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Newspaper publishers rally against BBC plans for mobile apps (From media week)

Posted by amberneat on Tuesday, February 23rd 2010     

“LONDON – Newspaper groups have attacked the BBC’s plans to launch a range of free news and sport apps, claiming it will undermine commercial publishers in a “potentially” important’ sector.  Yesterday, the BBC announced it was developing news and sports apps for the iPhone, set to roll out before this summer’s FIFA World Cup. The apps will then be adapted for the BlackBerry and Android operating systems. The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) said the move did not constitute an extension of an existing service, but rather an “entirely new service” and should therefore be subject to a Public Value Test. NPA director David Newell said: “Not for the first time, the BBC is preparing to muscle into a nascent market and trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers. We strongly urge the BBC Trust to block these damaging plans,” “The market for iPhone news apps is a unique and narrow commercial space, which means that the potential for market distortion by the BBC is much greater.” At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the BBC’s director of future media and technology, Erik Huggers, defended the plans, arguing that licence fee- payers were demanding access to digital content, “at a time and place that suits them”. Members of the NPA include Associated Newspapers, the London Evening Standard, the Financial Times, Guardian News & Media, Independent Newspapers, MGN, News International and Telegraph Media Group.”

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From: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/bulletin/mediapm/article/984867/?DCMP=EMC-MediaPMBulletin

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 Creating apps for the iPhone will make the BBC even more accessible. Sport and news are the most popular genres of the BBC’s website and are the genres people most want access to when they are not at home near a television or computer; for example to check the latest scores or to read the headlines peopler are talking about. I think that this links in well with the BBC’s plans- spoken about by Pete Clifton- to introduce more technology to the BBC. It links in well with the iPlayer now on the Wii console. It means that the BBC is incredibly more available to everyone wherever they are. The iPhone already plays host to things such as an ’Orange Wednesdays’ app, so a BBC news and sport one I think is more appropriate. It will help the BBC gain a younger audience as well, they can just take their iPhone’s out of their pockets and look at the headlines if someone mentions something on the journey home that they think sounds interesting or dramatic. Although, I can see why newspapers are worried about this. It means people will not be looking in their newspapers or on their websites for the scores or the news. But, the BBC is only updating and modernising, which really the newspapers should do too. I think the newspapers should not become complacent and this will certainly make sure they do not, this is doing to newspapers what is happening to the BBC at the moment- creating competition and most importantly, creating a challenge they have to rise to. However, on saying this, I do not think that newspapers will become entirely extint and redundant just because of one iPhone app, people do still want the tradition of reading a newspaper.

Categorized in 101MC, Other Posts

Critical Reflection on 72-Hour Challenge

Posted by amberneat on Saturday, February 20th 2010     

For the 100MC coursework, I completed a critical reflection on our 72-hour challenge piece.

100mc coursework

Categorized in 100MC

163MKT Coursework

Posted by amberneat on Saturday, February 20th 2010     

In this piece of coursework, I had to create an advertising report for a fictional company ‘Mamma Mia’. The company was looking to re-brand and wanted a marketing strategy for which to do this. This consisted of market research to suggest re-branding ideas and then advertising strategies and creative ideas for the company.

163mkt_coursework

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140MC Work

Posted by amberneat on Saturday, February 20th 2010     

As a group we formed an advertising agency and we all took on roles, mine being Media Planner (with some creative ideas too)

We were given the following brief:

“Dear Paul
 
Thank you for getting in touch. Here at JoeSoap we’re really excited about our new product range launch and we’ll be very interested to see what your agency can offer.
 
This is a completely new range of products so we are looking for an agency to design the packaging for the product, to create a positive bran image and to come up with a national advertising campaign for the range as a whole.
 
We feel that your idea of a boxed gift set is very exciting and we would be thrilled to hear morer about how you would design that.
 
Our strategy is to launch the product range at the start of May 2010 with the intrention of making a big push for Fathers’ Day 20 June.  The advertising campaign will be for the whole range up til then.  After that we anticipate that we may look at advertising specific producs from the range seperately, but we will be interested to hear your views on the advisability of that.
 
