ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 1







ADVT7508 Semester 1, 2025:

Ad Critique
Guidelines








ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 2

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Ad Critique
The purpose of this assessment is to determine the effectiveness of a
selected ad based on criteria determined from course learning.
This assessment is due on Thursday 17th of April by 3pm (Brisbane time)
and is worth 40% of your total grade. The ad critique should be submitted
through the Turnitin submission link on Ultra (Blackboard). The submission
will be awarded a grade out of /100.

Requirements and guidance for ad selection:
• For this assessment, please choose a: TV ad, print ad, outdoor ad,
digital ad, direct mail or social media ad. Please make sure it is truly an
advertisement you are analysing and not communications that falls
outside the definition of advertising. For example, a webpage, a corporate
video, a news article or a public relations statement are not advertise-
ments. This will result in a grade of zero, as the assessment cannot be
marked, if it is something other than an ad that is being critiqued.
• The format also does not matter (e.g. still ad, video ad). Please ensure
that the ad is included in the appendix of your submission (image or URL
link) so your grader can view/assess the ad prior to marking.
• The selected advertisement MUST be from the last six months, in English
language (not English subtitles), and targeted at an Australian audience.
The critique of a non-English ad will receive a grade of zero. Ads older
than 6 months or those not targeting Australia will receive a 30% penalty.
• You may choose an international brand e.g. Nike, Starbucks, as long as
the ad is clearly targeting an Australian audience e.g. Australian media
placement.
ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 3

Requirements and guidance for ad selection (continued):
• If you take your ad from YouTube (or other social media) you will
need to distinguish whether it is an advertisement made for YouTube
(other social media) or whether it is simply being reproduced (e.g. it
is a TV ad that has been uploaded to social media). This is important
to successfully critique the ad i.e. sections that relate to ‘media’. An
incorrect assessment will result in reduced marks in sections relating
to media analysis. Please see pages 7-8 for further guidance.
• Ensure you are analysing one media placement of one ad. Some cam-
paigns have multiple executions, and most ads are placed in more
than one media. You shouldn’t analyse them all.
• The ad you choose can be an ad you like or think is effective, or one
you do not like, or think is ineffective.
• The selected ad or brand cannot be Airbnb or an ad analysed in the
lecture or tutorial.

ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 4

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Ad Critique Requirements
Formatting: Maximum 4 A4 pages (NOTE: your grader will not read beyond 4
pages). 12pt font, 1.5 line spacing, 2.54cm margins. Please use the structure
provided, including subheads to guide the reader.

Section 1. Overview of the chosen ad (20 marks)
In this section you should:
a) Identify the client i.e. who is advertising (the brand or the company) and
the product/service that is being advertised in the ad.
b) Provide a brief overview of the ad using the CLAMP framework.*
c) Looking at the ad, identify its purpose? i.e. what is the advertiser’s goal?**
d) Explain why you think this is the purpose.**
e) Briefly describe the media used, please also specify the medium and
vehicle.
* This section should be able to explain the ad to someone who has not seen it.
** Does not require desktop research. This should come from the ad itself.

Section 2. Target audience (20 marks)
In this section you should:
a) Looking at the ad, identify the key target audience of the ad i.e. who are
the intended customers? (Description should include different
segmentation dimensions i.e. demographic, geographic, psychographic
and behavioural.)*
b) Explain why you think this is the target audience.*
c) Provide key consumer insights** relating to the identified audience, in
particular consumer behaviour and media habits.
* Does not require desktop research. This should come from the ad itself.
** Research will need to be done here. Ensure you reference your sources.
ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 5

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Ad Critique Requirements [Continued]

Section 3. Creative Strategy (20 marks)
In this section you should:
a) Briefly discuss the message strategy. You may choose to apply the
message strategy statement discussed in the course.
b) Identify the type of message strategy using one or more of the 8 types
discussed in the course. Justify your selection.
c) Identify the appeal used and execution techniques. Justify your selection.

Section 4. Effectiveness* (30 marks)
In this section you should:
a) Provide a clear statement of whether you think the ad strategy was
effective or not i.e. ‘good’ or ‘not good’.
b) Justify your answer by discussing the following:
• Does the ad achieve the purpose you identified in section 1?
• Does the ad appropriately consider the target audience you described
in section 2?
• How appropriate was the creative strategy?
• How appropriate was the media strategy?
c) Discuss any changes you would make to improve the ad’s effectiveness.
Recommend at least one change and justify.

* Ensure you are applying course learning, theory and terminology in this section, rather
than providing an opinion piece. For both sections b) and c), justification MUST come
from course theory. Effectiveness sections that do not apply theory will not receive a
high grade.


ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 6

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Ad Critique Requirements [Continued]

Presentation, referencing and structure (10 marks)
• The critique needs to follow presentation, structure and
referencing standards. Subheadings are recommended, please use the
structure provided.
• You must include a screenshot of the ad in the appendix.
For videos, provide a link. No other appendices should be included.
• Select your preferred academic style for referencing (APA, Harvard
etc.), ensuring consistency of application throughout. Ensure you have
a good amount of references to show that you have researched your
target market and theories with support the effectiveness
section.
• A title/cover page is recommended.
• The reference list, appendix and title page are NOT included in the 4–
page count.

Overall tips:
• Do not provide definitions of concepts. The idea is to APPLY the concepts.
• This assessment is worth 40% of your total grade. Pick your ad early in the
semester and complete each section as the content is covered.
• The Effectiveness section is worth the most marks - ensure you give it the
right focus in terms of time spent and word count. Spend time thinking
about your ides for change.
ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 7

Video-format ads – extra guidance
The below information provides some guidance in choosing a video-
format ad. Whilst a video-format ad is a popular choice, you can choose
an ad of any format to analyse e.g., a still ad such as a newspaper ad.

Please note that more general FAQs relating to this assessment task is
available on Ultra/Blackboard.

Scenario 1: “I want to use an ad I found on YouTube”


This indicates that the ad was uploaded by a party who is not the brand
(Ads Addict). Therefore, if you would like to use this ad from McDonald’s
you would need to find the original media placement. i.e., details about
TV placement. Otherwise, we suggest that you don’t choose this ad, as
the media is unknown.
ADVT7508: Fundamentals of Advertising 8




This indicates that the ad was uploaded by McDonald’s Australia – there-
fore, the media for this ad can be identified as YouTube. It is also likely
that the ad was shown on TV given it is a 30 second ad (ads made for
YouTube tend to be longer). So, it is likely this media placement is part of
an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) i.e., placements over
multiple types of media. Nevertheless, it is acceptable to simply analyse
the YouTube media placement in this case as it was uploaded by the
brand itself. Remember, you need ensure it meets the other criteria set
out for this task e.g., it is an ad from the last 6 months etc.


Scenario 2: “I want to use an ad I found while watching TV”
Finding an ad while watching TV is great, as the placement is obvious e.g.
program, time of day etc. However, you will need to provide a link to the
ad in the appendix so that your marker can view the ad. Therefore, you
will need to do desktop research to see if the ad was uploaded onto
YouTube or the brand’s website in order to provide this link. Make sure
you clearly state clearly state that the link is purely to provide a copy of
the ad for grading purposes, rather than the media that informed your
analysis.

学霸联盟