P3

Key Definitions


Stereotypes

- A common perception of someone or something.

Target Audience

- A specific demographic of people which a product is targeted at.

Primary Audience

- The primary audience are the key decision making body of the product.

Secondary Audience

- The secondary audience is meant to influence the opinion of the primary audience.

Pen Portrait

A) Gender

For my Pen Portrait I chose the male gender for the customer profile. This was due to statistics showing that my product The Wire is typically watched by a majority-filled male audience. The Wire also has a predominantly male cast, making it easier to grab the attention of male audience members.

B) Age

The age for my profile customer is 18 years old as that is the official age rating for the show, due to the show featuring content that is suitable for people of that age. When The Wire first aired in america it was very popular with teenage audiences, specifically in Baltimore.

C) Lifestyle

For lifestyle, I described my profile customer as a teenager who lives in Baltimore because of the large amount of popularity it had with young male audiences in the city of Baltimore. This would have been because the show was focused on the people of Baltimore, making it easy for them to connect with the show and see themselves get represented for once.

D) Spending Power

As for spending power, the majority of The Wire's audience has been revealed to be middle class or lower according to reports. This means that the average viewer would not have a large amount of spending power to go around, especially for someone that does not have a full time job. Teenagers and young adults from the ages of 18 to 25 tend to earn minimum wage when working part time jobs. The customer is likely to be a student studying at university or high school and will have a part time job which provides them with a minimum wage. By working part time and earning a small income, they will probably have an average of 15 to 20 dollars of spending money that they can use on the weekend.



Product Audience



Name: Joe Murphy

Name of product	THE WIRE
Target audience	The Wire has an age rating for eighteen and over, but its content is generally aimed towards men and women in their thirties and forties based on its mature content.
Secondary audience	The secondary audience of the show are people who typically watch crime dramas and other shows from HBO e.g. The Sopranos. These are the people that are guaranteed to watch and enjoy the show and will therefore influence the opinion of the target audience.
What appeals to the target audience about the product (examples and explanations)	The Wire centres on one city, Baltimore, over a specific time frame, the beginning of the 21st century. Yet it resonates far beyond that setting. Its analyses of human behaviour and power structures and struggles fit with almost any period in human history. The Wire is not a conventional crime drama in its storytelling; it is a show that consciously eschews the easily digestible plots that appeal to mainstream TV audiences. The Wire is appealing because it challenges the audience with its content, showing them things which are not typical for your American crime show. It offers a very realistic representation of urban crime and the other problems that affect inner cities. By having a show that deals with subject matter not common for in most TV, it gives the audience something fresh and new to engage with. It is because the show is so realistic and honest in its characters that people are drawn to the material. The audiences are able to connect and relate to the characters in the show despite the lack of circumstances they might share, because of how compelling they are and how engaging the story is. The Wire is appealing to audiences overall, because of its compelling characters and fresh storytelling. The show is handled with a high level of sophistication and also provides a great learning opportunity and discussion material about drugs, crime, and poverty for the audience to learn.
Key influences on the target audience leading them to want to use the product (examples and explanations)	Despite The Wire not being successful when it first aired, the show has been able to build up a strong cult following since the final episode of the show. As time has passed the word of mouth for the show has become greater and greater, making the show into a cult classic in television. Now The Wire is seen as being one of the great shows of all time in pop culture. Also, since the show was released, actors like Idris Elba and Michael B. Jordan have both gone on to become big Hollywood stars in the industry. This helps The Wire to catch people’s attention and create a selling point when they realise the famous Hollywood stars that are starring in it, encouraging people to watch the show simply because they are in it. Due to the shows built in praise and high word of mouth it makes it very easy for audiences to want to watch the show. It has gotten to a point that if you haven’t watched the show you are not doing something right. The very idea of missing out on something everybody loves is good enough to influence people to watch the show.