The initial advertising budget is £800,000.  The fee for package design would be additional to this and is negotiable.
Kind regards
 
Felicity Goodbody
Brand Champion & Marketing Director
Joe Soap For Men”

Here are the slides from our creative pitch:

Categorized in 140MC, Other Coursework From First Year, Other Posts

141MC Coursework

Posted by amberneat on Friday, February 19th 2010     

My coursework pieces from 141MC.  The first piece is a group report:

141_coursework-_report

The second part of the coursework was an advert based on the report:

141_advert

Categorized in 141MC, Other Coursework From First Year, Other Posts

Lecture on disability in advertising and our advert

Posted by amberneat on Thursday, February 18th 2010     

Synopsis of lecture:

Disabled people are excluded from mainstream adverts, despite there being 11 million disabled people in the UK. The stereotype of disabled people is someone in a wheelchair, however only 2.2% of those who are disabled are actually in wheelchairs. There was a case where a female childrens presenter on cBeebies was disabled- she had the bottom half of her arm missing- and after he first time presenting on the programme there were 8,000 complaints to the BBC about her being on the television, these consisted of comments like ; “it forced me to talk to my children about disability”. There are very few disabled people represented in television adverts and very few agencies which hire disabled models. However, there is to be a break-through, as Coronation Street is to have its first disabled character but this is particularly different as the storyline will not focus on the fact that she is in a wheelchair. Big Brother also treats the disabled differently, they make a ‘big deal’ out of them and treat them in a different way to the other contestants. Disabled people tend to be viewed from one point, the physical point, rather than from multiple points, like personality etc, but you woul not judge someone who is not disabled in this way. Every disabled person is different, like every non disabled person is, disabled people have personalities.  There should be more disabled people as characters or in adverts etc- promoting their quality of life- why does the disablity have to diminish the person? Don’t show them in plain clothes. 47% of people become disabled within their working lives (20-50yrs old). And finally, although there are many disabled charities that advertise and do fantastic work, they actually amplify the disablitiy and the need for help.

 Critical Reflection

There really is a great exclusion of the disabled from adverts, I cannot ever remember seeing someone with a disability in an advert, yet I see people with disabilites all the time- working, shopping and living their lives, so why can they not be included in adverts doing all these things? I must admit that before the lecture, my instant thought, my stereotypical image of someone who is disabled is someone in a wheelchair- this is probably because the only disabled characters on television are those in wheelchairs.

The 8,000 complaints there were about the presenter on cBeebies I find astonishing. I cannot believe how parents could find the presenter ‘inappropriate’ – she was a fantastic presenter and the children loved her. Children are shielded from enough as it is, they only see perfection on television, so in letting their programmes be presented by a disabled person itroduces them to the idea of disability and makes it part of their everyday life and stops it from becoming a prejudice in their minds- so I do not know how parents could complain about broadening their children’s minds, thoughts and beliefs.

In regards to disabled characters in soaps, there has been characters in wheelchairs before. In Coronation Street, Ryan’s friend was in a wheelchair and the storyline did not focus on his disability. However, the character of Hayley in Hollyoaks did have storylines quite heavily focused on her being in a wheelchair, but mainly to highlight the prejudices she came up against. For example when someone heard her singing they wanted her in their band, but when they saw it was her and that she was in a wheelchair they no longer wanted her as their lead singer. Also when she fell pregnant, all her friends and her brother thought she would not be able to cope because she was in a wheelchair, which of course was not true. The storylines for Hayley’s character, although focused on her being in a wheelchair, still had a positive effect as they highlighted the prejudices she came up against and how she overcame them and how her life was the same as everyone else’s- something she often said in the soap; why should she be any different because she’s in a wheelchair. But I do feel that it is a good thing the new character in Coronation Street’s storylines won’t focus on her disability, because, like the character of Hayley, it should not stop her doing anything and most importantly being herself and having a personality, which Hayley certainly did. Also, in regards to disabled characters often being put in plain clothes, Hollyoaks never did this to Hayley, the character always wore what any young, twenty-something girl would wear.

