Research Blog: Commercial Conventions

My group is doing a Vans "Off the Wall" commercial. In these commercials, they tend to direct their product to skaters and people with laidback personalities and fashion sense. They also tend to show the production of their shoes as a commercial idea as well. Vans don't do much advertising through commercials but they sure get their point across when they do.

- They wear costumes such as VANS clothing, flannels, jeans, ripped jeans, beanies and obviously the Vans shoes

- Props include VANS shoes, skateboards, skating ramps, water bottles and so on

- Their appearances in the commercials usually are white, athletic boys with a skater boy sense of style. Every once in a while a girl is thrown in the mix with the same sense of aesthetic

-The score through the commercials are usually quiet besides the sounds of their skateboards going against the skating ramp. These sounds are meant to clearly show who they're trying to target. They don't go beyond skating noises but maybe you'll hear a small melody in the back.

1. Conventions and Codes in VANS commercials include someone riding on a skateboard with Vans on. This image is great for VANS because Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and apparel. They know who to market their products to and they make sure they stick to it.

2. In the commercials, the props and camera is always angled to show the skateboard and the Vans shoes that are on it. They seem to never lose focus of who their target is. The VANS logo has now become a household name so the logo precedes them.

3. The commercials are always down to earth. They don't ever showcase big names or do anything that reverts the attention away from the VANS product. They actually don't even have that much commercials out there, they must secure in their product to resonate well with their targets.