Channel 4's mission is to bring niche and controversial subjects to mass audiences, as seen in shows like Benefits Street that sparked political debates. They aim to support lesser known stories and filmmakers. Channel 4 harnesses social media by uploading TV ads and full episodes to YouTube and Facebook to encourage discussion. The document suggests editing a campaign to mimic Channel 4 by creating sensationalism or controversy in promotional materials to encourage sharing, and setting up social media discussions to increase hype for a production.

1. How can my campaign be edited to mimic the
campaigns used by my distributor Channel 4?

2. Channel 4’s Mission Statement
• My reasoning behind choosing Channel 4 was down to their
mission statement. Channel 4 are popular due to the fact that
they bring niche and controversial subjects to the mass
audiences. For example, the recent ‘Benefits Street’ has spark
endless debates regarding important political decisions.
Looking further back, Channel 4 have produced countless
documentaries on tragedies such as 9/11 and the Columbine
Highschool Massacre.
• Channel 4’s Mission Statement says that Channel 4 aim to
shed light on more niche subjects and ant to support lesser
known subjects, stories and filmmakers by giving them air
time on their channel.
• Their style of documentary allows a range of people from
different areas of the social ladder to understand and give
opinions on important current events and to learn about more
niche subjects.

3. Harnessing Social Media
Channel 4 make use of social media in their advertising by including their
audience in the production. For example, Channel 4 upload all their TV
adverts for their series ‘Benefits Street’ to YouTube. This allows viewers to
make use of YouTube’s comments section to voice their opinions on the
show and to discuss the show with other users. YouTube also allows users
to share videos to their Facebook walls, allowing for more discussion
between friends on Facebook. Channel 4 also makes use of Facebook by
posting videos and discussion on their Facebook wall, involving their
audience in the productions more.
I uploaded my production to YouTube, but not to Facebook. I could make
use of Facebook by uploading the video and encouraging discussion and
sharing by asking open questions for viewers to discuss after watching the
production. Not only would this get my current audience members more
greatly involved in the production, but it could also attract new audience
members.

4. How my campaign could be changed
Channel 4’s marketing of their products often relies on creating
sensationalism or controversy. I could look into presenting Soundcheck
in this way in both my poster and my review. My poster’s centre point
could be of a more controversial or hard-hitting image to highlight the
difficulties of music. This could encourage sharing and discussion
about the production. For my review, I could write more controversial
opinions of the production and go into a bit more detail when dissecting
the narrative.
As well as this, the marketing of my production could take advantage of
social media and the ability my audience has to share. I could set up
discussions on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to
increase the hype surrounding the production.

5. How my campaign succeeded
I think there were several fronts on which my production was strong in
miming Channel 4. Firstly, I think I successfully created a narrative
focusing on a niche genre which is also available to the mass media. I
reference existing structures that my audience will be familiar with and
used that to explain points that they may not have prior knowledge of,
opening these subjects up to discussion between my audience
members.
I also believe that the accessibility of my production was typical of a
Channel 4 production. Channel 4 have a ‘4OD’ page on YouTube which
allows you to stream Channel 4 productions for no cost. My production
is also available on YouTube, again opening it for discussion thanks to
the YouTube comments section.