IMC & Reality Television –
a critical analysis of a
media vehicle
Brief for Assessment 1
To do this assignment you need to watch and log 4 to 5 hours of reality television
from Week 1 to Week 6. Choose 2 or more television shows from the following
table:
Reality Television show
Availability
American Idol
Baggage Battles
Beauty and the Geek Australia
Big Brother Australia
Prime on Sky
Travel Channel sky
TV3 on demand or TV3 +1 on Sky
TV3 on demand or TV3 +1 on Sky
Duck Dynasty
Try this link http://youtu.be/wWhqv0Gaoxc
or talk to Kate
Gok’s Clothes Roadshow
House Crashers
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami
Matthew & Mark’s Rocky Road to Bollywood
MasterChef New Zealand
Say Yes to the Dress
Survivor Blood vs Water
The Amazing Race
The Bachelor Australia
The Block New Zealand
The G C Reality Show
The Great Food Race
The Kitchen Job
The Secret Lives of Dancers
The X Factor New Zealand
Vibe on Sky
Choice TV on Sky
E! on Sky
E! on Sky
TV2 on demand
TVNZ screening now
Find episodes on YouTube
TV3 on demand
TV2 on demand
TV2 screening now
TV3 on demand
TV3 screening now
TV3 screening now
TV3 on demand
TV3 on demand
TV3 on demand
Part One: Log your viewing activity & write a brief Blog
1. Keep a simple log with name of show, date & time viewed & the
advertisements you notice surrounding the show. Use this information to
help you with your blog.
2. Write a brief blog summarizing at least 4 weeks of viewing; the blog is due
Friday midnight end of Week 5. We suggest you focus on the following
questions to guide your blog writing:
How complex is the reality television show? To help with this question, read
the article (on AUTonline in Week 1 Resources folder) by Tingstad, (2007)
“Now it’s up to You!” which discusses how reality television shows help
create consumers…
Think about how complexity relates to and is managed using the IMC
process – refer to your textbook (Ang, 2013) pg. 4 for a discussion of the
purpose of IMC and an introduction to complexity.
What do you understand the show’s message/s to the audience are?
Who do you think the target audience is for the show?
Is there more than 1 target audience? Who might they be? Justify your
ideas (how do you know?).
What are some ways the show uses to build brand awareness? (what is
the brand?)To help with this question, read the articles in the resources
folder by Keller (1993 & 2001) which introduce the model of brand equity
and discuss the application of different types of media in an IMC
program.
How is the show supported using other types of media? (think about other
consumer Touchpoints e.g. an 0800 number “buy now”; website directions
to viewers; voice-overs; Pluk symbol to activate a mobile competition)
What kinds of products (or services) “surround” the show?
Make a comment about the “fit” of the paid advertising around the show.
Is there a variance? For example, Huggies baby nappies advertising
around “The Great Food Race”.
What are some factors that you would use to determine the “fit” of paid
advertising around a reality television show?
What things motivated you to choose the shows you did?
Structure of Blog
1. Write a brief critical blog. Use 500 – 1,000 words.
2. Ensure you reference in APA style within the blog. Provide a reference list
at the end of your blog.
3. You may include visuals to demonstrate a point e.g. a screenshot of the
show/s you are writing about, or provide a hyperlink to the show to
illustrate a point. For more ideas, see the marking criteria below.
4. Post your blog to the My Blog tab in AUTonline. The blog is set to private so
you may add, change, or delete entries. Only you and the teaching team
can access & read your blog. You may post each week or you can post
your completed blog in full by the due date.
Marking Criteria for Blog 10%
Criteria
A range
B range
C range
D range
Ideas & content
The student has
many original
ideas & expresses
them clearly. All or
most ideas are
related to the
subject.
The student
expresses some
original ideas. The
majority of ideas
are related to the
subject.
The ideas expressed
are not original,
often confused &
are not connected
to discussions
around the subject.
Writing quality &
community
Post/s well-written
& characterized
by elements of a
strong writing
style. Blog content
demonstrates that
the student is wellread, synthesizes
learned content &
constructs new
meaning.
Post/s show
above average
writing style.
Content
demonstrates that
the student reads
moderately &
attempts to
synthesize
information & form
new meaning.
The ideas
expressed are not
necessarily
original, & are not
usually connected
to discussions
around the
subject.
Post/s show
average writing
style, overly
casual with a lack
of attention to
style. Students pay
little attention to
other reading &
mostly repeat
previous personal
views.
