Research Task 10

 Level 4 Creative Enterprise

Unit 1 Research Tasks

Task 10

Business Analysis Tools

SWOT 

As far as strengths go, education is one of the strongest. With a B in GCSE Business, C in A-Level Business and Merit in Entrepreneurship, I feel highly educated and prepared to understand and push Tuley Productions to the limits. Whether it’s finance, strategy or marketing, I have core strength in understanding business terminology, equations and even the simple basics. I have a passion for understanding where businesses can be improved and enjoy the idea of growing my own business. I can use previous case studies during my business academic to inspire the motive and drive of Tuley Productions in order to achieve market growth and profit comfortably. In addition, I have a hardcore motivation to get myself deep with the sharks in future concerning business growth, therefore exploring SMEs such as Tuley Productions is crucial to achieve this.

Weaknesses:

However, there is always room for improvement depending on my weaknesses. For example, there are still factors of business studies that I need to revise on in order to retain full academic power to ensure the success of Tuley Productions can be expressed as much as possible. Whereas this would have be learned over 1-2 years ago I still need to grow the learning curve. This can be achieved from previous work I have completed on the subject, textbooks and online. Another weakness is my experience within the creative industries, particularly being actively involved within music. Luckily, I have great passion to learn about the music industry since music means so much to me and I am constantly discovering new artists weekly. However, I have little contact within the music industry which is such an important factor in order to optimise market growth. Without the contact of artists, I’ll need to do a mass marketing campaign to get the word out about Tuley Productions.

Opportunities:

The music video industry is a simple equation. Contact plus collaborations equal sales. Therefore, the external half of a SWOT analysis needs particular attention. Provided you can adjust the production to the artist’s needs to the highest quality, Tuley Productions needs to be flexible in order to take advantage of their opportunities. The primary opportunity for TP is to take advantage of social media, and the mass young artists how are creating their own empire via music. Typically, within the rap, grime and hip-hop genres, adolescents are finding their way to success due to the ability of being able to become overnight viral sensations as a result of creating music. Even the most famous pop and rap artists in the charts started as YouTube sensations who capitalised from the market attention and needs. Whereas a decade or two ago, an artist would have to produce the track, rent out a recording studio and spend real time and effort campaigning their EP or album. Now, they can produce from their bedrooms and become the next big thing in the click of a button provided the quality is stand-out from the crowd. Since so many male and female performers aged 12-18 are producing stand-out tracks, there is a huge market who need a top tier music video to thoroughly push their content to the highest quality for greater hits. Locally and nationally, Tuley Productions can cater for tens of thousands of teen’s needs. This can be obtained by advertising on social media, collaborating with desirable brands and maintain a trendy online presence.

Threats:

The primary threat for any business whether professional or creative, relates to competition. Whether the business is taking on market leaders, or a sparkling new concept is climbing the ranks, any business must be flexible and adjustable in order to conquer competition. As with every business, Tuley Productions will start small and local which means competing against to big leagues is tough, unless there are great innovations, contact and revolution. Luckily, there is little local music video producers in east Anglia which is a very large area to cover. Once a market league in the East, TP can progress further south towards London or other cities. As this is much easier said than done, the strategic plan should look like this. However, once the local basics and fundamentals have been planned, this should be an achievable aspiration. Another threat concerning Tuley Production is the demand due to Covid-19. Due to the rule-of-six regulation enforced to reduce the R number of the virus, the artist’s ideas for the music video may not be achievable if the shot includes a crowd of people. Therefore, compromised efforts may need to be enforced which could limit expectations from the client.

