience to purchase and therefore gain audience attention. However, I don’t feel the ad follows the rest of AIDA. It doesn’t really arouse interest by saying things like low price and although an exotic location is used it has no relevance to the product being sold and may deter an audience into thinking about or purchasing a holiday as that’s what could be inferred from the advert. I feel it doesn’t really stimulate desire. The slogan of ‘good things come to those who wait’ may be the only element of the advert that really stimulates desire however the advert doesn’t really persuade the audience into thinking that they need to purchase Guinness and for some viewers they may not even realise that it’s a Guinness advert until the end of the advert as there’s no indication that it’s advertising a beer. Finally, the advert doesn’t really promote action. There are no pleading messages from Guinness saying things like ‘get it now’, so therefore customers may just view it but not take any further action like purchasing Guinness.

Discuss the characteristics of products/services

The benefits of the product are that it has a strong reputation and is rumoured to be good for you. This is beneficial to Guinness as it allows them to use these influences to their advantage by advertising creatively. For example, the activities occurring within this advert are quite physical. This has been used creatively to reinforce the idea that Guinness makes you strong. The USP of Guinness is that you have to wait for it. They have since turned this into their slogan and essentially their reputation. ‘Good things come to those who wait’ has now become globally recognisable and their USP as no other alcoholic beverage has this feature.

Brand Identity is crucial for any brand as they want to be easily recognisable. Guinness do this by having the famous harp located on all their adverts and products as well as the slogan ‘good things come to those who wait’. This helps with their brand identity as they’re easily recognisable features and therefore help to give them their identity.

Who is responsible for regulating this advert (and all advertising) in the UK?

OFCOM (the office of communications) and the ASA (the advertising standards authority) are the two organisations that regulate advertising content within the UK. OFCOM make sure that things are appropriate for certain audiences for example a show with swearing wouldn’t be shown until after the watershed (9pm). They also make sure that viewers are protected from harmful or offensive material.

ASA make sure that all complaints and concerns about adverts are heard and responded to with in some cases action needed to be taken like banning adverts. They regulate adverts by enforcing its codes and conventions which are to be ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’ and all those who don’t comply will need to change their adverts or they will be banned.

Codes and conventions of the advert

Iconography

 This could be classed as typical iconography for Moby Dick which is what this advert is based on. Furthermore, this could be classed as typical iconography for people who want to be strong and conquer nature which again is associated with Guinness as it’s ’rumoured’ to make you strong.

Shot type

This is a close-up establishing shot. It’s been used to immediately set the scene, the tone of the advert and to create suspense as it doesn’t give any indication into what the advert’s about.

This is also an establishing shot. Its been used purposefully to set the scene of the advert after its transition from a close up shot.

 

 

 

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene within this scene is the horses, the people, the surfboards and the ocean. Mise-en-scene means everything within the scene.