Billboard analysis

For one of my ancillary tasks I have chosen to make a billboard to advertise my regional magazine. Before I start I will analyse three current advertising Billboards used by Pepsi, Despicable Me 2 and Honda. I will analyse how each billboard uses colour, representation, layout and theory. 

Pepsi

The colour red connotes energy and joy. These are relevant concept to a drink like Pepsi as drinks are meant to be refreshing supplying the person drinking them with energy. If you then have energy you are more likely to have fun and enjoy yourself. Blue is meant to be associated with the mind and body, which again could relate to a drink such as Pepsi as it can link to a healthy and energetic lifestyle.  The colour white connotes goodness and perfection, which are themes a drink company such as Pepsi would like to suggest.

The product is represented as refreshing fun, relaxing and fun. I can connote this from the images used on the Billboard. The large image of the glass with the ice and was purposely taken like that in order to make it look refreshing and to make the audience viewing the Billboard want to have some. The large image of the woman smiling connotes happiness and joy which are key concepts of fun. This links to Hebdige’s theory of youth, which is “youth as fun”. Youth is a huge target audience for products such as Pepsi as these are popular brands for this age range.

The layout of this Billboard is very simple as it consists of mainly large images and very little text and the logo of the Pepsi brand. Brand recognition is a key concept behind this Billboard as the name of the brand is never actually used on it so the Billboard relies on the audience recognising the brand. This suggests that they are a very popular brand as they have no need to advertise the company but only advertise the product which they are selling. The consistent red, white and blue colour theme is vital to the brand recognition to work as almost everyone can recognise these as the colours for this particular brand. There is very little text used in this Billboard which follows the “General rule of thumb”. This rule uses the concept that it is better to show more than tell. The lack of text also makes the Billboard more interesting and more memorable as the audience doesn’t have to take a lot of information in.

Despicable me 2

The yellow and blue colours of the Minions characters are iconic and can be used as basic brand recognition. The colour yellow connotes joy and happiness which are key themes to the target audience for this film, which are young people. Again this can link into Hebdige’s theory “youth as fun”. The colour blue used alongside yellow creates a high impact, vibrant colour scheme. These again will appeal to and attract the target audience for this film. The orange used can be used to connote energy and happiness which again are key themes to the target audience but are also key themes in the film as these are they key traits of the minion characters within the Despicable Me franchise. The colour white connotes perfection which may be used to suggest that that the film is a perfect family film. The colour pallet is full of key themes for the target audience of these films and are good colours to use to advertise it.

The characters on this Billboard as used to represent the film as being fun as they are playing with one another which suggests the film itself will be fun. This will appeal to the target audience of young people as Hebdiges theory says “youth as fun”.

Similarly to the Pepsi Billboard it used the “general rule of thumb” which again appeals to the target audience.

Honda

This Billboard uses a dark colour scheme consisting of red, black and white. The colour red connotes energy and passion. These are key themes to products such as motorbike because energy can be used to talk about the fuel used to power the bike and the excitement and energy of riding it. The red can also be used to represent the passion the company has for their bikes and the passion of those who ride them. The colour black connotes power and elegance which again are important themes to products like the one shown in the Billboard above. The power aspect of this connotation may be used to represent the power of the motorbike itself making the audience interested and excited about it. The colour black may be used to connote the elegance of the design again making it appeal to the audience. The colour white can connote perfection. They may have used this to suggest that their product is one of the best out there and near to perfection making the audience want to purchase it.

The bike in the Billboard is being represented as powerful. This is not only through the use of colour but because of the way in which it is displayed in proportion to the text and other features used on the billboard. The image of the bike is by far the largest component featured on the billboard making it seem more powerful and making it the most important part of this advertising it. This may connote that the bike is powerful itself making more interesting and exciting to the audience viewing the billboard. This links into Stanley Halls 1904 theory “youths must have excitement”. This advert may be used to appeal to young adults. Hall’s theory suggests that they will seek excitement wherever possible meaning they will have an interest in high powered motorbike which will make this advert appeal to them.

The layout of this billboard is again similar to that of the other two which I have analysed. Like the others it uses a large image and very few words, and follows the “general rule of thumb”. However unlike the Pepsi billboard, the company logo is used frequently on this billboard. This suggests that they are not such a well-known brand so feel that they have to advertise the brand as well as the product in order to attract a wider customer base.