Introduction
Television remains to be a media force to reckon with despite the advancements made by web technologies in recent years. Still, it has remained the most accessible, if not the most popular among the forms of media available. Its power to spread the word and reach millions in a matter of minutes is still its most potent arm against the many emerging avenues for information.
Taking off from the strength of this premise, television can be utilized as an avenue to promote and support the tourism efforts of a city, moreover a nation. This, however, depends on creative and strategic planning and production as well as careful analysis of the goals set in careful consideration of its viewing market as well as its other potentials.
To carefully analyze and prove how media and tourism truly benefit each other, this paper will attempt to create a travel program focusing on London as the subject. This endeavor hopefully aims to clearly illustrate the symbiotic relationship between media and tourism via a clear-cut and creative example that presents a lot of potentials to both local and international viewers as well as to potential advertisers. Also, it will try to present the other media platforms in which creative content can extend itself, thereby, eliciting more benefits for both the original media – that is television and generate more endorsements for tourism.
In and out – of London on Television
The main base for an excellent TV feature is being able to wrap the content with a superb creative handle.
This will presumably make the material rise against the plethora of travel programs on-air over British television. The crucial areas also to be taken into consideration are how large an audience can this program concept accommodate and how do you keep these so-called viewers from tuning out. In terms of marketability and sustainability (items highly dependent on it are production costs and execution), advertising will also be key to its fruition.
As a major basis for take-off in conceptualization, some program makers will have to consider some crucial givens. In this case, the total running time given is 30 minutes, in which case will requiring two feature strands that hope to generate as much viewership as possible; and the target airtime and airdate, that is Friday, July 4, 2008, UK: 17.00-17.30.
For this afternoon audience, the most ideal prescription for presentation is a unique travel program that will present a new view of the city of London. It will be a come-on to not just those visiting the city but also to locals who in one way or another may rediscover their native dwelling place.
Reaching the Destination: Getting the Audience to Watch
Aside from being the main meat of the matter, it will also determine how many potential viewers will it be able to accommodate. For this proposed travel program, the main creative base will be a travel feature in the city of London. But what makes it any different from the other travel shows airing? First, the show will be fast-paced and exciting, almost similar to a reality-based program. To be able to get to this kind of pace, its creative narrative will be put together in the format of a travel journal. The host or anchor of the show can be a famous, credible, and endearing British personality. He may not be a “star” in the sense that he acts and graces films and drama programs, but he is in his way a popular figure in society. He is talked about and is as controversial as any regular actor on TV.
The program unveils the Travel Journal of Mr. ______ (name of the potential host). At the beginning of the show, he will be caught candidly as he will only know that he is facing “travel” challenges throughout his whole trip in and out of London. This device will create the flavor of pure excitement, something that is “unknown” and possibly unexpected. It will also be a good complement to the predictability of just merely hopping from one destination to another which is way too evident and formulaic amongst travel shows. In this kind of semi-dramatic format also, there is a potential to draw in the interest of the “soap” followers and not just mere travel aficionados, thereby widening its reach and audience share.
It will also be attractive among the young who are in for more dynamism and action. Precisely, the same set of reasons why reality programs are hitting it so well in the market share. However, this travel show will combine information tourism and the exciting human experience that will be full of color and drama. Ideally, set in this landscape, curiosity will be drawn, viewers are subliminally encouraged to see the places for themselves as they are endeared and entertained by the journey of the anchor.
… the connection between an individual’s acceptance of the realism of televised material and his susceptibility to influence by it? The significance of this question can be illustrated by the argument of an article that appeared several years ago in Sociology and Social Research. The author maintained that every motion picture projects a normative message. This was true not only of films devoted to recognized social problems but also of those which were intended purely to entertain. (Blumler, 1964)
There will also be two feature strands in which the Travel Journal will be segmentized. It will be a trip to the WOW and the WEIRD places in the city of London.
This exciting sectioning will enhance the interest of both tourists and the locals who have not discovered the secret sites and the astonishing destinations that might have been just around the corner. As segments, they will be largely supported with tie-ups with credible tourism authorities such as Londontourist.Org for the conventional and WOW stops and perhaps, link up with historian, illustrator and broadcaster, Peter Jackson, as the source for the WEIRD stops. Jackson, a doyen of London’s most curious and oddity hunters is also the author of London Stranger than Fiction, London Bridge, and, with Felix Barker, 2000 Years of London: A City and Its People.
Linking with just two and not too many tourist organizations can also provide a tight content and format for a short program.
Exposure will be given equally to travel spots that are equally beautiful, significant, and in many ways define in a nutshell the history and the city of London. To be concrete, in the visit to the WEIRD side of the city, we can take the top 10 destinations from Peter Jackson— the gothic Albert Memorial in Hyde Park; The Handel Statue which strangely has someone else’s ear; The star-spangled Spire which commemorates Lincoln’s abolition of slavery; Pierpoint’s Refuge, The Statue that got married and so on. Trooping to the WOW side of London, a tie-up with The London Guide (www.londontourist.org) will create the authoritative side of sightseeing. Given the short running time, close coordination with the support tourism group will help define the best stops to feature also having to consider the season in which the program will air.
Grabbing a share of the afternoon market positions a challenge to a new show that will try to cash in on the old viewing habits of its potential viewers. Heavy on-air promotions on television are just but one of the many devices to create noise for the breaking program. Also basing on the assumption that it is new, it will have to also spread itself to the other media avenues such as print and web to be able to generate more publicity.
Creative placements to bring out all the hype must be put to top gear to make sure that it captures the attention and cravings of the viewing public.
Interactivity can also generate more excitement. Tele-texting and other devices can also generate viewership as well as revenues.
Seeing this opportunity, the travel adventures of the host can have an accompanying texting and online contest.
Viewer participation will be heightened and it will also help prevent tuning-out since the promo spots will also be a matter of excitement in between breaks. On the web, a program micro-site can be created for viewers to fancy.
This will be a great promotional opportunity for the program where the viewer can see more details about each destination or travel how-to’s as well as more info about the anchor and the show itself. This can be a great opportunity to link the Visit London Marketing Department since it will most likely be visited by tourists and travel aficionados. In terms of program content, Visit London will also benefit in many ways. The production team can also closely integrate their ideas for the featured stops about the other sources’ recommendations.
Conclusion
Travel programs present a lot of potential for television programming. Not just in London, but almost the rest of the world have seen how the Amazing Race and Lonely Planet, just to name a few, have unleashed a new breed of out-of-the-box travel programs where the creative and exciting tourism potentials have been seen. No doubt that with a good creative handle, the media can help tourism flourish as well as be a pioneering avenue for more adventurous programming styles.
References
Blumler, J.G. (1964) British Television – The Outlines of a Research Strategy, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol.15 No.3.
Jackson, Peter (2006). Web.
THE LONDON GUIDE . Web.