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Cross Media Case Studies

M tudiesSediaIntroductionTraditional ways of analysing the media have treated them asindividualised products but a media text is no longer a standaloneartefact. In modern Media Studies, texts have been considered withintheir wider social contexts but in the past few years technologicalchanges and alterations in the behaviours of audiences mean thatapproaches to analysis need to change. Most media texts producedtoday are part of a wider media construction which includecontemporary (and still developing) e-technologies and the creativeuse of longer standing technological methods of print and broadcast.

Emedia Print

Broadcast

The aims of this Factsheet are to:• Consider the way media institutions use multiple media

platforms to produce, distribute and promote texts• Consider the changing behaviours of audiences and how they

relate to new technologies• To demonstrate with examples of recent media practice how

multiple media platforms create additional marketingopportunities and encourage audience engagement

The idea of multiple platforms being used to create related mediatexts is not a new one. In the early days of Hollywood a film woulduse moving image media (the film itself) as well as paper basedmedia (posters and advertising, promotional features etc.). PR (publicrelations) campaigns were around as early as the 1920s whensymbiotic marketing would be used to promote a range of products.

For example:• The star of a recent film would be photographed in a designer

outfit at the film’s premiere• The photographs would be published in newspapers as public

interest stories• Newsreels would show footage of red carpet events as soft

news features• The photographs would be used in magazines which focussed

on fashion and celebrity• Retail outlets would advertise in the magazines• The designers clothing (or similar versions of the clothes seen)

would be available in the retail outlets

In this way, a cycle of related promotional activity was built whichbenefited all those involved.

Since the late 1990s another media platform, e-media, has providednew opportunities for media producers to raise awareness of theirproducts, create positive audience reactions and in turn maximisetheir potential for success. The contemporary media landscape nowmeans that a text exists in multiple formats across many mediaplatforms and all these elements combine to draw the audience inand provide different audience gratifications. In addition, the weballows audience members to get involved and user generatedcontent can also play a part in the way the audience accesses a text.Add to this the increase in downloading media texts, watching textson new hardware such as mobile phones, streaming video, the risein on-demand services and even DVD, it is clear that in the last fewyears the way audiences access media texts and the way theyinteract with them has changed enormously.

Combining ‘Old’ and ‘New’ TechnologiesIt is perhaps unsurprising that media institutions are using e-mediamore and more effectively as a marketing medium. The audienceinteractivity that is possible with web based technologies is beingharnessed to promote media products in combination with traditionalmarketing methods.

ActivityIdentify how the various elements in this cycle benefit from thePR campaign••••• The star gains a higher profile which makes the actor more

financially viable••••• The designer becomes associated with the glamour and

desirability of the Hollywood lifestyle••••• The newspapers and magazines generate public interest in

the star••••• The newspapers and magazines create an awareness of the

film••••• _____________________________________________

••••• _____________________________________________

••••• _____________________________________________

••••• _____________________________________________

The stores, newspapers and magazines make more profit, thefilm received free publicity and the star becomes more well-known. Here, the various media platforms are used to maximisesuccess for each other.

AQA/WJEC/OCRAll awarding bodies require that students consider theinstitutional context of media texts and the relationships betweeninstitution, text and audience in both AS and A2 written exams.This material would also support the planning and preparationfor AS coursework productions.

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Newspapers and MagazinesHard copy newspaper sales have declined recently and this is, atleast in part, due to the increase of on-line reporting. Establishednewspapers and magazines will now have a web edition in additionto the traditionally published format. Audiences have free accessto web content as web sites generate their income via advertising.Some web magazines have subscription services which provideadditional content and/or interactive services. These web sites arein direct competition with traditional paper based media as they canoffer more up to date information and provide the content in wayswhich are convenient for different audience activities.

An Example:The Guardian online offers a daily email whichprovides the day’s headlines for all media related stories in allBritish Newspapers. In addition it has hyperlinks direct to TheGuardian’s own stories which saves the audience member timereading through the paper based edition.

On-line newspapers also offer a response service where readerscan comment on a story and their comments are published belowthe article itself. Compared to the traditional type of publishing, thismakes the newspaper more dynamic, allows immediate audiencefeedback and extends the article. Traditional articles were ‘complete’artefacts with a beginning, middle and (most importantly) an end. Ine-media form, the article becomes the starting point for discussionand debate and the writer him/herself has the means to return backto add further comments as the discussion develops. Newspapersactively recruit audience activity from requesting comments andfeedback to using photos and videos sent in by audience membersto create visual impact for current stories.

