Evaluation of Zing website, newspaper advert and listing pages

I have come up with a TV channel called ‘Zing’, the sort of channel that I would like to watch if it was real. My idea was for a channel aimed at teenagers and young adults (ages 16-24). I created a website for my main task; and a newspaper advert and a double page spread from a listings magazine  as my ancillary.

The website had pages for the channel’s schedule and for information to contact its operators. I believe the target audience would want to do this because Zing would be very interactive – firing off an email to the channel’s controllers would more than likely get a reply and in some cases lead to noticeable changes on screen, in the form of new programmes or presentation. This target audience, I know from experience, finds it very important to be able to feel like they are having an input and a say on what they are watching. They like to feel as if they are being heard. The generation that I am targeting – born in 1986 at the earliest – now see interactivity as an expectation instead of a bonus. It also includes a short video, a mock-up of a home video involving two members of the target audience discussing, with plenty of outtakes, what they’d like to watch on a channel made for them. This video should appeal to my target audience because they can relate to the pair featured in it, and they also appear natural and amusing. By relating to the people in the video, the target audience should feel like ‘if these sort of people are watching this channel, then I think I’d like it too’. The video, being improvised, did not require a storyboard, so it sort of ‘freed the chains’ and made it more natural.

The newspaper advert lists some of the programmes on the channel, some of its slogans and details on how to watch it (channel numbers, etc.). These are conventions of television channel advertising (more examples of TV channel advertising can be seen on another blog post). The main image of the advert is two of the target audience smiling and looking relaxed, again attracting and enticing the target audience into ‘joining them’ and watching the channel. Everything is aimed at getting more viewers. The poster also features a direct mode of address with both of the people in the photograph looking straight into the camera. This makes the advert seem more personal to the consumer, and appealing.

In the course of my feedback, it was suggested to me that the newspaper advert should maybe have an ethnic minority in the photograph, to ensure that the channel caters for everyone and no one is excluded. After considering the options, I decided against altering the photograph. I felt that changing the photo to feature someone from an ethnic minority would be too tokenistic and politically correct. Zing would not exclude anyone from viewing. I just did not believe that it needed to be spelled out so explicity. On the channel level, I would reaffirm this by including music videos from all over the world in programming.

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Zing’s slogans

My TV channel has 3 slogans to launch with:

‘Life At Full Throttle’ – carried on the logo of the channel, so seen the most. Describes the lifestyles of the target audience (care-free and fast) and shows that the channel reflects that.

‘Television Just Got Interesting’ – a turn of a popular phrase, shouting out to the target audience on the website and newspaper advert that what they have been waiting for has finally arrived.

‘At Last. A Channel For People Who Are Too Young To Be Bored With The 9 To 5.’ – describes how the wait for a channel dedicated for people who are not middle aged but also not at school age has been long and tedious. ‘9 to 5’ suggests routine – and Zing is trying to portray itself of not befitting a routine and, like its audience, leading an interesting, exciting life.

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The listings magazine pages give information about how the channel came about and what its aims are, a launch night schedule and also a teaser as to the possibility of new exciting programming coming to Zing, in this case, live football. A photograph depicts a young woman rollerblading and peering into the camera. This direct mode of address, as before, draws the readers’ eyes to the page and appeals to them. The audience may think: “this young, care-free person is enjoying herself, and she watches Zing – so then I’ll watch Zing too – it’ll make my life better.” This part of it strikes Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as the audience is attempting to fulfil their potential by watching the channel.

I chose to work on a channel for young adults because of what I perceive as a complete lack of any half-decent TV output for this group. Children are well catered for with CBBC (both a channel and slots on BBC One/Two), CITV, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. The only service remotely for this audience is BBC Switch, but I find it extremely patronising and the sort of thing I would have switched off and left behind at about 13 or 14 years old, due to how the presenters were too try-hard and how the programming was too far-fetched to be appealing to my audience. This is why one of my programmes, Channel 4’s Skins, is so popular with the target audience – because it shows what really happens. None of the characters fly off into space at any time.  I seem to think that the BBC believe after you have started doing your GCSEs you should settle down in front of the Antiques Roadshow. I thought this was wrong and my idea for a channel was based on catering for the needs of 16 to 24 year olds.

