Mika is a true pop artist in the best sense of the word. His songs are often self-reflective and deal with difficult topics however he has the ability to infuse joy and happiness into all his music and this joyfulness is represented through the bright, vibrant and busy visuals. This album cover is unique in terms of visuals in comparison to other pop albums. The busy mixes of graphic images are inspired by a pop art style which represents the music genre at large. In what appears to be a distorted passport size photo there is an image of the artist, this is unconventional as to the majority of album covers and advertisements which would normally incorporate a full blown image of them selves or an iconic image that represents them that would dominate the cover or advertisement. The images are bright and vibrant and instantly eye-catching and attractive to the consumer. Mika’s debut album also contained animated images and by continuing this theme on in his second album it enable the consumer to more easily recognise the album as his. The pictures that feature are illustrated interpretations of each of his songs that feature on his album. The album name 'the boy who knew too much' may be a reflection of him and his album suggesting that he perhaps knows too much and everything is confusing and mystifying and thrown onto the cover.
The advertisement is basically an enlarged version of the actual album cover itself. Therefore people can link it back to perhaps an advertisement for the CD that they have seen on television and instantly recognise it. The dominating image of his CD cover will attract the attention of the audience. They have made the advert appear more 3D, almost as if you are going to fall into it, this will make people want to stop and read it. I think another reason they have chosen to use the album cover to advertise the CD is because the artists name and album title are bold and eye-catching and placed in a perfect place to incorporate the rest of the information and still maintaining distance to separate the two.
The information the advertisement contains is that it establishes that this is Mika’s ‘new album’ this will persuade more people to buy it as potential buyers like to try out new things and especially if you are a big Mika fan you will want to know when the new album is out. The key piece of information is the actual release date it will be available to buy, this is displayed in number format rather written in letters as it is easier to read and stands out form the rest of the text. It also informs the viewer of the most popular songs that are contained in the album this is indicated where it says ‘includes…’, people are more likely to buy something if they know it will contain their favourite songs, this way it draws peoples attention closer. Other information that is also included within the advertisement is all the places it available to buy and in what format
for example deluxe edition or available on download.
The information the advertisement contains is that it establishes that this is Mika’s ‘new album’ this will persuade more people to buy it as potential buyers like to try out new things and especially if you are a big Mika fan you will want to know when the new album is out. The key piece of information is the actual release date it will be available to buy, this is displayed in number format rather written in letters as it is easier to read and stands out form the rest of the text. It also informs the viewer of the most popular songs that are contained in the album this is indicated where it says ‘includes…’, people are more likely to buy something if they know it will contain their favourite songs, this way it draws peoples attention closer. Other information that is also included within the advertisement is all the places it available to buy and in what format
for example deluxe edition or available on download. In very small print at the bottom of the ad is the artist’s website, all though this ad is not marketing the website it is useful to have on because fans will appreciate this information and also it enable people who have not heard of him to perhaps use this source to find out moiré about him and then possibly buy the album. All the important information is situated in the bottom right hand corner away form all the distracting visuals, so people are able to give it their full attention. The text used is blue and white to contrast and stand out form the black background and also to continue with the colour theme of the whole ad, because although there are a variety of bright colours the dominating three colours are black, white and blue and these colours are incorporated into all of the text displayed on the advert.
In conclusion I think this album release advertisement works well because it is visually attractive, instantly attracts the attention of the audience with its unique qualities and still contains all the key information that is needed to successfully market the product.
Gwen Stefani is a pop artist and this magazine advertisement is marketing the release of her first solo album ‘Love Angel Music Baby’ otherwise known as l.a.m.b which is also her clothes line label. The album is full of extremely catchy music and is overall a well crafted piece of pop culture. The content within the album represents women as attractive and sexy but not in an objectification or sexualised way and this is displayed in the advertisement. Gwen Stefani is represented in the stereotypical light of platinum blonde bombshell, showing off her envious midriff for added sex appeal and attraction. Her lips are a distinctive red and they are slightly open which indicates lust, seduction and look inviting and enticing. Moreover her hair is covering one eye which adds a height of mystery to the album, making people want to find out and the one eye which is visible is directly looking at the audience making them feel more involved and respect as a fan or potential buyer.
