Magazine Advert AnalysisHayley McCarthy

Maintaining a limited palette of black, white, and red, this

creates a cohesive design that would otherwise be quite chaotic

considering the nature of the font combinations. Red as a colour

is a stimulant, encouraging fast decisions, as well as connoting

power, danger, and passion; all of which are synonymous with

the punk genre.

The whole advert is centred around typography,

with each separate track name also illustrated in

the same edgy, brush styled font on their

Youtube channel. The slight variations of each

letter, especially noticeable in the ‘L’ and ‘G’

letters suggests that this is a custom font made

especially for this purpose. As this is a unique

font this can form part of the band’s brand

identity, becoming somewhat of a logo which the

audience can recognise. Another connotation of

this would be that in the time it would take to

create a hand-written font for each track would

be time consuming, suggesting that the band

have invested lots of time and care into this

album, and are keen to highlight each track as

an individual, yet maintaining the same house

style brings together these tracks under this

album.

As we live in a media saturated society, web

addresses are increasingly common within

advertisements. Enabling potential purchasers

(existing fans especially) to engage further with

the band and the album due to this cross-

platform presence.

Interactive buttons to promote

their social media presence,

allowing the band to

continually inform their

followers using a free service.

With the potential for live

updates, having accounts on

a wealth of sites reaches a

wider audience, with much of

the older target audience

stereotypically possessing at

least one of these accounts,

rather than having the

majority of these as you

would expect from a younger

target audience.

Placed in the top left corner, an

embedded Soundcloud media

player allows for free streaming

of the artist’s track. The offers a

listener unfamiliar with the band

a chance to instantly listen to

their tracks for free, without

committing to buying the album

advertised. In turn, the band

has utilising the increasingly

popular streaming medium to

attempt to widen their audience.

The website’s house style is

similar to the magazine

advert, creating a

recognisable consistency

across these platforms and

strengthening the band’s

brand identity.

The album artwork featured in

the magazine advert, reiterating

this imagery for the audience to

recognise when they come to

purchase it. Immediately

beneath this image is a

hyperlink to iTunes where it is

possible to download the album

advertised, continuing the

intended purpose of the advert,

to entice the audience to buy

the album.

Web Address

Album Artwork

By including the exact album artwork in the

advert, this strengthens the brand identity,

enabling the audience to associate these two

images when they come to purchase the album.

If the band was to have contrasting imagery, this

would weaken the brand identity, creating a

confusing aesthetic which would be difficult for

the audience to recognise. Acting almost as a

logo, the artwork is extremely significant to

attract those who aren’t yet familiar with the

band, representing both themselves and the

album in a limited space.

Font

https://www.youtube.com/user/thekingbluesofficial

Referring to Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding

theory, I believe that the use of a grungy, bold

font is encoded to connote the band’s genre,

with the intention for a media literate audience to

link these visual typographic clues with their

predominantly punk genre, which would form the

dominant reading. After completing further

research, I have discovered that this band are

considered the first to coin the term ‘ukulele

punk’, fusing together punk and folk into a hybrid

genre.

Colour

LogosFrom left to right: Transmission Recordings Ltd who are their

record label, Jaegermeister who host live events which combine

both music and promote their line of alcoholic drinks by the

same name as well as award ceremonies, and finally Money

Clothing, who at the time of the album release produced limited

edition t-shirts with the album artwork, likely as this is the last

album by the group, acting as somewhat of a souvenir.

Buzz Words“The final chapter” denotes an ending, here

meaning that the band is splitting up, which was

announced on their website. This gives real

significance to this album, with it becoming the

ending of the band, encouraging the audience to

buy the album for this reason. The word “final” is

especially effective as a buzz word, stating the

significance of this statement even from a

glance.

PlatformsAvailable across multiple platforms, this offers a

greater potential to buy the album. The

proliferation of hardware and content has made

it even easier to download albums and songs

onto multiple devices that most own at least one

of. CD’s tend to be more popular with an older

target audience or more dedicated fans who

enjoy having a physical copy to act almost as a

trophy. The possibility of having a ‘limited edition’

vinyl would also prove popular amongst the avid

fans, with vinyl's becoming increasingly popular

once again. By covering the main media

platforms for music distribution, this once again

widens the potential revenue, with all of this

financed by the record label.

Release DateAbsolutely vital for the audience to be aware of

when they’re able to buy the album, by it already

being released by the time this advert came to

print in Artrocker magazine, this enables the

audience to immediately purchase it if they

wanted to. Sometimes, by having a later release

date, this could mean that the more casual fans

forget about the release date, lowering the

potential sales.

The King Blues

Artrocker Magazine 2012

The representation of past ideals and

fashions in today’s arguably postmodern

society forms what Jameson calls

‘contemporary nostalgia culture’ whereby

texts are reproduced to give the illusion that

these things still happen. For example,

indie culture is accountable for the

appropriation of vintage clothing, Levi-

Strauss’s theory of bricolage (1976)

whereby there is a re-contextualisation of

objects to communicate new meanings.

