How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

BRAND IDENTITYBrand identity is the way in which a company would like its business to be perceived by consumers. The importance of brand identity in marketing consists of the components are created by the business in order to reflect the value that the company attempts to bring towards the market in order to appeal to its consumers. It is essential to have a strong brand identity which can be easily recognisable as it will build the reputation and image of the company if consumers can easily associate with the logo as they will always come back to the brand.

The marketing campaign I researched was for a film called Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this campaign established the film’s identity in the marketplace as they built up the expectation and target audience over the space of 10 years being the time between both films of the sequel. They were able to use this time effectively and to their advantage, taking fans by surprise with their unique type of trailer which is called a “peering” trailer which was intended to grasp attention of the audience. This was a special type of marketing strategy used to re-spark the love for the sequel so that viewers would be intrigued.

The unique selling point of the film was the way they composed all different types of marketing techniques in a way that allowed them to broaden their campaign, as well as introducing a more diverse cast of characters while keeping some of the traditional characters. In conclusion, all these factors gave fans something to look forward to with an edge so they wouldn’t be seeing the usual Star Wars films they’re used to. The production company has done this on purpose to prove to the fans that they have used the 10 years wisely to make it the best part of the sequel yet.

FILM POSTER

In this poster, brand identity is portrayed through the most recognisable aspect of the Star Wars sequel being the blue and red colours which symbolise the dark side and the light. The main characters are shown in a hierarchy going from top to bottom getting smaller a they decrease to strengthen this. The font of the title remains similar to previous films in the sequel, maintaining the yellow “glow” outline which gives Star Wars that extra bit of edge.

TEASER TRAILER

The teaser trailer includes a total of 12 shots. A black screen is used to transition most of the shots, for a long duration (5 seconds). This style may have been used to optimise the effect the shots have on the viewer so that they have more time to take in what occurs and become more intrigued into wanting to know what will happen next. This type of trailer is designed to create a black hole which will suck in the viewer as the shots are short, however the shots used are able to give some context into the storyline. Enough to make the viewer feel as if he is already on a cliffhanger.

MAGAZINE COVER

Empire chose to use two different types of covers for the film which is interesting. This further highlights the importance of the dark side and the light which is the focus of the sequel. For example, the left image portrays the three main characters associated as the antagonists (dark side) and on the right, the three main characters who represent the protagonists (light). Therefore clearly shown through both magazine covers, is the brand identity. This was a clever choice from Empire as fans can relate to the covers and understand the significance, they were able to connect with the consumers.

FILM POSTER

We used our title and a tagline to capture our target audience's’ attention as most of them will currently be in some form of education and can relate to both. We chose to use “Exclusion” as a title as it’s a powerful word on its own with a deeper meaning, maybe the characters felt excluded from society which lead them to their actions throughout the trailer? Also we placed two handguns at either end of the letter “X” in order to emphasise danger. As well as using the two masks within the poster to include the aspect of “loss of identity”. Also we chose to use a pixelated style for the background of the poster to reinforce the element of confusion/non-understanding. Also, we chose to place the two main characters above the title both as they are college students, and another picture to the right which is after they jump to conclusions.

TEASER TRAILER While editing the teaser trailer I

focused on maintaining the same font, colours and overall style of how each shot is cut to the next. This was very effective in portraying the genre of the trailer to viewers. Also by using special effects and sound effects I was able to strengthen the impact the trailer has on viewers making them more eager to watch the film. In conclusion, the teaser trailer maintains typical conventions, however I wanted to give off an edgy vibe to it so that its able to stand out when compared to others. I did this by punching in powerful but nappy sound effects on essential shots and also using effects to visually enhance the experience. For example, creating the gunshot through use of special effects.

MAGAZINE COVER

For the magazine cover, we chose to follow the design of Empire’s layout as it is iconic and the red black and white theme matches our teaser and poster. Also, we chose to centralise both main characters when they are masked to create a sense of mystery. We wanted to portray the idea of unknown identity in the poster so that consumers will be kept on their tiptoes. Also we have placed the title of our film just below the characters with the black font across the white clothing and the white font against the black clothing. Similar to the Star Wars theme of light and dark, we created a similar theme with black and white, where two characters unite to share their idea of taking education into their own hands.

TARGET AUDIENCE FOR OUR CAMPAIGN

Our campaign is directed specifically to teenagers aged over 15 as some of the content involved would not be suitable for audiences below the age limit. The elements in our campaign appeal to our target audience as they consist of relatable circumstances, for example; exam situations, current situation on drug abuse especially within the age region of the target audience and the simplicity of teenage life. We tried to incorporate all these modern day issues associated with teenagers into a film which would grab their attention and highlight the surrealism of them. We went into depth and showed what these problems can lead to, things such as jumping to absurd conclusions, getting into situations where it doesn’t end well and also linked in the aspect of crime which is stereotypically associated with these issues, however we attempted to approach it at an angle where the stereotype is defeated and it becomes a real life situation. Our main attempt in this campaign was to create awareness to younger teenagers portraying a different side of their lives which usually isn’t shown by the media.