Ancillary 2 – Radio ad research

American Cycle and Fitness is an american sports shop. I have chosen to analyse one of their radio adverts as they aim to target Americans so have a somewhat localised target audience and they also are aiming to appeal to a fitness crown much like my own advert will.

The advert begins by listing off various American historical events, building a relationship between the brand and the country and creating a patriotic attitude towards the brand, this could be used in my advert to promote the London area as it has a great sense of significance to a British audience and particularly those living in London. By listing off major events and then the founding of American Cycle and Fitness it attempts to put itself up with the same achievement as these events promoting itself as important and something to be celebrated. The narrator has a very strong American accent which adds some comedic value to it and would also make it stand out amongst other radio adverts s it makes the advert more fun feeling and quirky. Then when the adverts goes on to explain the American Cycle and Fitness brand the voice changes to a more natural tone and the music is upbeat and fluent fitting with the narration. The advert also promotes its brand equity as it has been established for a long time “since 1928 that’s over 80 years” this is quite  a common route of promotion and could be used when promoting my magazine perhaps as an anniversary issue also common in billboard promotion. The advert then finishes by promoting its “best brands” and “great deals” common in any advertising, using buzzwords to make their product seem superior to another. They also promote their website page to encourage more forms of consumption and ultimately purchase of their product, this is something I may include in my radio advert and it seems to be a common convention and effective. One fault of the advert however is that is seems to drag on a bit at the end throwing in as much as they can which makes it feel a bit rushed. I will avoid doing this in my radio advert.