I think that every disabled person should be treated the same as anyone without a disability when on any kind of programme etc. – game show, reality, acting or modelling- the disability most certainly does not have to diminish the person and if the disabled person doesn’t let their disability effect their life, then why should others make it do so? The disability should be acknowledged, but then almost ignored as it does not make them less of a person. People should be judged by their personalities and negativity towards a person should be based on bad attitudes, or bad traits in that person, not by how they look. But unfortunately in a modern society where appearance is key, this is unlikely to happen.

After the lecture on 18/2/10 we were asked in groups to create an advert. The brief was to be based on an origianl one given by ‘Clarks’ and was as follows:

brief

And we decided to create an advert that showed someone with a disability included in a group, doing something simple and regular as jumping, because they loved their new ‘Clarks’ shoes so much. We decided that the person with the disability should not be in the centre, as this would attract attention and in doing this, making sure the audience who look at the advert don’t even see the disability at first. Also to show that ‘Clarks’ is for everyone and everyone is included. Also to make the disability not a “big deal” at all- as the brief said. This is our advert:

Clarks advert

Categorized in 101MC

The Brits 2010

Posted by amberneat on Wednesday, February 17th 2010     

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After watching it last night I felt I needed to write about it as a media piece. I’ve watched the Brits for many years, but this year I found it such a strange programme to watch. It seemed disjointed, which could be due to the audio being constantly muted. It was probably because it was live and live television often doesn’t make very comfortable or easy viewing at all, but especially last night, as it seemed un-rehearsed. Critics suggested it was because it is live and in the huge venue the audience cannot hear and do not listen properly, so don’t laugh at the jokes or applaud at the correct times. But I  really think it makes for uncomfortable viewing and it is about time the pre-recorded it. Peter Kay made quite a good presenter, but even he couldn’t smooth over the cracks in the gallery- he had late cues back from commercial breaks and the VT’s were not smoothly placed in. If they were to pre-record it, it would be smoother and they could edit out things that the celebrities said instead of muting the audio and they could edit out people going the wrong way, gaps and delays etc. I know then though, that it wouldn’t have the controversy that the Brits is infamous for, but it would be much easier to watch at home. At the moment and in particular last night, it didn’t seem to focus on the actual awards for some reason, but more on the speeches and not really either on the performances. There were also problems with audios and ear pieces as well as the VT’s, which for such an organisation as the Brits and ITV I find slightly unacceptable. In particular Cheryl Cole’s (who I found almost unrecognisable, despite being a huge Girls Aloud fan, probably due to the amount of airbrushed photographs in magazines- but that is a whole other debate) performance was out of sync, which I found completely unfair to her as simply doing that performance was hard enough for her. Compared to other awards shows such as the BAFTA’s, Oscars, and various ’soap awards’, it seemed almost amateur. If they pre-recorded the Brits, it could reach the standard of the other award shows.

Categorized in Other Posts

The New Domestic Violence adverts (Feb 2010)