The filmic aesthetic of the poster would be

considered ‘vintage’ and hence a reflection

on the past, with the warm tones offering

positive connotations, fitting with the

nostalgic undertones of the advert. Applying

Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory,

the album title ‘Souvenir’ can be decoded

by the audience as a nostalgic piece, paring

it with the main image of a stick of rock

evoking memories of the beach. Beach

holidays in themselves used to be the place

to go on vacation before package holidays

in the 1950’s, once again reflecting back on

the past.

Main Image

Album ArtworkConventionally featuring the same album

artwork on the advertisement, this

strengthens their brand identity as well as

enabling the audience to recognise the

image from the advertisement when they

purchase the album. This particular artwork

is actually a hyperrealistic painting by Sarah

Graham, with the Kaiser Chiefs

commissioning her having been inspired by

Blackpool, with a stick of rock being the

“perfect British example” of a souvenir,

sharing the same name as the album title.

http://www.thecomet.net/news/hitchin_artist_creates_a

rtwork_for_kaiser_chiefs_souvenir_album_1_1350275

Kaiser Chiefs

Q Magazine 2012

ImagesThe images bordering the edge are actually

the Kaiser Chiefs previous album artworks.

Considering once again the album title of

‘Souvenir’, this is once again evoking

nostalgia, with each album a souvenir of

this each time period. Apart from being

nostalgic, the album itself is a compilation

of singles from 2004-2012, so it is likely that

the albums featured have tracks that are

going to appear on the album advertised.

The arrangement also reminds me of vinyl

covers, a platform that has also been

appropriated by indie culture. Interestingly,

despite each album artwork being

significantly different in relation to each

other, the gradient background and overall

colour grading helps unify the composition.

TracksBy including the number of singles on the album draws attention to

the overall quality of the album, mainly aimed at newer fans. A

compilation album offers the opportunity for said fans to purchase all

of their “hit” singles in one album, rather than going to the trouble of

searching through each album separately. Also the offer of “2 brand

new tracks” gives an incentive for existing fans who will most likely

already own the existing tracks on the album.

Release DateNecessary in order for the audience to know when to purchase the

album. As this has a release date later than when the advert was

printed, this does run a risk of being forgettable by the audience, with

an “out now” release date enabling them to purchase the album

immediately if they wish. This however is not a focal point on the

page, perhaps suggesting that as the Kaiser Chiefs are a mainstream

band with a larger fan base, it is anticipated that the album will sell,

having a larger social media presence that can continually remind

their younger target audience.

Website AddressLooking at the website, the vintage house

style remains consistent from this

advertisement, synonymous with the indie

genre. A content-packed website featuring:

Instagram feed, Twitter feed, tour dates,

music videos, and latest news, this offers

fans a chance to further engage with the

band across multiple platforms. There is

also a button to follow them on Spotify, a

streaming website which is becoming

increasingly popular. The play count of

streaming music has recently been

acknowledged in the Top 40 Chart rating,

giving bands a greater potential to bring

exposure to their records through little to no

cost from the viewer; Spotify can be used

as a free service without subscription.

SoundboardA novel online application whereby you can

hear snippets of popular Kaiser Chief songs

by clicking on the segments of rock.

Carrying across the ‘souvenir’ rock theme

and further cementing this imagery into the

audiences mind, the similar blue and pink

house style is carried across, with the blue

and white striped banner connoting a beach

hut when paired with the visual clues from

the advert. This combination of elements

strengthens their brand identity,

demonstrating a cross-platform presence

both in print and online. The banner at the

bottom further advertises the album,

featuring the album artwork which would be

recognised by the audience, as well as a

release date and hyperlinks to retailers of

the album.

QR CodeRequiring a smartphone, this assumes that

the audience media literate enough to

recognise this as a QR Code and take

action in scanning it. Connoting a younger

target audience for this reason, the code in

itself is somewhat of a novelty also, yet is a

far more stylish way to illustrate a website

address rather than having it fully typed out.

Band LogoA modern, sans-serif font suggests a band that is clean-cut,

mainstream, and perhaps even part of the pop genre. However,

combining this with the use of album artwork rather than a close up

image of the band, this brings in the artistry of the indie genre. Being

encompassed by two rectangles makes a statement, similarly to a

stamp, connoting that the band is proud to put their name to this

album, with it being a large focal point on the page. By also placing

the band name and album title within the artwork in the stick of rock,

this could suggest that just as the text would run through the rock,

their values and beliefs are evident throughout this album, especially

considering that it is a collection of their singles.

PlatformThe lacking mention of what platforms this album will be available is

unconventional of a magazine advertisement. Perhaps due to the

younger target audience, it is assumed that they will access the

album through their usual means and do not require this information.

However, on the online banner advert, the iTunes and Amazon logos

are present, making it peculiar as to why they have not been

consistent with this inclusion.

LogosThere is also no mention of any record

labels or distributors within this advert, with

the only imagery present that relating

directly to the band. This could signify that

this album is a direct product of the band,

and once again, stands for their beliefs and

values. By having other companies logos

this could distract away from the artistry

that I believe they have encoded through

their use of imagery (Stuart Hall’s encoding

and decoding theory) hence choosing to

leave this information out.

ReviewsOnce again, there is an unconventional lack

of reviews in this advert, suggesting that

this album is personal to the band, and it is

their offering to the fans. Perhaps connoting

that other institution’s opinions of the album

is not a concern of theirs.