Lipton Iced Tea - Unilever Research

 TV advertising Rebrand Pitch

The main target audience for Lipton Iced Tea is catered towards those who are from the C1 to A range and is also aimed at people aged 30+. It is not targeted towards a specific race, educational attainment, gender, home ownership, disability, employment status, location, or religion. It is not targeted towards a specific race, they use a wide range of ethnicities in their advertising, which makes the viewer relate to someone with the same ethnicity as them. However, Lipton tea is targeted towards tea lovers in the Middle-Class to High-Class income across all age groups, this is shown through their advertising. All the people seen in their adverts live in well-off houses and are not working.

The change I will be making is having the drink being targeted towards people under the age of 30 as well as
 having the drink targeted towards those in the C2, D and E class band. There are several changes that would need to be made to appeal to a new target audience, such as having poorer or working-class people appear in the advert working to oppose from the regular middle classed people seen in their adverts. And having people under the age of 30 appear in the advert, such as children. Another change that will needed to be made to appeal to the new target audience is by changing their psychographic to lean more towards those who want to live a middle classed and easy lifestyle and those wanting to be older so that they can drink the Tea. The new camping will also show the benefits of the iced tea, such as being healthier, happier and the consumers life becoming improved from just drinking the tea.

The new advertising campaign will include a new slogan “Are you old enough to drink it?” and will focus on re-branding themselves to appeal towards younger people. These changes will also be imposed by the drink being on offer for 6 months (25% off), as the advert will be shown across the day, people from all ages and classes will see it, and once they like the drink they’d buy it when it isn’t on offer, the advert will mostly be shown from 5pm onwards, when children are returning home from school and adults are home from work. Another change that will need to be made to rebrand the tea to appeal to working class people is ensuring that the people in the advert look “normal”, like people you’d see on the street with imperfections instead of models and good-looking people in the advert, this will help people feel more represented and be more likely to buy Lipton Iced Tea. There are several things to think about when creating the advert to ensure it appeals to the correct audience:

·         The people in the advert needs to be someone the adverts relate to.

·         The general tone of the advertisement needs to relate to the audience, for example a serious tone showing people in an office working, then lots of colour and happiness when they drink Lipton.

·         Ensuring the actors/actresses clothing fits in with their class, for example wouldn’t want a poor person to be seen wearing Gucci.

·         The average income of the actor’s character is the same as the target audiences,

·         The setting of the adverts needs to be somewhere a working-class audience relates to, for example having people in a mansion implies high-class, whereas sat in a dark gloomy office or a practical labour job implies a less wealthy setting.

Formal Synopsis: Write up a formal synopsis (beginning, middle and end) with details about the genre, narrative, themes, tone, characters and cinematography / look.

 

