I created two thirty second adverts for ‘The Konjac Sponge Company’, a brand that makes natural cleansing beauty sponges. Their brand identity consists of natural products, which uses neutral, natural colours that tie in with nature. When doing pre-production I aimed to keep aspects of this in my adverts, such as using neutral and natural colours in my mise-en-scene to keep consistency with the brand’s identity. I chose this brand because their products are unique and interesting, and they’re also relatively new to the beauty industry. Due to this, the company didn’t yet have any adverts of their products as they are a newer and smaller company, and I saw a good opportunity to collaborate with them. I contacted them and asked them if they would be interested in working with me on this project, with the intent of them being able to use my finished product if they liked it. They agreed, and sent me some samples to use in my advert, whilst also giving me free reign in terms of creativity. During both pre and post production I kept in contact with them, asking for feedback for my ideas and products, which they helpfully gave me consistently.
My plan was to have two 30 second adverts, both with a similar narrative storyline, where the protagonist uses the sponge to speed up her ‘morning’ and ‘evening’ routines. In the ‘morning’ version, the protagonist begins to get ready for work but realises she is late for a meeting, and proceeds to knock bottles of facial cleansing products off of the counter and use The Konjac Sponge instead, as the sponge has all the benefits of the products. The ‘evening’ storyline was similar, except the protagonist uses the sponge to help her get ready to bed after a late night partying.
I used persuasive techniques such as an expert opinion in my advert by using a voiceover of an older, more mature woman who sounded well respected and authoritative. I wanted to do this as I believed this would set my advert apart from other beauty adverts, as well as creating the impression that this product should be well trusted for its quality. I think I completed this well, as peers commented on this and said that it was effective, and they trusted what they were being told, as the voice over sounded wise and authoritative. As well as this, I used the persuasive technique of ‘loaded language’, by including words such as ‘revolutionary’ and ‘radiant’ in the voiceover. This was done to entice the consumer, and to appeal to their desire to have ‘radiant’ and cleansed skin. In addition, I used the phrase ‘radiant complexion’, and the tagline ‘give yourself a mini facial every day’, as these used in the company’s branding, and I wanted my advert to tie into and stay as close to the company’s existing branding as possible. In retrospect, I think I could’ve used more loaded words in my script to make the product seem more desirable.
I was inspired by Simple’s advert for their ‘facial cleansing wipes’ to include an aspect of demonstration in my advert. This was essential as it would show to the viewer and possible consumer how easy it is to use the product, and to demonstrate how it worked. I believe this worked well, as peers commented that they were able to see how easy the product was to use, and the company itself said that they liked this demonstration aspect.
In terms of shot types, I wanted to include lots of interesting shots in order to make the edit fast paced and exciting, like many existing beauty adverts. I included shots such as: an extreme close up of my actresses eyes to emphasise that this product could remove makeup; varied angles of my actress using the sponge on her face (MCU side-on, MCU face-on, and a MCU mirror angle); and a POV underwater shot (from the “sponge’s perspective”, looking up at my actress from below), which I completed using a GoPro camera. I believe these were beneficial to my final edit, as they helped vary my shot types and make the advert more interesting, whilst making the final edit fast paced.
I wanted the mise-en-scene to be clean and white to reflect the simple nature of the product and the brand, and to keep the focus on the actress and the product itself. To do this, I ensured the location was a clean, white bathroom, and I removed any miscellaneous products in the location, so as to keep the focus on the product. However I relied on natural lighting for my first advert, and artificial lighting for my second, which caused me problems. Due to the unpredictability of natural lighting, the shots had varied levels of light, which meant it lacked consistency. In my second advert, since there was only one light being used, if anything blocked the light source then the shot became darker and less bright. To improve this in post-production, I enhanced the light in certain shots that had insufficient light levels or looked too dark. This improved the overall finish of the adverts, as it made them more consistent, and as it made them lighter and brighter, it emphasised the aspects of the mise-en-scene that I wanted, meaning that they looked cleaner and more professional.
