This thread will be used for Team Reflections to post their work 
The DS Apprentice - Team Reflections Thread
1 of 6
Hello all!
My name is I've Got Class, and I was the project manager for Team Reflections in this first task, which as you know was based around a new reality TV show!
For this task, Team Reflections consisted of:
[LIST][*]I've Got Class [Project Manager][*]Gav016[*]Carlisle156[*]Amroussi[*]Strictly_Irish[*]haz_cat[*]jag02010[/LIST]
Once our pitch has finished, we will all be very happy to answer any questions, and in fact, we encourage you to question our concept, but we will of course accept praise as well! We hope you enjoy our pitch, as much as we have enjoyed creating this show for you!
My name is I've Got Class, and I was the project manager for Team Reflections in this first task, which as you know was based around a new reality TV show!
For this task, Team Reflections consisted of:
[LIST][*]I've Got Class [Project Manager][*]Gav016[*]Carlisle156[*]Amroussi[*]Strictly_Irish[*]haz_cat[*]jag02010[/LIST]
Once our pitch has finished, we will all be very happy to answer any questions, and in fact, we encourage you to question our concept, but we will of course accept praise as well! We hope you enjoy our pitch, as much as we have enjoyed creating this show for you!
Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the presentation from Team Reflections, where today we will be showing you our new reality show, the incredible ‘Versus’.
Versus is the king of reality shows. On the surface of things, it’s a simple show, with cast members displaying their talents in a bid to win over a panel of celebrity judges, as well as the viewing public – both with their incredible skills, and dazzling personalities. It has competitive elements, a sense of drama, a likeable cast for the audience to root for mixed in with a few villains, plus at the very heart of the show it’s a test of skills and endurance. So you may be wondering how a show like this works? Here are the mechanics of the show. Twelve cast members will be split into two teams, which will work and live together. Every week they will be set a specific challenge that will test them in some way, aided by a celebrity guest mentor with relevant skills. As a team, they must work to impress a public audience and win the task, yet shine individually. This is because on the losing team, the weakest member will be eliminated by a panel of celebrity judges. As the competition wears on, the team element becomes less important, for only one person can win the final jackpot.
One of reality tv’s greatest functions is its ability to provide talking points. And Versus will leave everyone talking. Here’s the reasoning behind some of our decisions. The first thing the press picks up on with any new reality game show is the panel of judges it contains, and the host. Our panel aims to encompass the four key components a panel such as this would need – someone with physical prowess, a joker of some description, the controversial figure and the brains – we feel like we have the perfect blend of judges. The contestants are similarly varied - we wanted to take the focus away from the fame-hungry typecasting modern reality television shows have become reliant on, and shift it to intelligent, capable and articulate people . Reality contestants are often accused of being talentless – there’s no room for deadwood here, as our challenges will push them to the limits every week. The guest stars provide variation and add credibility to the challenges.
But don’t just take our word for it: Versus is the game that audiences want to see. Our research strongly indicated a number of things. Audiences love a good competition – intense and cut-throat, but without being literally a war. The unique and wide range of skills required for Versus encourage ample competition, whilst also stressing the need for a winning personality. Our surveys suggested viewers enjoy being able to vote and influence the game, but a panel of judges with the final decision ensures the right people go at the right time – keeping the show alive. A spin off show to Versus would focus on the human interaction, romances & rivalries between cast members – something which our audience thinks key to the show’s success. The key words we encountered time after time were ‘fun’, ‘light-hearted’, ‘simple’ and ‘interactive’ – our show achieves these on every level.
Team Reflections have had so much fun working together to tease out this idea, and we really do believe that if our show is successful, the laughs, competition and sheer goodwill of Versus will propel it to becoming a mainstay of British TV. It’s simply perfect Saturday-night-in material, that’ll provide excellent water-cooler moments in workplaces and on playgrounds up and down the country. So prepare to be captivated by our cast’s personalities, dazzled by their talents, amused, infuriated, thrilled, excited – but never bored – by the magnetism of our program.
Versus is happening, are you ready to take it on?
Versus is the king of reality shows. On the surface of things, it’s a simple show, with cast members displaying their talents in a bid to win over a panel of celebrity judges, as well as the viewing public – both with their incredible skills, and dazzling personalities. It has competitive elements, a sense of drama, a likeable cast for the audience to root for mixed in with a few villains, plus at the very heart of the show it’s a test of skills and endurance. So you may be wondering how a show like this works? Here are the mechanics of the show. Twelve cast members will be split into two teams, which will work and live together. Every week they will be set a specific challenge that will test them in some way, aided by a celebrity guest mentor with relevant skills. As a team, they must work to impress a public audience and win the task, yet shine individually. This is because on the losing team, the weakest member will be eliminated by a panel of celebrity judges. As the competition wears on, the team element becomes less important, for only one person can win the final jackpot.
