IDENTS, OPPORTUNITIES, SOCIAL IDENTITY AND CREATIVE COMMUNICATION

The opportunity an ident provides to connect with an audience's social identity.

Branding and marketing their channels through idents helps broadcasting companies create opportunities for themselves; it enables them to create a corporate identity, a 'personality' that reflects its  philosophy or mission. Idents aim to compress and express the ideologies, interests, values and ethics of the content of the channel in one short clip, instantly enticing people of similiar taste and connecting with their social identity. Idents need to stand out because channels need to stand out. The sea of choice which extends itself eternally to the modern technology consumer is vast and overwhelming. Companies construct their channels personality (and their idents) with thought, purpose and precision so they will appeal to an audience - the audience can be large or niche, but usually companies try to appeal to the mainstream because there is more money in that. The target audience will hopefully be able to identify with that channel and stay loyal to it - a bit like a friend. There are certain limitations when trying to create an ident for a channel, as it is simply impossible to cater to everyone. 

Creative Communication
This is how idents allow the audience to feel a connection with the channel. It is conveyed through tempo, colour, music, and style of the idents. For example, slow, informative idents will appeal to the social groups that enjoy receiving information (most likely older) and bright fast idents will appeal more to younger social groups.

The Behavioural Economic Theory

Behavioural economics (combination of pyschology and economics) theorises that people have identities with organisations - it is the idea that people essentially define themselves as the things they like. Companies rely on the importance of social identity (emotional empathy, demographics, pyschographics) in the individuals decision making. This is opposed to the neo-classical view of people carrying out a full rational analysis of all their available options and then selecting a product or organisation, or in this case a channel to watch.

This means that in order for a brand to attract an audience it must connect with people on a social level - it must appeal to their taste, personality, aspiration, political opinion, age, gender and class. Relating to their psychographic and demographic profiles creates a social and emotional connection; the audience feels it is personal to them and keep coming back for more.

For Task 1 we were asked to pick our favourite brand (be it band, clothing company, supermarket, channel etc), choose something that represents them, and pick the elements apart, dissecting how it has been created to appeal to our social identities and the type of people we are in marketing terms.

My pyschographic profile: The Y & R 4C Model Quiz labelled me as a reformer/explorer.

  

The simple task of picking a definitive brand I like proved difficult, as I am extremely indecisive. That being said, in the end I went with Byron, a burger joint, which counts as a brand, right? It's business card, which I had in my purse, is a playing card, with the busines details on the back. Already this appeals to me - it is quirky, playful and different. Their website is simple, stylish and interactive. It is obviously aimed at young, trendy socialites. It is aesthetically pleasing, and doesn't take itself too seriously (note business card), but it is also efficient, (descriptive food and prices). As you navigate around the site, the backgrounds change but not too much, which is interesting. The images shown are kind of arty, for example rusty metal and record shops. It is not too fancy, but all about the food, which they make clear on their 'Story' page, where they state "We have a few restaurants now but our vision remains the same. To keep serving proper hamburgers the way they should be." Although with a clear mission statement, they still manage to be friendly.

Byron is in touch with their customers, (waitresses took part in Movember by wearing mustaches) and for anyone who raised £25 they gave away a free burger. This shows loyalty and is not all about the money. 

Their advert, on the 'Story' page, uses different fonts and is very sleek, engaging and entertaining. It reminds me of E4, and has a similiar type of audience.

 http://www.byronhamburgers.com/story/