How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As well as producing the newspaper, me and Alice had to produce two ancillary tasks: a local radio advert, along side the 'Portishead Beacon'. The purpose of the local radio advert and poster was to promote the 'Portishead Beacon'.

• The radio advert's production was difficult at first, due to the fact that no other local newspaper radio advert exists and therefore there is a lack of inspiration and judgment. However, despite this occurrence, we feel that we have created a authentically sounding radio advert, encompassing the conventions (and in some cases challenging) of a radio advert (see previous blog for details on this issue). The radio advert continues to emphasise the local community of Portishead, by encompassing stereotypical West Country/ Somerset accents, that perhaps only the people of Portishead would know about and accept. Additionally, the radio advert coincides with our newspaper, because it continues the theme of the 'Beacon' (a lighthouse). More than likely, only local people would know about the lighthouse that is situated in Potishead and therefore the locality of the area is embellished. The newspaper's slogan ('Shining a light on you') is used again and this combines well with the main product.
  
• The poster, we feel, also compliments the newspaper well. Like the radio advert, our newspaper keeps up the theme of locaility and community spirit (one of our main aims for the 'Portishead Beacon' newspaper). The fact that the free book was written by a local author, reinforces this. Also, the loyalty factor of the newspaper also pays dividends towards community spirit and local pride; if local people continue to buy the 'Portishead Beacon,' they will recieve a prize for their commitment to the local community. The colour scheme also compliments the newspaper. A poster's main purpose is to attract the attention of potential buyers and let the product essentially sell itself. The purple/pink/purple colours in the poster could attract the attention of someone passing by and may persuade them to buy the newspaper (which is not as bright and colourful as the poster- its job is to inform the local community of local events that have unfolded. Typically, a more formal approach has to be adopted). The poster could also link in with the 'local heroes' page (Josie Reese could be considered a 'local hero').

Overall, we are happy with the result of the two ancillary tasks and think they compliment the main production task well. We also discovered that many newspapers create a radio advert and poster. purely to promote the newspaper and hope that sales increase.