Engine Group Trip

Before the end of the term our Media class got a chance to visit the Engine Group, in Central London which is a creative communications company offering marketing services. This trip was a chance for us to see how the company offers different media services to companies such as Sky, BMW and many more. We also got a chance to get an exclusive viewing of the latest BMW car advertisement. We learnt about how they created it, what thoughts went into creating it and also how to apply these points when creating our own posters.

This was the room we worked in the whole day. In this room we worked on our posters, got a chance to pitch our poster ideas and gave each other  feedback on what we liked and disliked. For those that were creating TV adverts, they got a chance to view some of the adverts that the company had worked on and get some advice on how to make an advert appeal to their targeted audience.

This was the entrance of the building, which we felt was very eye-catching, bright and artistic. I liked how it was creative and appealing and very welcoming. The building also had some of the posters that the company had worked on, on display. For instance in the lifts there was the Katy Perry GHD poster, which I thought was a great idea as I was able to see some of the stuff the company had worked on.

Initial Ideas: Poster

This was my first intial idea where I was had already decided what the name of my newspaper would be. Initially I started off wanting to name my newspaper 'Royal Blackheath Voices' however after my visit to the Engine Group Trip an advertising represantative of that company was able to give me constructive criticism where he asked why I included the use of the word 'Royal'.  My response to that was that since the Olympics the Greenwich Borough had been upgraded to the Royal Borough of Greenwich. With Blackheath being in the Greenwich Borough, I felt that the use of the word Royal would imply high class and, that it related to the social class of the area that my newspaper will be based on.

This was my second initial idea. Despite the feedback of the use of the word 'Royal' I decided to to still keep it as part of the name of my newspaper. I initally started with the idea of having my poster in a portrait formart but I then decided that it would look better landscape.

In the end, I decided to take away the word 'Royal'. This was because, people gave me feedback on my poster ideas and they all thought that the word 'Royal' suggested high class and didnt seem fit for my target audience. So I removed the word and came to the conclusion that 'Blackheath Voices' was a better name.

Creative Brief - Poster

Analysis of a Poster

The Sun uses a receipt format for their poster. This receipt has on going list of all the content that will occur in the newspaper. A closer analysis of the list suggests that it was targeted at a male audience as the content is more suited for men than women. The simplicity of the poster makes it easy for their target audience to understand and it also highlights the two most important things that the newspaper company wants you to know about their company which is; one, the newspaper is affordable and cheap and two, your getting a lot of news through a bargain. The colours used also refer back to the company.The Sun are known for using red, black and white and this allows their readers to familiarise themselves with the company.

Advertisements

 For my newspaper I had to feature an advert as a way of  conforming to other real newspapers.

  I decided to use an advert that another media student created to feature in my newspaper.

 This is because I wanted to keep the element of a everything in my newspaper being created by the youth.

Picture Ideas For My Newspaper

Layout

Newspaper Content

Blackheath Bluecoats
Blackheath Bluecoat School is a school with a long and interesting history.  It incorporates the Greenwich Girls’ Blue Coat School, founded as a charity school in 1700, St John’s National Church of England School, the first Church School in the Blackheath area opened in 1854 and the Blackheath & Kidbrooke National Church of England School, which opened in 1911. Unfortunately last year Greenwich council's cabinet unanimously decided to close down the school by summer 2014. There were several reasons for this closure one being the £1.5m deficit that the school had due to the school only having 53 percent of its capacity. Despite GCSE results continuously improving, last year's results were below the borough average.
In my local newspaper I plan to feature the closure of Blackheath Bluecoats. I intend on interviewing some students and teachers to get an insight on what they think and how this will affect them.

Business
I will also feature a sub story on how the closure of the school will affect businesses near the school. I plan to interview a local shop manager and get their insight on whether this will affect their business. This story will act as an economic story, which will interest those teenagers who are interested in economics.

Sport
From my questionnaire I was able to identify what teenagers would like to see most in a newspaper. Sport was one the most popular subject matters that came up often. So in order to appeal to my target audience, I have also decided to include a sports story based on the Blackheath Rugby Team, where I will be interviewing one the players who also attends Blackheath Bluecoats School.

Creative Brief: Newspaper

Questionnaire Results - Analysis

In order for my local newspaper to be successful I have to consider the answers given in relation to my questionnaire.

Question 1: How do you access the news?
 Fifty percent of the people answered that they access the news through television whilst thirty percent are informed about the news through the internet and the rest of the twenty percent had other ways of accessing the news. This shows that teenagers of today aren't  informed about the news through newspapers anymore. Baring this in mind, I have to consider when making my newspaper whether my target audience will actually read my newspaper. The twenty percent of people who had other ways of accessing the news relied on their news Apps on their phones and iPods. This shows that my target audience are more inclined to reading the news when its accessible through handheld devices.

Question 2: Do you enjoy reading a newspaper?
 When asked this question, sixty-five percent of people said that they did enjoy reading a newspaper. This allows me to feel more confident about creating my newspaper as some teenagers do actually enjoy reading a newspaper. However, twenty-five percent of people said they didn't enjoy reading a newspaper, I now have to consider how to make my newspaper enjoyable, fun but still informative. The rest of the ten percent said that they enjoy reading a newspaper sometimes.