Posted by amberneat on Wednesday, February 17th 2010     

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I saw this advert on television for the first time the other day. I think it is such a brilliant advert. Although it shocked me at first, by the time it ended I just thought it was really really good. It is similar to the Women’s Aid advert starring Kiera Knightley (link at the bottom- no embedding code available – figure 1) except it is less hard-hitting. I feel it is a good idea to advertise for awareness of something so important as doemstic violence, as it effects so many women every year. It also is effective that they have targeted a younger, teenage audience, as it can happen to them as well, but it is so less likely that they would discuss it with anyone, probably because they feel even more alone and isolated than adults. The issue of teenage domestic violence was addressed in teen soap ‘Hollyoaks’ (see figure 2) which was hard-hitting but highlighted the issue brilliantly. I think that the new adverts for domestic violence are just the right balance between being effective, something that makes a lasting impression and something that goes too far- like the Women’s Aid advert was deemed to, as it was banned. I belive it is a much better use of advertising revenue and air time than the NHS’s new drinking adverts (see figure 3) as I feel they are pointless in the way they do not make a big enough deterrant to the target audience to stop drinking- something the audience have done as a part of their lives for so long. Whereas the new domestic violence adverts highlight an important issue, not just for the perpetrators or victims, but for those around them, the advert leaves a memory on their minds; whether the outcome be that they think before they hit the next time, or are hit the next time, or when someone they know shows signs of domestic abuse. The advert is a good length and just as you are wondering when it will stop, the character hitting the window appears and then the slogan. Some critics are already saying that it is not just females that suffer abuse, according to statistics 25% of teenage girls suffer domestic violence and a shocking 18% of boys are vitcims too. Some critics suggest that therefore the adverts are sexist, but whilst I agree that both issues should be tackled, it is one at a time and to suggest that it is a sexist advert is a bit strong. I think that there are too many domestic abuse adverts that are banned so to have one that is effective and more importantly is allowed to be aired, means that critics should not be so quick to judge. I think it is really effective to have the abuser or victim (like in the Women’s Aid advert) shown seperately and detached from their abusive or victim state, to show how they are normal and real people and that the abuse does not have to be constantly happening, it can just be infrequent occassions, but it is still serious. I really do feel this is a good advert and really gets the message across.

[Figure 1] Women’s aid advert- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AegdywmDZ60 

[Figure 2] Hollyoaks  – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMXjMXy9N9I

[Figure 3]  NHS advert - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2a5ICC0Iw0

Categorized in Other Posts

Peter Sissons – 11th February 2010 (Coventry Conversations)

Posted by amberneat on Monday, February 15th 2010     

Synopsis

Peter Sissons came in to talk about his time as newsreader, of which I found really interesting. He talked about how newsreading is more than just sitting at a desk.  Peter said how a good reporter goes out and finds out about the story themselves; they don’t just expect to be given it. Peter also discussed how ITV (ITN at the time) when he began was a small company; something I could never have imagined now; and the BBC before he left was such a large organisation that he never even saw the head of news. Peter also discussed how when he worked at BBC News 24, it meant he was stuck in the studio.

Peter described how he was very lucky in his career, in that the strikes of the 1970’s made his career, as it generated a lot of news stories, so gave him a lot to report on. Also, he was the newsreader for the Channel 4 News launch in 1982- this could’ve gone either way; a great success or a great fail. But Peter said that it was in fact a great success, so much so that other shows attempted to copy the format. Peter admired the format of C4 News greatly; the “rubbish set” with no desks, balancing paper on their laps. But Peter said this was a great success and programmes such as ‘Newsnight’ on the BBC attempted to copy the no desk format. Peter also said that his 7 years at C4 are the years he is most proud of and also BAFTA nominated.

Peter described how he was tempted away from ITN by BBC with a 3 year deal of £500,000! He said that it was a “great privilege to be handed the microphone of a major broadcasting channel”. He described how he has strict rules in his mind on how the news should be delivered to the public: – continuity of presenters, so the public know who will be presenting (which he got at BBC) – piece to camera explains why the reporter is there, not the reporter constantly in front of the camera – reporter should stand still -  and should let the images do the talking. Peter said how he felt that the current news programmes now market the news, rather than delivering it. The programmes use fancy graphics and short sound bites to keep the audience’s attentions.

Critical Reflection

News reading is more than just sitting at a desk; which in all honesty, I didn’t know, I thought that the newsreaders you see on the television just read the news. However, I suppose this is often the case and if it is not it is most certainly the impression they give.  Peter discussed how ITV (ITN at the time) when he began was a small company; something I could never have imagined now;  and the BBC before he left was such a large organisation that he never even saw the head of news. This is understandable, considering how large an organisation the BBC is, despite Peter suggesting in his tone that this was a bad thing. I am not suggesting it is a good thing that at all, just that although quite shocking, it is understandable due to the size of the BBC. As for Peter saying that working at BBC News 24 he was stuck in the studio; I imagine for a newsreader who likes to get out and find out about the stories himself must have been frustrating (which actually was the impression I got). However, I imagine now if all the news-readers were out of the studio chasing stories, it would cause a lot of issues, first and foremost there wouldn’t always be a presenter on hand for breaking  news bulletins and probably because there are people who are paid to research the stories. It would be like buying a hair dryer but never using it.

