Primary Research - Questionnaire Analysis

For part of Lost In Colour's primary research I conducted two questionnare's. One  finding out the target audience Lost In Colour's, 'Searching For The Sun In The Dark' should be directed at and the other; what Lost In Colour's audience want from their promotional campaign . I asked 25 members of the public open and closed questions in order to identify this.

A questionnaire finding out what audience Lost In Colour, 'Searching For The Sun In The Dark' should be  directed at.

Question 1: Gender

I asked 25 members of the public that I suspected could be ‘Lost In Colours’ potential target audience. I aimed to ask an equal amount of male and female members of the public to ensure that the data I collected was as realistic as possible. From the questionnaire I can identify that I asked 13 females and 12 males, an appropriate number and what I planned in advance.

Question 2: Age

In order to collect reliable data I purposely asked a specific sample of ages, ensuring the public were all from various categories. This was done to ensure that I got the largest response as possible. It was near enough 25 % in each category, these being; 15 – 25, 26 – 36, 37- 47 and 47 +. Therefore, I can correlate with the other answers I collected from the public on future question analysis’.

Question 3: What social group would you class yourself in?

I asked this question in order to identify what class the people I was asking my questionnaire were. This was important as it would make me aware of what social class the digi-pack and magazine advertisement should be aimed at. This is in the context of language used with both and also the imagery viewed. I gave the four most common options of status: lower, working, middle and upper.

Question 4: On a scale of 1 – 5 which is your favourite genre of music? (1 being your favourite)

Although the graph provided could be considered as complicated to read, it is showing a broad range of the music genre’s that people commonly like. From viewing the graph it puts it into perspective of what is the most popular types of genre. As you can see from viewing the graph, ‘pop’ and ‘rock’ are the most popular forms of music. Suggesting to me that the people that I am asking the questionnaire are a great group to ask, due to Lost In Colour’s music genre being pop-rock. However, I also gave the options of R&B, acoustic and jazz.

Question 5: Are you interested in pop-rock music?

A very straight forward question with a very straight forward answer that identified that all of the audience that I asked this questionnaire do like the genre of Lost In Colour’s music. It also shows that there is a massive demand for pop-rock music. The purpose of asking this question was to identify if the age and gender of people had an effect on the music they enjoy.

Question 6: If yes, what band appeals to you most?

For this question I gave the options of: Arctic Monkeys, Metro Station, Boys Like Girls and All Time Low. The reason for this is because my partner and I identified this bands to be pop-rock, most similar to Lost In Colour’s genre and because Lost In Colour were influenced by some of these bands. I found that Boys Like Girls were an extremely popular choice, along with the Arctic Monkeys, the reason for this being most likely because they have been producing music for the longest. This is a positive reaction because Lost In Colour were influenced by this band.

Question 7: What feature of this band appeals to you?

Although this question could be considered as particularly pointless, the purpose of this was to identify and link it to the other questionnaire I conducted. I wanted to find out what aspect is the most important to be considered when promoting and also when taking into account a specific target audience.

                           

Question 8: What word best describes your opinion on pop-rock?

This questionnaire does not relate specifically to target audience; however it was included to give me an inclination of the reason why people listen to this genre music. I discovered that the majority of people that I asked thought ‘feel good music’ described their opinion on pop-rock music.  People also felt it was entertaining and considerably exciting.

A questionnaire finding out what Lost In Colour's audience want from their promotional campaign.

Question 1: Gender

I asked 25 members of the public that I suspected could be ‘Lost In Colours’ potential target audience. I aimed to ask an equal amount of male and female members of the public to ensure that the data I collected was as realistic as possible. From the questionnaire I can identify that I asked 13 females and 12 males, an appropriate number and what I planned in advance.

Question 2: Age

In order to collect reliable data I purposely asked a specific sample of ages, ensuring the public were all from various categories. This was done to ensure that I got the largest response as possible. It was near enough 25 % in each category, these being; 15 – 25, 26 – 36, 37- 47 and 47 +. Therefore, I can correlate with the other answers I collected from the public on future question analysis’.

Question 3: What do you expect to see from a pop-rock bands promotional campaign?

The options for the answers of this question are: sophisticated/elegant, high quality/up market, minimalistic and modern. Through asking this question and giving the options of these answers, it would enable me to see the aspects of a promotional campaign that I should include for promoting a band of this genre. The data I collected allowed me to identify that the majority of the public thought that the promotional campaign for a pop-rock band should be modern and minimalistic. Whereas only a couple of the public that I asked felt that the campaign should be sophisticated/elegant and high quality/up market. This confirms to me that the promotional campaign for Lost In Colour will be modern and minimalist.

Question 4: Do you expect a pop-rock bands magazine advert to be black & white OR colour?

The purpose of this question was to identify the colours that should be used when advertising and also to see whether it should match with Lost In Colour’s, ‘Searching For The Sun In The Dark’s’ music video and incorporating intertextual references. I found that that 2/3 of the public expected a pop-rock bands magazine to be in black and white, likely to be due to the stereotypical representation of this genre. However, 8 people of the 25 members of the public I asked chose ‘colour.’ This suggests to me that I must look into more detail regarding secondary research to identify what colours I should use during promotion. It also suggests to me that perhaps the majority of the advert should be black and white, with a hint of colour. Much like what is seen in the music video, this would considerably make a positive link between the two cross media forms incorporating a form of vertical intertextuality.  

