Assignment Questions / Details

Read your chosen question carefully and be sure to address it directly in your essay. Select your main readings from the “Reading List”, but also remember to draw on other additional relevant sources as part of your independent study. Plan your reading and preparation for the essay in advance. Essays should always refer to the appropriate relevant theories covered in the module and include one or more case-studies. You are welcome to use illustrations/images, but remember to cite the source. Please refer to your Student Handbook for instructions on referencing (Harvard style), plagiarism and how your essay should be formatted and submitted.

For the final essay, please choose and answer ONE of the following ad campaigns to analyse:

1. Diesel “The Daily African” (2001, DDB Stockholm) https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/18389/the-daily-african/diesel (9 print executions – choose 2)
2. Axe/Lynx Excite “Even Angels Will Fall” (2011, BBH London) https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34462166/even-angels-will-fall/axe-lynx-excite-variant (1 TV ad)
3. Asda “Christmas Mum” (2012, Saatchi&Saatchi London) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHUFZSa7JNc (1 TV ad)
4. Coca Cola “Happiness” (2013, Santo Buenos Aires) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqFat9Ovm9E (1 TV ad)
5. Benetton “Unhate” (2011, Oliviero Toscani Italy) (6 print executions – choose 2)
6. AIDES “Scorpion”, “Spider” (2004, TBWA)
http://www.welovead.com/en/works/details/8bewklsE (2 print executions)


I just uploaded a new video on Blackboard, entitled ON FINAL ASSIGNMENT. Please watch it, all of you. It explains in-depth what you are supposed to do in your analysis.

Many of you chose a TV advert, which can be tricky. Whilst the AXE advert can be broken down in sequences in a rather easy way, the Asda ad and the Coca Cola adverts are a little bit more difficult. Please refer to Lecture 4 and 5 for analysis of TV ads and the different units of analysis (frame, shot, scene, sequence, etc.). An example of a table is attached to this email (it is taken from one of my two book chapters), usually you use the sequence as unit of analysis. The screenshot/image you add in the table should be representative but not exhaustive of all shots/activities going on. For example, the image of the mum (Asda) making the beds of her children should have below a text such as: the woman then starts a variety of household tasks, from…. to… , from… to… (randomly: hoovering, cooking, cleaning, etc.)

I hope this clarifies things. I will look for a couple of resources and see if I have them in digital format and send them to you.

Also, the words “symbols/symbolic” are almost banned from the analysis. And you are not requested to talk about the effectiveness of the campaign, what you can mention is the creative success or failure.
Please make sure you watch the video, as I give many tips in there (also on how to search for relevant sources in the library catalogue).