English Media Essay (first draft)
English Media Essay (second draft)
How did the John Smith's advertising campaign, starring Peter Kay achieve its success?
The advertising campaign for John Smith's beer achieved its success using a variety of techniques. The main reason for the achievement was the approach that the producers took. The purpose of the adverts was evidently to encourage the public to buy John Smith's beer. Analysing the audience allowed them to aim their adverts to people who would be most likely to purchase the product. Once the purpose and audience were summarised, the content and ideas for the adverts were produced. They supplemented the campaign's success by using Peter Kay, a recognisable comedian, and various storylines for each advert, which attracted the correct audience.
Firstly, in each advert, the slogan 'NO NONSENSE' draws a close to the advert. This slogan reinforces the actual message, which is that John Smith's beer is a 'NO NONSENSE' product. An example of how it is used is in the 'Wardrobe Monsters' advert. The setting is in an Indian Restaurant, where Peter Kay, his wife and friends are sitting at a table having their meal. Again this is an every day setting, nothing out of the ordinary. The camera is on a wide-angled shot so as we can see all the actions. We hear a common Nokia ring tone sound and Peter Kay answers it, close up shot of Peter Kay. After clarifying that his 'babysitter' is on the phone, his 'daughter' is displayed to say she is having nightmares about wardrobe monsters, which Peter Kay repeats to everyone at the table. The camera then swings round to show the mother's expression; she shows an 'aww...' look as any parent would. However, unexpected, Peter Kay replies with: "There's no such thing as wardrobe monsters, it's the burglars that break in through t'windows, that's who you wanna be worried about!" This shocks the audience alone, but then he ironically says: "Sweet Dreams!" and ends the call. In normal society, this sort of parenting would be disgusting, but it is the complete opposite here and provides humour to the target audience.
At the end of this advert, the text 'NO NONSENSE' appears in a blood-dripping, red font and the screen shakes with a wardrobe, faded in the background. This emphasises what happened in the advert and the slogan 'NO NONSENSE' refers here to not worrying about monsters in the wardrobe, but burglars breaking through the windows. This presents other brands as pathetic and having the wrong priorities for their customer, enhancing the advantage of John Smith's beer being 'no nonsense' and therefore encouraging people to buy it. Also, a pint of beer is shown on the ending shot to remind viewers of the product being sold. The target audience can relate to this because it seems 'down-to-earth' and also these images will remain in people's minds because of the humour and characterisation used.
Secondly, the target audience for the adverts is the middle-aged, beer-drinking man. This is attained by the main character, Peter Kay (who plays John Smith). He represents the majority of the audience and is displayed in the adverts as wearing normal, casual clothes (jeans, T-shirts, jumpers) and doing things that middle-aged men would aspire to do, e.g. get rid of their mother, eat out at Indian Restaurants, play snooker, football and drink lots of beer. Peter Kay is also appropriate for the adverts because of his Northern accent. One reason being that bitter is the traditional Northern drink ...
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Secondly, the target audience for the adverts is the middle-aged, beer-drinking man. This is attained by the main character, Peter Kay (who plays John Smith). He represents the majority of the audience and is displayed in the adverts as wearing normal, casual clothes (jeans, T-shirts, jumpers) and doing things that middle-aged men would aspire to do, e.g. get rid of their mother, eat out at Indian Restaurants, play snooker, football and drink lots of beer. Peter Kay is also appropriate for the adverts because of his Northern accent. One reason being that bitter is the traditional Northern drink and secondly his Northern accent adds significantly to the humour of the adverts.
In addition, the target audience is also reached according to the time the adverts are broadcast. Generally, this is in the late evening between sports programmes such as football matches or snooker and also comedy programmes. The combination of these two factors helps the adverts appeal to the appropriate audiences.
These ways in which the audience were targeted contributed greatly to the success of the John Smith's beer campaign. The aim of the campaign was to sell beer, but it was actually the brand being sold and not the product. This was created by using the 'NO NONSENSE' slogan, presenting the brand to be a real, honest, no nonsense brand for that type of person. It was shown as being 'simple' to allow the audience to be willing to buy it. And this is where the slogan 'NO NONSENSE' originated from.
One of the main techniques used in the adverts is humour. Excluding Peter Kay, there is also the stereotypical humour aspect, which is generously used. Peter Kay himself is stereotyped as the average, British man who appreciates good beer. Another example of stereotypical humour is portrayed in the advert 'Wardrobe Monsters' in the form of Peter Kay's 'daughter' who is named 'Britney' which could appeal to parents who aspire to call their daughter after a celebrity to increase popularity.
