The opportunities of idents 2A

Encouragement of Brand Loyalty 

Brand Loyalty is the unspoken promise that, a consumer will continue to buy or use a particular product or service. It can be said that "brand loyalty" is a trend or pattern in which a consumer will become committed to a particular brand or service and make repeat purchases from the same brand or service over time. Brand loyalty for television channel branding is very important. The general aim of a television channel is to build a bigger audience, this means increasing a channel's audience share. If a channel has a wider audience,it means that it is more likely to attract "loyal" consumers. Loyal consumers, lead to increases in audience share, which in turn leads to more revenue. It is for this reason that brand loyalty is so important. Television channels use their brand identity to encourage brand loyalty. This is done through the creation of idents. Idents help to promote and endorse a TV channel. TV channels will normally air programmes that are exclusive to that particular channel to try and keep their ratings.

 As mentioned before, the aim of a TV channel is to obtain as many viewers as possible to become the biggest TV channel regionally, nationally or even internationally. Exclusivity is one of the most effective ways of creating brand loyalty. One example of a channel that uses this is Cartoon Network.Cartoon Network has exclusive broadcasting  rights to the Adventure Time animated TV series .Cartoon Network is also the main distributor and production company for Adventure. Essentially, they own the adventure time franchise. This automatically creates brand loyalty for Cartoon Network. Fans of the show (Consumers/Viewers) are forced to watch Cartoon Network, because they will only be able to watch full TV episodes on Cartoon Network. No other TV channel has the rights to broadcast this particular show. Television channels will often highlight the fact that they have exclusive content by incorporating that content in an ident. This ident is typically placed in between and after commercial breaks. The Cartoon Network ident below is an example of this. Adventure Time characters are used in this particular ident to promote the exclusivity of the show on Cartoon Network. The ident also includes the logo of the TV channel, aswell as the instrumental  theme song of Adventure time.This encourages brand loyalty, because viewers will know that adventure time is only shown on Cartoon Network. Viewers will be encouraged to continue watching Cartoon Network because they will want to watch shows that are similar to adventure time. 

To effectively encourage Brand Loyalty, TV channels ensure that the content of their channel appeals to the audience. This is done by understanding what the demographic of the channel is and how the content of the channel is consumed.

Creation of corporate identity/Channel branding and identity 

A channel's corporate identity or brand is the way in which a channel is perceived by consumers. A brand is a recognisable idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers can connect with. This is often done by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the channel who owns the idea or image. The identity and brand of a channel is often made up of characteristics that define that particular channel. Successful branding can tell consumers the type of content a channel provides.  A corporate identity creates independence for a TV channel. As i explained before, branding and identity are made from the characteristics of the content shown on a particular channel. This makes it easier for consumers to know what the channel consists of. The components of a brand (name, logo, tone, slogan, design) are created by a television channel to reflect the value the company is trying to bring to the market and to appeal to its customers/consumers. In a way, Branding and corporate identity is all about visual communication. The way in which a channel communicates with its audience. This is why, establishing a strong visual corporate identity that connects with consumers is crucial to success. A channel without a unique brand and visual identity is less likely to gain a wider audience share. The ident below is an example of an ident used to create corporate identity. For example BBC one's idents are recognisable because of their corporate image of circles. The ident below shows this. The circle within the ident represents the BBC's image of being connected with the world. 

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Branding of content

An Ident can be used to identify particular content or programmes that belong to a TV channel. Branding of content is essentially associating the brand of a TV channel with the content in which the TV channel provides. Most television channels incorporate footage of a specific programme into their Idents to tell the viewer that this programme belongs to this channel. In a way, Branding of content links to brand loyalty and identity.This sky sports super sunday ident is an example of an ident used for branding. As the name would suggest, Sky sports 1 primarily provides content that relates to sport, specifically English football. The ident is telling the audience what channel they are watching and what type of content to expect from the channel. By including actual footage of a sunday match in the ident, sky sports are branding "super sunday". 

Appeal to target audience

Idents must appeal to the target audience in a pleasant and persuasive form so that the viewers do not become deterred from watching the channel but persuaded to stay on the channel for longer. Idents must have a target audience so that the TV channel has something solid to focus on,but at the same time reflect  the different genre of  programmes in which that channel airs. One example where an Ident would appeal to the target audience is Nick. The Nick ident below, uses footage of children playing with toys and animated colours and characters,with happy cheerful music as Nick is a dedicated children channel.  Bright colours and simple typography is something that is often associated with children.   So having an Ident that shows all of these, will definitely appeal to Nick's target audience. 

Creation of tone

TV channels need to ensure that their idents give off the right tone and message  towards the audience, and that the image the audience associates the channel with is pleasant. TV channels also need to make sure the Idents link to the type of programmes they air. 

The tone in which TV channels chose to create are  based around the types of programmes and shows they air along. The target audience is also a factor that TV channels must consider. For example, BBC one is branded as a channel that brings people together. The whole BBC brand is about diversity and being connected. The BBC one ident below helps to create this tone for its channel. As you can see, different types of people are dancing together. The reinforces the tone of unity and diversity.