One of reality tv’s greatest functions is its ability to provide talking points. And Versus will leave everyone talking. Here’s the reasoning behind some of our decisions. The first thing the press picks up on with any new reality game show is the panel of judges it contains, and the host. Our panel aims to encompass the four key components a panel such as this would need – someone with physical prowess, a joker of some description, the controversial figure and the brains – we feel like we have the perfect blend of judges. The contestants are similarly varied - we wanted to take the focus away from the fame-hungry typecasting modern reality television shows have become reliant on, and shift it to intelligent, capable and articulate people . Reality contestants are often accused of being talentless – there’s no room for deadwood here, as our challenges will push them to the limits every week. The guest stars provide variation and add credibility to the challenges.
But don’t just take our word for it: Versus is the game that audiences want to see. Our research strongly indicated a number of things. Audiences love a good competition – intense and cut-throat, but without being literally a war. The unique and wide range of skills required for Versus encourage ample competition, whilst also stressing the need for a winning personality. Our surveys suggested viewers enjoy being able to vote and influence the game, but a panel of judges with the final decision ensures the right people go at the right time – keeping the show alive. A spin off show to Versus would focus on the human interaction, romances & rivalries between cast members – something which our audience thinks key to the show’s success. The key words we encountered time after time were ‘fun’, ‘light-hearted’, ‘simple’ and ‘interactive’ – our show achieves these on every level.
Team Reflections have had so much fun working together to tease out this idea, and we really do believe that if our show is successful, the laughs, competition and sheer goodwill of Versus will propel it to becoming a mainstay of British TV. It’s simply perfect Saturday-night-in material, that’ll provide excellent water-cooler moments in workplaces and on playgrounds up and down the country. So prepare to be captivated by our cast’s personalities, dazzled by their talents, amused, infuriated, thrilled, excited – but never bored – by the magnetism of our program.
Versus is happening, are you ready to take it on?
Here is the logo that Team Reflections has designed for our new hit show, Versus!
http://i44.tinypic.com/nnmukg.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/nnmukg.jpg
The kind of people that we, as a team, have chosen to be the star of the show is, people like you, ordinary people with ordinary jobs, people who will potentially have to face up to these dramatic circumstances at some point in their future. The idea is the tagline for the show could be something along the lines of ‘The Real People’.
To show different examples of the people who we believe would be involved, we have created profiles of three members of a team, which we hope gives you an insight into the dynamics of those involved.
Each of these members is different, but we hope the show would highlight or ‘reflect’ their similarities as well.
But of course, the reality element is helped by our celebrity panel, all of which have been especially chosen for the professional approach they would take towards the show. The panel consists of Alistair McGowan, Karren Brady, Kym Marsh and Freddie Flintoff, who will all bring glamour to the show. And we are proud to announce that Cat Deeley will host the show, as she too will approach the show with a sense of pride, and she will be assisted by the wonderful Nick Grimshaw!
Our celebrity panel is unique in the sense that it has the best of every sector. When we were creating the cast, we looked at the best in the business of four sections. The first was ‘Comedy’. We eventually chose the amazing Alistair McGowan as he adds an element of light-hearted humour experience. He’s been in the business since the 80s and really knows whats what – he’d be an ideal head judge on the expert panel. Secondly, Karren Brady was our choice for somebody who prides themselves on their intelligence. Karren is fantastic on ‘The Apprentice’ and makes many cutting remarks which is what we hope she can bring to the panel. Her looks of disdain, her sarcasm, her sly comments – we want her to be in charge of the situation and to tell it to the teams straight, this is what she will being to the panel.
Thirdly, we looked at sports stars and one name was cropped up a lot in our discussion was Freddie Flintoff. The ex-captain of the England cricket team, Freddie was one of the best in his sport. He has since retired but still remains at the front on TV – with many talkshow and he’s got that awesome down-to-earth charm. Finally, Kym Marsh is our expert in the music & television department. Having risen to fame in the Reality TV show ‘Popstars: The Rivals’ as part of winning group Hear’Say but after the group split, got a job as an actress on Coronation Street. Kym knows her way around the TV setting and would definitely not be afraid to speak her mind. Together, the panel really covers every corner and would work flawlessly together to ensure maximum entertainment and the elimination decisions are appropriate and unbiased.
The main host, Cat Deeley is fantastic. She has plenty of experience and has a proven track record of being a fantastic host. She has been known to, in the past, add humour, add enthusiasm as well as pile on the tension. Co-host Nick Grimshaw is great and although he is pretty new to the TV presenting scene, everyone has to start somewhere and the chemistry between Cat and Nick will hopefully just add those finally little fireworks to the show.
