I have chosen 3 female artist's tour posters because our artist is female and I have also chose 3 different layouts and ways of presenting an artist to see which one is preferred.
Below I have summarised each answer by selecting common words and phrases used in the answers given by 15 members of our target audience. (if we were a real company our sample size for the questionnaire would be a lot larger)
1. What is the first thing that catches your eye..?
on Lady Gaga's tour poster = The writing and Lady Gaga with the metal ball around her.
on Britney Spears tour poster = Britney Spears.
on Mariah Carey's tour poster = Mariah Carey, the old fashioned microphone and the writing.
It seems like the first thing that catches peoples eye is the picture and any writing that may appear on the poster. This suggests to me that our poster should have quite a large image and make atleast the artists name and what we are promoting in a large font.
2. What would your first reaction be if you saw it as an advertisement?
for Lady Gaga's tour poster = Interesting, weird, too much writing.
for Britney Spears tour poster = Easy to read, attractive, circus theme suggests it will be fun.
for Mariah Carey's tour poster = The picture is too over the top, whole thing is simple and well laid out.
Peoples reaction to posters seem to be about what the picture looks like (interesting, weird, the theme etc), how the layout is presented and how much writing there is because if there is too much writing it can put people off a poster. This suggests we will need to keep our poster quite simple, easy to read with not too much writing and to make the picture interesting.
3. Would you be persuaded by the poster to go to their tour?
for Lady Gaga's tour poster = 8 Yes, 2 Maybe, 5 No
for Britney Spears tour poster = 7 Yes, 0 Maybe, 8 No
for Mariah Carey's tour poster = 5 Yes, 1 Maybe, 9 No
Most of the people who said Yes/No said it because they disliked or liked the artist so this suggests that if our artist already had a fanbase then they would happily buy tickets for or buy what was being promoted.
4. If you were persuaded to go to the tour how did it pursuade you?
on Lady Gaga's tour poster = They like lady Gaga/her music, VIP tickets were attractive, interesting.
on Britney Spears tour poster = They like Britney Spears and the circus theme suggested it would be fun.
on Mariah Carey's tour poster = 'Intimate shows' & there were only 4 makes it seem special, easy to read.
The most common answer for what would pursuade people to go to the tour would be because of who the artist is or any endorsements that appear on the poster for example VIP tickets and 'Intimate shows'. This suggests that we would need to put some sorty of endorsement on the poster and maybe portray the artist as quite big but they haven't been to the UK yet.
5. What do you like the most about each tour poster? (not including liking the artist but can include how they are presented etc.)
Lady Gaga's tour poster = Picture is weird and interesting, all the information is on the poster and it is different - which is what Lady Gaga is about.
Britney Spears tour poster = Britney is attractive, the cicus theme, and simple.
Mariah Carey's tour poster = Use of an old prop (microphone), all information is there - not too complicated and straight to the point.
Overall people liked something to do with the picture on the poster for example the artist or the theme, and the information that is on there. This suggests we need to put emphasis on the image we use for the poster and make it quite interesting to look at, also we need to put a suitable amount of information on there - not too much & not too little.
6. What do you dislike the most about each tour poster? (not including disliking the artist but can include how they are presented etc.)
on Lady Gaga's tour poster = Too much information, dull, dark and the picture could have been bigger.
on Britney Spears tour poster = Not enough information.
on Mariah Carey's tour poster = Doesn't say where the tour is held and needs more colour.
The most common dislike of the posters was about how much information was on it and how there isn't much colour used on 2 of the posters. This suggests that we need to make sure we put a suitable amount of information on the poster - not too much and not too little, and also we need to make sure it is quite colourful because the eye is attracted to colour and it would make the poster more interesting.
7. In each of the posters which aspect of them did you spend the most time looking at?
on Lady Gaga's tour poster = Some aspect of the picture including Lady Gaga and the writing.
on Britney Spears tour poster = Britney Spears.
on Mariah Carey's tour poster = Mariah Carey and the writing on the poster especially 'Don't miss these 4 intimate shows'.
