“LONDON – Lucozade Alert Plus has signed up as the sponsor of Five’s Friday night drama ‘The Mentalist’ – albeit a week after the new series started.  The show debuted last Friday at 9pm on Five without sponsorship, opening the 23-part second series with 2.4 million viewers. The deal was agreed with too tight a deadline to get the creative ready for the first show. Lucozade brand manager Alex Saunders said: “It was agreed that we would leave the idents off the first epiode as we wouldn’t be able to get everything ready in time. It is the first TV sponsorship for Lucozade Alert Plus, an energy shot launched in September by GlaxoSmithKline. Each sponsorship spot features a bottle of Lucozade Alert Plus fizzing with electricity. The electric current transforms into a word that completes a number of sentences, such as ‘The Mentalist has clarity’, ‘The Mentalist has insight’ and ‘The Mentalist is sharp’.  The first series of ‘The Mentalist’ proved a hit for Five last year, bringing in an average weekly audience of 3.5 million viewers.  The sponsorship deal was brokered by Five’s sponsorship controller Rachael Wheeler. M&C Saatchi created the sponsorship assets including a 15-second opening credit, six five-second break bumpers and a 10-second closing credit.”

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After studying Lucozade for a GCSE exam, I know that they have never had a sponsorship deal before. Also, it has been a while since Lucozade had any kind of television exposure. There is bad organisation shown in the fact that the creative ideas were not ready in time for the first show to be sponsored, showing the importance of a time schedule when creating marketing campaigns. However, I think that ‘The Mentalist’ is a good programme for Lucozade to sponsor, ‘alert’ and ’sharpen up’ plus the shape of the graphics on the bottles fit in with the idea of thinking, working things out etc. Also the fizzing is like ideas bubbling in the brain. This hopefully means that everytime someone talks about or thinks about the programme they will remember Lucozade. It is strange however, that Lucozade have only chosen now to advertise the product, despite it being launched in September. Maybe they have realised people have forgotten about the brand? The target audiences of the programme and the product are similar and it will be reaching a substantial amount of the target audience- hopefully the whole of the 2.4millions viewers. Although, with a drop of 1.1million viewers from the end of the  first series to the beginning of the second, I’m not sure I would have continued with the sponsorship: if the viewers drop that significantly at a time when they should remain steady, how quickly may they drop throughout the rest of the series? But, it is good to see such an old and memorable brand back into advertising and giving everyone a brand reminder and hopefully gaining more of the market segment since the last time they advertised.

I went to see it last night and having not read the book I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I had seen interviews with the actress in it and seen the trailers and a few classmates had read the book in high school and enjoyed it so I thought I would see it. Although, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I did enjoy it, but it isn’t really my genre of film, it is rather fantasy, with the ‘Heaven’ and ‘in between’. The special effects that created these though were really brilliant, it did seem real, well as real as it could, it was quite spectacular. The narrative itself never did what you expected it to, everytime it seemed to be going the way you thought it would it didn’t. It did have a traditional ‘Hollywood happy ending’, but it really was interesting how it didn’t follow the path you thought it would. For example, I thought the killer would be caught, but in fact he was killed by a falling icicle and fell down a ravene and left dead and all alone- which was a much more fitting end for him than being imprisoned. But still, it was not was you expected. It was above two hours, but didn’t seem it, as the story kept twisting and moving on in time, keeping you interested and intrigued as to how it was going to end. Also, because it was set in the 1970’s it made the story more believeable, because as the main character said, it was a time when things like that didn’t happen, when missing children were not the centre of media attention. There was a traditional love story in it narrative as well, but with a difference as the girl was dead when the couple had their first kiss! I have never seen a film like it; making it difficult to compare; but I did enjoy it, despite it being quite detailed and you had to concentrate. I think it was something really different and had traits of an independent film, but I think it will be one that ‘breaks through’ into the mainstream.

