Virgin trains advert analysis. Chantelle Rogers
The advert I am analysing is Virgin trains “success express”.
The television advertisement I am analysing was recently
broadcasted and is quite long because it’s a stand-alone series.
The virgin trains are a service which people use in their daily
life to travel to places; they have services like “1st class” also
great food and customer service. What happens in the advert is that
Ed is busy and stressed on his journey to work because he’s going
to be late for his presentation that he yet has to prepare for but
then the environment changes on the virgin trains and he becomes
more relaxed so he is able to prepare his presentation, eat and
become relaxed and be on time and this is all because he is on
virgin trains. Virgin trains have used this idea because it
advertises their company in a positive representation to the
viewers, it guarantees that their business is good at providing a
service in which they’re known for providing.
The genre/style of this advert would be realist because virgin
trains’ message throughout the advert is that you don’t want to be
like Ed so you would come to virgin trains. This advert is also a
stand-alone series because it has a start and end within this one
advert. This advert has the style of ‘journey’ because the advert
is about Ed’s journey to work which is about what happens and how
it changes for the best when Virgin trains is introduced.
The setting/mise-en-scene within the advert is used to emphasise
how good the virgin trains and how they could change your life,
your busy schedule would be easier with virgin trains. So, they’re
using the setting/mise-en-scene to work to show their message
properly. For example, he’s holding his bag as if it’s going to
explode at the beginning of the advert when he’s stressed and busy,
this is before virgin trains is introduced. The background of this
image has a lot of people and this shows the setting and its
atmosphere throughout it.
They include this because they need a start and finish to their
story and what his gestures show is a start to how he’s busy and in
a rush to then being relaxed on their train. Also, for the same
reason, his tie is over his shoulder, this shows how he looks when
he is stressed and busy. As soon as he gets on the train, the
diegetic noise disappears; this is a sign that the environment on
the train (virgin trains) is relaxed. The setting is used as a
professional type of environment to emphasise a real situation
where a professional businessman is busy.
The colour in the advert is dull which means the emotion in the
advert is not there at all apart from stress and how busy and
chaotic the environent. The sound/music is important in the advert
as it emphasises the adverts message. The sound in the background
is the busy environment. You can hear the people around him; the
environment is busy and loud. The music is effective because it
adds to the seriousness of the advert, like when the man is busy
and its message. The song “Final countdown” is used in the advert
because he’s in a rush and he’s got no time and so he’s trying to
do his presentation and get to his presentation too. The dramatic
music gains attention from the audience because as it gets more and
more dramatic, they want to carry on watching until the end. The
tone of voice of the lady when she repeats “presentation” is very
dramatic because it portrays a part of the purpose in the advert.
The music in this advert is non diegetic until you see a man
playing an instrument.
The editing techniques and shots that have been used at the
beginning is a long shot.
This is because they need to show all of his body so the
audience can know that he’s stressed because that’s how he’s
presented himself to look like. There is also a medium head shot on
Ed at the end of the advert,this is to cause effect on the audience
and make them realise one of the messages of their advert. This is
that their advert is a real story which happens to people so it
makes them realise that their service is good enough to satisfy
their customers. This part is a long shot and it shows that he is
busy and stressed because of how he needs to get his presentation
done soon.
Close up on the train’s ticket for product placement of the
virgin trains“1st class”. There is a lot of close ups on what he is
doing because this is an important part of the adverts message. The
close ups are all at a fast pace because it emphasises how busy he
is and how much he has to do. The close up on the business magazine
is to show product placement, this is also a sign too show that if
you get there trains you’ll be like them; intelligent, wealthy,
rich, business people.
Richard Branson is an icon, they use him to sell product. They
use Richard Branson in the advert because he’s a very professional
business-like celebrity and people look up to him. So this is
relevant in the advert because the audience look up to Richard.
This is just like Richard is Ed’s boss, who Ed has too look up,
whether he likes it or not. When Ed does get to his presentation on
time because of the train, this makes people want to go to virgin
trains because they don’t want that to happen to them. Near the end
of the advert when Ed arrives home, there are people who are
celebrating for him.
The train ticket changes from Preston to presentation this is a
sign that shows he is busy. Then this advert shows that if you get
the virgin trains you will never be late, you’ll be like Ed;
successful, on time and relaxed.
The advert demonstrates unique selling points by using the
journey of Ed to recognise and emphasise them. They use the food in
the advert to show they have good service (the food is organised
and looks nice to) also when they show the food, they don’t include
tomato ketchup on the serving because they want Ed to ask the staff
so that they can demonstrate their Usp’s of the staff being
friendly and polite.