Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

From the beginning of the task, I consciously made the decision to link my texts closely together so as to make the combination of them incredibly effective. By doing this, the advertising campaign would be much clearer as audiences would be able to see the links between the texts and be persuaded to purchase the album. Synergy is one of the biggest ways in which to advertise a product. By having that product appear in some form across many different mediums there is a greater likelihood of it being noticed. If I were to attempt to broaden the synergy for the band's album then other mediums would include a website, a Facebook page, some sort of online viral video campaign and other such methods so as to get the audience involved with the band and to make the album more appealing to them.

There are three key similarities between the video and the two ancillary texts:

•  The location
• The colouration effect
• The costumes

By having all of the texts set in King George's Field, they all have the same natural feel to them. They create the simple and natural representation of the band that I set out to achieve. All of the texts also look out over the same horizon which creates a large scope around the band and implies that they are looking off into the future and making their mark on the world around them much like the star image that Dyer suggests is necessary for success.

The tone of the outside of the Digipack is the same as that of the video. This makes it more obvious to the audience that the video for 'Free' is the flagship title for the album thereby suggesting that if they like the song and the music video then they should buy the album. The tone also suggests a slightly muted nature to the band. They are not over the top and extravagant, they are natural, simple and honest. By muting the colours on the outside of the Digipack this idea is conveyed. However, throughout the inside of the Digipack, the Magazine Advert and the Booklet, brighter colours are used. For the Magazine Advert, this was a conscious decision to make the advert stand out more against the other adverts by being eye catching through the colours. For the Booklet and the inside of the Digipack this was to add in an element of fun and hope to the band. The outside provides the hard, serious and artistic exterior which then opens up into a brighter and happier interior so as to imply that the band want the audience to feel welcome. This extra brightening of the colours was used in the video for the dream sequence as a way of creating that idyllic feel.

The costumes are the same throughout all of the texts bar the inside of the booklet where variety was needed to show that the band have multiple styles from which to choose. However, by having the same costume for the Video, Magazine Advert and Digipack exterior and interior, the entire package is tightly linked together and constantly drilling into the audience that the video and advert are advertising the album and that the audience should buy that album.

The Magazine Advert and the Digipack are more closely linked together than with the video because of the repetition of the same fonts for the titles and the less important pieces of text. The Kenyan Coffee font provides the stylish yet simple representation of the band and stands out against everything to show its importance whilst the LondonTwo font is slightly more stylised yet works for simpler and less important pieces of text. Both fonts are used constantly throughout both texts and this inextricably links them together showing that the advert most definitely advertises the Digipack.

My target audience fitted into a niche that danced between the lines of mainstream and being unique but also between maturity and being unsure of themselves. Also, most of the target audience were creative and fun-seeking. The contrasts between the outside and the inside of the Digipack as well as the contrasting nature of the video show this balance between wisdom and uncertainty but also the niche mainstream nature of the audience. Both sides of the audience have something they can relate to and this is turn should make them more interested in the product as it is attempting to cater to everyone.