4. What I have learnt about the content and appeal of print adverts and how I intend to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in my production in order to communicate successfully with the target audience.

It is crucial for every print advert to appeal to its target audience so the product may sell. Through looking at other advertising campaigns, I have discovered how to ensure that I successfully appeal to my target audience. 

Firstly, I must understand the target audience I are aiming to appeal to. For this task, the brief states that the target audience is 16-25 year old males and females. It also states that the adverts must express the brand values: active, youthful and unisex, which will allow the adverts to appeal to the specific target audience.

In addition to this, it also states that the adverts must be suitable to be placed in Total Film magazine. From this, I have come to the conclusion that the adverts must appeal to people who are likely to buy and read this magazine i.e. an audience that is passionate about films and who regularly buy DVD's and/or go the cinema regularly. In the media pack released for Total Film magazine, it states that 52% of its readers regularly go to see films at the cinema as soon as they are released. From this, I thought of using a cinema setting in one of my adverts, in order to tailor it to the readers of the magazine in which it will be placed and to allow the audience to identify with the advert. Furthermore, my other three adverts will be based around well-known films such as La La Land, Forrest Gump and Spiderman, in order to achieve intertextuality, appeal to the Total Film audience and spark discussion amongst film fans.

Total Film magazine audience:

• are dedicated film goers.

• often young film professionals or young students/graduates (average age: 26).

• enjoy sharing knowledge of film with their peers.

• enjoy going to the cinema regularly.

• want to know the latest news on Hollywood Blockbusters, stars and new releases.

• often have an aspiration of working in the film industry.

• regularly buy DVD's (average of 32 DVD's bought in 12 months).

• are drawn to Total Film's full colour images, bold fonts and bright colours.

In order to appeal to my specific target audience, I must adhere to Bulmer and Katz's Uses and Gratifications Theory, in order to communicate successfully to my audience and encourage them to buy my product. There are four main factors to which I must take into account:

1. Identify- being able to recognise the product or person in front of you and role models that reflect similar values to yours, inducing an aspiration to be someone else.
2. Educate- being able to acquire information, knowledge and understanding.
3. Entertain- what you are consuming should give you enjoyment and also some form of ‘escapism’ enabling you to forget your worries temporarily.
4. Social Interaction- the ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between other people and spark debates amongst peers.

Below are three examples of adverts that have successfully appealed to their target audience:

• This is advertising an Old Spice deodorant.

• This advert appeals predominantly to its target audience of 18-34 year of males through the use of a well-known actor, Neil Patrick Harris. I intend on using a respectable male actor who is within the age bracket of the target audience and who they would see as aspirational. 

• Also, through the use of intertextuality with the show Doogie Howser, (a show in which the target audience are likely to be familiar with), humour is created by a sense of overconfidence. This is a show which Neil Patrick Harris is well known for featuring in. 

• It allows the audience to identify with the male model and temporarily entertains through the use of humour.

• This is advertising two Axe deodorants: one for men and one for women.

• As the advert must appeal to both 18-24 year old men and women, both are included in the advert. The man is holding jump leads for the car and the woman is holding a fueling nozzle with petrol leaking from it. Both of these roles and the petrol station setting are relatable to the audience, encouraging them to make a connection with the advert. 

• The need for entertainment is gratified through the use of comedy of the leaking petrol, suggesting an attraction between the man and woman, which is what the audience may aspire to have. The humour may encourage the audience to have a discussion with their peers, making the advert gratify the need for social interaction. 

• This advert is for Dove deodorant and roll-on.

• This campaign must appeal to its target audience of over 50 year old women. Therefore, the focal image of the advert is a smiling middle-aged woman that the audience can identify with.

• The confidence of the woman is something the audience will aspire to have: through the suggestion that she has become more confident after using the product, the audience may aspire to do the same, therefore encouraging them to purchase and use the product.

After this research, I was able to build on my own ideas which were more suited in appealing to my target audience through consideration of Uses and Gratifications Theory.