Question 3: What is your favourite newspaper?
Fifty of percent of people asked said that 'The Sun' was their favourite newspaper. Twenty-five percent of people said that 'The Metro' was their favourite newspaper. The rest of the twenty five percent stated different other newspapers. The answers given to this question didn't surprise me as I was expecting to see several tabloid newspapers as some of the favourite newspapers that teenagers like to read. This is simply because tabloids are more targeted to a younger, working class audience which is why most of their content is based on celebrities, fashion, horoscopes and competitions. With both 'The Sun' and  'The Metro' being tabloids they are more likely to appeal to a similar target audience of who I am aiming my newspaper to. This also suggests that in order for my newspaper to be successful I have to consider adding tabloid features to my local newspaper so that it will appeal to my target audience. The rest of the other twenty-five percent who stated other newspapers named 'The Financial Times', The Guardian and 'The Daily Mirror'. This shows that not all teenagers are interested in celebrities and fashion, some do enjoy reading about politics and finance. In relation to my newspaper, I will bare this in mind and still feature a political story in my newspaper which would hopefully attract the teenagers that do enjoy reading about politics.

Question 4: On average, how many times would you say you read a newspaper?
When asked this question forty-five percent of people said that they read a newspaper only once a week. Twenty-five percent said that they read a newspaper twice a week. Twenty percent said three times or more and the rest of the ten percent said that they don’t read a newspaper. My local newspaper will be distributed once a month, this is because I feel that teenagers don’t want to have an overload of news all the time. I think they would prefer to have a large amount of news given to them every now and then.

Question 5: What interests you in a newspaper?
Fifty-five percent of people said that celebrities interest them in a newspaper. Twenty-five percent said that  sports are what they find most interesting in a newspaper. Fifteen percent were most interested in fashion  and the rest of the five percent said politics. This has helped me to come to the conclusion that I need to feature some of these subject matters in my newspaper so that my target audience read the newspaper.

Question 6: What else would you like to see in a newspaper?
A majority of people at seventy percent said that they would like to see more of celebrities in a newspaper. While twenty percent said that they would like to more sports and ten percent had various different answers such as fashion, politics and even upcoming events. This questionnaire has allowed me to see that teenagers are mostly interested in sports and celebrities so therefore I have to feature these subject matters in local newspaper in order to please my audience.

Question 7: Do you feel informed about your community through your local paper?
Twenty- five percent of people said that they felt informed about their community through their local paper. Whereas, seventy- five percent of people said that they did not feel informed. This has made me think about how I am going to make sure that the teenagers of Blackheath feel informed about their community through my local paper. In order for them to feel informed I think I will create a newspaper that will only focus on the area of Blackheath rather than creating a borough based newspaper such as 'Greenwich Times' which focuses on all districts within the Greenwich borough. This is because I feel that a borough based newspaper only features major stories that have happened in that borough which means that if nothing major has happened in a particular district that district won’t even be mentioned in that newspaper. Therefore my aim is to ensure that I feature any story that will help people the teenager of Blackheath  feel a bit more informed about their community.

Question 8: What would attract you to read your local newspaper?
                     Please consider layout when answering this question
Half of the people asked said that pictures are what would attract them into reading their local newspaper. Thirty percent said that the colours used are what would attract them and the rest of the twenty percent had different answers such as the font, the sizing and placement of everything. Because my newspaper is aimed at teenagers I have to ensure that there is a fair amount of pictures as not that many want to read long articles. I also have to consider using bright colours to attract my audience and to make my newspaper eye-catching.

Question 9: What would make you read your local newspaper?
Most people had different answers such as politics, a make-up column, cooking tips and some said nothing. Twenty-five percent said celebrities, twenty percent answered football and the remaining ten percent claimed that they would read their local newspaper only if it featured a fashion section. I will definitely consider these subject matters when creating my local newspaper.

Question 10: Would you read your local newspaper? If not please state why.
Forty  percent of people answered that they wouldn’t read their local newspaper and one of the main reason was because they found it boring. This has made me more determined to produce something that won’t be deemed as boring but fun. I think by including what my audience wants to see in a newspaper would make it more enjoyable and hopefully fun. However sixty percent of people did answer that they would read a newspaper.
 

Questionnaire Results

Primary Research

For my primary research I decided to create a questionnaire which included both open and closed questions. The reason for this was to establish what my target audience would want to see in a local newspaper and most importantly whether they would even read a local newspaper. My questionnaire was distributed to 20 teenagers within the age range of my target audience of 16-19 year olds.

NEWSPAPER QUESTIONAIRE

1.      How do you access the news?

 

2.      Do you enjoy reading a newspaper?

 

3.      What is your favourite newspaper?

 

4.      On average, how many times would you say you read a newspaper?

 

5.      What interests you in a newspaper?

 

      6.  What else would you like to see in a newspaper?

 

7.      Do you feel informed about your community through your local paper?

8.      What would attract you to read your local newspaper?

(Please consider layout when answering this question)

 

9. What would make you read your local newspaper?

  

           10. Would you read your local newspaper?  If not, please state why.