Advert analysis

This advert was to advertise the new 30 Seconds To Mars album This Is War. The advert follows conventions by having the image on front of the CD cover on the advert so that it is easily recognisable for fans/viewers. The contrasting colour scheme of black, red and white is one that was used throughout the promotion of the album and so can be related to the band and this specific album, but has also been used on previous albums 30 Seconds to Mars and A Beautiful Lie. This colour scheme has therefore become an iconic feature of the band. The advert uses the star system by mentioning album collaborations with other artists, "Hurricane 2.0 featuring Kanye West". This could help get the record out to a new audience as Kanye West (hip hop/rap) is in a completely different genre to 30 Seconds To Mars (rock) and vice versa for Kanye West. This could also be said for the mention of the covers of big pop songs, "Bad Romance" and "Stronger". The advert also features symbols that relate to 30STM, like the triad symbol in the background and those underneath "out now".  This is a very conventional album advert, because everything that is done and used are things that can be related to the band already as they are already a well established band. 

Visually this advert is very different to the 30STM one and a lot of others I have looked at. This is a good thing as it means that it can be easily associated with the band, Coldplay. Again, iconography is used that can be linked to the band. For example, the font used and the block letters have been used throughout the album cycle, as has the bright colour scheme, which is even used on the instruments the band play to make them individual and unique. The title of the album is the largest text on the advert, to get the album title recognised and remembered by people who see it. Unlike the 30STM advert a star system isn't used, despite there being featured artists on the album like Rihanna who is a global star. This was probably a conscious decision by the marketing people, as Coldplay have been a global band for a while now and don't necessarily need other artists to put them at the forefront of music because they have already done that themselves, whereas 30STM, although established, are still quite reserved to the genre they're in. 

This is the only advert I've analysed that actually features the artist on the front. The image takes up the whole advert and the artist herself fills a lot of the page. This is a good marketing move, as this is to promote her debut album, therefore not a lot of people know who she is yet. Unlike both the other adverts which focus on the album title, this one has the artist name as the biggest text. This could be for the same reason as using an image of the artist for the advert. It gets the name recognised with the face of the artist. The font for the name and the album title is a simple san serif font, so that even at a glance it is easy to read and to know what the advert is about. The text also contrasts brightly against the background for the same reason, whereas I found the Coldplay one more difficult to read at a glance.