PESTLE

Political - Tax policy must be fully legal, labour laws for employees and clients

Economic - Provides economic growth for the DMCS

Social - Health and safety needs to be top priority, demographic research

Technological - Technological maturity, e-safety

Legal - ensure no illegal activity within the productions, advertising standards

Environmental - Ensure no harmful pollutants or chemicals are used for production purposes

Cultural Policy

Cultural policy is at its lowest in 2020, therefore setting up a video production company seems almost insane at this time. However, a loophole and USP can be found within this. Provided clients use their own equipment and send us their videos from home,we can edit their videos using green screens we can send to the clients and market their latest production. This may mean reducing the cost due to the artist doing the camerawork themselves and near impossible to direct, evolution must be taken in order to ensure the arts remain in business. This is all as a result of lockdown as mixed households cannot meet, preventing almost all music video productions from being able to be filmed. On the other hand, trying to make a music video from your house/garden is a hard sell. Tuley Productions will need to consider alternative options across the Ansoff’s matrix which may direct us into new markets and audiences where work can be more sustainable and achievable during lockdown to remain in business until the pandemic is over. 

Brexit

Brexit could potentially have some risk to Tuley Productions. This is because overseas filming in popular music video locations across countries within the EU such as in the French alps, beautiful italian cities or even simply to be in the hometown of overseas clients, will be much more expensive and inaccessible to travel. Visas, shipping costs of equipment and even the attempt of globalisation as a result of Brexit may limit Tuley Productions to talent within the UK. This gives us a disadvantage to rival businesses such as Luti Media who have headquarters in the UK, Milan and the US.  

Types of Business

After evaluating and researching the wide varieties of legal structures and alternative business types, I am confident for Tuley Productions to become an LTD, yet may have the market leadership to become a PLC in future years. Limited companies make up the majority of well-known successful businesses. Limited companies are typically organised and managed by a team of people to break up expertise and broaden the number of tasks which can be completed, rather than one person controlling everything. However, unlike sole traders, the business is owned by the shareholders who invest in the firm. This is defined by two categories of limited companies, Ltd and PLC. An LTD (limited companies) can only be invested in via invited investors or accepted requests. Unless you are granted access or invited, there is no way of buying shares in the business. On the other hand, a PLC is part of the big-league businesses. A PLC (public limited company) is open to invest from anyone on the London Stock Exchange such as Nike, EasyJet and Tesla for example. The core difference between sole traders and limited companies are limited liability. This means the business has its own government identity. This means that if in debt, the business can only pay as much as it invested in. For example if the business invested £60,000 to start, and are £100k in debt, they will only lose the £60,000. However, a limited company requires much more paperwork and start up fees yet in the long term is the safest option.

The Brand

Mission Statement

“Opportunity, aspiration, integrity” 

Values and Drivers

There is no clearer and straight to the point value of Tuley Productions than to ensure that every young musician is given the opportunity and platform to not only create a masterpiece entry to the world of music and creativity, but to give raw confidence in the work they are producing. One of our key drivers is to give young adults and teens their opportunity to create and manage their own product, rather than constantly being told what to do out of a textbook. The ability to create a production, be proud and have the quality to make a storm into the market can be vital to give our target market the confidence within themselves to take on the world with their creative ideas. 

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is all about how the brand is viewed within the mind of their target market group. Successful brand positioning requires a matured and established business in order to take shape in a positive effect. This can be achieved by how the business describes their products and services, how they brand themselves in correlation to their target market and even advertising to clearly portrait their brand position. To achieve this successfully, Tuley Productions would advertise heavily via direct marketing to make a statement towards their target market. For example, building an attractive and active Instagram,Twitter and YouTube page is essential to portrait a successful image to our target audience who are highly likely to use these platforms on a daily basis.

Legislation 

Talent Release

A huge legislation that applies to each Tuley Production is the use of talent releases. A talent release form is a more personal and specific method of protecting your creative work, particularly within filming, photography and audio. The ‘talent’ simply relates to the personnel who is being used as the focal point of the production. The talent release form is essential in order for the talent to consent to their voice, video and photos of them being used for corporate use to be shown. This ensures the talent cannot be sued/sue as they claim it as their own work. Therefore, talent release forms will be under the responsibility of the producer of the music video and signed/approved before the production even starts. Specialist admin will be necessary to file and store all legal paperwork such as talent releases provided no data restrictions are breached. 

