When addressing how our products within our campaign represent social groups or issues, we can take a look at the portrayal of gender and age. When analysing gender it is very clear that the band members ahere to the male stereotypes. This is because throughout the music video they are dressed in dark shades with leather jackets and jeans, the music video itself has a blue tone to it, soft colours are not used once. The lighting used is very harsh and aggressive and the mannerisms portrayed by the band members have a sense of aggression to it as well. For example gripping tightly to a microphone, strong drum hitting, giving the impression they are not to be messed with, a stereotype most common within men. The editing is also quite violent once again adding to the aggression and adhering to the male stereotype.
When discussing the Social Media we can also conclude that it adheres to the male stereotype. This is because the colour scheme is of very dark tones, and the members never seem to be smiling in order to add to the harsh theme of the concept. The content produced also features posts with a harsh and gritty feel to them, to put it in other words. Nothing about what they post is soft and pretty, an aggressive look is applied to everything.
Onto the digipak, the same points discussed apply to this part of the campaign as well. The colours used are dark and give off a threatening vibe to it. The font used to write with is scratchy and untidy adhering to a typically male stereotype and the way a night-time street is used as the front cover instantly insinuates the impression that this band is threatening and has aggression to them.
Overall we can see that when it comes to gender this band aheres to the stereotypes since their content gives off an implication of violence and aggression and their colour scheme is dark and hardly features and lighter softer colours.
Now looking at the social group, age. In the music video we can see that the boys are clearly ages 16-17 as they can be seen hanging around streets when its dark, a trait most commun in teenage boys. Also their clothing also indicates that they are teenagers as they are dressed in skinny jeans and t-shirts, stereotypically items of clothing seen on people ages 16-17.
When looking at the social media page we can see that it implies that they are teenagers as well since there are one or two posts of them messing around and having fun while on set.
The digipak also contains an element of quirkiness and an urge to be different a trait common with teenagers at the ages 16-17, a need to stand out there.
These features make this campaign perfectly aimed at teenage boys as these are the qualities that really attract this social group towards things and is a perfect sell point.
In our campaign the audience we decided to target were teenage boys ages 16-17. Across the different elements we made sure to include aspects that would make up the image we wanted to put towards our suitable audience.
When creating our DigiPak we made sure to include a colour scheme that would appeal to our audience, we used dark harsh tones to give a sense of aggression a quality that engages most teenage boys. In order to also put across this same image we used a harsh scratchy type font a quality that would also intrigue our audience. Our use of average backstreet photos can also make Dyers theory apply in this context. Our logo is a Bull which projects an image of danger and hardcore from the start. It also adds a sense of aggression to the image and engages teenage boys further.
When looking at the music video we can tell that it links to the DigiPak in terms of the same image is put across. The harsh flashing lights gives it a sense of aggression and danger. Also linking back to the backstreet photos, the footage used in the music video involving the members running around alleyways during dark hours engages our teenage boy audience, as this is an activity most enjoyed by them. Dyers theory is also applicable here. The use of harsh tones also ties in with the DigiPak. These qualities once again all contribute to making a campaign with a strong selling point towards our teenage boy audience.
When looking at the social media we can see its relation to the DigiPak as well as targeting the audience. For example, the posts all have a dark feel to them as does the DigiPak, and the use of behind the scenes posts relates to the music video. The posts involving the band members have them dressed dark clothing, an aspect of style engaging the teenage boy audience. And the posts of them running around dark alleyways gives off a feel of danger and a sense of rebellion, a quality that has been shown to engage teenage boys for a long time. Our social media also has a profile picture of our logo, instead of the band members. This is illustrate that this band is not aimed for girls, otherwise traditionally photos of the bands faces would be a perfect sell point. Dyers theory is also relevant, for example, we show enough about the music video but not enough to spoil it. Keeping our audience engaged.
Our audience we were trying to engage was 16-17 year old boys. The uses and gratifications theory involving personal relationships applies here.
This is because our social media pages allow our band to engage with our audience on a more personal level, we posted content that told followers what the band was up to, making our audience feel as if they were just like their friends. It also allows interaction on another level since they can comment and the band members can respond. Involving the music video, our video features the band members looking and singing at the camera. This makes the audience feel as if the members are singing at them, an experience similar to sitting front row at a concert. This engages our audience into finding the video very personal and makes them feel as if they are important to this band, they have all their attention, and they feel as if they truly have a connection with the band members.
Another theory that applies here is personal identity.
This is because, on our social media page we have included posts of the band members getting up to average things, such as eating at their favourite fast food restaurant, which once again provokes a feeling of relatability and engages the audience further as they believe they have a connection with the band members. Onto the music video, in order to build this connection we made sure to feature clips such as the band members running around town at night since it engages the audience as they feel a sense of relatability since it makes the band members appear like they are just like them and therefore the audience can trust them.
These factors are how we engaged our audience that our campaign was aimed at.
The genre of our product was Indie rock. Our campaign conforms to Steve Neals theory.
This is because we had features of our campaign that were very stereotypical for our genre. For example, most of the colours used in our music video were quite stereotypical for indie rock and the way of which we dressed our band members also ahered to the typical stereotypes of indie rock, since they all were dressed in casual clothing.
Our music video however also conformed to Andrew Goodwin’s theory, as we included many close ups of the band members was singing/ playing. Once again relating to the conventions of music videos. Also while yes, there are close ups of the band members faces, the majority of the music is focused on the instruments and the concept. This therefore makes the music video once again relate to Steve Neals theory as the band is trying to promote the music not the members, a trait stereotypical for indie rock bands.
When looking at the social media and Digipak we can confirm that they also conform to Steve Neals theory. This is because once again the social media and Digipak is more about promoting the music instead of the band as members. This can be proven through the social media posting about upcoming events and interviews, things that involve their music, instead of photos of the band members faces. Also if we take a look at the DigiPak in total there is only one photo with a band member on that entire album, and it isn’t even the first thing you see, it’s on the back. This is done to promote the music instead of the members.
This all together clearly tells us that our music campaign used conventions instead of challenging them, and we adhered to both Steve Neal’s and Andrew Goodwin’s theories.
