Some 250 creatives involved in on-air marketing, promotion and design attended the 5th Annual PromaxBDA Africa Conference on 15 October in Johannesburg to hear about the latest trends in this area of television.
American industry guru Lee Hunt presented a fascinating insight into the newest best practices. “In the last year two things have happened that will impact the way audiences watch TV," said Hunt. The first is the launch of Apple’s iPad and the second is the introduction of 3DTV. Several applications for the iPad have already been released, all of which help the viewer to navigate TV more effectively. As promo makers are in the business of managing viewers it’s important to know about the implications of the latest technologies.’
Hunt emphasised that promos had to be made in the broadcaster’s own distinct brand and so that they would stand out in all the clutter. He presented case studies of two American cable networks, TNT and USA, showing how they re-positioned their on-air branding.
Australian Suzanne Pontey’s intriguing examination of the challenges of the sports promo delved into the psychological. She said: “We want to make more engaging promos so how do we connect with people? The uppermost thing that drives people is desire and the number one desire among human beings is to be taken seriously. People also have a strong desire to connect with each other and to believe – they want to believe in their chosen or local sports teams.’
Pontey expanded on the “desire’ theme, showing international promos to illustrate her point.
For more on Pontey and Hunt see the November issue of Screen Africa.
A lively and entertaining session was presented by South African actors Morena-Busa Sefatsa and Zola Hashatsi, who said promo makers should “do more with more’ instead of "more with less (ie. budget)".
“We say you should make promos by using more: insight, flair, resourcefulness, technical proficiency, balls, surprises, humour, simplicity, eccentricity, flexibility, preparation and effort. You need to have knowledge about who it is you’re talking to and to take what’s around you, put it together and make it into something. Find the selling points of what you’re promoting and go with that. A good idea costs nothing,’ said Sefatsa and Hashatsi.
