I am going to design and create an advert advertising basketball shoes for women. The advert will be designed to appeal to female basketball players (as well as girls who are thinking of taking up some kind of sport) aged fourteen to twenty one. Looking at other adverts involving this type of convention, I have discovered some key features that I will need to include in order to ensure that my advert appeals to its designated target audience.
Firstly, I will need to include a close up shot of the shoe itself. This is necessary to provide the audience with a clear idea of the look and design of the product so they can appreciate it. It would also be of benefit to include a few shots of the shoe in action, perhaps a close up of the foot of a player during play or a mid shot of both feet of the player when dribbling the ball. Thirdly, because this advert is designed to appeal to women, I think it is necessary to encode a message which suggests power to women within the advert. This may come in the form of a slogan shown on screen at the end of the advert as well as the narrative suggesting a female dominance in this situation.
This is a rough outline of what my advert will include: There will be a game of basketball in progress (all male players) when a girl walks past the court, most probably carrying a basketball. She watches the boys play and walks over as if to join in. One guy approaches her and squares up to her as if to suggest that she plays him. There is a cut to a one on one match between the female and the male. The female will get beaten in the game and most likely end up on the floor as consequence of a move which the male player will have pulled on her. This frame will close with a shot of the female sitting on the ground looking dejected while the other males walk off laughing and joking.
There will be a fade out and in to a new frame which will suggest the next day. The same guys are playing basketball again. Again, the same girl arrives at the scene but she has her new basketball shoes on. The music changes to suggest a change in the girls attitude, she has become more positive and upbeat with her new footwear. This time she challenges the same guy to a one on one game and beats him. The guy is left on the floor as the girl walks away; she looks back and smiles at him and his friends who are simply in awe of her. The advert will close with a shot of the basketball shoe and a message reading “DESIGNED FOR GIRLS – NOT AVAILABLE IN PINK”.
I think that this slogan suggests to the audience that, while it is a women’s shoe it does not bare the stereotypical criteria of a woman’s shoe, hence the slogan “not available in pink”. This advert is very much displaying “girl power” – be it in a more subtle form, this should appeal to the target audience who want to be seen as equal to males when it comes to playing sport. By having this slogan in the advert it is implying that by owning this shoe, you are escaping the stereotypical idea that females who play sport are far weaker than males.
The music used in the advert will be of a hip-hop genre; this is because basketball links strongly to black culture where hip-hop is the primary music that is listened to. There will be a change of music at the point where the girl begins to become confident with her new trainers, the music will become more upbeat and responsive to what is happening in the narrative. I think that this music will again appeal to the target audience because it is possible that a large number of girls who are into basketball also share same cultural tastes and therefore will appreciate the music style. Also, this music has a naturally upbeat feel which will hopefully make the advert enjoyable to watch as well as getting the point across. There will be no use of dialogue in my advert because firstly, I think it will be difficult to film dialogue due to clarity of speech etc. and secondly, without dialogue the advert can be shown to a global audience.
The advert will be set at the outdoor basketball courts at Northgate High School. These are open air courts with a plain black surface and a good standard of basketball rims. Also these courts have the look of a street court which is the image I would like to promote to the audience. The reason for this choice is that I want the shoe to appeal to both amateur female players as well as more experienced players, so by setting the advert on a playground court instead of a conventional indoor court it can appeal more to those players who play for fun but also to those who play seriously.
Lastly, I would chose to have the advert shown both on sports channels and during breaks in widely watched sport such as the Olympic Games. The reason for his is that a wide range of audiences are interested in the Olympics, including young females who enjoy sport. By showing this advert during intervals it is almost guaranteed to reach a section of its target audience. One problem when advertising for women during sports programs is that it is men who are the primary audience for the most frequently scheduled sports programs.
In order to counter this problem, the advert could also be shown in commercial breaks on channels like MTV and MTV Base whose audience includes a large number of young females. MTV base especially would suit my advert because it is a Hip-Hop based channel which also shows programs such as “Who’s Got Game” which is famed for it’s inclusion of outstanding female players. It would be of benefit to show my advert during shows like this because a lot of females who idolise theses players will be watching this particular show and others like it.