The narrative of the re-branded advert I have created is a mother telling their child that they’re too young and immature to drink Lipton. In retaliation, the child sneaks the drink the next day at school, and immediately becomes loved and seen as cool by all their classmates. This narrative is expanded in the advert, as at the start of the advert the mother is seen getting out of the car with shopping and some children. This is to help appeal to a less fortunate, poorer class of people. This idea is then expanded in the next shot, which is a close-up shot of the mother drinking the tea and looking relaxed, a close up shot has been chosen so that the mum’s emotions can be showed. This benefit is displayed as a benefit and lifestyle appeal, by showing how the mum looks relaxed drinking the tea, viewers who are also stressed or drained when home from work will relate to the mother, as they want to relax too. The scenes all have had mostly diegetic noises, this is to help break up the silence and make the viewer feel more in the scene.
The next shot shows the boy asking, “Can I have some mum?” The mother then replies, “No this is for grownups only.” The two shots will be medium shots so that the mother and child’s expressions can be displayed easier. The camera will follow the drink as the mum moves it on a sort of POV shot, this is to help immerse the viewer in the advert and feel that they are apart of the scene, by doing this it can help the viewer want to be there, drinking the tea.  The next shot is a medium shot of the mum ushering the child out of the kitchen.
The next scene shows a child getting out of bed and sneaking down to try some of the drink. It starts with an establishing wide shot of the child asleep in bed. The use of an establishing shot shows a change of time and location as well as story progression. The next shots are two close ups, used to show the character’s emotions. The first shot is an extreme close-up of the boy’s eyes opening as he wakes up. The silence contrast from the previous scenes with had mostly diegetic noise, by having a silence is changes the tone to be more serious, which makes the audience feel that something is being foreboded. The second close up shot is a pan shot of the camera following the child’s feet swinging out of bed as they wake up. By having a pan shot, it helps display the emotion that the character is thinking without showing their face.
The next scene shows a close up of the boy’s feet as he walks down the stairs, which then cuts to a medium shot of the boy’s face to capture his reaction as a step he steps on creaks. In a similar sense, the next scene is also silent, apart from when the boy steps on a floorboard and it creeks. By using silence, the audience will automatically pay attention, as many adverts have noise, so the direct contrast will be a shock and grab attention.
The next scene shows the boy seeing the bottle, it cuts between a close up of the boy’s eyes widening, and to the Lipton bottle. This has been chosen as it fits a Mexican standoff iconography, to help this idea the music will also have the Mexican whistle. The camera then follows a water drop as it drips down the side of the bottle, this also helps promote the Mexican standoff iconography. This scene continues with a close-up of the child picking up the bottle, and a close up of him drinking it to catch his reaction and slipping it into his bag. By showing the child sneaking out of bed to do something rebellious/something he has been told not to do, children watching the advert will relate to it, as most children have a rebellious phase and find it difficult to not do something they’ve been told to not do, e.g., “You’re too young to drink this.” The final shot in this scene is a wide shot of the boy slipping back into bed. The wide shot helps to influence the audience into thinking he is going to sleep, and there will therefore be a change in location and time.
The final scene shows the boy the next day in the school playground drinking the tea, with everyone watching in awe as he now looks cool. This is shown through a medium shot of the boy getting out the car the next day, the next day is shown by the boys change in clothes and the change of the time of day. The next shot is a wide zoom out shot of the boy in the playground, the camera is at a low angle to show that the child is in control of the situation. This angle then also makes the audience look up to the boy, which implies that he is better than them. The next shot is a zoom in close shot as he drinks, which then cuts to a medium shot. This shot will then be slowed down during editing, a slo-mo of the boy’s hair blowing in the wind relates to a romantic style iconography. This iconography is also implied through the use of romantic style music. This idea is backed up by the next shot, which shows a wide shot of the children in the playground, and cuts to close ups of all their reactions. This then turns into a medium, pan shot slo-mo shot so that the reactions can all me captured. This idea then links to the benefits of drinking Lipton Iced Tea, as every child in the playground now sees him as cool. The viewer then sees the fact that the child’s life has been positively impacted by the drink, and want that to happen to them, they aspire to be like him, which successfully links back to the lifestyle appeal.
The final scene shows the boy looking smug, and the camera panning upwards to the sky. This is then when the graphics, information and other necessarily words are displayed, such as the logo, slogan, and legal information. By displaying this information at the end of the advert over the top of happy music, it helps viewers remember the information as they then relate it with the song. The song chosen will be a popular song, so that when viewers hear the song elsewhere, such as on the radio, they will think of the advert and crave Lipton.

The genre of this advert is humorous and nostalgic. The advert will be humorous as it will be more memorable, plus get people's attention and enhance affection or interaction with the product Lipton. The advert is also a stand alone as it does not follow a series of adverts, it will also be a realist narrative. This is so that an audience can relate more to the characters seen, it helps them believe that they are watching something believable and realistic. I have chosen this theme and genre as they attract the target audience that my product is targeted at. The cinematography and look of the advert will have natural lighting, such as daylight and lamps, the location will be in a British town or city, this is because in 2019, 56.3 million people lived in urban areas (82.9% of England's population). This means that most people who see the advert will live in an urban area, which they will find easier to relate to. The only graphics/special effects that will be used is the graphics at the end of the advert, where the information is displayed. This will be created digitally, using a computer to make text, colour and infographics needed for the viewer to engage or interact with the product.

