3 Promotional videos analysis

 

Coca cola Christmas advert

The coca cola Christmas advert from 2020's Christmas is a prime example of a good advert as it is very clearly Coca Cola. From the second you press play on this advert you know it's a Coca Cola advert which means that the advert has already successfully advertised the product to you purely through notoriety. The advert itself is very pretty to look at and the director clearly took care in making it as impressive as possible to the viewer. The advert continues to sell the brand and also be seasonal to when the set it. The advert spends not much time at all selling the product as Coca Cola is so notorious it only needs to show up a few times in the advert, the rest of the advert is spent selling a small story that focuses on emotion and the meaning of family at Christmas time. The Coca Cola advert is most effective by using wide and impressive mise en scene as well as camera angles that add emotion. The scene that stood out the most to me was towards the end where we get a close up of the fathers face followed by a mid shot of his daughter and then a close up of the fathers face again. This use of the Kuleshov effect is very well placed here as it adds emotion to the advert through the use of this sequence and this also makes the advert memorable if it is emotional for the viewer. This advert doesn't adhere to all of the typical conventions of an advert as it is far more story based, typically this advert barely shows the brand at all in the video. The advert does this on purpose however as it intends to be much more personal to the viewer and intends to show an emotional story that interests the viewer in the main characters journey that is more influenced by the brand rather than showing off the brand. One thing that this advert does adhere to is the length as this advert is pretty standard in length however it shows off so much within two and half minutes that it feels like a much longer advert.

Soda stream advert

The Sodastream advert from this year uses humour and famous appearances to drive the advert. The advert is about finding water on mars and the actual product is only shown in the last 10 seconds of the advert. The Sodastream advert uses the mystery and the build up of an exciting event to drive the surprise at the end which reveals their product. I believe this advert is great because of it's memorability compared to adverts thanks to its diverting of expectations. The advert is also quite impressive when watching the advert which adds to it's intrigue. Sodastream is a well defined brand so the advert works really well at selling their product even if it only shows up at the end and for a very short amount of time. The Sodastream advert has a lot of short and snappy cuts of close ups towards the end of the advert as well as a good mix of mid, long and close ups. The advert is shot in an aspect ratio similar to that of cinemascopes 21:9 making it have the cinematic bars across the top and bottom, this is clearly a stylistic choice to make the advert seem like a movie and mimics a lot of the parts of the movie the Martian(2015) to the point where even the suits look similar. With this trailer they clearly intended to parody the sci-fi movie and the humour works well as it makes the advert memorable and advertises the product well. I believe that this advert does adhere to the most of the conventions of a typical advert as although it only shows the brand in the final 10 seconds or so of the advert it's a very blatant showing of it and it feels as though the advert has been building to it making it more obvious in my opinion. Where the advert doesn't adhere to the typical conventions is in how it's shot, it's cinemascope ratio makes it adds to its parody feeling and isn't common in other adverts.

Toyota highlander advert

The Toyota advert has always got the product it's trying to sell in the shot throughout the advert while also making the advert interesting through it's use of humour and clever shots. The adverts seamlessly shows you the interior and exterior of the car without ever saying it, in a way that suits the story the advert has created. They show the car as able to accomplish anything in the advert as it appears in lots of different terrains and places without ever saying it. They even show off some of the features of the car and neatly tie this all into a narrative about it being for the person has to do a lot of miles. The Camera angles used are mainly mid and long shots from outside the car while in the are close up shots. The advert creates the idea that the car can be the hero in every movie as it parody's dramatic film endings and shows up in them. The advert uses an over the shoulder shot as the van is pulling away and leaving the man in the first part of the advert as well as a two shot. The use of many different camera angles gives it the movie feeling and in many ways is filmed like a movie as it is supposed to mimic them. The advert makes use of humour as the car appears in dangerous scenarios and gives people an inexplicable escape from immediate danger which is what makes it memorable. This advert doesn't use any symbolism as from the start of the advert to the end of the advert the brand will always be seen. This advert adheres to some of the conventions such as using juxtaposition to create intrigue, this is done within the whole advert as the car appears in places it shouldn't be, the advert also makes great use of mise en scene as it parodies typical environments from movies.