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| A side-by-side comparison of my storyboard and final shots |
The finished products of my adverts were very close to my original concepts, as I stuck to the majority of my shots that I planned out in my storyboards, and I kept close to the narrative I had come up with. However there were a few shots that I had planned that didn’t make it into the final edit, such as the actress demonstrating how to store the sponge after use to properly let it air-dry. Whilst I had filmed this, I didn’t feel it added to the narrative and would have been an unnecessary addition to the edit. In addition I hadn’t anticipated how challenging filming my actress taking off her makeup would be, as it took longer than expected, and my actress didn’t stay in the same position throughout taking off the makeup. This meant that the shots wouldn’t line up correctly, creating the seamless transition I was hoping for. To resolve this, I cut a shot of makeup being washed off of the sponge in between these shots, unfortunately meaning the final product didn’t end up looking how I’d originally planned it.
As well as this, I had initially intended for there to be no music in my adverts up until the turning point in the narrative (the bottles of miscellaneous products being knocked off of the counter). However whilst editing, I realised that diagetic sound alone wasn’t interesting enough, and to create increased suspense I would need to use music the whole way through, and simply increase the volume at the pivotal moment. Therefore I used an upbeat track, making it quiet and almost like background noise for the first half, and syncing the climax of the song with the bottles being knocked off the counter.
In class I created a practice advert for Smarties, which consisted of multiple hands going into a packet of Smarties and taking them out, in time with an upbeat track. In comparison with my finished adverts, I have definitely improved in terms of editing skills. The editing in my adverts is more precise and clean, as well as being more fast-paced. There is a lot of jump cuts that make the practice advert seem inconsistent and unprofessional, and I don’t believe this is the case in my most recent projects. In addition there were issues with lighting in the practice advert, as there was only one light source that was constantly blocked during shooting, meaning the shots were very dark and contain lots of shadows; whereas I have managed to resolve my lighting issues in post-production in my recent project. Furthermore, unlike in the test advert, in my recent project I had more chance to work with a camera and experiment with camera angles, which has helped me improve my camera skills. Also unlike my test advert, I was the director for my ‘Konjac Sponge’ advert, which allowed me to develop my skills in this area (such as directing my actor and deciding the shot types), and feel fully in control of my project.
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| A screenshot from Simple's advert |
As The Konjac Sponge Company doesn’t have any TV adverts, I took the majority of my inspiration from other existing beauty adverts such as Simple’s ‘Cleansing Facial Wipes’ advert, and Nivea’s ‘Double Effect Makeup Remover’ advert. As mentioned before, my advert has some similarities to Simple’s advert such as having an aspect of demonstration, with the actress using the product in both mine and Simple’s adverts. However, Simple’s advert only features one shot of this demonstration, whilst I alternated between three different shots of my actress using the product, to make my advert more interesting and to add more variation. In regards to Nivea’s advert, I took inspiration from their upbeat and cheeky tone, as it uses fun upbeat music. This appealed to me as a consumer, as this tone was different to some other beauty adverts that used softer music. Because of this, I decided to use upbeat music in my advert to appeal to consumers like myself and to have an exciting tone. In addition, this Nivea advert used an extreme close up shot of an actress taking off her makeup with the product, which I took inspiration for in my own advert.
Whilst neither of these adverts had a narrative, I believed that my advert would benefit from one, so I included a narrative in my advert, as a story would help the consumer see the full effects of the product.
Feedback from my peers suggested that my advert had been successful in conveying my intended message, and that it as clear and informative. They understood the product and what it did, and liked the fast paced editing. In addition, one peer commented that they really liked the older, more mature voice over, as it made them feel as if they were being talked to by an expert who was very knowledgeable. On feedback sheets, my peers gave me relatively high rankings for all points, such as ‘Creative Qualities’ and ‘Editing’. I was given an average score of 8 for ‘Creative Qualities’, with 4/6 selecting a 9 or 10 (out of 10). For ‘Editing’, I again got an average of 8, with 5/6 selecting an 8 or 9. All correctly identified that I was using the persuasive technique of ‘Expert Opinion’, and that my target audience was 16-24 females. Some written feedback explained that they thought my adverts were ‘very professional and well shot’, had a ‘very strong narrative concept’ and many liked my Gopro underwater shot.