Question 5: Do you expect a pop-rock bands magazine advert to be animated or photographic?

This was a significantly important question to ask; therefore it was necessary for me to ensure the public really thought about their answer. The overall reaction I got was that 2/3rds of the public felt that photographic pictures are more likely to be expected. This, therefore tells me that in order to appeal to the audience I should incorporate photographic aspects even though there is the suggestion from secondary research that this is not the common thing. Lost In Colour will be taking an original and unique approach to their new, first promotional campaign.

Question 6: What do you expect to see on a new albums magazine advert? (Tick all that apply)

The options that the public I asked had were: the album, pictures, pictures of the band, lyrics and information. Immediately I was made aware that all 25 members of the public expected to find information on the magazine advert, therefore I will definitely be including this. However, during my secondary research I will also look at the information they included to see what Lost In Colour’s album advert should have on. 0 out of 25 of the public felt that lyrics should NOT be include, therefore I will obviously not include this. Although 7 members of the public selected that they expected to see pictures of the band on the magazine advert I am not going to include this due to the majority of the public (16 out of 25) saying that they would just expect to see random pictures, a feature which I expect to find during secondary research. Just below half of the public also said that they expected to see the album on the magazine advert, therefore this suggests to me that I should perhaps use the same images for the front cover of the digi-pack and the magazine advert.

Question 7: What typograpghy would you expect to see associate with a pop-rock band magazine?

From asking this question I found that I did not get a clear answer, therefore finding out what sort of typography should be used during secondary research is a very important aspect. I will find the answer to this question through looking at similar genre bands to Lost In Colour in music magazines intended for promoting bands new albums.

Question 8: What is more effective a single page spread or a double page spread for a magazine advert?

This was an important question to ask as it would be 50 % of the overall decision of what the size of the magazine advert would be. I found that 17 out of 25 people thought that the most effective size would be a single page spread. Therefore, I will only be covering one size of a magazine, however as of yet it is uncertain what ratio of the one page spread will take up. This will depend on secondary research and what Rachel and I will find in other music magazines.

Question 9: What appeals most to you when looking at a magazine advert for a new album?

For this question I gave the option answers of: colour, picture, title and information. I found that just over half of the public I asked said that a picture would appeal most when they looked at a magazine advert for a new album. A few also said that the colour appeals to them most and stands out catching their eye. The options; title and information were only chosen by a couple of the public suggesting that they should be included, however are not to be used as the immediate thing to draw potential customer's attention.

Question 10: Do you expect a pop-rock bands digi-pack to be black & white OR colour?

The answer to this was very mixed and almost half chose each option. This suggests that the public are unsure with which would be the correct answer, although there isn’t one. This tells me that there is so much variety in the current music market that each individual singer or band try and take an original approach to a promotional campaign. Always expect the unexpected. Therefore I will look into this in more detail during secondary research.

Question 11: Do you expect a pop-rock bands digi-pack to be animated or photographic?

Much like the magazine advert in question 5 I found a similar answer. 8 people expected to see an animated pack, whereas the remainder thought that a photographic digi-pack would be more common. This, therefore tells me that in order to appeal to the audience I should incorporate photographic aspects even though there is the suggestion from secondary research that this is not the common thing. Lost In Colour will be taking an original and unique approach to their new, first promotional campaign.

Question 12: What is more effective a CD size digi-pack or a DVD size digi-pack?

Quite simply, the majority of the people I asked (22) said that they think a CD size digi-pack would be more effective in the case of an album. The reason being that this size is more convenient and also that you do not have to pay excessive amounts for the packaging.

Question 13: What do you expect to see inside a digi-pack? (Tick all that apply)

Straight away by looking at the answers to this question I can tell that the very popular choices of answer are: pictures of the band, lyrics and information about the band/ band members. Therefore, we will most definitely incorporate these aspects in Lost In Colours digi-pack, front, back and middle. The likely reason for these being chosen is due to these being the common aspects that consumers find alongside an album they have purchased. 9 people also chose that they expected to see pictures in the digi-pack, however this can correlate with pictures of the band.

Question 14: What typography would you expect to see associated with a pop-rock band digi-pack?

Much like question 7 I found that asking this question I did not get a clear answer, therefore finding out what sort of typography should be used during secondary research is a very important aspect. I will find the answer to this question through looking at similar genre bands to Lost In Colour in music magazines intended for promoting bands new albums.

Question 15: What magazine would you expect to find a pop-rock bands album advertised in?

This was possibly the most important question to ask in reference to advertising the album in a magazine. The was also the worry that the public would not know of the music magazines I had given them as an option, therefore I showed them a picture of the magazines to let them know. I found that the most popular of answers was the NME magazine, a very popular magazine for larger bands. However, there is the possibility that this maybe too financially expensive for the institution that Lost In Colour are signed to. Nobody chose Rock Sound, most likely due to its unpopularity with the general public, instead "rock" fans. Whereas a few people each chose the magazines: The Fly, which is slightly less common but know in schools and colleges with teenagers. Rolling Stones, which is intended for a slightly older audience and older bands and Q magazine which is slightly less well know. Therefore, it is likely that Lost In Colours new album will be promoted and advertised in NME for a considerable financial investment.