Marketing package- The Last Shadow Puppets 'Everything You've Come To Expect'

Magazine and video analysis- TLSP

The Last Shadow Puppets hadn't released an album since 2008.  Therefore, they had been off the music scene for quite some time. Doing promotion through magazine adverts and creative videos will have caught their old audiences attention, and drawn the attention of possible new audiences. This promotion was very important for TLSP's success with their 2016 album.

Magazine Advert

The Last shadow puppets completed a magazine interview, as well as a photo shoot for the magazine cover. This is effective, because the cover states 'Exclusive comeback interview' which clearly suggests and grabs the attention of the audience, because this automatically suggests that they are going to be bringing out new music. I think this poster is effective, because even though it doesn't explicitly show any information about the album or link to any of the themes, it makes the audience want to read inside the magazine to find out more. By not showing pre-release information, such as the album artwork, it makes the audience excited for the release and so they are more likely to want to purchase the album. This is very successful marketing. This is the magazine cover below:

Video/Television Advert

The Last Shadow puppets seemed to dedicate more time into creating two promotional ads, both of which were uploaded to TLSP official YouTube account. I have chosen to look at the one I believe to be the most effective.

Visuals are often more effective that magazine interviews, because the band contained one of their songs off the album in the background. The beginning of the first video advert, released December 2015, has the beginning of one of the songs 'Bad Habits'. The produces almost created a miniature film out of the first video, as the camera first follows Alex Turner whilst he is walking. The camera effect is as though it is hand held to give that indie feel, whilst also in a slightly faded/fuzzy exposure to create the indie look even further. I really like this effect as I think it also represents the album nicely too.



The video advert then begins to overlap different pieces of footage, cutting quickly from each shot. This is effective because it keeps the audience engaged and interested to see where the video advert is going to end. The video follows a short narrative which is a typical convention for indie bands. As well as this, the use of colour in the video is particularly effective too. Below, is a retro car, with blue accents to highlight parts of the car. I think this is really effective because it is different, and is therefore something I would like to incorporate in my own video.

Indie bands are often passionate about their music, and write and are heavily involved in the production process. This is what makes them so alternative and unique. In the promotion video for TLSP's new album, this is highlighted, whereby the audience can view Miles and Alex in a studio surrounded by instruments. Alex turner says 'What needs doing?' and seeing as this video advert was released in December 2015, it could suggest they were still adding finishing touches to the album. This was a good ending because it makes the audience excited for the release of the album, and therefore they are more likely to want to go and buy the album on release.

At the end of the video advert, 'Spring 2016' appears in a white sans serif font, which is particularly bold. This accentuates and emphasises the fact that new material was going to be released in the spring. There is no exact date, and so it keeps their fan base anticipating when this could be. This is also presented on a fuzzy black/dark green background, again presenting the retro and indie feel which is the look the band are about.

What I learnt:

I think that in particular, the video advert for the Last Shadow Puppets is very effective. This is because it is engaging and creative, therefore immediately grabbing the attention of the audience when they watch it. The audience will have wanted to find out more. If anything, I have learnt from this task that the visuals in the video ads are very important, as when the audience can actually see and hear content, it is much more relatable. I think to be successful, you need to have both magazine ads and video ads which are high in quality, which is what I am aiming for.