My teachers also gave positive feedback, commenting that it looked ‘professional’ and was well edited with a fast pace. However they noted that the lighting was dark and slightly blue in certain shots, and to improve upon my adverts I should colour correct and lighten these shots, which is what I did. After review my teachers prefered these shots, commenting that lightening them gave my adverts more consistency and made them look more professional.
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| Feedback email from The Konjac Sponge Company |
I emailed The Konjac Sponge Company in regards to feedback about my adverts, to which they happily obliged with positive feedback, which was a relief. They said that they thought my videos were great, and that they “...showed how to use the product well, and the message is very clear...”, which they were very pleased about. In addition, they appreciated that “...the branding is kept strong with footage of the packaging, and the logo and link at the end of the video…” . Finally, they said that it is useful that my advert is targeted at the 16-24 market, as this is a demographic that they want to focus on soon. Whilst I was editing my adverts I sent rough cuts to the The Konjac Sponge representative I was communicating with, who gave me lots of useful constructive criticism, such as sending me an updated and higher resolution JPEG image of their logo, and suggested I include their website link alongside the logo so as to direct customers to their website. To my delight, the company also asked me if I would create a ten second version of my advert for them to use on their Instagram page, and gave me specific shots that they would like me to use. At one point they wanted this video to start with the underwater shot before moving onto the sponge being used on my actress's’ face, however I disagreed and mentioned that it would make more sense to begin with a different shot. They agreed, and preferred my version.
As well as client feedback from the company, I also received feedback from Bill Smith, the founder of ‘LatestTV’. He was very positive, saying that my adverts ‘were great’ and ‘tell it like it is’, saying that they would sell the product. However, he did mention that not so many shots of the clocks and the taps were needed, and said that more close ups of my actress would be preferable. This was helpful criticism, and I would definitely use these improvements next time.
To gather a wide range of feedback, I conducted both a questionnaire and a focus group. The majority of my questionnaire respondents and all my focus group respondents were 16-24 females, which fitted my target audience. All of my focus group respondents understood what the product was, and the benefits it had. For example, one respondent commented they thought the product was ‘...really efficient...it will save you lots of time…’, with another saying it seemed like a ‘...”get the job done with no fuss”..’ product. In addition to this, they said that they would be interested in buying the product, one commenting that they would buy it because in the advert it seemed ‘hassle free’; with another respondent mentioning that ‘...people who wear makeup can relate to the hassle of taking off makeup and sticking to a routine…’ and that The Konjac Sponge would help this problem. Finally, when asked if there was anything they would improve, two respondents said that an inclusion of the price and where to buy it would be good, with another respondent suggesting putting the benefits of the sponge in text form as well as in the voiceover.
In my questionnaire, I asked my respondents if they had ever bought products from The Konjac Sponge Company, and if, after watching these adverts, they would now be interested in purchasing their products. 3% (1/28) of respondents said that they had never bought their products before, whereas 70% (20/28) of respondents said that they would be interested in buying the products after watching my adverts. This was positive, and meant that I had conveyed the intended message to my target audience of the benefits of the product, which in turn convinced them to buy it.
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Comparison of respondents who had bought these products
before, and who would buy these products after watching
my adverts |
Furthermore, I received more positive feedback from my questionnaire, as 57% (16/28) of respondents said that they thought the editing was ‘Excellent’; 39% (11/28) of respondents believed the aesthetic/visual qualities’ were ‘Quite Good’; 39% (11/28) of respondents said that the narrative was ‘Excellent’; and 50% (14/28) said the sound was ‘Excellent’. I was very pleased with this feedback, as this reinforced my belief that my adverts were well made.
