I-Map

Writing Plan for a Critical Discussion

How Does Ford’s “Kinetic” Television Commercial Communicate with it’s audience?

Introduction:

There could be many different ways to approach this text, and many different things to think about such as it’s aesthetic, how it portrays ford’s new design, if it works as a marketing tool and so on. I’m going to discuss, specifically, how it communicates with its audience.

First paragraph:

- Information about the director: Write about his working background, who he works for, who he worked with on the advert. Refer to http://www.crossroadsfilms.com/commercials -> Nick Lewin -> Biography

- The kinetic design philosophy: Information about ford’s new design language. How it works, what it is. Discuss the design elements and aesthetics. Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Kinetic_Design , http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/KineticDesign?campaignid=Brand_Generic_Exact&advertiserid=Google&bannerid=Ford_Kinetic_Design_Exact

- Information about the advert: Write about how it was made, the effects used. Refer to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAt2-N34dpM , Lewin, N. Email: “Ford Kinetic Design” 2/11/2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZzZcnzphRI

Second Paragraph: -

- The way it is shot: Explain the camera angles used, how each shot cuts with the next

- The narrative: Explain the story, what happens ie. car chase scene. Explain who the protagonist and antagonists are and how they fit in the story.

- The mis en scene: Explain the lighting, the sets used ie. the film studio, the car park and the city streets, the actors used and the colour of their cars the costumes they wear, how they look.

- The Sound: Explain the music track that runs through the entire ad. Talk about the vocal track that comes in toward the end. Refer to Klein, B. “As heard on TV: Popular Music in Advertising” P.9

Third Paragraph (bulk): -

- Context: Discuss big news stories of the time ie. Swine Flu, Economic crash, global warming etc. Refer to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8321970.stm , http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8321202.stm , http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27531033

- Semiotics: Explain in brief what semiotics are then go onto discuss the semiotics in the advert. Firstly the imagery; what kind of ideologies are being portrayed by the film, the types of signals being generated Then the linguistics ie. the sentence spoken at the end; how it is said, who says it, how this is significant, what it connotes. Then the music track; how it sounds, what the feeling of the song is, what it makes you feel, and, again, what is connotes. Refer to Bignell J, “Media Semiotics: An Introduction” http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html , http://www.soundtree.co.uk/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:James_Nesbitt

- Product Placement; Discuss where and when it was aired. How is this relevant? What impact does it have on advertising. Refer to Larry D. Kelley, Donald W. Jugenheimer: “Advertising media planning: a brand management approach” p.71/72 , http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/908851/Ford-introduces-brand-led-marketing-strategy/

Conclusion: -

- My opinion of the advert, explain why I think this. Does it communicate effectively, and to the its audience? “It increased fords market share by nearly 2% in 2009 so it achieved it’s goal, which is essentially to boost sales.” Refer to Conclusion

Study Diary

Study Diary week 1

I’ve started to think about the concept of the film deeper, why aesthetically it is as it is. I’ve begun to read a little deeper into the advert as a whole ie. Think about the most important of things to think about in advertising – Communication: communicating their ideas visually and aurally.

Study Diary week 2

After looking at the aesthetics of the image I’ve begun to start thinking about what it means, what signs it’s giving to an audience, why they have used the characters they have, why they have used the colour cars they have etc.

Study Diary week 3

I’ve begun to start thinking about where the advert was placed and why this is. It has been strategically placed to reach its audience, whoever it’s audience may be. I’m also thinking about the time it’s been aired. And the things going on around it to help place it and give it cultural meaning.

What I’ve learned

I think I work best in a quiet atmosphere with little distractions; on a computer with books with me and nothing else. When working at home I find it too easy to get distracted by many other things and it takes me a lot longer to get things done. Also not to get stuck into one trail of though, I don’t think I explored other avenues enough I found a path and went straight down it before exploring others.