Use of enhancements
The student
greatly enhanced
their blog space
using video,
audio, image or
other add-ons.
The student
enhanced their
blog space to
some extent using
video, audio,
images or other
add-ons.
There is little
evidence of
multimedia
enhancement &
the student blog is
primarily text
based.
The student did
nothing to enhance
or personalize their
blog space.
Post/s are of very
poor quality. There
is little or no
evidence of
reading other
information in order
to form new
meaning of the
topic/s.
Part Two: Write a Critical Analysis: IMC and the use of Reality
Television Shows as a media vehicle to achieve some or all of the
following goals:
The benefits of using reality television shows as a media vehicle within an
IMC program
The challenges of using reality television shows as a media vehicle within
an IMC program
The contribution of reality television shows to supporting brand equity
building efforts in the areas of:
Creating brand awareness
By building consumers brand knowledge via any or all of the following
ways:1. Communicating the benefits consumers receive from experiencing
the brand
2. Fostering specific attitudes towards the brand
3. Using channels that foster an integrated experience of the brand think about the integration of messages in an IMC program that
can be replicated across channels from reality television to social
media platforms to outdoor advertising e.g. bus backs
4. Deliberately linking the brand to a “cause” and using this link to
foster brand recall and recognition
5. Creating brand communities to foster specific social relations
around the use of and attachment to a specific brand
These are some guidelines to help you make a start on the critical analysis. To
help we suggest you read Keller’s (2003) article “Brand Synthesis: The
Multidimensionality of Brand Knowledge” in the Week 1 resources folder.
There are other articles in the folder that you can use to help you with the critical
analysis. You are expected to source credible articles yourself and may want to
use the AUT Library database and/or go to the Harvard Business Review for
articles, or use Google Scholar to find other credible articles. Your textbook
should also be used as a resource. Textbooks such as Belch & Belch (2012; or
earlier editions; in the library) are also a good resource.
You are free to choose the format and style for this Critical Analysis. Think about
presenting this analysis to decision-makers in a business (e.g. marketing
manager) and/or brand owners. Your goal is to provide these people with a
critical analysis about using reality television as a key media vehicle as part of
an IMC program.
Marking Criteria for Critical Analysis 20%.
Criteria
A range
B range
C range
D range
Content,
theoretical
concepts
& analysis
Student clearly &
consistently selected,
explained & applied
a range of relevant
theory & concepts to
support analyses.
Provided an in-depth
& thoughtful
discussion of the
benefits & challenges
to a brand building
program using reality
television shows as a
media vehicle.
Student identified,
explained & applied
a range of
appropriate theory &
concepts to support
analyses. May have
been minor gaps
and/or inappropriate
theory & concepts
selected. There was
evidence of an indepth discussion
related to the
subject.
Student identified &
explained some
appropriate theory
& concepts. These
were limited in
range. There was a
tendency to
include irrelevant
material. Analysis
may have been
inconsistent,
inaccurate or
superficial.
Student failed or
made a limited
attempt to identify &
explain relevant
theory & concepts.
There was no attempt
to support the
analyses within the
document & the
discussion was mostly
confined to personal
opinion.
Depth of
research &
synthesis
of ideas
Student
demonstrated a
thoughtful synthesis of
relevant research,
presented alternative
points of view & used
evidence &
reasoning to justify
their own
conclusions.
Student
demonstrated a
good attempt at
synthesis with some
evidence of
consideration of
alternative points of
view. Student offered
evidence &
reasoning to justify
conclusions; may
have lacked clarity
at times.
Student made little
attempt to synthesize
material from other
viewpoints. There was
no or little attempt to
link theory or
concepts from
research. Conclusions
were drawn from
own opinions with no
or little reference to
evidence.
Writing
quality
Student
demonstrated a
strong & convincing
writing style, made
logical links within the
analysis & presented
grammatically
correct work with
APA referencing.
Student
demonstrated a
clear writing style with
good logical links
made within the
analysis. Grammar &
presentation
generally of a high
standard with correct
APA referencing in
most cases.
Student
demonstrated
some attempt at
synthesis. Generally
other viewpoints
were ignored with
little evidence
offered to justify
own conclusions.
May have
defended own
point of view
despite evidence to
the contrary.
Student
demonstrated
adequate writing
style but expression
may have lacked
clarity. Grammar
and presentation
average with some
attempt made to
reference in APA
style.
Student did not
develop a coherent
account related to
the subject and did
not demonstrate
logical links from
research to
conclusions.
Grammar &
presentation were
generally poor with
little attempt at APA
referencing.