My respondents suggested that this advert would be most suited on channels such as ITV and ITVBe, which was good as I also believed ITVBe would be a good place to show my adverts, as it has a large female audience. However, I had initially suggested that my adverts should be shown on channels such as MTV, as this has a larger audience of 16-24 viewers, and MTV viewers have a positive track record of purchasing products shown on the channel. My respondents also said that they would expect to see these adverts during daytime (10am-4pm) and early evening (4pm-7pm) television. Whilst these are appropriate times for my adverts to be shown (especially early evening), I had initially intended for my adverts to be shown during prime time.
I also had an option for respondents to give positives and negatives of the adverts (qualitative data). Many of the positive comments I received were very reassuring, one respondent saying that the advert ‘piqued’ their interest to try the product, and another saying that the product was ‘advertised very well’ and ‘showed proof’ of its abilities. As well as this, a respondent commented that my advert didn’t have ‘..that impossible snooty feel … that so many beauty and makeup ads unfortunately have’. This was reassuring, as I was hoping to relate to my consumer, rather than create an idealistic, unrealistic tone.
On the other hand, my respondents provided me with helpful constructive criticism, including the fact that they would’ve preferred to see a price and a place where you could buy the product. In addition to this, they mentioned that it would be nice to have the benefits of the sponge in text as well as in the voiceover, like a respondent in my focus group. Furthermore, a couple of respondents said that the voiceover could’ve been varied in tone to seem happier, and to match the feel of the adverts.
Since many people both from my questionnaire and my focus group commented that they would have preferred to have seen a price and a place to buy the product, I altered my advert and added in text containing the price, and added that customers could buy the product on The Konjac Sponge Company’s website at the end, along with the company logo. I believe this improved my adverts as it directed the customers to where to purchase the product, and could help convince them to buy it with the addition of the price.
In regards to ASA rulings, I have ensured that my adverts didn’t breach any rulings. For example, I purposefully specified that the product removed ‘water based makeup’, rather than saying ‘makeup’, in order to not break ASA code rule 3.12: “Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service”. I didn’t want to mislead the customer in the capabilities of the product, and I made sure that I didn’t do this. I also made sure to avoid breaching ASA rulings 3.3: “For advertisements that quote prices for an advertised product or service, material information [for the purposes of rule 3.2]...” and 3.2:“Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material information…”. This was another reason I decided to include the price of the product in my advert.
Regarding my secondary research, I looked at what channels I wanted my adverts to be shown on, and researched what age and gender demographics typically watched these channels. For example, I discovered that channel ITVBe had a large number of female viewers - around 95% of viewers were female.
The primary research I conducted consisted of a questionnaire and a focus group, which collect different types of data and both present problems. As my questionnaire uses quantitative data, I was able to present my findings in graph form, and it was useful to be able to visually see my feedback. As well as this, I was able to reach more people than I would have simply with a focus group, as questionnaires are quick and easy to send to possible respondents. Therefore it could be argued that my questionnaire has higher levels of representativeness, as the data can be more accurately applied to my target population. However, it could be subject to response bias, whereby respondents select answers that they think I would want them to select, rather than selecting the answer they actually believe to be true. This could have arisen because all of my respondents knew me, and therefore may have felt uncomfortable if they deviated from what they thought I wanted them to select.
My focus group was a good way to collect in-depth qualitative responses about my adverts, meaning I was able to have a discussion with them about what they didn’t like, and more accurately gage their reactions, raising the validity of my research. However, my respondents could’ve again been subject to interviewer bias, where they would’ve given answers they thought I wanted. This could have happened, as similarly to the questionnaire, my respondents knew me and may have wanted to give answers they thought I wanted.
Overall I believe my finished adverts were made well and to a professional standard, whilst successfully conveying the intended message about the products to the consumer, therefore selling them effectively. However, there are some improvements that I would make if I had the chance to, such as including the benefits of the product in text form. But I am very proud of my adverts, and I believe I have done well.
