Author: Jezahna Poy
Riot Games released a video advertisement April last year on YouTube about their online multiplayer game, League of Legends. The advertisement was made and narrated by YouTube creators, Nevercake (2018), and featured bright cartoon style visuals as well as fast paced humorous commentary to communicate with the target audience.
The intended message that Riot appears to have wanted to communicate is that the game is free to play, competitive and customisable with a large online player community, most likely with goals to motivate uptake of the game by consumers. The choice of YouTube itself as a channel and medium of communication suggests that the target audience is teenagers and young adults, as multimedia content is the preferred method of information intake by teenagers (Neilson Norman Group, 2016). Additionally, 36 per cent of 18-34 year olds prefer to view video content on Youtube compared with just 19 per cent percent preferring traditional TV (Comscore, 2016). The informal use of language in addition to the self-deprecating and satiric humour present throughout the video is often used when advertising to young males in particular. Companies may employ such tactics to represent themselves as less serious and more fun to the audience (Blum & McClellan, 2016).
The visuals have been created to stimulate feelings of high energy and playfulness. As described by Labreque and Milne (2012), high saturation of colour is often associated with feelings of excitement with the use of orange, red, and yellow increasing this perception. The high saturation of colours within this ad are used in small amounts, possibly to create greater impact and action. The ad balances this out by including shades of black and blue to emphasise the feeling of competence and sophistication (Labreque & Milne, 2012).
The advertisement prominently covers the fact the game is ‘Free’, and avoids declaring that elements such as characters and the customisability of characters are paid. This indicates that the product is being marketed as a ‘Freemium’ game, meaning a game that is free to download, but contains in-game purchases to gain the company revenue (Liu, Au & Choi, 2014). When used correctly, emphasising the free elements of a product can help the item gain more attention by the audience (Ciotti, 2012). This was likely the goal of the advertisers when creating the League of Legends ad.
References
Blum, L., & McClellan, S. (2006). Why more brands risk mockery to boost image. Adweek. 47(26), 9. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/docview/212456809/fulltext/B37107D00FA14E47PQ/1?accountid=10016
Ciotti, G. (2012). The 5 most persuasive words in the English language. Retrieved from https://www.copyblogger.com/persuasive-copywriting-words/
Comscore. (2016). What millennials’ YouTube usage tells us about the future of video viewership. Retrieved from https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/What-Millennials-YouTube-Usage-Tells-Us-about-the-Future-of-Video-Viewership
Labrecque, L. I., & Milne, G. R. (2012). Exciting red and competent blue: The importance of color in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(5), 711-727. doi:https://doi-org.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/10.1007/s11747-010-0245-y
Liu, C. Z., Au, Y. A., & Choi, H. S. (2014). Effects of freemium strategy in the mobile app market: An empirical study of Google Play. Journal of Management Information Systems, 31(3), 326-354. doi:10.1080/07421222.2014.995564
Neilson Norman Group. (2016). Young adults/millennials as web users (Ages 18–25). Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/young-adults-ux/
Nevercake. (2018). What is League of Legends? Told by Nevercake . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brNGDA5R048
Communicate the Right Way 