Major Setbacks

I think my biggest problem was managing my time, I think in the future it would be beneficial to be quite strict with sticking to mini deadlines ie. get to this point by this day. Possibly to map out a strict timetable before even starting any work so I’ve got a structured pattern to follow. I think I struggle with writing, sometimes I can’t articulate, as well as I’d like to, exactly what I’m trying to say. Another big setback was that I was riding on an interview with the director as my main primary source, however he couldn’t answer all the questions I had asked and I didn’t have enough time to get in touch with the creative director. Another setback is that I don’t feel as though I got stuck in, I didn’t fully immerse myself in the text to the point where I’d be thinking about it all the time. I haven’t written academically for 2 years but with any project ie. during art foundation I found it most beneficial and most enjoyable when I did fully immerse myself into whatever I was doing.

Plans for Future Improvement

I think definitely structuring my week better would be beneficial and also as I said before creating a timetable for myself.

Overall

I think generally I can study well; I just need to ensure I don’t allow myself to get so easily distracted or procrastinate. But once I get started and focus and shut out everything else I can research well, I can get work done and, with more practice, to a high standard.

References

Advert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAt2-N34dpM (20/10/2009)

Bignell J, “Media Semiotics: An Introduction”

BBC News – Economic Crash: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8321970.stm (07/11/2009)

BBC News – Swine Flu: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8321202.stm (07/11/2009)

Brierley, S. “The advertising handbook” P.26

Chandler D. ,Semiotics for Beginners (Last paragraph): http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html (01/11/2009)

Eco, U. “Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language” P.24 (sign vs. text)

James Nesbitt information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:James_Nesbitt (05/11/2009)

Kinetic design: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Kinetic_Design (22/10/2009)

Klein, B. “As heard on TV: Popular Music in Advertising” P.9

Larry D. Kelley, Donald W. Jugenheimer: “Advertising media planning: a brand management approach” p.71/72

Lewin, N. Email: “Ford Kinetic Design” 2/11/2009

Making of… “Ford Kinetic Design Advertisement”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZzZcnzphRI (21/10/2009)

Marketing Magazine: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/908851/Ford-introduces-brand-led-marketing-strategy/ (06/11/2009)

MSN News – Obama Elected: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27531033 (07/11/2009)

Nick Lewin Biography: http://www.crossroadsfilms.com/ commercials -> Nick Lewin -> Biography (22/10/2009)

Ford: http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/KineticDesign?campaignid=Brand_Generic_Exact&advertiserid=Google&bannerid=Ford_Kinetic_Design_Exact (21/10/2009)

Soundtree: http://www.soundtree.co.uk/ (06/11/2009)

Conclusion

The advert communicates with its audience on a very broad level. They haven’t tried to market it to a niche audience it is clearly very wide. They’ve used very vague signals that act upon popular ideologies as opposed to specific ones. The target audience for the advert is clearly very broad; this is why the semiotics is very vague as opposed to working on specific ideologies.

I think the advert works well at what its supposed to do, it is there to advertise ford’s brand as opposed to one specific car. The fact they’ve used different models proves this. It is supposed to create awareness of their new slick design philosophy.

The way they communicate with their audience is interesting, through signals within the advert working on people’s perception of reality or what they’d like their reality to be. And also on where it has been placed ie. viewings from a very broad audience.

It increased fords market share by nearly 2% in 2009 so it achieved its goal, which is essentially to boost sales.

Context

Global Warming; everyone is talking about global warming, and how we need to recycle. People are wearing vintage (pre-owned) clothes, and using energy-saving light-bulbs, and recycling. There’s a certain message of re-usage spreading and it seems to have impacted on ford as well. It’s interesting that ford’s new design language seems to cover all their ranges as if they were recycling their idea. Also the fact that they have used more than one model of the car in one advert. Not only does it save them money but it’s also  politically correct.

The economic crash in 2009 was also a very big news story. People worried about losing their houses, losing their jobs. A time of great financial paranoia. Which again kind of harks back to the idea of the re-using things, to save money as well as the environment.

