Target Audience Research for Soap Opera Posters

The target audience felt that posters are an effective way to promote a product which suggests that they will be engaged with print media already. The one person who answered ‘no’ explained that

posters are outdated. This means that I should consider the amount of youth people who will also feel this way, and attempt to create a poster that is

enticing for these individuals.

The audience expected to see the typical conventions of a soap opera trailer. This tells me that I should follow the conventions not only to

make it clear that the poster is what it is meant to be, but also to meet the expectations of the audience. Only 57% of the target audience

expected a tagline, which means that I should create a tagline that is in itself snappy and relevant

to the soap opera.

The target audience also commented that the aspects they expected to see would provide the

information that is relevant and so it is important for me to add these elements to the poster.

The target audience commented that this poster for Hollyoaks looks full of drama and is eye-catching, namely due to the bright colour.

Although, the idea was not original for one respondent and stated that they disliked the white

background for the text; another participant commented that the text ‘ruined’ the poster.

This tells me that I should use bright or unrealistic colours for my own poster. The response in relation to the text used in the poster implies that I should

coordinate the text with the image more seamlessly, keeping the house style consistent.

The target audience commented that this poster for Neighbours was, although bright and colourful,

too cluttered. Respondents explained that there was too much going on in the poster which made

the storyline unclear.

This tells me that when I make my own poster, I should consider the storyline that I want to focus

on. From this research, it implies that single-strand narrative would have been better to depict on a

poster. However, because my soap opera is a newly broadcasted, it may be a better idea to show a

multi-strand narrative, but to not lay the poster out in a way that has all the characters together in such

a disorganised manner.

The target audience explained that the poster, which is for Coronation Street, clearly showed the two characters, which evokes an interest for the

narrative, making them wonder what was going on in the storyline. However, multiple respondents

stated how small the text was and how this would be problematic for them to read and gather the

relevant information to watch the show.

This tells me that I should make sure that the text that I use for my own poster should be both clear

and big enough to read in order to allow the audience to get the information they need about

the soap opera in order to watch it.

The majority of participants preferred the Hollyoaks poster, having found it more

appealing. However, some found it the least appealing, describing it as ‘in your face’.

The majority of respondents felt that the Coronation Street poster was boring and therefore were appealed by it the least.

As Hollyoaks is the main competitor for my own soap opera, I wanted to know if the way in which the Hollyoaks poster was designed would attract young people

and successfully.

The respondents answered that the Hollyoaks poster is good at aiming for the younger generation because the characters on the poster are young and so

therefore are relevant to the youth. This implies that the young audience can get the gratification of personal identity by viewing this poster as it suggests to

them that the content and themes of Hollyoaks will be appealing to them.

One respondent commented that the use of fire in the poster would attract the audience as it connotes and reflects the rebellious and dramatic nature of the

youth and so this is a theme of interest for them.

The target audience thought that posters for soap operas should remain realistic in order to reflect the realism portrayed on the show itself. This is

because it would otherwise give an untrue view of reality and the poster should not imply certain

themes in the poster that are not within the soap opera itself. The respondents also stated that making the poster unrealistic may confuse the

audience of the genre of the show.

This tells me that I should stick to the realistic approach when making my poster in order to

reflect the themes of realism in the soap opera.

The target audience answered that characters were the most important aspect to include in a poster for a soap opera. They also felt that setting and

narrative were equally as important.

This tells me that I should most definitely include characters in my soap opera poster and should

considered implying the narrative and including the setting within the image.