As technology develops so do the ways in which we consume goods, in the face on the internet and film and television radio would appear to be dying as its audience is converted to the online world, seriously demerging the audience figures for the wireless. In the past advertising for audio plays would be found on the radio itself but the truth is it does not reach the same extent of people anymore and to counter this I needed to create ancillary products for different radio mediums. According to the Periodical Publisher Association around twenty five million magazines are sold weekly in the United Kingdom alone and over two billion people use the internet, creating a source for marketing that is potentially able to reach to far more consumers than Radio alone, especially as audience members are increasingly listening online or downloading podcasts and audio books. The internet also has the added advantage of being a growing, global phenomenon filled with social networking sites such as facebook, Twitter and ICQ being three examples of these. Such networking sights can easily gain publicity for other online sites, something I have used to gain notice for the website I have created for my main product.
Radio dramas turn profits through the sales of audio books and CD’s but the vast majority of those I have listened to over the years have never been aggressive in their sales patter but rather they provide pure entertainment in an increasingly commercialised world. As such whilst I am aware that this is ultimately a marketing campaign in the real media I have worked to make my products entertaining and unthreatening for the consumer.
In the magazine advert I have created I have used text associated with the science fiction genre as well as the image of sunlight illuminating a planet, something which compliments the theme of my radio drama. With very little written information this will tell the viewer that my radio drama is set in space, allowing them to understand more about the series before they have even begun to listen. This I feel is important in attracting the right audience members to listen to the radio drama as those who already like this genre will be more likely to choose to listen to the broadcast.
I have also chosen a dark colour scheme for my advert as I believe this to be striking and far more likely to catch attention in a magazine. I have continued this theme in my website to link the two products together. This and the similar style of content, ‘coming to you from the Andromeda Galaxy’ will allow the audience to become more familiar with my products and the radio drama they promote. As mentioned before the content of the website is similar in some ways to that of my tagline, promoting the idea that the drama is reaching the audience from my characters in the Andromeda galaxy, something which can immediately link my ancillary product to the radio drama in the minds of the listeners especially once they have heard the first episode in the series.
Unfortunately technical problems have meant that I have been unable to include related images to my website which I created using Weebly.Com. This is because I was unable to transfer pictures from my computer desktop without the program crashing. This has meant that I was unable to link my radio drama to my website using images or indeed, the BBC Radio 4 Extra logo which I have included in my advert to show where my radio might be found in the real media. Had I been able to use images within this ancillary product the website and the advert would have complimented each other better. Also I would have been able to create a more eye catching layout for my radio drama but despite this I feel that they work well together to draw in audience members across different mediums.
I have managed to include images within my ancillary advert, for which I used publisher to create. Not wanting to clutter the advert with a multitude of different images I have chosen two pictures which work well with the storyline of my drama. Together the sunlight across the planet and the building are eye catching and I have chosen these images in the hopes of intriguing viewers since in many other contexts they would be juxtaposed. And if I manage to intrigue a viewer then they will be more likely to listen to the radio drama publicised in a desire to learn more.
Despite the aforementioned technical difficulties I have managed to merge my main product with my website, including the nine minute beginning to the radio drama which I reordered within my website, following the conventions of other sites such as the BBC and ‘Chatterbox Audio Theater.’ Including this within the ancillary product itself I believe links them together absolutely in the minds of the audience. Giving the consumer a chance to listen to the start of my radio drama in my opinion would have a positive effect on the listening figures. This is because if the listener liked or became intrigued with the storyline then they would be more to listen in future to the other episodes as they would wish to hear how the storyline played out.
Overall I believe that my final product and the ancillary tasks I have produced, to maximise exposure over a range of medias complement each other well. They encourage the consumer to listen, in a friendly and unthreatening way, to the radio series allowing for a higher chance of the sales of CD’s, audio books and merchandise and consequently profit at a later stage.
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