AQA GCSE Media Studies

Unit 1 Investigating the MediaExam Topic: Promotion and Marketing of Video Games

Photocopiable/digital resources may only be copied by the purchasing institution on a single site and for their own use   © ZigZag Education, 2013 

 

Lesson 4

1

Starter

Visit the following website, in pairs, and see how many brands you can identify.

http://99quiz.com/logo_quiz/british_logo_quiz/

2

What is a Brand?

A brand is something that is recognisable as belonging to a particular organisation.

i.e. McDonald’s, Adidas, Ugg, New Look

3

What is the Purpose of a Brand?

A brand is used to persuade people to buy their product and in turn generate income for the organisation.

They can attract different audiences.

Example:• Heinz Baked Beans – usually considered to be the best and the

most expensive.• Supermarket own brand – Sainsbury’s Baked Beans – usually

considered to be at least as good as the superior product and targeted at families.

• Supermarket cheap brand – Sainsbury’s Basics Baked Beans – usually considered to be the cheapest and targeted at low-income families.

4

What is Marketing and Promotion?

Organisations will:

Find out who the target audience are and what they want

Create the product or services Target the audience by persuading them to buy

the product or services

How are they persuaded?

A marketing and promotion campaign

5

Where Might you See Promotional Advertisements for the Following? A tin of Heinz baked beans

Kerrang! music magazine

A new DVD release

Head and Shoulders shampoo

Specsavers opticians

Grand Theft Auto V video game

6

Game Developers and Publishers

A game developer – idea for the game is conceived, designed, created and developed.

A game publisher – manufactures the game, markets and promotes and releases (publishes) the game.

7

Marketing and Promotion Campaign: Heavy Rain

Game Developer: Quantic DreamGame Publisher: Sony Computer EntertainmentPlatform: PS3 onlyGenre: Interactive drama / action and adventureYear of Release: 2010Cost: £34 million to make including production,

marketing and distributionSales: No. 1 game in UK on week of release – 95,000 copies sold 2 million copies sold in total

Sony earned more than £86 million

No. 9 in the Top 10 Games of 2010Awards: BAFTA – best music, story and technical innovation

8

Marketing and Promotion Campaign : Heavy Rain

Date Type of Promotion

04/01/2010 Facebook page

15/01/2010 Official website goes live

25/01/2010 Twitter page

26/01/2010 ‘Four Days’ online experience (over four weeks)

22/02/2010 Premiere in Paris

23/02/2010 TV advert released

23/02/2010 Game released (PS3 only)

24/02/2010 YouTube channel

26/02/2010 Special Edition – extra downloadable content

24/03/2010 Heavy Rain 'Four Characters' wallpaper

29/03/2010 Soundtrack released

11/08/2010 Move Edition screenshots

14/09/2010 Move Edition pack shots

14/09/2010 Move Edition demo – PlayStation Store

01/10/2010 The Making of Heavy Rain Move Edition video

08/10/2010 Move Edition released9

Heavy Rain TV trailers

This is the website address:

http://blog.eu.PlayStation.com/2010/03/ 0

Take a look at the different trailers!

10

Cross-PromotionQuantic Dream Heavy Rain page

11

Cross-PromotionHeavy Rain official website

12

Cross-PromotionPlayStation Heavy Rain page

13

Investigate the Promotion Campaign for These Games

List five facts about the marketing and promotion campaign of one of these games:

Halo 3Mass Effect 3Bioshock 2Grand Theft Auto VCall of Duty: Black OpsSingularityAngry BirdsCandy Crush SagaFIFA 14MinecraftDisney InfinityBatman: Arkham Origins

Put your five facts into a PowerPoint Presentation.

Be ready to present your findings to the class.

14

Analysing Print Adverts

Watch this film on analysing print adverts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/analysing-printed-adverts/11104.html

15

Let’s analyse this advert for Heavy Rain.

16

Let’s analyse this advert for Heavy Rain.

17

There are many different cover designs

This is the UK cover at the time of release

BBFC 15

What country do you think this cover is from?

UKUSAJAPAN

USA

What country do you think this cover is from?

UKUSAJAPAN

JAPAN

What country do you think this cover is from?

UKUSAJAPAN

USA

Analyse a Print Advert

You will be given a print advert to analyse in pairs.Here are some prompts:• Layout• Use of colours• Text• Images – how positioned, camera angles and framing• Lighting• Mise en scene• Representation• Target audience• Institution

22

Extension/HomeworkAnalysing your Own Advert

The homework set last lesson was to bring in a print advert for a video game.

Have a go at analysing this.

23

Plenary

What is the purpose of an advert?

24

Homework

Find an advert/trailer for a video game (preferably the same as the one you brought the print advert in for).

Write the URL down in the back of your exercise book.

25