‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing

The purpose of this paper is to examine the professional culture of television marketing in the UK, the sector of arts marketing responsible for the vast majority of programme trailers and channel promos seen on British television screens. In research approach, it draws on participant observation at...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Grainge, Paul, Johnson, Catherine
Format: Article
Published: Emerald 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30508/
_version_ 1848793999533408256
author Grainge, Paul
Johnson, Catherine
author_facet Grainge, Paul
Johnson, Catherine
author_sort Grainge, Paul
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The purpose of this paper is to examine the professional culture of television marketing in the UK, the sector of arts marketing responsible for the vast majority of programme trailers and channel promos seen on British television screens. In research approach, it draws on participant observation at Promax UK, the main trade conference and award ceremony of the television marketing community. Developing John Caldwell’s analysis of the cultural practices of worker groups, it uses Promax as site of study itself, exploring how a key trade gathering forges, legitimates and ritualizes the identity and practice of those involved in television marketing. Its findings show how Promax transmits industrial lore, not only about ‘how to do’ the job of television marketing but also ‘how to be’ in the professional field. If trade gatherings enable professional communities to express their own values to themselves, Promax members are constructed as ‘TV people’ rather than just ‘marketing people’; the creative work of television marketing is seen as akin to the creative work of television production, and positioned as part of the television industry. The value of the paper is the exploration of television marketing as a professional and creative discipline. This is especially relevant to marketing and media academics who have tended to overlook, or dismiss, the sector and skills of television promotion.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:09:13Z
format Article
id nottingham-30508
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:09:13Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Emerald
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-305082020-05-04T20:06:57Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30508/ ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing Grainge, Paul Johnson, Catherine The purpose of this paper is to examine the professional culture of television marketing in the UK, the sector of arts marketing responsible for the vast majority of programme trailers and channel promos seen on British television screens. In research approach, it draws on participant observation at Promax UK, the main trade conference and award ceremony of the television marketing community. Developing John Caldwell’s analysis of the cultural practices of worker groups, it uses Promax as site of study itself, exploring how a key trade gathering forges, legitimates and ritualizes the identity and practice of those involved in television marketing. Its findings show how Promax transmits industrial lore, not only about ‘how to do’ the job of television marketing but also ‘how to be’ in the professional field. If trade gatherings enable professional communities to express their own values to themselves, Promax members are constructed as ‘TV people’ rather than just ‘marketing people’; the creative work of television marketing is seen as akin to the creative work of television production, and positioned as part of the television industry. The value of the paper is the exploration of television marketing as a professional and creative discipline. This is especially relevant to marketing and media academics who have tended to overlook, or dismiss, the sector and skills of television promotion. Emerald 2015-10 Article PeerReviewed Grainge, Paul and Johnson, Catherine (2015) ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing. Arts and the Market, 5 (2). pp. 126-138. ISSN 2056-4945 television marketing; trailers; promos; production culture; Promax; Channel 4; trade awards http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/AAM-06-2014-0022 doi:10.1108/AAM-06-2014-0022 doi:10.1108/AAM-06-2014-0022
spellingShingle television marketing; trailers; promos; production culture; Promax; Channel 4; trade awards
Grainge, Paul
Johnson, Catherine
‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
title ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
title_full ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
title_fullStr ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
title_full_unstemmed ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
title_short ‘Show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
title_sort ‘show us your moves’: trade rituals of television marketing
topic television marketing; trailers; promos; production culture; Promax; Channel 4; trade awards
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30508/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30508/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30508/