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.