On a recent trip to the cinema, I was looking at the postcards and flyers whilst waiting for the screen to open and I found this Lynx advert:

I found it really interesting, as it was different from others flyers. The front is two samples of Lynx, you peel back the flap and there are two examples of how the spray changes. I like the way there a lines that flow and swirl from one sample to the other, like a smell flows in the air and how it twists and changes. The colours also represent the smell, as it smells fresh and citrus, yellow and green fit in with that- lime and lemon colours. The ‘S’ in twist is backwards, like a twist, which works well.

On the other side, the slogan is similar to other Lynx adverts- it’s about attracting women. With the use of the lime green again and the reversed ‘S’, keeping the theme running. The products are clearly shown, making it clear what to look for when the target audience go to by it in the shop. The twists of colours are used again, linking the samples from the reverse to the products. The fact that there is a Facebook page is good as it is making use of free marketing.

I thought it was a really good flyer, as it kept the theme throughout, and it caught my eye, the black background with the citrus colours. Also, the samples I thought were really different and would make me remember the product if I were that target audience. And it was certainly placed in the right place, as the target audience attend the cinema regularly.

To be totally honest, I only went to see this because of Ray Quinn and I hadn’t seen a pantomime since junior school. But, I really did enjoy it. Ray Quinn’s singing was amazing, as he acted it brilliantly, and of course looked gorgeous! Joe Pasquale was hilarious as Muddles, he really is a true professional and you can tell he has been performing in pantomimes for so long.  Ceri Dupree as Lady Passionella, wore some fabulous dresses and brilliantly high-heels, which even I couldn’t wear! But he too was really good and you can also tell that he has been playing pantomime dames for a long time. I didn’t expect there to be 3D effects, but they were really good, they made me jump and worked really well. The singing of the main cast was as good as singing in the west-end and the jokes were contemporary and just so funny. I also didn’t expect it to be such a big production- the 3D effects, Joe Pasquale hanging upside down from the curtain and high wires were used quite a lot- at one point Joe flew over the audience in to circle. The wicked queen also used one of the boxes, which I thought was a really good idea as it gave another dimension to the stage without obviously having another stage. And the high wires gave the performance another level, theoretically and practically. The main reason I booked tickets, as I said, was because of Ray Quinn, but I am so glad I did, it was a fantastic production with a brilliant cast, I really loved it.

I am also looking forward to other performances this year:

- When Harry Met Sally (Alexandra Theatre)

- King Lear (RSC in Stratford)

- Blood Brothers (Hippodrome in Birmingham)

 In a word: amazing. Absolutely loved it, every time. The first time I saw it was for my 18th birthday in May last year, unfortunately Ray Quinn has injured his back, so wasn’t playing Danny, but even with the understudy it was still fantastic- so much so that I wanted to go back to see it again (and again!). The third time I saw it wasn’t the best as there were quite a few understudies, so after seeing it with the proper actors/actresses already, it seemed strange, but still really good- which shows how strong a show it is. The second time I saw it was the best, the full cast- especially Ray Quinn- were performing. The whole show is just fantastic! It is in my opinion, better than the film adaptation. It flows better as a show and it really comes alive on stage. The acting, dancing and singing is all brilliant. The singing in particular, is just amazing. Someone once told me that you didn’t have to be that good a singer to perform in the West End, but the cast of Grease, are so much more than that. Probably the best are Ray Quinn (Danny), Emma Stephens (Sandy), Natalie Langston (Rizzo) and Michael Melmoe (Roger). The whole show flows and each character gets their chance to shine. All the love stories between the T-Birds and Pink Ladies are obvious in the muscial, rather than in the film where only Danny and Sandy and Rizzo and Kenickie are focused on. All the main characters get to sing their own solo song too, making them more whole as characters. The choreogrpahy by Arlene Philips was really good, the dances were step-perfect by the ensemble and Ray Quinn’s dance section at the dance contest was fantastic, the lifts were amazing. It was the first musical I had ever seen and the first time I had been to the West End, and it certainly made me want to go back. It even made me think I might quite like work in marketing for theatre.