one of my ancillary tasks is to make a sponsorship sequence that would appear alongside my advert, so i am going to look into TV sponsorship, where it has been effective and what are the conventions it it, as i am unsure of what they usually involve, i know they are only short and so wont include much, but i need to know what is often included in them, the types of information and how it is presented in such a short space of time.
What is it?
TV sponsorship is a great way for brands to become associated with particular content. It is particularly effective if the content is relevant to the brand and/or the sponsorship deal lasts for a long time, such as coronation street sponsored by Cadburys for many years.According to a study by Thinkbox, sponsorship can help make brands famous by association. The study shows that for fans of the content, brand fame is increased by up to 10%. It also proved that sponsorship increases purchase intent, so viewers are more likely to buy the product. Viewers who are dedicated fans of the sponsored programme will respond to the brand better, because subconsciously they are linking a favoured programme with a product. They also proved that sponsorship together with an advertising campaign is very effective. Sponsorship has been used in the past very effectively to promote a brand image and mix the brand identity with that of the programme.
One possible problem for tv advertising is that most tv commercials are 30 seconds and are clustered with other advertisements. This means that marketers have a short amount of time to tell their story and make their brands stand out among the other commercials. If you have a limited budget and can only buy a couple of spots, there is a good chance that the message will get swallowed up by other advertisers or forgotten by the audience. However this is less of a problem for tv sponsorship, because the sponsorship commercials or “bumpers” work by advertising before the show, in the centre break out of show, centre break in to show, and the end break. Research shows that these bumpers allow sponsorship messages to be received as an isolated message to a more receptive audience and are seen in a more positive light when compared to tv spots.
What can be sponsored?
Television sponsorship works by sponsoring a programme, channel or even a tv genre. For example;
Programme: TalkTalk sponsor X Factor, domino's sponsor britains got talent
Channel: Blackberry sponsor Sky Atlantic
Strands of programming: Fosters sponsor original comedy on Channel 4, tasty bingo sponsors ITV daytime with 10 second adverts before and after each show
when choosing what to sponsor, companies must think of budget, and what image they want to create, whether they want to reach a mass or niche audience etc. A company such as Dominoes will sponsor a very successful programme like Britain's Got Talent because they can afford to, they want to reach a mass audience, and the show is aired quite frequently. Tasty Bingo have sponsored a whole area of programming on TV, for the same sorts of reasons, they are reaching their target audience, because they are advertising on daytime TV, which is stereotypically watched by older people and stay at home mums, this means tasty bingo are sponsoring many of the audiences favourite shows, such as Jeremy Kyle, This Morning, Loose Women. This is going to be more effective as the target audience will see a repeat of the sponsorship sequences, and subliminally remember them, and associate them with their favourite programmes. This is an example of well targeted Sponsorship, the right brand with the right programme, that is reaching the right audience.
What does a TV sponsorship look like?
A TV sponsorship sequence usually consisting of an opening bumper, and a closing bumper, although may have a bumper for each end of the ad break too. These are typically 10 - 15 seconds long, and often don't have much of a narrative of plot, they aim to associate the brand with the channel or programme and often include elements from the programme itself, or with the main TV advert of the product, to create synergy in the campaign.
i researched some examples to help understand what they consist of -
These cadbury Brunch Bar sequences are an example of how an opening, break sequences and a closing sponsorhship work together. They are not very different from each other, and follow on a common theme, creating synergy between them.
Analysis -
- All 3 clips feature cadburys signature brown clay animation, which was used as the style for all cadbury/coronation street sequences for many years
- The opening and closing sequences are very similar, with the closing bumper following on the narrative from the opening bumper
- The break bumper is considerably shorter, only 7 seconds long, and is very simple, just featuring the product, and the programme logo, tying the two together, but giving very little information
- The same voiceover is used in each, with the same phrase, which is repititive and will be memorable, it also means they are all the same
- Cadburys famous purple colour is featured, this is iconic of the cadburys brand, and will help the audience relate the bumper to the company.
- The Coronation Street logo is featured at the end, central, fairly large
- The Ad's tie the programme in with the porduct because they are featuring the street life element of coronation street, using the setting of the programme. This is very effective for tying the two together in the consumers mind
- they have a small narrative, very simple, this is fairly common for sponsor sequences, because it can continue throughout the sequence, however they still make sense on their own, and are not reliant on each other.
How do sponsorship sequences work with a full length advert?
For my coursework i need to make two TV adverts and a sponsorship sequence, as well as a web pop up, and i need to be able to create synergy between them for the ad campaign to be successful. I am therefore going to look at how sponsorship sequences work with the full length advert, where they mirror them, or if they are in fact quite different.
I found these adverts for Brighthouse, a 30 second TV ad, and two shorter sponsorships for Home and Away, released as part of the same campaign. They have some of the same features, which is what i was looking for.
- There are many similarities between the two, with the most obvious being the narrative, both feature the idea that BrightHouse customers are celebrating on the new furniture they were able to buy. In this way they are both very similar. They also both feature the yellow glow, that highlights the new product, and the yellow colour, which is symbolical of BrightHouse. They also use down to earth middle class actors to appeal to a wide middle class audience. Lastly, they both feature the company logo, name and slogan, with the same actor used for the voiceover.
- The BrightHouse advert and sponsorship sequences are very similar, and are of the same style, so there is strong synergy between thetwo, however some adverts and sponsorship sequences are not so similar to each other, and some can be quite independant of each other. I will revisit this later, and do some more research into the relationship between sponsorship sequences and tv advertising when i come to my planning stage
From my research, what do i consider to be the conventions of Sponsorship sequences?
- They are 10 - 15 seconds long, and feature one opening bumper, one closing bumper and sometime break bumpers, which are even shorter, at only 5 or 10 seconds long
- they sometime mirror the programme they are sponsoring, so features of the programme are in the bumper
- they dont contain much of a narrative
- they have large logo's, product names and slogans, as this helps the audience remember it subconsciously
- they often follow on from one another, so an closing bumper will follow on from the opening bumper, but are still understandable if viewed apart.
- because they are so short, and aimed at the subconscious mind, they make use of symbolism, such as colour
- they feature the physical product
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