The advert 'Mother' also uses this type of humour. To begin the advert, we instantly see a long-angled shot of the 'mother' character hovering her living room, shown as a normal living room with coffee table, cabinet, TV system. The audience can relate to this, as it is probably not unlike their homes. The 'mother' wears jeans and generally 'trendy' clothes, which gives the impression of a younger person. She has short, modern, spiky hair and the action of her hovering indicates that she is an able woman of about 45-50 years. However, this is not supported when Peter Kay (playing her son) enters with a suitcase in his hand, wearing a jacket and starts to talk loudly and clearly to his mother, as if she is deaf. He persuades her that she needs to go into an old people's home, patronising her by saying: "It's for the best." Of course, the mother wonders why her son is ordering her about and sharply relies with: "Why should I go live in an old people's home?" Peter Kay tells her straight: "Because I wanna put a snooker table in your bedroom and the kids are frightened of your moustache!" This reinforces the 'no nonsense' slogan. At this point the camera focuses on a close-up shot of the mother to show her response. Obviously, the mother is behaving shocked and taken back from the whole episode. Just to add to the effect and humour of the advert, we hear the sound of Peter Kay whistling to his mother, giving the impression that she is a dog and Peter Kay is her master. The ending shot of this advert concludes with the 'NO NONSENSE' slogan again, this time replacing the 'O' in NO and NONSENSE with snooker balls, to remind the audience of the humour used within the advert. Also, featured on the closing shot, a photo of 'mother' is replaced by a photo of Dennis Taylor, a famous snooker player. Adding to these effects is a pint of John Smith's on a doily to show the contrast and wishes of middle-aged men whom the adverts are aimed at. The incongruous setting of the pint of beer on a doily also adds to the humour on a visual level.
The advertising campaign's success was, in the greatest degree, due to Peter Kay's influence on the audience. He highlights the target audience of the product as well as adding enormous amounts of humour. The advert 'Top Bombing' is particularly humorous, mostly because of Peter Kay's actions. The advert appears at first to be showing a professional diving competition and in actual fact does use two professional divers, who perform magnificently. The camera tracks these first two dives and shows convincing replays after the judges have scored them. The realistic effect is also obtained by the two commentators' voices in the background. They use technical terms such as 'full, double somersault into triple pike' which makes the audience believe that this is a real diving contest. Also, in the top, right-hand corner of the screen, in a small box, is the word 'LIVE' enhancing the atmosphere the producers want to create. To support this effect, the advert is set up as a diving competition, with flags, stands and proper diving boards. Before and after each dive, the diver's scores are displayed in a text box at the bottom of the screen, with their names, country, flag and score.
With all of these superb effects and two excellent dives, the viewer expects this to be an advert for the Olympics or another professional sporting event, especially just before the next diver is introduced. The commentator informs us that: "Now the favourite...John Smith for Great Britain, what can he do?" The camera focuses straight ahead to John Smith and instantly we can tell something is not right. He is dressed in turquoise, Hawaiian swimming trunks and looks like the stereotypical, British person on holiday; white, pasty and overweight! The camera turns to a side view before Peter Kay takes a wild run along the diving board, forming a 'tuck' shape and hits the swimming pool with a huge splash. The poolside commentator announces: "A running bomb," and to the audience's amazement, the soaked judges score him ten out of ten. This is an example of bathos-the serious diving competition has descended into a ridiculous 'running bomb'. There is no nonsense, no interesting dives just a plain 'bomb'. There is then a freeze frame of the 'bomb' and the advert finishes with a shot showing a pint of beer on the diving board (to replace the divers) the slogan 'NO NONSENSE' in the text box at the bottom and Peter Kay climbing out of the pool with his trunks, revealingly, falling down. Again, adding humour while also reinforcing the campaign's message-'no nonsense'. The whole impression of a professional diving competition, to an unknown 'bomb' creates much laughter from the audience and without pressurising them to buy the product, still succeeds in purchases. This is why the campaign has been so successful.
In the other adverts 'Wardrobe Monsters' and 'Ball Skills' shock humour is created and works very effectively on the audience. In 'Ball Skills' again similar to 'Top Bombing' professional sportsmen are shown doing quite complicated ball skills. Their costume consists of a black and yellow strip, covered in mud. The opening shots only show their legs and feet, with the camera tracking the ball. Some skilful pausing is completed before the 'NO NONSENSE' kick approaches from Peter Kay's foot, sending the ball over a terraced house's garden fence. Peter Kay, feeling please with himself says: " 'ave it!" and the advert comes to a close with Peter Kay pushing orange pieces off a tray and grabbing his can of John Smith's beer. This creates humour but also shows the versatility of John Smith's by using a can instead of a pint glass.
So, to conclude, this advertising campaign achieved its great success by not outwitting its audience, but at the same time being more interesting and comical than the programmes surrounding it. I believe, by using all the techniques mentioned, that the John Smith's beer campaign has achieved this and therefore the adverts are, and deserve to be, an award-winning success.
Lucy Cable 10RL
