Matt
14-01-2009, 12:01 AM
I originally wrote this as a blog post for my own site, but I decided to post it on here so I could see what the thoughts are on the subject over here, and to read any ideas anyone else may have.
I know I’m about a week too late with this post, but it’s a point that needs to be addressed - how rubbish was the Celebrity Big Brother advertising campaign?
The first broadcast of an eye flash or an advert is always a highlight of the build-up to a series of Big Brother, but over the years, Channel 4’s advertising campaigns for the show have been getting steadily worse.
Since Big Brother 6, we’ve had virtually the same advertising campaign for every series, made up of a number of TV spots - regular adverts, regular adverts with pictures of the house in (house adverts), break bumpers (or eye flashes), countdown adverts - which consist of flashy graphics and voiceovers (nowadays by Marcus Bentley, Big Brother’s regular voiceover, but in previous series a female voice - which sounded a LOT better).
Before BB6, radio, billboard and press adverts were used in campaigns too. Billboard and press ads returned for Big Brother 7, which had the added boost of the Golden Ticket promotion with KitKat which saw Big Brother being advertised in newsagents and supermarkets across the country.
http://www.bbspy.co.uk/images/uploads/goldenticketcampaign.jpg
Things changed for Big Brother Celebrity Hijack. Channel 4 put a bigger effort into the advertising campaign. For the first time ever (to my knowledge - let me know if I’m wrong), the adverts were based on live footage rather than the usual graphics, which itself made the ad campaign unique. Press adverts also returned, as well as radio adverts, for the first time in years. However, there was still one major problem with it.
All of the advert campaigns in recent years - Hijack included - did nothing to entice viewers to watch BB. Yes, the adverts let us know it’s on, but they don’t give anyone a reason to tune in.
Alas, it was back to flashy graphics for Big Brother 9. However, things took a further turn for the worse for the current series of Celebrity BB. It was clear in the adverts that Channel 4 had not put an ounce of effort in. The logo’s star pupil was much larger than it should be in the end frames, and the red strike was out of place in one of the shots. It was obvious they had just edited over the BB9 adverts rather than properly re-do them.
http://www.bbspy.co.uk/images/uploads/cbb6campaign.jpg
Even though Big Brother’s viewing figures have been decreasing over the years, it’s still Channel 4’s biggest show, but the now piss-poor ad campaigns don’t show it.
Big Brother’s tenth series will be broadcast later this year. It’s a milestone series, and for it Channel 4 really have to up the advertising ante. For the BB10 campaign, they should:
Give viewers that reason to watch. Big Brother 5’s advertising campaign is a good example - they showed that BB was different that year, and it went on to be one of the most popular series. This, of course, would have to tie in with a twist or format change - but that’s for another post. Yes, keep the eye flashes and countdown adverts, but the main adverts should attract viewers to the show, and who knows - if it happens, ratings might go up. Flashy graphics do not sell Big Brother to potential new viewers.
Advertise across all media. This includes press adverts, billboard adverts, radio adverts and online adverts. The visual adverts should not simply be made up of a picture of the eye on its’ own, as they’ve done in previous series - like I said above, flashy graphics do not sell the show.
Pay to show the adverts on other channels. The campaign shouldn’t rely on this, but it would not harm Big Brother a bit if Channel 4 was to advertise it during one of ITV’s biggest shows (e.g. Britain’s Got Talent). If they can do it for Britain’s Got The Pop Factor… and The Devil’s *****, they can do it for Big Brother.
Promote special shows more. Tonight, two live shows will air on Channel 4 involving a nominations twist, but it’s barely been advertised (I wrote on the day of the twist in which Ben was saved in CBB6). If it wasn’t for BBLB, the media and websites like this, no-one would know that these episodes were anything more than highlights.
I know I’m about a week too late with this post, but it’s a point that needs to be addressed - how rubbish was the Celebrity Big Brother advertising campaign?
The first broadcast of an eye flash or an advert is always a highlight of the build-up to a series of Big Brother, but over the years, Channel 4’s advertising campaigns for the show have been getting steadily worse.
Since Big Brother 6, we’ve had virtually the same advertising campaign for every series, made up of a number of TV spots - regular adverts, regular adverts with pictures of the house in (house adverts), break bumpers (or eye flashes), countdown adverts - which consist of flashy graphics and voiceovers (nowadays by Marcus Bentley, Big Brother’s regular voiceover, but in previous series a female voice - which sounded a LOT better).
Before BB6, radio, billboard and press adverts were used in campaigns too. Billboard and press ads returned for Big Brother 7, which had the added boost of the Golden Ticket promotion with KitKat which saw Big Brother being advertised in newsagents and supermarkets across the country.
http://www.bbspy.co.uk/images/uploads/goldenticketcampaign.jpg
Things changed for Big Brother Celebrity Hijack. Channel 4 put a bigger effort into the advertising campaign. For the first time ever (to my knowledge - let me know if I’m wrong), the adverts were based on live footage rather than the usual graphics, which itself made the ad campaign unique. Press adverts also returned, as well as radio adverts, for the first time in years. However, there was still one major problem with it.
All of the advert campaigns in recent years - Hijack included - did nothing to entice viewers to watch BB. Yes, the adverts let us know it’s on, but they don’t give anyone a reason to tune in.
Alas, it was back to flashy graphics for Big Brother 9. However, things took a further turn for the worse for the current series of Celebrity BB. It was clear in the adverts that Channel 4 had not put an ounce of effort in. The logo’s star pupil was much larger than it should be in the end frames, and the red strike was out of place in one of the shots. It was obvious they had just edited over the BB9 adverts rather than properly re-do them.
http://www.bbspy.co.uk/images/uploads/cbb6campaign.jpg
Even though Big Brother’s viewing figures have been decreasing over the years, it’s still Channel 4’s biggest show, but the now piss-poor ad campaigns don’t show it.
Big Brother’s tenth series will be broadcast later this year. It’s a milestone series, and for it Channel 4 really have to up the advertising ante. For the BB10 campaign, they should:
Give viewers that reason to watch. Big Brother 5’s advertising campaign is a good example - they showed that BB was different that year, and it went on to be one of the most popular series. This, of course, would have to tie in with a twist or format change - but that’s for another post. Yes, keep the eye flashes and countdown adverts, but the main adverts should attract viewers to the show, and who knows - if it happens, ratings might go up. Flashy graphics do not sell Big Brother to potential new viewers.
Advertise across all media. This includes press adverts, billboard adverts, radio adverts and online adverts. The visual adverts should not simply be made up of a picture of the eye on its’ own, as they’ve done in previous series - like I said above, flashy graphics do not sell the show.
Pay to show the adverts on other channels. The campaign shouldn’t rely on this, but it would not harm Big Brother a bit if Channel 4 was to advertise it during one of ITV’s biggest shows (e.g. Britain’s Got Talent). If they can do it for Britain’s Got The Pop Factor… and The Devil’s *****, they can do it for Big Brother.
Promote special shows more. Tonight, two live shows will air on Channel 4 involving a nominations twist, but it’s barely been advertised (I wrote on the day of the twist in which Ben was saved in CBB6). If it wasn’t for BBLB, the media and websites like this, no-one would know that these episodes were anything more than highlights.