First revision of my Hercules character

Seeing as how my previous version of Hercules looked like a robot, I altered the design to make him look more organic. I also tried to make him more visually appealing and iconic.

Second Concept of my Red Bull Hercules character, now featuring a cape, a mullet and elbows

While this second concept is definitely an improvement on the original, the brief states that Red Bull want a new style to be used in the advert. I intended for this style to be similar to the style of the animated adverts for Red Bull, so it does not really fit the brief. However, this is not the only style I can draw in. I will try out different ways of drawing Hercules and see which one works out best.

Background Research Into Red Bull Advertising Campaigns

To get a feel for how Red Bull has previously advertised its product, it was suggested that we conduct research into Red Bull's animated television adverts. Part of the research involves analysing the content of the adverts and working out the metaphors and hidden meanings behind them.

One thing that struck me when reviewing these adverts was how absurd their content is. The absurd nature of these animated adverts was no doubt intended to cause it to stick in the mind of the viewer. Despite the nonsensical nature of the adverts, the hidden meanings behind them are easy enough to figure out.

Image source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbtKAXaf9QA

The above image shows a Red Bull television advert from 2010 whose meaning is pretty blatant. In order to advertise that drinking Red Bull awakens the mind, the advert presents a Grand Master of a Tibetan (I assume its Tibetan) monastery who gives travelers cans of Red Bull when they ask him to invigorate their minds.

Image source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH8BHxz9lPg

This advert, from 2001-2002, presents a Frankenstein scenario in which Igor brings the monster to life by feeding it a can of Red Bull. As with the previously mentioned advert, the meaning behind it is pretty blatant; when you are feeling dead inside, a can of Red Bull will awaken your mind and body. The monster announcing that he is "off to Hollywood" also implies that drinking Red Bull can give you the confidence to go out and do what you want to do.

 

Image source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI5C61x6nFE

Other adverts from Red Bull were more controversial. Some contained highly sexualised content, others featured content that was insensitive or made fun of touchy subjects. The image shown above is from one such advert that drew a large number of complaints when it aired in 2013. It apparently implies that if the people aboard the Titanic on its ill-fated voyage had had Red Bull, which "gives you wings", they would have survived the disaster. While it is likely that the intended idea was to show that Red Bull can help give you a boost in desperate times, the use of such a sensitive subject did not do any favours for the product.

There have been many different Red Bull animated adverts, each differing vastly in its content from the others, and they each have their own subliminal message. I will look further into Red Bull's advertising output to get inspiration in my own generation of ideas.

Preliminary sketches and concepts

Since my group and I decided to go with the Red Bull campaign, we discussed different kinds of mythical heroes and monsters we could use in our advert. Since we are doing an advert for Red Bull, I thought that it would make sense to use an art style similar to Red Bull's animated adverts.

At first I thought about using the character of Hermes, the messenger of the gods from Greek mythology. I thought that it might be funny to use Hermes to advertise Red Bull as he is supposed to be faster than lightning in his running speed, and that he would need a can of Red Bull to give himself the energy to run that fast.

Concept drawings for Hermes, the messenger of the gods

I contradicted this idea of godlike athleticism with a design that gives him skinny limbs and a pot belly. In this sense, he looks the exact opposite of what he is supposed to be; my design for him looks meek, saggy and nonathletic while the mythological Hermes would apparently have been strong, nimble and overall would have had the level of physical fitness only a god could have.

After some consideration, I thought that Hermes would be too obscure a character to be used in a billboard advert for the masses and for the meaning to still be communicated clearly. Instead, I turned to a mythological character who is known to almost everybody; Hercules.

Concept drawings for Hercules

Hercules (or 'Heracles' in Greek) was an ancient Greek Superman, able to overcome any and every trial put to him using nothing but his godlike strength. What if he got tired and needed a can of Red Bull to set him right? This thought is what led me to pursue my idea to use Hercules in the advert.

With my version of the character, I considered how I might convey his legendary strength to a passerby, or somebody who was driving on a motorway. To do this, I made his arms ridiculously over-sized while giving him matchstick legs. I used the same style for Hercules that I used for Hermes but in terms of how the character looks, I feel that this design is less successful than the one for Hermes. While Hermes looks funny and contradictory to his role as the messenger of the gods, Hercules just looks like a robot. I may have to revise my design for Hercules.

Early concept for a billboard featuring Hercules

Despite difficulties with the design of Hercules, I sketched out a concept for a billboard advert featuring him. I think that I got the right idea, but my execution was poor. I think that I got the idea of the energy-restoring properties of Red Bull right, but it is not very clear in how it is presented. Also, I forgot (or did not realise) that we were supposed to show the character drinking the product, so I did not show it.

However, one thing that I think I did do right was getting across the visual contradictions. In the left part of the image, Hercules is tired, hunched over, in need of a boost, while in the right part his chest is thrust out, he is smiling and he is carrying himself (and the boulder) like a champion. If I can work on my execution, I should be able to put forward a good design for the group to discuss.

Module AAD4002: Visual Literacy - Initial Development

To begin the Visual Literacy module, the class has been separated into four groups. Each group must complete a group project in which they work together to form a (pretend) illustration agency, complete with a brand name, logo and website, and then create an illustration as if they are pitching to a client.

The theme of the module is 'State of Change' and in this case, the groups must decide between two potential clients to pitch to: Heineken and Red Bull. The groups must each respond to the classic slogan of the brand they decide pitch to, be it "Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach" or "Red Bull Gives You Wings". The final product of the project must include a concept for a billboard with a 'before and after' style of presentation, showing the characters depicted in the adverts becoming better than they were before after consuming the product in question.

The themes of the respective briefs include a superhero theme for Heineken and a myths and legends theme for Red Bull. My group and I decided to work on the myths and legends theme for Red Bull, agreeing that it would give us more creative freedom. Though we have yet to agree on a name for our agency, we agree that our final result should ideally be a parody of a popular legend with Red Bull shoe-horned in to answer the brief. We agree that the advert we come up with should be both relate-able and funny, so that a consumer seeing the advert would remember it.

I feel that so long as discipline can be maintained and we keep our focus on the outcome, we should do well on this project. We have decided to start by each trying out different concepts by ourselves and then comparing and critiquing them next week. At the same time, we should finalise a name for our agency and start work on the group blog and perhaps the logo and website.