Research into similar products

I have been looking at different radio advertisements on YouTube.

It is clear that all radio advertisements must have some sort of background noise, in mine there will be upbeat, but smooth music in the background to emphasise that my magazine is full of life and interesting.

On YouTube I found different advertisements for places like McDonalds, Nando's etc.:


They have given me confidence in the script for my radio advertisement, I will now have to start looking for background music to add a professional touch to the advert.

Drafting and planning

After looking at a length of time for my radio advertisement I then had to work out how long it needed to be.

This is how I have narrowed my radio advertisement down:

I am going to start with a rhetorical question: "would you like a greater insight into what's going on in Birmingham?" because this will immediately grab the listeners attention.

I then introduce my magazine by saying "pick up a copy of hashtag insight magazine for the inside gossip and hottest news in Britain's second biggest city" this gives a short and concise intro for the product and also emphasises the greatness of Birmingham in one sentence.

Followed by a short summary of what's inside the magazine "with an exclusive focus on fashion, beauty, news, sport, nightlife, entertainment, arts and culture, hashtag insight covers all aspects of city life" this makes the magazine appear full to the brim with info and news which reiterates the point in the second sentence of "latest gossip and hottest news".

The advert goes on to say "for a greater insight (an answer to the rhetorical question at the start) into the dynamic city, get the third edition of hashtag insight at just £3.75 now" another compliment is paid to the city and really makes it sound appealing to listeners.

The last sentence in the advertisement says "hashtag insight, your best guide to the best time in Brum" which coincidentally is my selling line for the magazine. Therefore I have created synergy and the repetition of the word best establishes that the city and the magazine are both fantastic!



All in all the advertisement will go like this:

"Would you like a greater insight into what's going on in Birmingham?"
"Pick up a copy of hashtag insight magazine for the inside gossip and the hottest news in Britain's second biggest city"
"With an exclusive focus on fashion, beauty, nightlife, entertainment, news, sport, arts and culture, hashtag insight covers all aspects of city life"
"So, for a greater insight into the dynamic city, get the third edition of hashtag insight for just £3.75 now"
pause... "hashtag insight, the best guide to the best time in Brum"



Whilst the advertisement may look short on here, when recorded with the correct pauses, it does last for thirty seconds.

Drafting and planning

I have been looking at different lengths of radio advertisements and why you should choose these lengths, to fit my magazine I had to research into these different time lengths.

I found a website of FAQ's, RAB why radio?

Which contained information on 60 seconds, 30 seconds and 15 seconds advertisement.

By reading this information:

60 ADS

• For complex messages to avoid leaving doubts and questions
• To include specific details to help persuade - more believable than generalities
• For a business category that’s new and not easily understood - to create realization of need before selling your solution
• For highly entertaining ads geared to inspire consumers to "like you better" - effective for generic businesses and commodities

30 ADS

• To make an easy-to-understand offer for a product or service that is clearly understood
• To make a single point in an ad

15 ADS

• To convey an incredibly powerful, simple message
• To reinforce simple name recognition to make customers think of your name when your are the sole advertiser in your business category

After reading this information I have decided that a thirty second advertisement will work best in convergence with my products.

This is because it sure is an "easy to understand product" and I don't need to make any huge points about it either. I can demonstrate its simplicity through a thirty second ad. 

Target audience

I received one comment from a member of my target audience offering advice for me to change the colour of the font of the social networking addresses on my billboard. They said that it was difficult to see them when studying the billboard, let alone if it was up high and you were driving past.

I am going to change the colour of the font, or outline the font on PagePlus now.

Drafting and planning/Target audience

After taking the advice on board,

I edited the billboard in PagePlus so that I could move the font around and change the colours.

Therefore, I have moved "Birmingham" up, yet I haven't changed the colour because #Insight is the only text that I would like to have real dominance and be the focal point of the billboard, yet when "Birmingham" is edited to this colour, it doesn't give it any real power.

I have resized the selling line "The best guide to the best time in Brum" (enlarged it) and left "Brum" a line on it's own. This will make it really stand out and metaphorically and physically help it to be the central word for my billboard.

Then I made the social networking and website at the bottom of the billboard in bold to make it stand out to the reader and in actual fact make it easier to see as the lightness of it in the first draft of the billboard actually made it hard to see.

Then I imported the whole image into Paint.Net to feather it and smooth out the edges, especially on the model,

I am very happy with this version of my billboard.

I am now going to personally message members of my target audience to ask them how I could improve on my billboard, I will use their comments to make differences so I can come closer to my final version.

Drafting and planning

I have received feedback from my peers about how best to improve my billboard:

The comments I received in order to improve this are:

• Move the title "Birmingham" a little higher to make the selling line the focus point.
• See what "Birmingham" looks like in the same colour and tone as "#Insight".
• Try to put the digital versions at the bottom in a darker or more prominent colour. 
• Attempt to feather the model more.

I am now going to use PagePlus to make these changes, yet import the model into Paint.Net to make changes to the image.

I will then post these changes on my blog.

Drafting and planning

After looking into my billboard more, and finding out that there needs to be one prominent image and as few words as possible, I started to create my first draft of my billboard.

In connection to my blog post on Monday 29th February, I have used the software Paint.Net to play around with multiple images to create a busy background for my bill board.

Firstly I imported the image of my cover star:

One I did this, I used the magic wand to deselect the black background behind her. Then I used the eraser tool to get rid of anything else that the magic wand couldn't. Next, I used the feather option to soften out the edges, so we could more or less only see the hairline of the model.

Then I imported an image of Brindley Place:

I positioned it behind the model. This is because I want the model to become the prominent picture. I left this image nice and bold, it was to work as a base image. I chose this as it presents the city as beautiful, varied and traditional.

Then I imported a picture of Selfridges:

Also positioned behind the model. This is one of Birmingham's important landmarks because of the unique architecture of the building. I then selected the opacity option to make the image more transparent so that the Brindley Place image could shine through.

After that I imported a picture of Central Library:

I used the same method as before. Seeing this part of the process made me realise I needed a picture of the Bull Ring, to add a prominent figure. 

I imported a picture of the Bull outside the Bull Ring:

I thought that this actually looked quite effective. Yet the image as a whole all together seemed pretty dull. I remembered I had taken a picture of the canal and lights at night, so thought it was best to see what colour it could bring to the billboard.

I imported a picture of the Canal lighting:

After doing so, I made sure that it was beneath the layer of the Bull Ring to provide the Bull with a better stance. I think the reflection of the lights work well here, not only because they make the city seem vibrant and welcoming but because the orange tones could potentially work well with the colour scheme exhibited within the magazine.

I then saved my image as one and imported it into PagePlus:

I took the masthead from my magazine and the selling line from my magazine and imported them on top of the image. I think this looks quite effective. The use of multiple images shows that the billboard promotes a magazine that is full of life and different elements of the region. Not only that but the colours work really well and compliment one another. I included the social networking logo's on the billboard to show that the magazine and info about it can be found on different platforms. 

I am very happy with my first official draft of my billboard: