A2.9 - Focus Group Summary

Our focus group consisted of 14 Level 3 photography students (13 girls and 1 boy). We felt this wasn’t a very fair representation as, despite the age range being suitable for our products target age group, our product is suited for both genders and we failed to receive sufficient feedback from males as we only had one boy.

We first asked our FG what they thought of the general layout of our design – we generally had a positive response as the audience said it seemed ‘easy to use’ and they felt that the social aspect (the ability to share through Facebook, Twitter) was very good, as they would like to share their favourite shows with their friends. Some feedback we received said the layout seemed a little bit ‘old fashioned’ – perhaps this is something we can rethink to make our website more modern and unique to suit the niche content.

Taking these things into account, we then asked them what changed they would make to the design; they all felt the design was good but a slight majority highlighted several changes they felt would benefit the overall look of the product. The thing most commented on was the choice of colour being too dark – they suggested possibly using lighter colours overall or maybe just a lighter background to contrast. From this we have decided to create a more synergetic colour scheme perhaps using three main colours, at least one of which will be light to prevent the design looking too dark.

Other feedback we received felt that the logo wasn’t eye-catching enough – but this could have a lot to do with the fact our audience felt the design could be ‘clearer’ perhaps with smaller advertisements (these factors could contribute to the level of attention drawn to the product logo).

We asked our audience to recommend any shows or films that they felt should be included on the site – the general response was indie films that aren’t shown mainstream in the UK and film from different/older eras.

When asked what should be advertised on the site, the majority responded saying they didn’t want adverts (which is not suitable as the cost of licencing must be taken into account) but some audience members said they’d like to see advertised the shows and films that are ‘coming soon’ to the site  - they also said they’d like to see some sort of advertisement for new shows once they have been added to the site and are available to watch.

The final thing we asked our FG was for their opinion on the subscription/pricing fee we initially proposed. The majority response felt it was a decent and ‘fair’ price but showed concerned it may be cheaper elsewhere. A few key responses we received suggested deals such as ‘£1 movies’ and loyalty deals such as when renting a movie for the second time the price should be reduced slightly. Despite the generally positive feedback, we did receive one piece of negative feedback stating they felt the pricing was ‘too expensive’ – they did justify their point and suggested that the fee should be to pay £N for all movies for one month. 

A2.8 - Product Proposal Rewrite

Rewritten Proposal

Our product combines the web sector with film and television to create a website that legally hosts niche market programs and lesser-known films available for 'catch-up' and renting. It would work to be as up-to-date with shows still being aired on TV as well as hosting those which aren't being aired anymore, or those shows/films that haven't been broadcasted for years.
It promotes the genres Supernatural/Paranormal, Sci-Fi,  Mystery and Drama plus others through television programs such as Grimm, Doctor Who and Supernatural which are on channels lesser known to a typical British audience. Doctor Who has been listed as a possibility as now that the past series have finished on BBC One, they have been bought by Watch which doesn't have the same type of 'catch up' services as the BBC.
Also available to the site, we will have films in similar genres which were highly rated but never get the exposure that they deserved. Also, with such amazing films being made right across the globe, there would also be the chance for people view independent movies - a voting system promoting the best film of the month with a new winner every month. Examples of this are: The Prestige and The Innkeepers.

For the target audience, we have personified them into the two target demographics:
Firstly, there is Sierra - she is an 18 year old college student who uses the Internet a lot to keep up with the latest news and spoilers for upcoming TV shows. She is an avid user of social media, specifically sites like Tumblr, which she uses to discover the spoilers of shows aired already in other countries and from previous evenings in her own.Sierra is interested in keeping up-to-date with most things in her life - such as her friends and her hobbies; which include writing, socialising, and blogging. A typical stereotype towards Sierra is "fan-girl", as she openly expresses her feelings through her blog towards these shows - especially her favourite characters.
Secondly, there is Sam - he is a 21 year old university student. In his spare time, he likes to unwind by watching these shows - which not only hold the macho males that he can idolise without shame, but have a story to them which some horror series tend to forget in favour of blood/gore. He tends to go out with his friends quite a bit too, mostly ending up talking with them about things they have seen on TV amongst over topics men his age talk about. These films and TV shows give him an opening to get to understand a story whilst getting the additional scares that often arise. As this is the age of the social-media-ite, he too uses social media to keep in touch with his friends and other news - including that of TV schedules and stories about shows.

The competition that our site would have to encounter would be other catch-up services such as iPlayer, ITVPlayer, and 4OD. They are the 3 main catch-up services in the country that host legal viewings of shows from their channels. iPlayer is the largest as there substantially more BBC channels, with ITVPlayer being the second greatest competitor because of the sub-channels from ITV.
However, there is also the challenges of illegal viewings. Sites like PutLocker and WatchSeries host hundreds of shows illegally - and with very easy access. All a person has to do is type in "Grimm Series 2 Episode 4" into Google and they are presented with hundreds of thousands of links to different illegal sites to view the episode. With this "service" losing so much money for the people who make the shows/movies, it takes a lot of looking into to make sure they aren't being ripped off again.

The design of the website will try to be as easy to navigate as possible, whilst also trying to stay away from the conventional layouts that most video sharing websites go with. Unfortunately, the layout cannot be too unconventional as it would be very difficult for viewers to watch the programs. At first, the ideas for the colour scheme were going to be dark in order for the viewing experience to be more enjoyable as harsh lights from a light background cause eye pain. But, the website will be a bit lighter that it was with a colour scheme of roughly 3 colours (red, blue, purple) but with additional shades to make it more in-depth.
Furthermore, an option will be available for users who want a dimmer light but not a dimmer picture to turn on "cinema mode" - a setting that keeps the picture of the film/show the same but dims out the background to make it easier for those who do not like the harsh lights to view the films.
We have come up with plans on the pricing strategy that helps to maintain the website and also keep the distributors happy:
Firstly, with hosting legal viewings of TV shows and movies you have to pay to be able have the right to view it. Like in the cinema you pay for a ticket, in a store you buy the DVD, we'd have to purchase the rights to view the episodes.
Secondly, to get our money back the obvious money maker is advertising. We will sell advertising slots on the side of the videos to products and services whose target audience matches with ours - for example, Monster energy drink. Other advertisements would be for up-and-coming movies and TV shows that would be coming to the website. 
Finally, TV shows are free to view on traditional catch-up services like Virgin Media - but movies always have a price tag. Now, with services like that on the TV (taking Virgin Media as our example) you pay £3.68 for regular quality for 48 hours and £4.68 for HD for 48 hours. With our services, you pay £5 for one months worth of access to all films. However, because it is a subscription service for films, there will be a customer loyalty reward after 3 months of usage wherein their next purchase will be half the price of the original sales if they are picking the same movies again. Also, for all customers there will be special offers every so often like "£1 movies" which they can opt into for a certain amount of time.

Membership will be required to view the content on the site fully. Without membership you can view trailers and promotions, but you do need to log in to the site to be able to view everything. Most of the content on the site is for people aged 15 and over, so it would stand to reason that that is the youngest you can create an account. It monitors the age of those on the site so that no 15 year olds try to purchase an 18 rated movie. It creates a bit more security and peace of mind for parents too, as with the iPlayer all you have to do is click "Yes, I am 18" and it lets you view whatever you want without a real check. An addition to this is that you can also sign in through social networks - and an unstoppable notification is sent through to their Facebook account saying "___________ has just watched ________" giving parents further idea of what their teenager is viewing online.

A2.7 - Examples of other sites

The image above is an example of an illegal site who would still be a source of competition towards our website. On this site there are thousands of episodes and links to various hosting websites which hold the videos of said episodes - the example above holds the links to the two seasons of the TV show Grimm, one of the shows that would be aired on our website.

However, using 3rd party links through this site increases the chances of downloading viruses onto a viewers computer.

Another example of competition to our site is 4OD - a commercial website much like our own, but they solely focus on shows that are aired on their stations (C4, E4 and More 4). They would take away the audience members for any show aired on the 4 channels. This site has a lower chance of giving you viruses, but it has a pop up when you first load the page saying that they use cookies - a tool to be able to tailor the adverts you see on the website to things that you search for.

My final example is the most popular option, BBC iPlayer. It spans across 10 channels, and includes any movies that are aired on those channels - the one that has been on the iPlayer for the longest is "Bruce Almighty". It spreads across a wider audience, but still only aires shows from their channels.

Once again, this is another site that uses cookies but as it is an non-comercial site the information it gathers is likely for other websites to know you might be interested in a Russell Howard tour DVD or a boxset for a comedy on BBC 3.

A2.6 - Questionnaire

A2.5 - Presentation for Focus Group

The presentation that will be used for our focus group is now up on SlideBoom:

Click here to view.

A2.4 (2) - Final Designs for the Website

Here's the final copy of draft 2 for the TV website - the name has been changed from Hit TV to Off-Beat TV, which fits better with the niche market that we are targeting.

Taking the advice that had been given from the creation of the first draft, female characters have been added to the banner at the top and the space for the search bar and social networks has been filled better.

The colouring has changed ever so slightly to make it a bit darker - from personal experience, watching a show on a bright background tends to hurt your eyes quite a bit, so (as well as fitting with the tone of most of the shows) it makes it easier to watch the shows.

A polling system has been added to fill space instead of a random advert and a "movie of the month" section has been created to further improve the user experience as they can get involved and have their say on what should be the best film of the month (even if the film was released years ago).

Halo 4

In development for seven years, even in development over a year before the third Halo game was released, Halo 4 has been the talking point of many gamers for many years; the hype for this game building since the first was released in 2011, making this gaming series the largest in history.

Because of the anticipation for this game being so high despite other games not being released the marketing team for it had to come up with some creative ways to promote it as the time got closer to it's release date.

Above was the obvious option that all marketers go for - the official trailer. However, this trailer had a slight twist on it than most video games; it is one of a series - starting with smaller time lengths up to this longer one - teasing the audience with speculations and mysteries revolving around the main character Master Chief.

Other campaigns include the interactive web banners that appear on websites such as YouTube - a key site that is used by the target audience of the game. It's interactive in the sense that you can click on the "buy now" and it will take you to the Microsoft Store where you could buy the game (or at one stage pre-order it to get a better deal). Next to it, the trailer is embedded into the banner so you can see the game in all it's glory whilst being shown the temptation to be able to buy it there and then.

A2.3 (1) - Idea Design Development

The image above was the original idea concept that we were basing the development of our product on. Clare designed this originally as a draft to show a basic layout of how the website could look like, using the research of other websites as a basis for how people generally like to have a video-site laid out. 

This second image is of the page layout for when a viewer decides to click on a video. They get taken to the viewing page, on which they will find a summary of the episode, cast listing, a comments section that allows connection from all social networks and of course the episode itself.

From this point, we will both be discussing the further development of the website in terms of it's overall name, tagline, layout, advertisements, typography, colour scheme and imagery.

A2.2 - Proposal

Our product combines the web sector with film and television to create a website that legally hosts niche market programs and lesser-known films available for 'catch-up' and renting.
It promotes the genres Supernatural/Paranormal, Sci-Fi,  Mystery and Drama plus others through television programs such as Grimm, Doctor Who and Supernatural which are on channels lesser known to a typical British audience. Doctor Who has been listed as a possibility as now that the past series have finished on BBC One, they have been bought by Watch which doesn't have the same type of 'catch up' services as the BBC.
Also available to the site, we will have films in similar genres which were highly rated but never get the exposure that they deserved. Examples of this are: The Prestige and The Innkeepers.

For the target audience, we have personified them into the two target demographics:
Firstly, there is Sierra - she is an 18 year old college student who uses the Internet a lot to keep up with the latest news and spoilers for upcoming TV shows. She is an avid user of social media, specifically sites like Tumblr, which she uses to discover the spoilers of shows aired already in other countries and from previous evenings in her own.Sierra is interested in keeping up-to-date with most things in her life - such as her friends and her hobbies; which include writing, socialising, and blogging. A typical stereotype towards Sierra is "fan-girl", as she openly expresses her feelings through her blog towards these shows - especially her favourite characters.
Secondly, there is Sam - he is a 21 year old university student. In his spare time, he likes to unwind by watching these shows - which not only hold the macho males that he can idolise without shame, but have a story to them which some horror series tend to forget in favour of blood/gore. He tends to go out with his friends quite a bit too, mostly ending up talking with them about things they have seen on TV amongst over topics men his age talk about. These films and TV shows give him an opening to get to understand a story whilst getting the additional scares that often arise. As this is the age of the social-media-ite, he too uses social media to keep in touch with his friends and other news - including that of TV schedules and stories about shows.

The competition that our site would have to encounter would be other catch-up services such as iPlayer, ITVPlayer, and 4OD. They are the 3 main catch-up services in the country that host legal viewings of shows from their channels. iPlayer is the largest as there substantially more BBC channels, with ITVPlayer being the second greatest competitor because of the sub-channels from ITV.
However, there is also the challenges of illegal viewings. Sites like PutLocker and WatchSeries host hundreds of shows illegally - and with very easy access. All a person has to do is type in "Grimm Series 2 Episode 4" into Google and they are presented with hundreds of thousands of links to different illegal sites to view the episode. With this "service" losing so much money for the people who make the shows/movies, it takes a lot of looking into to make sure they aren't being ripped off again.

We have come up with plans on the pricing strategy that helps to maintain the website and also keep the distributors happy:
Firstly, with hosting legal viewings of TV shows and movies you have to pay to be able have the right to view it. Like in the cinema you pay for a ticket, in a store you buy the DVD, we'd have to purchase the rights to view the episodes.
Secondly, to get our money back the obvious money maker is advertising. We will sell advertising slots on the side of the videos to products and services whose target audience matches with ours - for example, Monster energy drink.
Finally, TV shows are free to view on traditional catch-up services like Virgin Media - but movies always have a price tag. Now, with services like that on the TV (taking Virgin Media as our example) you pay £3.68 for regular quality for 48 hours and £4.68 for HD for 48 hours. With our services, you pay £5 for 1 weeks access to that film, plus an additional £1 for an extra day (say you purchase the film 1 week before a party then want to show it then, £1 will get you an extra day to view the film).

Membership will be required to view the content on the site fully. Without membership you can view trailers and promotions, but you do need to log in to the site to be able to view everything. Most of the content on the site is for people aged 15 and over, so it would stand to reason that that is the youngest you can create an account. It monitors the age of those on the site so that no 15 year olds try to purchase an 18 rated movie. It creates a bit more security and peace of mind for parents too, as with the iPlayer all you have to do is click "Yes, I am 18" and it lets you view whatever you want without a real check. An addition to this is that you can also sign in through social networks - and an unstoppable notification is sent through to their Facebook account saying "___________ has just watched ________" giving parents further idea of what their teenager is viewing online.

A2 - Product Development

A1 - An Analysis of One Brand of Water

The name of this brand of water is Duchy Originals, a name that suggests a link to royalty. It sounds sophisticated and "original" like it's trying to sell itself as one of a kind. Popular culture of this year would associate it with the growing love of British culture. 2012 has become the year that Britain stood out in the world for good reasons again - what with the Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, Britain as been recognised once again and avid Anglophiles would probably see this as their gateway into the higher societies.

The packaging of the product is very elegant, the whole design seeming to make the water masquerade as a fine wine - making a great design for those who chose this product in a restaurant. It's a clear simple glass bottle, showing off the cleanliness of the water - suggesting the idea of purity. Unlike some other water brands, Duchy has a crest on it's label, something that highlights it's royal endorsements. Even the typography on the label is sophisticated and regal, the colouring seeming like an aged gold.

On the official website of the brand (found here), they make specific statements highlighting their natural farms, the purity of the water, it's royal connections and history. "At Waitrose and Duchy, we share a belief in the value of British organic food, grown and produced sustainably. It’s a pleasure we can all enjoy". This statement found on the official website is a prime example of how the marketing team of this brand are trying to highlight the primary reasons why they are better than their competitors. They highlight the key phrases and words that will strike a chord with their target audience; "value", "British organic food", "sustainable" - these are the main things that people are looking for these days and they promote those aspects prominently on the main page of the site.

They also make a very key point that their profits all go towards good causes:

"Thanks to your support, a donation from the sale of Duchy Originals from Waitrose products is given to The Prince's Charities Foundation. More than £1 million is raised annually in this way for distribution to charitable causes, including supporting British farmers and rural communities, and of which £75,000 goes to The Prince's Countryside Fund." [*]

They speak directly to the person reading, making them feel like they have done a good thing by purchasing this product. But at the same time, it makes those looking at the product who have not bought it feel like they should so that they do something good for these charities.

I wasn't overly impressed with the taste of the Duchy water we were presented. Though it was softer than some of the other brands and certainly tasted cleaner, it really didn't impress me. They seem to offer a lot of quality in their product but they didn't really seem all that different to regular water. 

I originally thought that Duchy would be about £1.99, because of the glass bottle and the endorsements by royalty - so I was very surprised that it was only 81p; one way that they were sticking to their promise of "value".

Because it has "From Waitrose" on the label, plus all the hype about their partnership with the supermarket chain, it's safe to assume that the product would be found on the shelves of Waitrose. However, this does not exclude the possibilities of it being placed in restaurants and bars for those dinning out.

From searching around, I have found one advert for the product - but the taste testing activity we did was the first time that I had ever heard of the Duchy brand. I'm not sure if it's because they were promoting to specific audience, meaning I wasn't in that bracket, or if there was just a general lack of advertising for the product but the following is the only advert that I could find:

The advert uses celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal - giving the brand further endorsement - to wander through the farm where some of the other products of the brand are created, showing him eating some to prove it's great taste. However, this advert is simply for the entire Duchy brand and not specifically the water so people may not be aware that the bottled water option is available unless they look for the brand in store.

A1 - The Bottled Water Market Documentary Notes

The water market has been growing for just over 40 years with many people joining the competition for customer loyalty creating many new brands on a product that the consumer wasn't even aware was in demand until marketing teams told them otherwise, turning water from a commodity to a brand.

Though there had been other bottled waters in the market before hand, the Japanese brand Mahalo was said to be the point in which bottled water began to make it's mark on the shopping industry. Mahalo is now 10x more expensive than oil.

Nestle vs Danone
Pure Life vs Evian

These are two very big companies with many products already famous in markets across the globe - both becoming household names within short spaces of time. As a result, both companies are competing for customer loyalty on a global scale with billions being made through their alternate products.

But they are only separated by Lake Geneva.
Nestle's headquarters being in Switzerland whilst Danone's is in France.

Evian (Danone):

• "Water with no human intervention";
• Purity;
• Mountains - it's a major part of the branding and idea of purity being presented to the consumers. Mountains are featured in the logo of the product but are also embossed around the top of the bottle. It's also stated on the bottle that the water came from the French Alps with no human intervention in it's purity;
• "Nature in a bottle";
• 1.5 million liters sold every year;
• "French is best".

Pure Life (Nestle):

• They had sterilized water left behind from other products so decided that they would filter it further and put it to good use;
• Uses NASA techniques which make water good enough for astronauts to drink;
• Culture
• The water has no specific source like Evian does so it can be sourced closer to the places it's being produced in. This gives some form of instant gratification for consumers knowing that they can get a product soon as it won't take too long to ship it from country to country but rather city to city;
• This also gives Nestle the advantage of being able to give a low price for their product;
• Short time victory.

Perrier

• Brought out during a time of audience confusion - water was free from a tap so why should they pay for it from a bottle?
• Sales increased to very clever marketing campaigns;
• Dubbed "the yuppy drink";
• Sophistication;
• Brought out during the time of the liquid lunch in which men would end up coming back to work drunk. This meant that they had a bit of class remaining, being able to keep a stable self image whilst remaining sober;
• Water was glamourised;
• Sales increase - 25,000 bottles to 10m;
• Tap water was then privatised by Thatcher - consumers thought "we're paying for tap water now. We may as well just by it in bottles..."
• The fall of Perrier began when Benzine was discovered in one of the bottles. Recalls of all that shipment were brought in and during the time that it was off of the shelves rival brands swooped in to take it's slot on the market.

Highland Springs

• Britain for the British;
• Ready market waiting;
• Product placement;
• BA was a big marketing tool used. They were originally using a foreign water on commercial flights, but soon changed to using Highland Springs after it was pointed out that "it's a British airline, they should serve British water''.

Still water in bottles feeds into everyone's urge for instant gratification whilst sparkling water gives people that air of sophistication and glamour whilst keeping themselves moderately healthy.

It's typically observed that people aren't really buying the water, they're buying the packaging of the water - the bottle itself. Whether it's a water bottle masquerading as a wine bottle or if it's ergonomically designed for athletes on the go - everyone ends up paying for the design rather than the water.

However, we have become a more affluent audience. We've entered the age of the foody meaning the want for naturalised tastes.

"Demand is manufactured". The audience is never aware that they want a product until the marketing teams of said product say they should have it.

"Water can be whatever you want." It fits into the new age of the healthy life style; working along the lines of the "5 a day" vegetable and fruit campaign, water was then pushed forwards saying "8 glasses a day".

Volvic and One Water

One small company saw how bottled water was becoming ridiculously easy to get hold of in countries like the UK and the USA which have the means to simply turn on a tap and get water in an instant.

So, they created One Water - the only bottled water brand that gave all it's profits to helping those in need in Africa and developing countries.

It gave the audience a positive brand choice, giving them not only the water that they wanted by the knowledge that their purchase had just helped to improve someone else's life somewhere else in the world.

In the first few months of the product being released just over 1.4 million people were helped.

But Volvic, another Danone brand, knew that the market was moving in that direction of helping. Their want for customers prompted their own water campaign in which a small percentage of their profit would go towards helping those in need in developing countries. So their sales increased once again and people got helped. It was win win. 

A1 - Water Tasting Focus Group

A1 - Virgin Atlantic

Advert One

This first advert is the 25 anniversary advert promoting the long standing reputation held by Virgin Atlantic.

The advert is more male orientated, targeting the business class male by using attractive air hostesses. It starts with a businessman leaving a taxi whilst trying to get into the airport. You can tell that this man is of some importance because it makes prominence of the old mobile phone in his hands - the originals that was the size of bricks. In that time, it was generally those types of people that could afford to get their hands on a product like that so it instantly makes you aware of who they are trying to target.

As the women (and some men but their out-shined by the women) walk through the airport, you are drawn to them by the vibrant red of their uniforms.

Red is a very important feature in this advert not only because it is the branding colour of all Virgin products but for it's connotations with these women. It's sexy and passionate, the entire tag line of the advert centering on this point Still red hot after 25 years.

Appearance is the biggest point of this product because Virgin relies on it's good public image. They use attractive women as their air hostesses whilst "average" people are on the sidelines watching them - other air hostesses wearing drab uniforms with their hair tied back looking the complete opposite of what Virgin are offering.  

Advert Two

This second advert was released more recently and provides a more glamourous look at the upper class services available through Virgin Atlantic.

Just as stereotypical as the last, the women are once again very attractive with the uses of red highlighting the brand and the domination these women possess. The power shown by these woman in some sections of the advert suggest that they are in complete control of what is going on but at the same time they are there to get you where you need to go.

However, this time the advert has taken a turn and has used men in an appealing way as well. You witness them pole-dancing on forks, swimming in Martini glasses and many more showing that not only is the business class male being targeted but the business class female too as we have entered an age where women are becoming more equal in that audience and not just a pawn to get the men to use products.

The entire advert is a James Bond parody,  giving the audience the illusion of grandeur. It takes on the connotations of the James Bond universe - the sex appeal, sophistication and smoothness. Most men in their lifetime have wanted to be James Bond and some women "Bond Girls", so this gives them the idea that they will get that high level of service.

It's a fantasy - their kind of "dream" image to show you what services they promise you will receive.

A1 - What is the Marketing Mix?

The marketing mix is the recipe used to make sure that there is consistency whilst marketing a product.

During this process, marketers have to go remember the 4 P's:

• Price
• Place
• Promote
• Product

Each section affects the other, meaning that as the audience's needs change the marketers are able to change the product as such. So if you were to promote a product in a place with a high price bracket the audience will change to the people who shop in those areas. If used successfully then the product will reach it's target audience and make a profit.

Applying the MM to a product

Furby

Product
The Furby is a toy last seen in the 90s but has recently made its comeback in 2012. It's seems to be a very peculiar bird (though it reminds me of Gizmo from Gremlins) - with the ears and the beak - and has the tag line A Mind Of It's Own. The 2012 version of the toy has been improved for further interactivity with the child as Furby seems to learn from them.

Old Furby:

New Furby:

Place
Furby can be found in any major store that sells toys - from general supermarkets such as ASDA and Tesco to actual specified toy stores like Toys R Us and Smyths.
Because of it's artificial intelligence programing and electronic features, it would be placed in aisles with similar products - probably closer to the older child's toy section by mp3 players and over interactive products.
It can also be bought online through shopping websites like Play and Amazon (as well as through audience selling sites like eBay).

Promote
Adverts have been shown on the main TV channels ( ITV 1, C4, C5 ) during the peak times when children would be watching - mainly after 3pm when school is finished and the TV schedule incorporates children's TV for a couple of hours.
It has also been shown on specific children's channels like Disney Channel and Nickelodeon throughout the day - this could be on the off chance that a parent with a younger child and an older child (the younger being at home, the older being at school) would be watching and think that it could be a good present for their child.
Online has also been an excellent place for promotion as it has connected a world wide audience. Those old enough to remember Furby when it first came out started to talk about it, using word-of-mouth to spread the word that their childhood toy was making a comeback - getting people anticipated for a product that wasn't target at them and wasn't even released. Some of that past target audience have children of their own now so can relive the memories of that old toy by getting the new version for their own kids.
Furby also has an interactive website in which children (with parental supervision) came "meet Furby", get to know it's personality and even design their own.

Price
The pricing of Furby really depends on where you look for it. On the adverts, the general price of the toy has been stated as £60 but sometimes a store will alter the pricing to get more people to buy it there. If they know that this product is popular and in-demand then they can cut the prices (penetration and competitive pricing) to encourage the customer to shop there.
Online prices are usually the best when it comes to purchasing toys as they can afford to put a lower price on the product but counter it with post and packaging charges. On some sites, I have seen the Furby priced at £50 or £55 but with p+p charges of up to £7 depending on where you live. International shipping prices vary too as the distance always makes the prices increase.

We're a Culture - not a costume.

During the run-up to Halloween, the third biggest holiday in America, a campaign has been set out to make people more aware of the "costumes" that they may be deciding to put on this year.

In the past, it has started to become more "acceptable" to put on costumes depicting people from different religions and cultures and because of that more people from those groups are being alienated.

It's proving to be a fairly successful campaign in the sense of making more people aware of these cultures, however with such a large population I doubt that the majority of the people in the USA would really take notice of the offence they could be causing.

However, it has been a good source for debates within classrooms and on the Internet. When shown in the BTEC Media classroom, a small debate began on whether people were just being sensitive as "the Mexican on a donkey was funny". People did support the campaign though pointing out the connotations of the Muslim poster (the general stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists when that isn't the case).

On the Internet, people have definitely been getting into debates on this topic further promoting it as the images are passed along with peoples comments:

A1 - How was "The Sweeny" Marketed?

Vertigo Films is a UK Media company which was founded in 2002, and they are responsible for producing some of Britain's popular movies.
In recent years, they produced Europe's first live-action 3D movie Street Dance 3D.
But they have also produced other films such as:

• Monsters
• Outcast
• A Night In The Woods
• The Sweeney
• Horrid Henry: The Movie
• The Firm

Their films are typically based around British culture - using iconic series like The Sweeney and Horrid Henry for movies are great examples as they have been household names for many years. So, though their movies wouldn't do as well in further reaches of the world, the British target audience would understand the references and style presented to them.

Rated 15+, The Sweeney is targeted at the older teenage audience through the action, grit and tension. It is portrayed through the posters as a dark, steely action film - Ben Drew carrying a large gun whilst walking alongside Ray Winstone, both looking tough and intimidating. However, The Sweeney was originally a British television series during the 70's. So, as well as trying to entice this new generation of movie goers to see it, Vertigo Films are also trying to get the audience of the original series interested too.

Posters were the most obvious marketing technique that was used to promote the film to the audience - thousands of posters were set out across the country, saying the name of the film and looking dramatic to gain the audiences attentions. Billboards were set up too - a captive audience during rush time traffic with the only visuals outside the car being these images of this upcoming movie.
TV and cinema trailers were also released, clips sent out across the nation and internationally thanks to YouTube and social networking - they got the audience talking, also using word of mouth to spread the message about this film.
Also, they did the obscure thing of partnering with Orange for joint promotion during a segment of the promos in the cinema. In this, Ben Drew and Ray Winstone acted through what the audience originally think is a clip from the movie - until the colour orange becomes the standout feature. In the end, the audience are told not to let their phones ruin the movie - a memorable trick which was also used to advertise The Expendables 2.

These techniques were used as they reached across to all of their audience members. Some were more memorable than others, but all were successful in promoting the film. One of the most useful techniques that a marketing team can be sure to work is word-of-mouth - once a member of the public has heard of this movie (whether it be for the memories of the series or the general action for the younger audience) they will start to talk about it, spreading the word from person to person. So if one part of the marketing was very successful then that will be the talking point; this can also be turned around that if it went spectacularly bad then people will remember it for that.

A1 - Class Discussion - What is Marketing?

1 - What is marketing?

Marketing is the process in which a product is developed and promoted through audience research.
It is put through a system that can be called the "Marketplace" - mainly because it is an area in which you can buy or sell services. In this time, a marketing team can identify who they are selling the product to, primarily by conducting research on them in situations like focus groups. But at the same time, the modern audience has developed so that it is more aware that they are being targeted or that they would enjoy a product being promoted.
They are responsible for communicating a message about the product (i.e. what it is, how the audience can purchase it, how much it is, where they can by it). This also includes brand development and packaging.

Things that can be marketed include:

• Products
• People (self-promotion, bands etc.)
• Services
• Networks (Orange, O2 etc.)
• Customer Services
• Media text (Films, books etc.)
• Places (Visit Scotland campaign)
• Government
• Events (Festivals etc.)

2 - What is involved in a marketing campaign (Tools and Techniques)

One of the main processes that happens is market research. Before a product can be really promoted or created, an audience needs to be targeted and researched. Once a company has an idea of the audience's needs, then they can start to develop and change a product according to what they have dicovered. If done successfully, a company can generally create a highly successful product.
Although it is technically in a different section, advertising is another area in which a product can be marketed. It's generally the final promotions of a product and can be seen through:

• print - leaflets, posters
• outdoors - billboards
• TV - trailers, commercial, tv spots
• radio - adverts, interviews
• online - social networking, websites

Once a product has been created it's imperative that the public remain aware of it. Word of mouth is key after the initial promotion, people are the most effective forms of advertising as everyone has the urge to talk to someone or to gossip about something they have recently witnessed - if you make a memorable advert/product then people are going to want to talk to it. Also, people are the perfect testers. Trial runs are very good ideas to test out a product in a real situation - you can tell if it lives up to the standards that were expected by the audience or if there are any further improvements that need to happen.

Furthermore, the type of promotion that people little remember is the sponsorship of items. If your product becomes a sponsor for some large broadcast, event etc - like the many logos you see flashing around the outside of a football pitch in a stadium - then more people are likely to see it. Though the prime slots on TV are very expensive to purchase, if you find the perfect time to advertise your product - primarily when the target audience is watching - then you are more likely to sell it.

A great example of sponsorship dealings is Dr Pepper and Thorpe Park. For the past couple of years, Dr Pepper has been in a deal with Thorpe Park in which they will sponsor the "Sun Scream" season during the summer - which includes a motocross stunts show - if they allow Dr Pepper to be the main drink advertised throughout the park. At busy points in the day, people wearing the logo of Dr Pepper walk around the parks and hand out free samples of the drink to entice people to go and buy more.

• Focus groups
• Placement
• Online - effective everywhere. YouTube is a great source for adverts these days. Great for the promotors, that is. For the users of the website, it's been complained about that even the advertising system on there has been marketed. Adverts are almost always compulsory on highly subscribed users - such as PewDiePie, Ray William Johnson and Tubuscus. Often you can skip the adverts - after you've watched 5 slow seconds of it - but sometimes you have to sit through an advert. That, and the banners on the websites. Adverts are everywhere you look.
• Radio - it's a more subliminal form of advertising. You don't realize it's really happening because you're listening to the music anyway. Sometimes, the adverts could blend so efficiantly from or into a song that you don't realize you've heard about this product but you still know it. Catchy jingles help as music always gets stuck in your head - how many times have you heard "GO COMPARE~" since that advert came out 4 years ago?
• TV - though everyone still watches TV, this form of advertisement has started t struggle in recent years thanks to V+ and Sky+. All these on demand features (including the online ITV Player, 4OD etc) have started to obliterate the adverts - making them much easier to avoid on TV. Even when a program has been recorded straight from the TV, you can still fast forward through the adverts to skip them.
• Print - the most escapable. If you don't want to look at a piece of paper then you don't have to.
• Outdoors - this one is inescapable. When you're walking around outside or stuck in traffic, billboards are always there. Particularly around the areas where traffic becomes awful at peak times of the day - they pretty much have a captive audience.

3 - What is PR?

PR stands for Public Relations, and it is a part of the marketing mix; it is part of managing the message of a product.

PR manages have to make sure that there is a good relationship between the product, the company and the audience.

This area of the marketing has the strongest relationship with the media - utilizing the media to the best effect.

Generally, these sectors use PR companies:

• Big companies - like Apple.
• Governments
• Celebrities - Max Clifford is a big name in this area having dealt with celebrities like Kerry Katona over the duration of his career. 

4 - How has marketing strategy/techniques evolved over the past 10 years?

Since the Internet grew (Web 2.0), marketers have had easier access to niche markets - being able to go directly to people through their social networking profiles or searches to find out what they are interested in and whether that can help develop products further.

In recent times, web devices known as cookies (a data collecting "virus") have been inserted onto websites by their creators to help figure out what a user is interested in whilst they are searching. Play.com, Amazon, and eBay are prime examples of websites who use this tactic as you could be searching for Avengers Assemble on Play.com and see it being advertised by another website on banners somewhere else.

However, because of these changes the new generations have become more media savvy. Education has changed in recent years to incorporate the new technologies and media techniques. Thus this has created a more media-sceptical generation.

5 - How has our understanding of marketing audiences changed in the 21st century?

Now that the audience is becoming more media savvy, the marketers have a harder job pushing through the barriers that the audience are trying put up. However, with social networking systems such as Facebook, Xbox Live, and Tumblr the audience are already doing the marketing for the companies.

By creating multi-national sites, people have the ability to talk to people on the other side of the world - everyone connecting through their comment interests.

Tumblr is a good example of this. Through their tagging system, users are able to promote themselves, products, news to anyone else in the world with Internet access and a connection to that site. We are able to influence each other with much more ease - making an advert viral or talking about a product like the newest camera or phone. We give reviews of these products - either saying that they are the greatest invention to date or warning people to avoid them at all costs.

6 - What is more important, the product or the marketing?

In the general sense, the two need a balance but sometimes marketing happens before there is even a product.

In some cases, branding works better where marketing is concerned - for example, people were raving and wanting the iPhone 5, talking about the product before it had even gone into production. Apple were able to assess their user wants and needs to create this product - with the audience creating the hype and anticipation for it months before it was created.