Unit 20: P2 - Planning Campaign

1) Aims and objectives of the brief:

     The aim of the brief is to design and plan an advertising campaign to promote my TV drama to a the intended target audience. This means that my campaign will need to have a strong and clear message as well as consistency between all the types of media platforms I use to promote it as well as not tarnishing the reputation of the BBC - who have green lit the drama - by infringing any copyright or other legal or ethical issues they don't want to be associated with.

A character poster from
the Avengers Infinity War
marketing campaign

2) My series and key things that are likely to appeal to the target audience:

     I'm going to be promoting my TV drams: Promised Land which is looking at some of the struggles migrants may face when trying to look for a better life and what people in more economically developed countries can or even won't do to help them. I think that my intended target audience would like to see good images of some of the characters which can be accompanied with an online character profile, a trailer, a short teaser, posters, and some mention of it on the radio or newspapers.

3) Target audience:

     The intended target audience for this show is open minded people over the age of 15 that are willing and interested to know what some migrants may actually be facing when they leave their home countries in search for a better life. It's aimed at people that have an interest in the topic of immigration, whether they're for it or against it because the aim of the show is to inform and educate simultaneously. The reason it's aimed at such a young starting audience despite it's slightly dark tone is because of how the 15 year old's may relate to the character of Lucy and there will be people at that age that will be interested in the topic or will find the show as a way to consolidate their opinions as well as sort out any misunderstood stereotypes and misconceptions. The show is also aimed for people for all socio-economic groups as the subject affects everyone - in Britain anyway - although its more aimed to the working class as they're generally seen as the people that are most affected by immigration.

Survey monkey is a option to design
a questionnaire on

4) How to work out exactly who the target audience is likely to be:
     Before writing the script, designing a storyboard and finalising any other documents or marketing plans, I can send out a questionnaire about the show which will also allow the person doing it an option to put their age, gender, occupation, interests and other details that will help me to build a character profile which will help me make the marketing campaign as appropriate and relevant as possible to the people who seem to be interested in the show.

 5) Potential issues and concerns:

     One potential concern is that there won't be enough coverage for the show, this could be because there isn't enough money to do all the promotional things I'd like to do or despite having all the platforms the BBC owns at my disposal, the BBC isn't willing to give the show the space and coverage I'd like because they see it as too much of a risk to invest a lot of time into. Another issue that could arise is the legal issues that could happen. This could be in terms of using images that were taken from someone else, libel with the slogan that I may use for the movie for the posters and trailers. Even the whole idea could come under fire if someone comes out to say that they thought of the idea before and can prove it. The campaign and show could also come under scrutiny if certain political and charity groups are against some of the advertising methods used.

6) Possible methods and platforms I could advertise the series:
   - Adverts on BBC channels
   - Trailer and teasers shown on BBC channels
   - Public posters
   - BBC radio stations
   - Newspapers on the "Things to watch" and "TV Show" sections
   - YouTube and iPlayer trailers
   -  Promotion on BBC iPlayer e.g. posters and teaser clips to pop up as an advert before a person watcher a  show on iPlayer.

Click here for a better look at the production schedule.

Click here for a better look at the campaign schedule.

Advertising mind-map

Mindmap of all the things I need to include in the promotional material

Poster mock ups and drafts

Mood-board

Poster and advertising inspirations

Unit 20 - M1: Describe an existing media advertising campaign

Metro Train Melbourne

In 2012, Metro Train Melbourne hired the advertising agency McCann Melbourne to devise and publicise a marketing campaign about railway safety in Australia, specifically Melbourne. What they came up with became an international sensation as people went crazy for the viral game and videos McCann Melbourne created to raise awareness. This viral sensation was "Dumb ways to die". There was an app consisting of various games, a YouTube video series and new "dumb ways to die" videos as well as toys, billboards and other prints as well as an official song to go along with it.

A still from one of the games/challenges
on the app

Consistency of message:-
   Between all types of media that was used, the fonts, colours, animated characters, tone of advertisement and animation style remain the same even when the campaign gained more traction and there was more money to improve the quality of the animation. The main ways of advertising were the app and the videos that were uploaded to YouTube. In both cases the same soundtrack was used as it was what started the campaign and played a prominent part in publicising the campaign. Both the games and the videos consisted of minimal written messages which meant that the main message shown was the title, however there was often a voiceover to inform people about being safe on the rail tracks because that was the aim of the whole campaign. Throughout all media types, the characters remained the same to keep them related to the campaign and they never changed throughout the campaign. The characters all had names and certain characteristics that would make them instantly recognisable when seen by anyone who had seen any of the advertising campaign. The simplistic style and colour choices was also something that kept the campaign different from anything else and the colour scheme ran through every product that was made. The colours weren't too bright and not too dull but they, along with the style of animation, could instantly be linked to the campaign. The biggest fault about the campaign was that it wasn't always clear about the specifics of why it existed, excluding the end of the video or games there wasn't much information to say it was for railway safety. However, aspects like the style of comedy was consistent though all the marketing they did as everything seemed to be light hearted dark comedy which wasn't too dark to put people off but managed to give the message of safety when travelling and wherever they go.

Dumb Ways To Die stuffed toys

Videos they've uploaded to youtube.

Link to Print/Videos Campaign:-
   Between the media products, there was a lot of parallels and consistencies between them which made it easier to recognise. As mentioned before the font styles, colours used and comedy was near identical and this didn't change for the print coverage they did. Metro put posters about the campaign around areas where public transport was accessible across Melbourne. The posters and billboards were on bus stops, elevators near train stations, in train stations etc. which all acted as a consolidation for the campaign as it linked the locations they used to the message. Between digital platforms, the music was a big part of making the campaign recognisable, however with the print, the focus of consistency became the colours used and the characters that were created for the campaign. The use of the same characters and messages over and over on the posters, app and other forms of advertising was what made all advertising linked to each other.

A page from one of the video games