The release of Stefani's first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, four back-up dancers who dress in Gwen’s interpretation of the Harajuku Station of Tokyo, Japan, known as a popular shopping destination and fashion center for teenagers. They were featured in her music videos, press coverage and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and have a song dedicated to them on the album. This indicates that her target audience is teenagers and young adults. As she opts to feature these girls in most press events it is unusual that they are not central to the advertisement, this could be the reason she has chosen to feature an image of the actual album in the bottom left hand corner because they feature the china doll looking figures at either side of her. Fans will recognise these models as being exclusive to Stefani and make her album more easily recognisable.
Again this advertisement features a dominating image taken from a section of the actual album cover the advert is marketing and enlarging it. For this advert they have chosen to display the centre of the cover which is the artist herself ‘Gwen Stefani’ slouched provocatively, representing herself as quite literally a ‘pop princess’ as she is sat on what appears to be a thrown. In the advertisement and album cover she is represented as royalty through the use of props such as a crown, a cane with a jeweled crown on the top, and the dominating red an gold colours that are incorporated throughout the ad to reinforce the idea of royalty as these are the associated colours. She has a presence of dominance, superior and power and this is reflected in her use of the cane.
There are four dominant colours within the advertisement and these are gold, red, black and white. The gold and reds are stereotypically associated with royalty, high social class and wealth. The text is in gold, this represents wealth and power and this reinforces the idea about her being royalty illustrated in the visuals. The font used is very grand, it looks proud, professional and is visually attractive and artistic representing her as having many high /superior qualities. .
There is a picture of the album that is being advertised in the bottom left hand corner, this gives the audience something to relate to and also makes it more recognizable for consumers when they go out to buy it. Similar to Mika’s album advert the visuals are bright, vibrant and eye-catching not only attracting attention but representing the music genre which will directly appeal to the target audience.It also informs the audience what the album will include the most popular songs, these are likely to have been number one singles or high in the charts, a technique used to persuade people to want to go out and but it. In addition to this the advert also tells the audience that one of her songs also features another high profile singer ‘Eve’, this is like telling the consumer they are getting the delights of two of their favourite singers for the price of one, enticing them even further. The difference between this advertisement and Mika’s is that ‘Love Angel Music Baby’ is already out for sale, this ad is reinforcing that the album is already out, we are told this at the bottom of the advert as it is not as important to stress the release date, instead they can focus on emphasizing the artist and album itself. We know it is currently on sale because it says ‘Album in store now’ below this is a logo from the online music store ‘target.com’. This extra information may help increase sales if fans and potential consumers know where they are able to buy it from, it also helps give publicity to the music store itself. In addition to this the advert also publicises the artists websites, which seem to be a common feature on advertisements.
In terms of the real world the sales figures of albums can be largely influenced by how much publicity they have and whether it is good, effective publicity. Advertisements must be designed in such a way that it attracts the target audience for that specific product. So for example an advert for an album of the rock genre would not attract potential buyers by having images of flowers or bright, bubbly colours. It is therefore important that everything that goes into the advert from colours to visual images and to fonts represent the the genre of the album and the potential buyer.
What I have learnt about the codes and conventions of magazine advertisements for album releases; the advert usually has some sort of image or visuals that dominate the majority of the space. These visuals are often representations of the content or graphic images taken from the actual album at hand and adapting it to fit in the text that has all the required information. There are usually three or four colours that are dominant and I have found that this is a conventional aspect of not only advertisements but a range of media texts such as front covers and that the same colours continue throughout the whole of the product.
The information that is supplied is usually grouped together in bold font and a contrasting colour to the background to make it stand out, clear to read and easy to spot. The information that is usually supplied is; The artist, the album title, the release date, special mention to the most recognisable/popular songs and possibly a particular artists that may also feature in one of the songs, which is usually indicated by ‘includes’, a dominating image of the artist/visual representations of content/an enlarged version of the album cover itself adapted to look like a magazine advert and creates space for the information to be supplied, more often then not it will display the artists website address and also where it is available to buy for example in store or downloading online and also in what different formats in comes in whether it be CD deluxe edition or digipak or DVD. Occasionally there will also be specific reference to what shop or website you can buy the product from by including the companies logo.
Now that I am able to recognise and understand thoroughly the codes and conventions of what needs to go into a magazine advertisement for album release. Through conducting this research I have supplied myself with the knowledge to make my own advertisement for the release of my artist’s new album to the best of my ability and make it as effective and realistic as possible.
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