Web editions of magazines use audience interactivity this way too.Anyone with a mobile phone can be a ‘published paparazzi’ if theyhave images of celebrities to submit and forums are created to allowaudience members to discuss and debate issues and exchangeopinions on topics of interest. Some magazines create elitesubgroups of the audience by providing specific group forumswhich audience members can join on subscription. Again, a magazineweb edition can respond quickly to updates on stories, providevideo as well as still illustration and is a cheaper and often moreconvenient platform for audiences to access the text.

Paper based media in its traditional form was largely a one-waycommunication process with audience members simply reading thecontent provided. Many on-line media texts actively encouragetext and email contributions from audience members and this hasalso spread to paper based forms extending the audience input intopublications.

The use of e-technologies is enabling the audience to interact with,comment on and, in some cases, construct content rather than simplyread it. The use of e-media is allowing traditional publishingcompanies to compete with online publishers and also helps topromote their paper based products. For example, some web editionshave limited content but offers audiences the chance to receive allthe information if they go to the newsagents to buy the traditionalpaper based product.

Film and TVHave used a range of traditional methods of advertising and e-media has provided ways for them to broaden the accessibility tothe marketing and provided new ways to generate interest inproducts.

Trailers and E-MediaTraditionally film trailers were seen by cinema audiences and then,as the film was released, television audiences. Trailers for TVprogrammes were limited to broadcasts in carefully selectedtelevision slots. The introduction of home video and, more recently,DVD gave promoters another outlet for trailers which act to increasethe number of viewers reached. DVD technology went one betterthan video. It was possible for the video viewer to fast-forwardthrough a set of trailers to get straight to the feature film. SomeDVDs, however, are coded so this is not possible. This effectivelyforces the viewing of the trailers. It is now common for a televisionseries to be bought and viewed as a box set so television productioncompanies have a new outlet for the promotion of other televisionprogramming. E-media also allows trailers to reach more people.

Trailers are often released via official websites and community sitessuch as MySpace and YouTube have also been used to releasetrailers to the public. Many major films now have long runningmedia campaigns where several trailers are released over a period oftime with each trailer acting to raise and maintain interest in theforthcoming film.

ActivityIdentify the different ways the web edition of Cosmopolitan encourages audience activity and how it provides different types ofentertainment for the readers.

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Posters and E-mediaWhere in the past, audience access to posters was limited to thephysical locations where the posters had been placed, e-mediaallows different ways to let the audience view this promotional tool.Google image searches for a film or television programme allowsaudience members to find posters and these can then bedownloaded. Official web sites will often offer posters to bedownloaded, sometimes in the form of computer desktop images.

Use of Magazines and Newspapers and E-mediaFilm and TV promotions companies can buy space in newspapersand magazines to run adverts for their products. In addition, theycan attempt to generate interest so that magazines and newspaperswill run editorial content as ‘news’ or ‘commentary’ in feature articles.

This is now extended into e-media. A soft news story has many moreoutlets on-line than in traditional media. Internet publishers needmuch more content as there is a fast turnover of stories on-line andso, in one respect, it’s easier to become newsworthy. The internethas the added advantage that it has communication potentials andso, generating internet chatter is a very effective way to raiseawareness and interest in a product. In addition, promoters can buyadvertising space on web sites which can contain audio and videomaterials which can be hyperlinked directly to official web sites tomake it as easy as possible to draw the audience into the marketingof the product.

Use of Web SitesThe official web sites for films and TV programmes are able to offeraudiences so much more than traditional advertising. A poster oradvert has to rely on a visual hook (the image) and the use ofwritten language to inform the audience as to how they can accessthe text (e.g. ‘… at a cinema near you, now’). Even trailers weresimple one way communication formats and, whilst carefully selectedmoments of moving image could be combined with sound,advertisers were limited to simply informing audiences about thetext and showing selected extracts. On-line marketing provides manymore ways to engage the audience, mostly through elements ofinteractivity. Getting the audience involved, even in something assimple as downloading a desktop image, helps to create a feelingthat the audience member is involved with the text and, therefore,has more of a connection with it. This raises awareness, encouragesa personal attachment and, therefore, increases the possibility thatat the appropriate time, the audience member will be prepared tospend money on the text.

There are a whole host of methods available using e-technologies.One method that is being used in increasingly sophisticated waysis viral marketing.

Viral MarketingViral marketing is not a new technique for advertising. It has beenused for several decades but the advances in interactivity via webbased media have allowed it to be used more by media institutions.The idea behind viral marketing is that ‘word of mouth’ promotionof a product is encouraged by creating activities for the audience toparticipate in that then encourage them to spread the word to otherpotential audience members. This was practiced by promotersbefore the internet but increasing access to the web and the recentrise in popularity of social networking and user generated contentfacilities recently has allowed media producers to develop the useof e-media to create a platform for viral marketing.

