Make the Most of the Now?

Vodaphone’s Make-the-Most-of-Now advert has appeared on television, is well known in New Zealand for its use of the mayfly as an incentive to sign up. The target audience appears to be male and in the 20-30 year age range. I intend to analyse the advert with my main point (of relationship between key signifiers being the cause and effect of the ad’s success) in mind. I will talk about the links between sound (music, voiceover), dialogue, camera technique/cinematography and visual aides. How these construct ideologies.

The advert unfolds like a story. A misty enclosure is denoted and signifies a peaceful place while connoting the ideas of tranquility, serenity and hidden beauty. This gives the sense of the beginning of a fairytale, the whole “Once upon a time…in a far away place…” A lot of the creation of these ideologies is due to the camera techniques and effects used. The slow zoom into the middle of the water, where the dragonfly rests, gives the impression that the audience is about to witness something special. The extreme close-up of the mayfly’s first movements is similar to a toddler’s attempt at standing. His motion is clumsy, hesitant, portrays the image as delicate. The gift of life being the opposite of certainty as it is restricted.







The music is one of the vital threads of the advert. It is modern, it is traditional in its composition. Having an upbeat song, with a tempo to match the progress of the mayfly’s day, is a highly successful way of implying the ‘happily ever after’ concept as something everyone aspires to. The music is fitting to the nature of the story, it ties in with the chop and change of the day and it acts as an extended metaphor of the mayfly. It ‘soars’, it ‘swoops’ just like the mayfly. The music relates to the images and the images relate to the music, the music helps tell the story by acting as the sensory system of the mayfly. It relates to the dialogue of the advert, they l interlink to create a narrative language of romanticism. David Gibson’s (aka Gibbo from the band Elemeno P) voice is gravelly; it depicts a husky feel to the story. “He saviours every moment” is followed by the climbing shot of the mayfly juggling as the drumming sequence intensifies, acts as a catalyst to the full, sufficiently happy feeling the ad brings.







Darting around suggests the ideologies of youth and new discovery. But also suggests the advert as not just being a fairytale but a romantic fairy tale. There is a romantic feeling to the concept Vodaphone has adapted through the mayfly. This was achieved through personification of the main subject. The cartoon-like eyes and mouth made the story more personal as the audience was given the ability to read the emotion of the setting/plot through their various expressions and characteristics.

The panning/tracking shot of the mayfly passing one another, the male doing a double take denoted a romantic gesture. This links to the connotations of spontaneity and that first feeling of attraction. It illustrates an innocence and sense of natural love. The low-angle shot of the mayflies dancing up into the sunlight, chasing each other around; the view of a cave, with an intimate amount of space filled with a mass of mayflies signifies summer flirtations. Our two lovers (guy and girl) falling back and out of the circle while twirling and giddy denotes giddy happiness. These images signify to me the ideology of summer love.
Through this relationship between the denotations and connotations the overall meaning that is constructed and interpreted for me is an undying want to obtain innocence and youth, and achieving that through young love.





You could argue, however that the advert contradicts the values of youth, romance and freedom. Sure it relates to New Zealanders but why use the scenic settings, the natural habitat of the mayfly, for an ad designed to promote cellular technology? It appeals to the typical New Zealander, the average person with its ideologies of socialism, active lifestyle and not-wasting-a -minute attitudes. But how is having a phone going to help them make more out of life? Will people become unfulfilled if they don’t? Will all these exciting possibilities be non-existent? Those without a Vodaphone plan, are they less fun because they don’t have one? The alternative meaning of technology enabling us to lead fuller lives could be constructed then. With another alternative twist being the general impression that the advert is angled at early 20-mid 30 kiwi males. Why would this be so when the advert pans out with a fairytale ending? Is Vodaphone saying that the average NZ male want a happily ever after?

In conclusion, the Vodaphone Make-the-Most-of-Now ad’s intentions are a success. For it is the strong relationship between connotations and ideologies that instill the importance of relinquished youth, romantic discovery, in their intended audience.