RESEARCH: HOW BRANDS TARGET AUDIENCES

Later on in the course, you will offer a detailed response to four Creative Critical Reflection tasks.
No. 2 asks: HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS ENGAGE WITH THE AUDIENCE? The research that you do today will form part of this answer and it will also help you think about how you define your own audience.

Today you will investigate how real media texts profile their audiences. Although Bauer Media are not film distributors, we can learn how they help brands profile their audiences and address their audiences.
You will present your findings in Google Slides, with an image and your writing on each slide.
You have some choice in which 4 brands you pick. Here some choices: EMPIRE, MOJO, KISS,  SKY MEDIA, NME. There is cross-over in these audiences and your target audience, which it is why this modelling is useful.

1. Bauer Media handles several brands and develops campaigns to raise brand awareness. Look at what they say about their campaigns as we watch their video. They express their approach using expressions relevant to advertising:

• they interrogate the brief 
• their creatives use insight and instinct to identify and solve attention
• they define a clear strategy and audience fit
• united by one Big Idea (remember Frank Ash's advice?)
• an innovation execution delivers impact and influence
• like film distributors, they 'increase brand awareness'

We start by looking at their media packs. First, we look at Empire Magazine and how it reaches and profiles its audience.

EMPIRE IS, WITHOUT question, the world’s most influential film and entertainment brand. Encompassing a print magazine, podcast, website, digital edition and live events strand, nobody speaks to more film fans across the world with more authority. And within the industry, Empire really matters to people. 

EMPIRE profiles the typical target reader using age, gender, demographics as well as lifestyle

2. Next, we look at MOJO's media pack and read how MOJO profiles its target audience.

MOJO is the WORLD’S LARGEST UK MUSIC MAGAZINE, delivering a monthly dose of world class journalism and iconic photography to an audience of extremely passionate music consumers. If you’re featured in MOJO, you matter.

MOJO envisages the typical target reader as Dave, 43

3. KISS FM UK is the UK’s largest multimedia brand for engaging 15-34 year olds across its multiple touchpoints.

Read how KISS FM describes its audience. Notice the age (15-34) and the importance of mobile and digital. Does this relate to your own target audience? How could you use this information to talk about how you reach your target audience?

4. SKY offers a more traditional audience profile using demographics presented as pie charts.

Some brands go further than merely have Twitter feeds: I also discovered how a really big budget can buy cross-platform integration of a film launch with an existing successful product that engages an established successful audience. In this example, Lionsgate's Nerve (2016) was linked to Celebrity Big Brother by Sky Media

"We all know young people are big users of social media, and therefore to truly engage with this audience, the use of a social platform was key within the campaign. Furthermore, reports show that 74% millennials, particularly 14 to 17-year-olds, regularly use smartphones during TV viewing*. A programme was needed to unite the target demographic by driving social media conversations.
Since its launch, Celebrity Big Brother has been the most talked about TV programme on Twitter, topping the Instar Social leader board as Twitter’s most-talked-about TV show during the 29 day series. Offering a strong teen audience on-air and mass social following online, Celebrity Big Brother provided the perfect platform for the ‘Nerve’ film launch."

"The integration of Lionsgate film ‘Nerve’ was a great success for Celebrity Big Brother, demonstrating a seamless brand integration. The high-pressure challenges of ‘Nerve’ the film translated well to challenges for the housemates. They launched the task just 2 days before the opening night of the film and successfully integrated the look and feel of the Nerve brand. This partnership demonstrates that, when executed well, promotional activity in Big Brother can enhance editorial and leverage for brand awareness in show.” 

5. NME's profiling mixes lifestyle and demographics

Who Is Your Target Audience: Action Steps

1. Who is your primary target audience?
Ex: Male college kids who love zombie movies. 

 2. What makes your film different from competing movies?

Ex: Our film is about zombies that attack ninjas.

3. Why should your audience spend two hours watching your movie?
Ex: Fangoria says: Funniest zombie movie since Shaun of the Dead!