Location Release

Similarly, location releases just as if not more important than a talent release due to the external threat of trespassing based on location of filming. Similarly to the talent release, the location release is a particularly important document that must be signed and approved by both the producer and landlord before the production can even begin. Simply, the location release confirms approval by the landlord for the production to take place within their land/building/studio. This compulsory document must be completed before work can begin, this is required for any filming or photography on site. Tuley Productions will not start filming on private property until the location release is authorised. It will also be a smart idea for the landlord to approve of the production after to filming to ensure everyone is happy with the outcome

Labour Laws

Labour laws are essential to ensure the health and safety is top priority, as well as ensuring the mentality and productivity of staff and clients remain as positive as possible. For example, ensuring appropriate breaks are given during the working day, particularly for children where child labour laws are even stricter for obvious reasons. A full working day schedule tailored to the client’s and employees needs will be created for each day to overcome any risk of breaking labour laws. In addition, a health and safety risk assessment must be completed before the beginning of any filming set. 

Regulatory Framework

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) will have a huge influence on Tuley Productions. Since music associated with young adults and teens has typically become more daredevil and almost violent, we need to make sure our aim to give youngsters a platform of control doesn't go too far. As a result, the BBFC will need to classify client’s work to judge the appropriateness of the music video. If you go on Youtube today and search for 10 rap/hiphop music videos, a least 6-8 of them will have the artist surrounded by half-naked women, gun in hand with a swear word in every bar. As much as this is appealing to some, this doesn’t meet our core aims and corporate culture. If a production we’re happy with and meets our corporate culture, the BBFC will rate the music video under any of the following:   

• U – Suitable for all

• PG – Parental Guidance

• 12A – Only used for films shown in cinemas and suitable for 12 years and over. However, people younger than 12 may see a 12A so long as they are accompanied by an adult

• 12 – Video release suitable for 12 years and over

• 15 – Suitable for only 15 years and over

• 18 – Suitable only for adults

Other Considerations

Finance 

Until the business reaches significant levels of disposable income consistently for months for projections only to reach higher, Tuley Productions will only use internal methods of sourcing finance. Simply, this is due to no financial risk from banks or loans which put heavy pressure on the business from the get-go. Using your own money will ensure expenditures are treated much more carefully and calculated. Until figures reach over £4000 every month, external sources will not be considered. Whereas many would shake their heads to this approach, is is in fact highly strategic. At this point, you’re in the financial goodbooks. Provided there are few liabilities, positive liability and and gross profit margin, only then is it safe to source finance externally as Tuley Productions will be confident in paying off the interest to expand dramatically from local success to a nationwide market leader. 

Insurance

Insurance for Tuley Productions is an essential foundation to ensure cover is protected in case of any unfortunate events. I would highly consider using public liability and cyber insurance to protect the business from any external threats. By having public liability insurance, it can cover compensation payments in case a member of the public including customers, employees or anyone under the supervision of the business gets hurt or damages property. For example, a client trips over a piece of equipment and injures themselves or an employee accidentally breaks a piece of equipment whilst on set, public liability insurance would cover any issues if the victim decided to sue the business. Another useful use of insurance is cyber insurance. In the event of a cyberattack, most cyber insurance policies will cover the first-party and third-party financial and reputational costs if data or electronic systems have been lost, damaged, stolen or corrupted. For the business involved, the first party, cover includes the cost of investigating a cybercrime, recovering data lost in a security breach and the restoration of computer systems. Third-party coverage include damages and settlements, and the cost of legally defending yourself against claims of a GDPR breach. Essentially any online, hardware and software damage are covered in the event of a cyber breach with this insurance. To avoid having to pay-out for replacing equipment and more importantly losing a wide diversity of work, this level of insurance is worth every penny. 

Geography

Location is one of the most important factors of most businesses. It is rare to find a business loyal and local to their hometown that have made it to the big leagues, typically they will move to the city centres for easier distribution, opportunities for human resources and to be shoulder to shoulder with their biggest competitors. For Tuley Productions, we will aim to follow suit. In order to gain the attention of young and urban teens and young adults,moving to the city centre creates a strong brand position and corporate culture. Any city will have inspiring places to film and have clients with money in their back pocket. Whereas London is the big aim for future years, more local cities such as Norwich and Cambridge would be cheaper yet still as promising to inspire and deliver new aspiring musicians than an under-developed typical seaside town.