People tended to spend the most time looking at the picture or the writing in each of the posters. This suggests to us that we need to make the picture look very interesting to look at and attractive to the target audience, also we need to make sure we put a suitable amount of information on the poster - not too much or too little so the target audience wouldn't be put off it.
8.Out of the 3 posters I've sent in this mail which grabbed your attention the most and why do you think this?
- 6 people thought Britney Spears' poster grabbed their attention the most because it was attractive, simple, easy to read, colourful and to the point.
- 9 people thought Lady Gaga's poster grabbed their attention the most because it was cool, modern, different, 'out there' all the information was there and it stood out the most.
Overall it seems that people are attracted to posters that are different to what is already out there, attractive, simple, easy to read, colourful, to the point, and modern. This suggests when making our poster we need to consider all of these things.
9. On posters do you read all of the information on them or just focus on a few aspects?
- 13 people focus on a few aspects only.
- 2 people focus on everything.
This suggests that most people focus on a few aspects, this means that we should only put on the poster the things that people focus on the most rather than putting too much information on there.
10. If you only focus on a few aspects, please state what they are and what interests you about them?
A picture of the artist and their name, date of event, venue, large bold writing, and maybe a logo.
This suggests we will need to include all of these aspects in our poster but adapt them to suit a promotion for a digipak.
11. Would you prefer it if a tour poster/CD advertisement had a lot of information on it or a little information on it? (For example all of the tour dates, all of the ticket information, prices, offers, date the product/tickets go on sale etc.)
There needs to be information on it but it needs to be to the point - nothing too complicated, dates, costs, offers, title, website address, locations, and maybe a summary sentance selling the product?
This also suggests we need to include all or most of these aspects in the poster and apply it to a promotion for a digipak.
In conclusion we will need to focus on making an interesting and different image of the artist so people will notcie and pay attention to our poster. Also we will need to make sure we put a suitable amount of information on the poster which includes, artists name, that it's a digipak promotion, release date of digipak, endorsements of some sort, website address, maybe the cost of the digipak but no more information than that.
Research conducted by various advertising companies have found that in western European countries, the USA and Australia etc. people tend to read media texts from:
- left to right
and - from top to bottom
Therefore this suggests that the key messages that the media text need to communicate to the target audience would generally be portrayed from the top left corner of the page moving diagonally downwards to the right bottom corner as this is the way that an audience are most likely to read the media text.
Planning for the Poster
The top key messages that need to be communicated to our target audience in the poster are:
- What the product is - this is a key aspect we need to communicate because it is the purpose of the poster as this is the thing we need to promote and advertise in order for people to recognise it and purchase it. - A digipak promotion.
- The artist - this needs to be communicated because it will give the target audience a reason to be interested in the poster and essentially the product as well. Not only would it catch the eye of people who already are a fan but it will need to be able to promote the artist as well to broaden the fan base. - Amanda Kaletsky.
- When the digipak is available to purchase (a date or if it's already out) - this is so the target audience will know when they will be able to purchase it if they wish to do so. - 22nd February 2010 or 'Out Now' will be when our digipak will be available to purchase.
- Where the audience will be able to get the digipak from - this is important because if the artist is new and is starting off with only having their album in a few selected stores then it makes it easier for the target audience to be able to purchase it as they would know where to get it from. - Taking in to consideration our target audience and the 21st century, downloading is very popular so we would make the whole digipak (including the DVD's features as well as the tracks from the CD) available to download, purchase online and have the digipak delivered, as well as purchase from various stores.
- A special feature of the digipak - this would make it even more appealing to the target audience. For example if it was a limited edition or a special edition digipak this would be more likely to persuade to target audience to buy the product because it seems more exclusive to them. - We may also state that the artist is being introduced to the UK & has been a huge success already in the USA.