The characters in this advert, as previously touched upon, is a mother and two children. The mother is a white, aged 30’s to 40’s. They are also a skilled worker, in a profession such as teaching. This is so that the brand can appeal can those in a lower, working class, rather than higher class people that it is originally targeted at. The two children will be of Pakistani heritage, this is as most of Lipton’s adverts are not diverse, and if they do have POC in, they are usually white passing or a background character. By having a wider range of ethnic minorities, the tea will appeal to a wider audience as they will feel more represented. Plus, having younger people in the advert will appeal to a younger audience as they would relate to seeing people their own age, as well as wanting to be like them.

The advert will contain an overt message, as the slogan is “Are you old enough to drink it?”, it will subconsciously make children want to rebel and drink Lipton even though they have been told that they’re not allowed. The advert will also evoke an emotional response of self-perception and social situation for younger people, as they see in the advert that the child becomes cool after drinking the tea, and everyone wants to be cool and seen as so. This also links into the benefits of the products, as people will aspire to be like the child in the advert, who gets attention from their friends and gets a clear benefit, as their life improves.

Storyboard:

EXTRA INFORMATION

SCENE	CAMERA MOVEMENT	SHOT TYPE	DIALOGUE AND SOUNDS	MUSIC	SHOT LENGTH
1	Pan shot of children running round,	Series of medium shots,	Children saying things such as, “You’re It!” “Mum I left my lunchbox at home.” Mother saying, “Don’t forget your school bag!” and “Help me with the shopping.”   Diegetic sound of car door being opened and closed, footsteps of children running around.	No music.	3 seconds
2	Camera follows bottle as it is being drunk.	Medium shot of bags being placed on floor. Medium shot of Lipton being placed on the table. Close up of mother taking a sip of the drink and looking relaxed. Close up of boy asking if he can have some.	Boy says, “Can I have some mum?”   Diegetic sounds of bags being placed down and footsteps,	No music.	3 seconds
3	No movement.	Medium shot of mum talking, cuts to close up of the child’s sad face, Medium shot of the mum ushering child out of kitchen.	Mum says, “No, this is for grown-ups only. You’re too young.”   Diegetic sounds of child’s footsteps,	No music.	3 seconds
4	Pan shot of camera following child’s feet swinging out of bed,	Establishing, wide shot of child in bed, Close up of his eyes opening and waking up, Close-up of feet swinging out of bed, Wide shot of him getting out of bed,	Quiet opening noise when boy opens his eyes and wakes up,   Diegetic noise of bed sheets rustling as boy gets out of bed,	No music.	3 seconds
5	Pan shot following boy from stairs into the kitchen,	Close up of feet as he steps down the stairs, Cut to close-up of boys startled expression,	Stairs creaking loudly, Footsteps,	No music, needs eerily silence.	7 seconds
6	Zoom in shot into eyes, then zoom in shot to bottle,	Extreme close up of eyes, Quick cut to Extreme close up of bottle,	Noise of sweat dripping from boy’s face,	Mexican stereotypical iconography music.	7 seconds
7	No movement,	Close-up of boy’s hand picking up bottle, Close-up of him drinking some then of his reaction, Close up of him putting drink into his bag,	Drinking noises, Bag rustling,	No music.	5 seconds
8	No movement,	Wide shot of boy slipping back into bed.	Bed sheets rustling,	No music.	3 seconds
9	Zoom in shot as wind blows,	Medium shot of boy getting out of car next day, Wide shot of him in playground, low angle to make him seem dangerous/cool, Close-up of him drinking, Cut to medium shot of hair blowing in wind in slo-mo as he drinks	Car door closing, Hair moving in wind,	Romantic music as hair blows in wind,	5 seconds
10	Pan shot	Wide shot of children in playground, Cut to close up of all their reactions,	Children gasping	Music continues	3 seconds
11	Camera pans up into blue sky,	Close-up of boy’s smug reaction, Camera then pans,	-	Music continues	2 seconds
12	No movement,	Graphics scene with information on, background is the blue sky from the last shot,	-	Music continues	5 seconds
-	-	-	-	-	TOTAL = 49 SECONDS