Peter’s luck with the strikes in the 1970’s generating a lot of news reports, were in essence just that- luck. Although it could be argued that those stories would not have been given to him if they did not think he was deserving of a successful career- because surely they would have known that the reporter covering these stories would get high-exposure. Peter again benefited from luck when the launch show of Channel 4’s new news programme was successful. But then again, this could also be due his technique as a presenter, not just pure luck, especially as in 1982 there would have been a greater audience and interest in the news, so a bad presenter would more than likely have caused an audience to switch off from the programme. As for Peter’s praise of the new design of set, I find odd, as news without a desk seems like a DVD without the player. But Peter said that other programmes copied the format, so clearly it must have been a success. And Peter even went on to say that his time on C4 news are the 7 years he is most proud of and especially as it was multiple-BAFTA nominated; which I did not know about at all and quite surprised about as I did not think that honestly C4 News was really taken seriously- probably due to BBC and ITV’s dominance.

I found the £500,000 Peter was offered to transfer stations, was an astonishing amount for 1989, even if it was over 3 years, I still found it a staggering amount for 20 years ago- now incidentally it is nothing compared to wages of celebrities and footballers.  I was surprised how passionately he felt towards the job he once did, in regards to his opinions on the rules that should be observed when reporting/presenting the news, which I do agree with. I also agree with Peter that the news is now marketed; the extensive use of graphics I agree are irritating, although possibly they are needed to keep a younger audience interested as the news as a programme can be quite dull sometimes. Though, that could just be the fact they channels make it a programme that has to be a certain length, therefore including unnecessary stories just to extend it to the full time slot; so possibly it should just be about delivering the news the way Peter suggests for as long as it takes to get the important stories across rather than making it a programme set to a time slot?

All in all, I found it very interesting to listen to Peter Sissons’s conversation. I did not think that someone could be as passionate as he is about newsreading. I think Peter is definitely right that the news is marketed, there are even advertisements for the news now.  I also think that he is right about how the news should be delivered (and he was right to wear the maroon tie, he did as he was told and it was just bad luck that the navy one on ITV looked darker than it was and that his looked lighter than it was on camera!)

Categorized in 101MC, Coventry Conversations

The Future of Multimedia Journalism at the BBC – Pete Clifton

Posted by amberneat on Friday, February 5th 2010     

Synopsis

Pete Clifton works for the BBC in Journalism and Multimedia. He spoke about the BBC’s website (www.bbc.co.uk) and how it has changed over the past years and how they are planning to develop it and improve it further. The website was originally a peripheral part of the BBC, but now it is a central element to the BBC.  He spoke of how the BBC has been accused of being too big and trying to do too many things for a free service.

Pete Clifton spoke about what the BBC plans to do to update their website. How they feel that there should be a look at what happens online, that the website should focus on fewer things in the upcoming year and that it should focus on its duties as a public service broadcaster (PSB). He explained how in the last 10 years, the website had moved on from the small and bad quality videos on the site in 1997/1998 and thanks to broadband video quality online has been transformed. He discussed how he feels technology interrupts viewing structures, now that things such as iPlayer are available on games consoles. Pete then said that due to this it creates challenges for the BBC, as they have to keep thinking of new services and it challenges the BBC’s dominance in a decade of mobile computing.

He then went on to say that they have already begun to update their services with ‘Democracy Live’. This provides live coverage of political venues such as the house of commons. This kind of technology is a first and was originally used for sport coverage. This technology really is advance; there is voice detection and recognition that records the coverage and allows users to search for sepcific words and then watch the videos containing the search terms and view the videos from the point the search terms were spoken. Pete also said that this will develop over the world cup and winter olympics.

