#Advert 6/7 - Real / Finished Advert

Here is the finished advert to go with my music video and digipak...

#Advert 5 - Audience feedback for advert

I put a copy of my advert on facebook to gain some audience feedback from my friends, and received 39 'likes', and two positive comments.

I also got some verbal feedback, saying that I should maybe put a QR code on the advert to give people a preview of the music features on the album.

People said they liked the colour wash, because it made it look edgy, and others said that the smudged effect makes the band stand out more from the background, and draws them into the advert.

I have since changed the 'top of the pops' rating to q magazine, as top of the pops no longer exists.

#Advert 4 - Mock up of advert.

So here's the mock up of my advert, next up, audience feedback!

#Advert 3 - First plan of Advert

Here is my first plan of my advert. I will use the same photo for the advert that was on the front cover of my digipak, although I will make it taller so it will fit on an A4 page. At the bottom will be the information required, dates, names, where to buy etc..

#Advert 2 - Importance of printed advert

Printed adverts are hugely important as they draw attention to a product, whether it is music or not. However they are not as important as they were.

Album/artist adverts used to be found in magazines, but now, the sales of magazines have decreased (within the last few years) as shown in the graph below.

Many of the A4 paper ads (similar to what we have to recreate) would be found in magazines, and since the general sales of magazines have decreased, these are less common.

The sort of adverts that might be found in magazines are similar to the ones below, found in a fairly old issue of 'Q'...

Now though, however, even though magazines are still sold, musicians invest less in magazine advertising, as there are less people to see the advert, therefore not as much revenue would be generated from placing an advert (which isn't cheap) into a magazine.

#Advert 1 - Conventions of CD advertising

An advert for a musical album/single can really boost the sales if it's done well. A typical advert for a CD/Digipak would contain similar things to the album/digipak itself, like the font, and images.

For example, here is Ellie Goulding's advert for her album 'Lights', along with the album cover for the same album.

It is important that there are these similarities because it makes the album identifiable to the advert, and easier to spot if shopping in a store like HMV where there are many different albums, so it is important that your album cover stands out, along with the advert/poster.

You can match an album to the advert through use of colour, font, and image - all simple but effect when done well.

So how has Ellie Goulding effectively used advertising to sell her album?

• The image is very striking. She has used a simple image of herself (a close up shot), and added some little golden lights, to a) fit with the title, which works well, and to b) draw attention and brighten up the cover/advert. The way she has matched the little lights to strands of hair works very well and gives it a magical sort of effect.
• The text stands out, being golden in colour and surrounded by a gold glow. It immediately gives off a good vibe about the album, as gold is seen as a warm, positive colour. The text is also used across all of the releases related to this album, with all the single and EP releases, so makes it recognisable in the sense that it all links together.
• The reviews give positive feedback, and therefore persuade more people to buy the album, as it is apparently good!

#Ancillary 10 and 11 - Real Digipak / Finished Product

Here is the finished digipak, with as much done in response to the audience feedback as possible.

#Ancillary 9 - Audience feedback for mock digipak

Here is some audience feedback from a facebook post earlier today with some suggestions. I take the likes as positive feedback!

Some verbal feedback was received also:

• From a member of staff: 'I really like how indie it is, I would buy that!'
• From a fellow media student: 'You should make the colours of the front cover more like the ones of the back cover, then it will match more, and give it a slightly more "indie pop" feel, other than that, it's awesome.'

#Ancillary 8. Mock Up of Digipak

Here is my digipak mock up!! I still want to change the colours of the front title cover slightly before completion.

#Ancillary 7 - Digipak plan

The plan for my digipak...

I aim to use 6 of my own images, all taken while filming. The outside slots will all be filled with pictures taken outdoors, with the main front (title) and back (song list) covers with the boys on, and the extra panel with Lizzie featuring, with a blurred effect to make her look more dreamy.

The inside will be mainly black and white, apart from the disc tray which will be black and white with a different colour wash on 3 separate images, to distinguish a difference between each of the band members.

#Ancillary 6. Recent CD sales

As you may have guessed, in the last decade or two, CD sales have taken a decline, as the digital age takes over.

Here is a graph of projected CD sales for the USA, beginning in 2005 up until 2022

Sales of physical copies of CD's have since been overthrown by the digital album from companies like Apple with their famous music store 'iTunes'. The below graph shows how the digital downloads on iTunes seem to be always increasing, where in the same years on the graph above, physical CD sales are on the decrease. 

Many artists have realised this, and started releasing albums and singles which are only available for digital download. For example, Beyonce recently released her 5th album 'Beyonce' (2013) originally only on iTunes release, and it featured hit songs such as 'Drunk In Love'.

Some artists are also releasing free albums on iTunes, and a popular example is U2, with their album 'Songs Of Innocence'. Many people woke up to find this album downloaded on there apple devices, wondering why, but it was a gift from U2!

Vinyl Rebirth?

Within the last year and a bit, vinyl record sales have been on the rise, along with record players. This is because of young people (like teenagers) wanting to be retro by owning a record player, along with vinyls - some classic ones, like the Beetles, or Fleetwood Mac, and some modern, like Beyonce and Lana Del Ray.

Some of these so called 'Retro' teenagers have also discovered the great sound quality and collectability of records, and don't just listen to say they do and sound cool.

#Ancillary 5. Re-make of a digipak.

I chose to re-make Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida | Prospekts March' digipak, with help from the digital downloads book which came with the pack on iTunes...