I wanted to take all of the shows that are watched by this audience across all channels, such as Peep Show on Channel 4 and Mock The Week on BBC Two, and put them all on one channel that was available to as big an audience as possible, which meant putting it on Freeview – not just a subscription channel on Sky or Virgin Media. I understand that money might not be abundant for a 16 to 24 year old. At the lower end of the target audience there might be a lack of choice as to whether they have satellite television or not. The channel also had to be non-patronising at all costs. I noticed that the reasons behind this patronising feeling coming from other services was older people trying to ‘be like’ the target audience, which they just can’t do when they are pushing 30. The solution to this would be an array of presenters who fit the target audience, probably between 18 and 24 years of age.

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The stars of Zing

Zing’s schedule will carry such programmes as Peep Show and Mock The Week, but how popular are they with the young adult target market?

Mock The Week – the BBC’s highest rating comedy show. Regularly attracts more than 5 million viewers for a new episode. Shown at 9pm on Thursday nights.

Peep Show – Channel 4’s Friday night point-of-view comedy currently holds its record audience of 1.9 million. Shown at 10.30pm on Friday nights.

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I made a point of ensuring that the synergy between the main task and the ancillary was as strong as possible, that the newspaper advert and listings magazine pages were not just afterthoughts at the end of the project. Therefore, I made certain that all parts of the project shared a consistent design. The advert and listings magazine pages also feature the website address.

This design was persevered with based on research into other channels such as Dave. Dave in particular uses an old-fashioned wallpaper design as the background to its break bumpers. See the other blog post, ‘Research for Zing’, to see more on how Dave has moulded my channel.

The font I have used on the poster is Trebuchet MS, a classic font. It is clear, rounded and stylish and fits neatly with my overall scheme of bright, enthusiastic colours.

The project was not without its problems, mostly caused by technology. The biggest difficulty I had was attempting to place the video in working order on my website. It required complicated .flv streaming technology that I had to learn to use, but eventually I managed to get it to work. In the future I would be able to use these skills I have learned to make better websites.

DVD Advert

This is the advert for my music DVD. It follows all the conventions of an advert; the name of the product, reviews, pictures, special features etc.

DVD draft and final

These are both the draft and final version of my DVD cover. They stick to the conventions of a music DVD cover; band name, pictures of the band, reviews, what the DVD contains, certification, DVD logo etc.

The cover also sticks to conventions of the band. For example, the band’s colours of white and purple are featured. Also, the pictures on the cover seems spontaneous and fun, a representation I wanted to get across in all the aspects of this band.

Storyboards

These are the storyboards for my music video, Long Goodbye by Crescendo.

DVD Cover

This is the first draft of my DVD Cover

Outside Cover

Inside Cover

DVD Advert

This is the first draft of my DVD advert for a magazine.

This is the final draft of my DVD Advert. The black background really makes the advert stand out against the other advertisements and articles in the magazine. The main image of this advert is the front cover of the DVD case.  This allows the audience to know what to look for when they want to buy the DVD. Furthermore, I have shown the special features on the DVD in the advert (highlighted in red) to allow the audience to have an insight into what is on the DVD and persuade them to buy the DVD.

DVD advert Research

This is an advert for the new Deluxe edition of a U2 CD. The main image on this advert is the album cover. The black background shows off the album cover to its finest quality. The colour schemes for this advert abide by the colours of the CD cover itself (black, white and orange). These colours really stand out against any other advert present in the magazine. All the font is in capital letters which also makes it stand out.

This magazine advert does not stand out as much as the U2 advert due to the colour scheme of this ad (blue, white and black). As before all writing is in capitals to stand out more and the main image this time is not of the DVD front cover but is of the artist herself. In the bottom left and right corners of the adverts we see certain logos. The ones in the left-hand corner are the production and record labels of the artisits. The ones on the right give information about where the DVD/CD are available.