Pete also talked about how the BBC plans to develop the picture galleries as they are popular and tell a different kind of story. He also talked about the search engine optimisation - this is to be done by longer headlines and had actually been improved in the last 2 years already.

There are a great deal of users of the website already, which have grown gradually to 10 million unique users in the UK. 25% of these (which I thought would be a lower figure) are directed from search engines (mainly google). The BBC plan to re-launch the website after re-building content production system, updating and refreshing and making the site more flexible. On average, users view 4 stories per visit. Pete also spoke about project CANVAS.

Critical Reflection

I was surprised to learn that the website had been going for 12 years. I think Pete quite rightly he puts critics right who say the BBC’s website does too many things for a free site,  by saying the BBC’s website is funded by the licence fee so it can afford to do all those things. Even though the licence fee does not stretch as far as it used to and other channels are beginning to want a slice of it, as they feel it is unfair BBC receives all the revenue, it still is the BBC’s so they can really do what they feel is right with the money.

Some say the BBC should focus on its duties as a public service broadcaster (PSB) which I agree with, they shouldn’t forget their roots- what they were established on. Luckily for journalism, news and sport, they adhere to the BBC’s PSB responsibilities. In regards to the quality of videos online improving in the last 10 years, this is evident when you view the BBC website, as there are now a great deal of videos online, whereas just a few short years ago the videos would be relatively unwatchable due to slow connections. It is quite amazing how far online video streaming has come in just 10 years, although in technology I suppose 10 years is a long time, especially when you look at television, games consoles and mobile phones. Pete spoke of how now things such as iPlayer are available on games consoles, I feel this is a good thing though as it allows flexibility with viewing, which in today’s society with busy lifestyles people need else they cannot possibly keep up their viewing schedules. In reference to the BBC facing new challenges with new technology developing, this I think means new technology is a positive thing as it makes the BBC find new ways to communicate, thus keeping its services new and fresh and contemporary. Also ensuring to keep the younger audience, which is important as younger generations are the future and if they lose interest because the BBC fails to evolve, then the BBC will not have an audience in future years.

Pete’s description of the updates to their services with ‘Democracy Live’, I found interesting and surprising how advance this really is; the voice detection and recognition is pretty amazing!  This I feel is just the beginning of many things to come- where it will develop to I do not know- but at the beginning of a new year and a new decade, I think it is a very exciting start.

Pete talked about the updates to the picture galleries online which is a good idea as it attracts a different audience- those who want a quick update on news stories. And also again attracts the younger audience, as now younger people cannot be bothered to read a large amount of text, they prefer to look at images that tell the story in the same, but easier way. Which is a negative thing really, it still happens so the BBC is wise to adhere to this.

The search engine is due to be updated, which is a good idea, as that is something I have noticed, the search engine doesn’t produce the results you want. It often produces results that are nothing to do with what you searched, which does not make you want to use the search engine to find news articles on the BBC’s website. Which again, is a concern in regards to the younger audiences, who do not want to spend a long time searching through endless and useless search results.

It surprised me when he said that it takes 20 seconds from newsroom to website for the stories. Also that there are 1 million users accessing video and audio. Despite this, the BBC still want to improve their promotion of video, original journalism, new articles and local content and continue inproving distinct content of the site. On average, users view 4 stories per visit, which from my point of view is more than I thought, as I don’t find the website particularly helpful- possibly due to the search engine- but on the other hand, for regular users who like to search for and read news stories this figure was lower than I expected. Project CANVAS that he spoke of was also interesting; as I think it fits in well with the BBC iPlayer on games consoles, in the fact that it’s updating technology and in-keeping with contemporary technology.

In conclusion, I found this talk really interesting. I found it good to learn about the BBC; something I have studied briefly in the past for my course; from someone who works there and to find out about how the BBC is constantly updating and facing new challenges and rising to those challenges.

Categorized in 101MC, Coventry Conversations
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