How effective is the

combination of your
main product and
ancillary texts?
EVALUATION QUESTION 2
To what extent have you created an
effective promotional package?
Although I predominantly sought to achieve aesthetically pleasing print productions, I also strived to achieve
some that would act as an effective promotional package. For instance, when looking at my magazine
advertisement, the largest features are Kings and Samuel Ford at the top (A). What stands out as well is
the release date (23-05-2017) (B). I positioned this towards the bottom so the white colour of the font stood
out against the darker section of the poster. In addition, a predominant feature is the sunset which is likely to
draw the readers attention (C), the release date is positioned near it to encourage an audience member to
see the release date as they look around the advert with the sunset as a starting point. My magazine advert
was designed so that at a glance, an audience member is very likely to see the most important promotional
information , i.e. who the artist is, the name of the album and when it is released. Even if they just scanned
over it or passed it by, it may be likely they could pick up on the vital information increasing the
effectiveness of this advert as a promotional package.
From my research, I was aware that a common method of creating a magazine that is an effective
promotional package is including some writing about which tracks can be found on the album (D), clearly the
idea being that if an audience knows a certain track they particularly like is included, they are more likely to
buy the album. Underneath the release date, I wrote Includes Kings, The Storm and medicine (E). I
used the music sharing platform Spotify to find that these 3 songs were the 3 most popular by my artist (F),
Samuel Ford. Including these 3 tracks on the magazine advert would increase the effectiveness of the
productions as a promotional package as audience members would be more likely to buy the album with the
knowledge that their favourite track, likely one of these 3 popular songs, were included on it.
 (A)

(D)

(B) (C)
(F)
(E)
How easy would it be to figure out that the
3 products were promoting the same artist?
I believe that it would be very easy to figure out that my 3 products were promoting the same
artist. For instance, there is a very clear aesthetic/ stylistic link between both of my print
productions through the reoccurring use of the sunset photograph (G). This adds an emotive,
heart warming tone to the pieces, which are commonly associated with the genre of our music.
The ancillary products relate to the music video, perhaps not through a direct aesthetic link, but
through more of a thematic/ symbolic link. The natural, uplifting, awe of the sunset photograph
closely resembles and reflects the acoustic, up-lifting and organic associations with the genre of
our chosen artist.
Renowned scholar Stuart Hall spent much of his career developing the Encoding mode of
communication (H). Halls model argues that messages behind media texts are encoded by a
producer and are then decoded by the audience. In other words, the meanings of media texts
are determined by the audience, not the producer, who interpret their own meaning, influenced
by their individual position and context. Each person will create a unique meaning from the
same text. In relation to my productions, an audience member will form their own interpretations
of the sunset photograph and thus, associate this meaning to all of my products. This creates a
consistency between the meanings of all 3 products, which according to Stuart Hall, will be
unique to every audience member.
 (G)

(H)
How easy would it be to figure out that the
3 products were promoting the same artist?
Furthermore, there are some visual imagery links/ visual motifs that are used
across my products that would help an audience member to figure out that
the products are promoting the same artist. For example, the image of the
beach hut (I) occurring throughout. This is heavily used throughout our music
video as the main meeting place for the two characters and the place where
the photograph carried by Samuel was taken. The same beach hut was used
during the construction of some of the panels of my digipak, e.g. the inside-
left, inside right and on the back panel of the jewel case, a similar image of a
row of beach huts was used. This creates a strong sense of coherence and
consistency between the digipak and music video so the relationship
between them, and the fact they are promoting the same artist, is clear.
(I)
How successful are they in creating a
brand identity for your artist?
My final productions are very successful in creating a brand identity for my artist. One of the ways
this is achieved is through the similarities between my productions and the productions of other
artists within the music industry and specifically within this genre. For example, the frequent use of
the colour blue used throughout my productions (J) reflects the natural, emotive feel of this genre
and is a colour that throughout my digipak research I have found to be commonly used by similar
artists (K).
During the construction of our music video, we put a particular emphasis on using outdoor
locations that would immerse the characters in some aesthetically pleasing, organic environments
(L) and during our research we found that a lot of artists shot their music videos in locations like
these (M), perhaps because it suits the acoustic genre well. Therefore, we were keen to use similar
locations to establish the music video of our artist firmly within the genre and to compete with well
known videos.
When it comes to print productions, a common trend within the music industry, is for the magazine
advert to feature a larger version of the digipaks front panel (N). Therefore, when it came to
designing my magazine advert, this was definitely something I took into account because I wanted
to produce a more refined product that would create a professional brand identity for my artist (O).
 (K)

(J)
(L)
(M)
(N) (O)
How successful are they in creating a
brand identity for your artist?
In addition, there is a few narrative links between the message of my music video and my print
productions that contribute to the construction of a brand identity for my artist. On the inside-left
panel of my digipak, over the image of the beach hut, I included a brief text layer that featured the
lyrics to the chorus of Kings (live like we ought to, live like were born to, live like were all of us
kings) (P). This acts as an inspirational message to the audience and tells them to be determined,
persistent and chase what is really important to them. This message, for one directly linking with the
lyrics of the track, also relates to the meaning of our music video. The characters pursue their
relationship together and ignore differences/ arguments to live like they were born to. This
establishes a clear brand identity for my artist where audience members are likely to be inspired by
Samuel Fords message and will look up to him as a role model.
Another way I was successful in creating a brand identity for my artist is through the use of audience
pleasures. The audience members can identify with the youthful male and female characters and are
thus immersed in the action. As viewers/ readers can relate to the characters, the combination of my
music video and print productions place them in the landscape of Samuel and Lucy. This allows a
brand identity for my artist to be created as audience members can relate to the products and can
build up a stronger relationship to the artists work, and thus the artist himself. Furthermore, the use of
the outer sleeve (Q), with cut out windows to the front panel, adds to a sense of interaction with the
products which would contribute to the creation of a brand identity for my artist.
(P)

(Q)