Masterchef Australia essay

  1. How does the website for Masterchef Australia

(http://www.masterchef.com.au/home.htm) illustrate the strategies of media convergence identified by Jerkins (2006) and Nightingale and Dwyer (2007)?

Jenkins identified three main strategies of media convergence. They are direct cooptation, viral marketing and gameplay marketing (Jenkins 2006). The web site demonstrates various strategies of media convergence. Gameplay marketing is actively exploited as one of the strategies of media convergence. This strategy presupposes that a consumer become involved into the usage of the product during playing the game which related to the content of the product or the product itself. The web site suggests several variants of games for their potential consumers. Consumers can play and win different prizes within the show. It is a perfect strategy to involve more people into watching the show. The games are based on the events of the show so, to win a prize it is necessary to watch the show. This strategy can be rather effective in case of TV show. It should be noted that the offered prizes are quite different and it gives people chance to choose from the competitions and prizes. It should be emphasized that in most cases when people start watching some show on the purpose of taking part in the competition and winning a certain prize, even if they lose, they tend to continue watching the show. This strategy allows consumers more freedom of the engagement into the product use and thus, it is psychologically grounded. Taking part in the competitions within the show is possible through online registration which makes participation easier for the consumers. The conditions and rules of the competitions are accessible on the website as well. It makes consumers’ engagement and participation easier which contributes to the success of the strategy in general.

Viral marketing is also illustrated on the web site. According to Jenkins, viral marketing presupposes creating a kind of ”˜buzz’ about the product (Ratavaara 2011). It can be done through social media or other online resources which are already popular and may serve as promoters of information about the product. After the effect of buzz is created and people hear, read and see discussions of the product on numerous web sites they want to try the product. Thus, the strategy tends to be rather helpful and effective. TV show is a good subject for discussion; it is easy to promote such product implementing this strategy. The web site provides several links to social media sites where discussions of the show are offered. It should be noted that both positive and negative feedbacks draw people’s attention to the product. TV show but not food is promoted in this case, so there is no threat in case people come across negative feedbacks about the show.  Social media services tend to be good choice for cooperation in case viral strategy is applied. The effectiveness of social media in this respect can be explained by the popularity of these resources and large number of users who are the members of the community. Moreover, most social media websites options which are very useful for this strategy, e.g. news the users receive, links they share within the site, opinions, videos etc. all these options contribute into the promotion of the product.

Dwyer and Nightingale (2007) suggested media immersion as one of the strategies of

media convergence. This strategy presupposes consumers to be involved into the product even if they are not able to use it at the moment (Nightingale 2011). The web site illustrates rather effective implementation of the strategy. Consumers are suggested to watch episodes of the show online, interviews with the participants, various exclusive interviews, photos etc. Numerous recipes are offered as well which corresponds to the character of the TV show. Information about the participants is also available on the web site. All this contributes into effective implementation of the strategy.  When consumers do have chance to watch the show on TV they may watch some interesting episodes online. If they are interested in cooking they can find useful recipes on the website or try to cook dishes which were the task of the participants. Interviews are always interesting as not always they are included into the TV show. If a potential consumer visits the websites and finds all this information and content online he is easy to be engaged into the product and to become a member of fans community. The more information is provided the more opportunities of consumers’ involvement occur. The content of the website is expected to satisfy various tastes. However, it is very important to develop the site content in this direction constantly. The more new information consumers see the more interested into the product they get.



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