Print Research: Album Advert Analysis

For my coursework I am going to make an album advert for our groups artist, so therefore I am going to analyse adverts of artists from the same genre as our band ‘The Miracles’ in order to gain some insight into what techniques are used to appeal to the target audience.

Florence is a well-established worldwide indie/pop artist. She has a very vintage image which appeals to the indie target audience as their style choices can often be similar, although possibly less extravagant, to Florence’s. Due to her versatile brand, she can also be popular within alternative genre circles such as soft rock.

The font that has been used for Florence’s advert is one that is used throughout her work. The use of the brand motif, creates a brand identity for the artist, which is an advertising technique used by many artists to promote themselves as stated by Andrew Goodwin. The font for the rest of the advert is very simplistic and vintage, that links in with her vintage style choices. Brief pieces of information have been placed on the advert, with the album title, release date and ways of release all being stated. Due to the wide range of release formats, this allows Florence to again appeal to a wide range of audiences, for example by offering  her album in vinyl format, links in with her vintage style, as this may be a preferred way for some of her audiences to listen to her sound.

The image used for the album, is the same that is used for her album cover. This creates a sense of continuity throughout her brand, allowing it to be easily recognisable for potential buyers. There is a contrast within the image, the use of floral patterns allows Florence to appeal to her female audience who possibly look up to her as a style icon, it promotes a sense of femininity in a subtle way, which is shown through Florence’ style. Her outfit and wavy hair, also links in with the feminine theme, with vintage style also being portrayed. However, by using the image of the lungs outside of her body, creates an alternative vibe within the image. It is a very quirky, entropic way to promote the name of the album ‘Lungs’, which will link in with the personalities of the genre. 

This is the promotional poster that Noah and the Whale used for their album ‘The First Days of Spring’.  There is a retro vibe being given off from this poster, through the use of scroll style font and the pastel colour scheme. The retro theme is commonly used within the indie genre, with many of the sounds being influenced by bands such as The Beatles.  Through lack of eye contact and restricted body language, the advert can be portrayed as quite distant however through the use of long grass and clear blue sky  which links in with the title of the album, a sense of continuity is produced, but also a sense of warmth and happiness making this advert appealing to the target audience. The quirky, unpolished finish of the advert would appeal greatly to the target audience, and would also appeal to alternative fans as it does not connote to a mainstream style.

The photo of the artists has a blurred effect to it, with the lead singer being the forefront. This is a redundant feature as the lead singer is often the most recognisable out of the group, therefore by using him as the forefront of the picture, fans are able to easily recognise the group from this photograph, this links in with Goodwin’s theory, and his idea that close up shots are often demanded by record labels, which seems to be the case in this scenario.

The font used for the band name ‘Noah and the Whale’ is the same font that is constantly used throughout the bands media. This is creates a brand motif for the band, which Goodwin suggests is often demanded by the record companies in order to promote the band, and to make their brand recognisable.

The advert consists of brief text including, the album title, the release date, versions of how it will be released, and some quotes from reviews. The font as mentioned before has a simplistic quirky style, which is to the point. This is appealing to the indie/pop genre linking in with their relaxed, chilled out style. The colour black contrasts well with the light blue background which makes the text stand out to make easy reading for the viewer, alongside making the advert more striking and eye catching.