Audience Research (with reference to audience theory and overview of focus group)

Audience Research

To ensure our promotional materials appeal to our target audience, we decided to create a focus group that would help us with feedback as we progress from our research and planning to the final product - the music video. Documenting feedback from our focus group will enable us to develop and progress from research/planning to final product.

So far we have documented feedback from our focus group on what they considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of our research and planning.

When putting together our focus group, our objective was to come up with a representative sample of our target audience. In order to do this, we began by pinpointing our target audience and creating a profile of a typical member.

Audience profile

Age: 15-24

Gender: Mixed, but primarily female.

Registrar General's Social Scale: B  / C1/  E.

Selby's Psychographic Cluster: 'Innovators: who wish to make their mark.'

·      The Registrar General’s Social Scale is the way the British Government defines the populace through their occupation:

Group	Occupations
A	Professional Workers (lawyers, doctors etc.), Scientists, Managers of large-scale organisations.
B	Shopkeepers, Farmers, Teachers, White-collar workers.
C1	Skilled Manual (i.e. hand) workers – e.g. high grade, e.g. master builders, carpenters, shop assistants, nurses.
C2	Skilled Manual – low grade, e.g. electricians, plumbers.
D	Semi-skilled Manual, e.g. bus drivers, lorry drivers, fitters.
E	Unskilled Manual, e.g. general labourers, barmen, porters.

Description

A typical member of our target audience would be a female; however, the various promotions will be targeted for both males and females. When researching The Chainsmokers' original productions and who typically goes to see them live, we personally felt that they catered more for women than men. They would also be in their late teens or early twenties - perhaps a sixth-form/university student. They would be someone who wishes to strive in the world they are present in and make their mark and could possibly see themselves as rebellious - someone who wishes to remake their world in their own image. We also think that the members of our target audience would most defiantly enjoy going to gigs and festivals, much like those of Nass and Boomtown, where dance/EDM music is sort after. 

In terms of Elihu Katz's 'Uses and Gratifications', they would be someone who gains a sense of their own identity from the music they listen to and someone who uses music as a form of escapism from the stresses of everyday life drama. The 'Uses and Gratifications' model suggests that audiences use the media rather than being used by the media. 

Focus Group:

Using this audience profile (above) as a base, we compiled a group of five people who are within the same friendship group so to an extent share similarities and are similar ages/genders with our target audience. We will continue to use the exact same members of the focus group throughout the development of our coursework and evaluations. 

Phoebe: Studies Drama, English Literature, and Philosophy and Ethics at A-Level. Her hobbies consist of playing guitar (very musical person and enjoys going to gigs and festivals), blogging and reading.

James: Studies Mathematics, Economics and Geography. His hobbies are football, going to the gym and socialising.

Alex: Studies History, Geography and Business Studies. Hobbies consist of horse riding and socialising with friends from school and work.

Scarlett: Studies Geography, Business Studies and Drama. Her hobbies include dancing, athletics and socialising with friends.

Ben: Studies Psychology, Biology and Chemistry. Ben's hobbies include playing cricket and attending gigs.

Focus Group
By using this audience profile as our basis, we complied a group of five people who to greater and lesser extents share similarities with out 'typical' target audience member. We will as a group use the exact same focus group throughout our coursework and evaluations.