Shown above is the magazine advert used for the promotion of Beyonce's third album 'I am... Sasha Fierce.' My first impressions of the advert is that it is clever and effective in portraying the artist brand and able to appeal to a wide audience.
Firstly the advert both follows and challenges the codes and conventions of stereo-typical music advertisements. One way that it follows the conventions is by having striking images acting as a wallpaper for the advert, covering the entirety. This allows text and any other component to be layered over it but with the advert still being eye-catching. The text is also clear and easy to read with the words 'The Album Out Now' the most prominent feature in the centre. This is where the audience' eyes are initially drawn to, making the purpose of the advert - to promote her new album - to be instantly known.
However, an element of the advert which breaks the conventions is that she doesn't have the full title of the album or the album artwork anywhere on the ad. For the majority of music adverts this would be ineffective advertising as the audience would therefore not know what exactly is being advertised. However, Beyoncé as an artist and brand dominates the music industry and the media allowing her to be able to break the conventions. If she releases a new album the world already knows its name and the album artwork is plastered everywhere in the media, therefore if an audience member enters a shop they will already know what they want and it will be at the front and more than likely in an easy-to-spot location.
As previously mentioned the background of the advert is striking images to engage with the audience. However, unlike normal music adverts which may only feature one image (usually the album artwork or related to the album image), this advert is split into two contrasting images, not related to the album artwork itself. The image on the left is soft, with a natural image of Beyoncé and with muted colours. The opposing image, is a strong, defined image of Beyoncé stood posed in a metallic outfit. I believe this is a representation of the well-known alter-ego "Sasha Fierce," a prominent theme in this particular album. The image on the left is representing Beyoncé Knowles, the person, the sister, the wife and the mother, on the right is Sasha Fierce, the independent performer and public persona.
The images are also used as a significant marketing ploy in order to attract a wider audience than the young female audience, stereotyped from Destiny's Child and her earlier albums. This is something that Beyoncé has tried to do consistently through the transition of her brand and music over the years. (This is a theme mentioned in more detail in my post titled Beyoncé brand or artist?) The softer image is what would be associated with slower songs, perhaps ballads or emotion - songs on the album which would stereotypically attract a female, more mature, and higher social grade audience. On the contrary the strong image would be associated with the powerful songs, perhaps more R&B or upbeat. This would more likely attract a younger audience, males, and a lower social grade. Thus through the use of both images it insinuates that whoever views the advert, there is something included that would appeal to them.
Alongside analysing the Beyoncé album advert I researched into other adverts used by similar female artist to help inspire me in creating mine. One that particularly stood out to me as opposing the Beyonce one is Jessie J's debut album advert. Unlike the Beyonce advert, Jessie J does use the image from her album artwork as the background image to her poster advertisement. This is more than likely because it is her debut album and the aim is to get her name known, therefore using the same image across all platforms makes it more recognisable. This is something that I may have to do with my album artwork as its a new artist and new song and therefore using the same image helps the audience to associate the advert with potentially buying the album.
Secondly, unlike Beyonce's this advert features lots of text to make the purpose of the advert easily known and has the artist name and album name the two most prominent features. The text is also set on a white background making it legible so the audience are more likely to take notice, it does however make it more formal and less eye-catching but its necessary for new artists to do to increase sales. Finally both artists do follow the conventions of a typical album advert by including popular songs featured on the album and the artist info (e.g. website.) This is important as artists usually pre-release some songs as singles to get the songs known and in the charts before releasing the album so once released, if people like the singles they are likely to want to hear more and thus buy the album. This is a popular marketing strategy across new and old artists.
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