Obama had recently been made president giving the world a bit of hope after his hideous predecessor. I’m struggling to find how or even if this had any impact on the advert. It is an American story but American stories tend to impact the whole world. Every new American president brings great emotion throughout the world, with Obama there seems to be a sense of excitement and optimism. His campaign “yes we can” makes this very clear . Also with the first ever olympics being held in England it is a time of great excitement and maybe ford used this as their theme. Reinforcing the current feelings throughout the audience definitely communicates with them because they’re on the same wavelength.

What’s Happening?

I want to talk about the things that are going on around the advert during its release in 2009. In an attempt to place the advert in society I’m going to explore news stories, political changes etc.

There are several things occurring in society at the moment that may or may not have shaped the advert.

“The NHS has been told to brace itself for action after a steep rise in swine flu infections.

The number of new cases reported in England over the past week has nearly doubled to 53,000. In Scotland, there was a slight rise to 14,650.

It comes as more and more people are being admitted into intensive care and the number of deaths hit 128 in the UK.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8321202.stm (07/11/2009)

Image Source: http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Uploads/Graphics/245-0720100603-Economic-crash.jpg (07/11/2009)

“The UK economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.4% between July and September, according to official figures, meaning the country is still in recession.It is the first time UK gross domestic product (GDP) has contracted for six consecutive quarters, since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955.But the figures could still be revised up or down at a later date, because this figure is only the first estimate.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8321970.stm (07/11/2009)

“Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, shattered more than 200 years of history Tuesday night by winning election as the first African-American president of the United States.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27531033 (07/11/2009)

When & Where Was It Aired?

“The car manufacturer will debut the TV ad during the UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona, to tie in with Ford’s sponsorship of the competition.”

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/908851/Ford-introduces-brand-led-marketing-strategy/ (06/11/2009)

It was aired June 2009 in a prime-time slot; during a big football match. According to Wikipedia the game had viewing figures of a whopping 9.6 million. Millions of people from all different ages, class, ethnic background etc. saw the advert when it aired.  Stereotypically it would’ve been predominately males watching so this would suggest that the advert is aimed at a more male audience. The story in itself ie. A fast paced car chase would also suggest its appealing to men.

“What time of year your advertising runs is a critical factor in your advertising campaign… The time of year can affect media costs, media effectiveness, and consumers’ buying patterns”

“Weather can be an important strategy. For example, Quaker oats ran a campaign who’s theme was “below 50 degrees is oatmeal weather”, and the company worked with the media to trigger the message when the local temperatures fell below 50 degrees”

Larry D. Kelley, Donald W. Jugenheimer: “Advertising media planning: a brand management approach” p.71/72

It was the heart of the summer when it was first shown. The summer in the UK this year (2009) was above average maybe this had an affect. The hot temperatures were complimented by the music in the advert. As I said before it’s a very cool sound this may have helped it sell.

Who’s the Audience?

Through reading the semiotics of the advert we have a vague idea of whom the advert is aiming toward. However nothing concrete to really decide. I think the only way we can really come to a firm conclusion is to look at when and where the advert was placed. This will give us an idea of who they want to see it and therefore who they’re audience is.

Semiotics: Music

The music was designed by soundtree.

“Soundtree comprises a close-knit, award-winning team of uniquely talented musicians, thinkers and organizers. Specialising in the relationship between music, sound art and the moving image, we work in close collaboration to create, source, adapt soundtracks and publish music.”

http://www.soundtree.co.uk/ (06/11/2009)

As stated before the music uses very crisp clean sounds. It’s very modern and electronic, maybe, to reinforce the idea of their new contemporary design language. Its sets a scene; quite cool and fresh and “airy”. The cleanness and precision of the sound connotes ideas of modernity and professionalism.

The mood in the song is very relaxed and very calming and it creates a soundscape in which the action can take place. This use of calm, gentle music juxtaposed with the chase scene is very strange. It’s almost connoting ideas of safety. By this I mean that they’re trying to suggest that inside the car is a safe place you can forget all the killers outside chasing you (within the advert) / you can forget all the traffic outside slowing you down and giving you a headache (within the audience). It creates a peaceful zone to relax in, which obviously makes the car more attractive. Alternatively it may have been used to reinforce the idea that it isn’t real it’s a film within a film or a story within a story.