Task 2A - Opportunities

i.  creation of corporate identity 

ii.  branding of content 

iii. creation of tone

iv. appeal to target audience

v.  encouragement of brand loyalty

Creation of Corporate Identity

The purpose of idents is to identify the channel. The reason for this is to allow the audience to identify the channel. Another reason is that this can also create brand loyalty, for the audience to stay loyal to the channel, as it allows them to become known to the logo as it is recognisable. An example of this is Cartoon Network's ident. This ident is pretty basic, but allows the viewers to identify the channel from its logo, which is Cartoon Network. With idents like this, the channel's logo will always appear in the centre of the screen; so that it can be easily located for the viewers eye. An opportunity of this is that it becomes iconic and recognisable, as it creates a bond with the audience. Another opportunity is that it creates a visual reminder, to make viewers tune into the channel again.

Branding of content

Branding of content links with marketing, as it is an marketing opportunity as it is a way to get the channel recognised, by including the logo in the ident. In the example below, the logo for BBC One appears in the mid-low centre of the screen. This markets the show by using idents, as it gains more publicity as they put the logos on their idents. 

Creation of Tone

The tone of idents must over arch the visual style, as it needs to reflect the programming and it needs to be appreciated to the audience. I have used VIVA as my example because it reflects the progammes shown on the channel. As you can see in the video below, the idents are full of teens/young adults, doing what people that age usually do on weekdays or weekends, savouring the moment and celebrating being young. This channel broadcasted a number of programmes from different channels such as MTV, Channel 5, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The ident is full of bright, neon colours (colours are overpowered with green and pink, which is the colour of their channel logo) with sparkler's and sparkly colours. This is used to appeal to their target audience, because of their short attention span, as they need to keep engaged. 

Appeal to target audience

The idents must appeal to their target audience because the channel must consider what they should include in the ident, such as tone, colour, etc. In this case, MTV created ident for one of their channels, MTV Classic. Due to the fact that MTV have a number of channels, so they have to brand each and every channel because they are subtly different. 

MTV Classic is a specific channel that only appeals to a certain target audience, as this show was introduced in the 1990's, and broadcasted a number of 90's shows, which makes it an opportunity because it memorable to the audience. 

Encouragement of brand loyalty

Brand Loyalty is building a brand for a channel it is important because it can help them stay loyal to the channel. This can prevent the audience in a way to not watch another channel. In order for the audience to keep a specific channel in their top five of choices, it is essential to keep people watching the channel, as the ident is one of the strongest representations of the channel. In the examples below, they are all Family Guy idents for ITV 2. They tend to make idents which relate to Family Guy because it appeals to their target audience. This creates brand loyalty because whenever new episodes of family guy come out, it is a must that ITV 2 make idents for the channel, another reason is that ITV 2 is a multi channel, as they have ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and CITV.