In addition other communication technologies such as e-mail andmobile phones are now also used to extend the marketing mix.Audience members are encouraged to pass on marketing informationwith a range of different incentives.

An Example : The Cloverfield (2008) web site offereddownloadable software which could be embedded withinhomepages, myspace profile pages, blog pages etc. The widgetallowed exclusive footage of the film to be shown within theaudience member’s own web areas and then encouraged viewersto go to the web site and download the widget for themselves.Everyone who downloaded this piece of software registered theirdetails and the number of new downloaders who had come viatheir widget was counted. A competition was set up and the userwho generated the most new downloads was offered a trip toNew York.

Exam Hint:- When discussing how institutions make use of arange of platforms, consider the benefits that the institutionreceives from creating multiple texts. Also, consider how thedifferent formats of texts allow audience to access the texts andinteract with them in different ways.

The web offers many additional ways to create interest andencourage others to pass the word on: MySpace profiles, fictionalweb sites, information send via SMS and email, additional videomaterial posted on YouTube, competitions, ‘unofficial’ web siteswhich add to the narrative of the film/programme… the list goes on.Marketers are often keen to encourage a feeling of spontaneitywithin viral marketing so that the success of a text appears to begenerated by the user (UGC or User Generated Content) ratherthan controlled by large profit seeking institutions.

Activity••••• How do you access additional information on your favourite film and/or TV programme? Which aspects of the texts could be

seen to constitute viral marketing?

••••• Perhaps you have been actively involved at some point in viral marketing.o In what ways have you been part of the promotion of a media text?o Have you used to technology to inform other people about a media text?

••••• Identify the different benefits the different platforms offer you.

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Case Study: Dark Knight (C Nolan: 2008)During the summer of 2008 it would have been difficult to avoid thesecond of the most recent interpretations of the Batman franchise.As a Hollywood blockbuster, the film was heavily marketed viatraditional methods with the publication of posters, television slots,media and newspaper advertising, the support for feature articlesand promotional activities aimed at making the film newsworthy.Even in these traditional areas, the marketers of the film used e-media to increase the impact of a traditional marketing campaign.These are just some of the marketing activities that preceded therelease of Dark Knight.

• Whysoserious.com – the Joker’s web site

• IbelieveinHarveyDent.com

• IbelieveinHarveyDenttoo.com – a ‘vandalised version of theHarvey Dent site

• Scavenger Huntso A number of virtual and real-world scavenger hunts were

created which gave out clues for audience members tofollow which would lead to a ‘reward’ of some kind:exclusive trailers and pictureswere revealed on-line toscavenger hunt winners;special cakes were available inbakeries in selected Americancities for those that followed theclues; the Batman logo wasrevealed in Times Square andscavenger hunt game playerswere given the time and locationin advance; free gifts (whichincluded a bowling ball and a mobile phone) were won byaudience members following clues from the fictional ‘ClownTravel Agency’ to specific bowling alleys in the US;

• The Ha Ha Ha Timeso The Joker’s own newspaper website

• Rory’s Death Kisso A site that enabled fans to upload images of themselves in

Joker costumes

• The Gotham Timeso A newspaper web site

from the fictionalGotham city – later‘vandalised’ by TheJoker. The newspapercontained links to anumber of other websites

• A teaser trailer was released and shown before I am Legend incinemas

• A first scene of the film was shown at IMAX screenings of I amLegend

• A trailer was released that had been‘vandalised’ by The Joker

• Subscribers received text messages fromWhysoserious.com to provide information foronline games

• Exclusive footage of the new film was releasedwith the Blu-Ray release of Batman Begins

• A related collection of animations wasreleased straight to DVD

• The ‘Dentmobile’ touro A touring election campaign bus for

the character Harvey Dent

• A Dark Knight themed roller coasterride opened in theme parks

• Action figures were made availablebefore the film’s release

• The Dark Knight logo was used on a Formula One car

SummaryMedia texts exist within a number of media platforms. Each platformprovides its own unique benefits and gratifications for the audienceand audience members are free to choose how they wish to engagewith a media text from a range of options. Media producers can usethese platforms to arouse interest, create awareness, develop brandloyalty and generate viral marketing. Audiences now experience amedia text in a number of ways, in different forms and across differentplatforms. This makes the audience member’s experience of a textmuch broader and institutions are keen to tap into these newaudience behaviours.

Acknowledgements: This Media Studies Factsheet was researched and written by StephHendryCurriculum Press. Bank House, 105 King Street, Wellington, TF1 1NU. Media Factsheetsmay be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students, provided that their school is aregistered subscriber. No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permissionof the publisher. ISSN 1351-5136