To show different examples of the people who we believe would be involved, we have created profiles of three members of a team, which we hope gives you an insight into the dynamics of those involved.
Spoiler
Each of these members is different, but we hope the show would highlight or ‘reflect’ their similarities as well.
But of course, the reality element is helped by our celebrity panel, all of which have been especially chosen for the professional approach they would take towards the show. The panel consists of Alistair McGowan, Karren Brady, Kym Marsh and Freddie Flintoff, who will all bring glamour to the show. And we are proud to announce that Cat Deeley will host the show, as she too will approach the show with a sense of pride, and she will be assisted by the wonderful Nick Grimshaw!
Our celebrity panel is unique in the sense that it has the best of every sector. When we were creating the cast, we looked at the best in the business of four sections. The first was ‘Comedy’. We eventually chose the amazing Alistair McGowan as he adds an element of light-hearted humour experience. He’s been in the business since the 80s and really knows whats what – he’d be an ideal head judge on the expert panel. Secondly, Karren Brady was our choice for somebody who prides themselves on their intelligence. Karren is fantastic on ‘The Apprentice’ and makes many cutting remarks which is what we hope she can bring to the panel. Her looks of disdain, her sarcasm, her sly comments – we want her to be in charge of the situation and to tell it to the teams straight, this is what she will being to the panel.
Thirdly, we looked at sports stars and one name was cropped up a lot in our discussion was Freddie Flintoff. The ex-captain of the England cricket team, Freddie was one of the best in his sport. He has since retired but still remains at the front on TV – with many talkshow and he’s got that awesome down-to-earth charm. Finally, Kym Marsh is our expert in the music & television department. Having risen to fame in the Reality TV show ‘Popstars: The Rivals’ as part of winning group Hear’Say but after the group split, got a job as an actress on Coronation Street. Kym knows her way around the TV setting and would definitely not be afraid to speak her mind. Together, the panel really covers every corner and would work flawlessly together to ensure maximum entertainment and the elimination decisions are appropriate and unbiased.
The main host, Cat Deeley is fantastic. She has plenty of experience and has a proven track record of being a fantastic host. She has been known to, in the past, add humour, add enthusiasm as well as pile on the tension. Co-host Nick Grimshaw is great and although he is pretty new to the TV presenting scene, everyone has to start somewhere and the chemistry between Cat and Nick will hopefully just add those finally little fireworks to the show.
Versus will feature twelve contestants, which is, we believe, the optimum number for a Reality TV show. It will last around twelve weeks which will be outlined shortly, with most episodes lasting around sixty minutes. This will be comprised of the following elements:
- Approximately five minutes reminding viewers of the way the show works and a re-cap of what happened on the last show.
- Around ten minutes of action from the contestants living together, ending with the briefing on the task.
- 20 minutes of the contestants working on the task.
- The final presentation of their work and comments from the judges (lasts around 10 minutes).
- The winning team will then be revealed, either chosen by the judges or task coaches, or by a public vote. The eliminated member of the losing team is then revealed. This, like with the winners themselves, is chosen by the panel, the task coaches, or via public vote.
- Approximately five minutes reminding viewers of the way the show works and a re-cap of what happened on the last show.
- Around ten minutes of action from the contestants living together, ending with the briefing on the task.
- 20 minutes of the contestants working on the task.
- The final presentation of their work and comments from the judges (lasts around 10 minutes).
- The winning team will then be revealed, either chosen by the judges or task coaches, or by a public vote. The eliminated member of the losing team is then revealed. This, like with the winners themselves, is chosen by the panel, the task coaches, or via public vote.
The concept of Versus is fun filled and exciting to watch. What we aim to show is that reality TV isn't all trashy and doesn't need to be nasty to be exciting. What we will provide here is a rundown of a couple of episodes so that you have an idea of how our show would pan out.
We would have 12 episodes, with no one leaving in episode 1 and two contestants remaining in the final. Each episode, apart from the first and last, will run for an hour.
Episode 1: This episode would be purely for getting to know the format and the contestants. As this is a new show, rushing right into the tasks may overwhelm the viewer, and it's possible they would lose interest straight away. Thus, our focus here is just introducing it. Our host would give a brief rundown and explain that we have a "Control Room" where our panel of celebrity judges can watch all of the actions from the task. The viewers would be shown the control room and introduced to our panel of celebrity judges. Here we might also get a little teaser of the tasks to come. We would also be informed that the prize is £25,000.
Then, we would get on to introducing the contestants. There would be a quick VT about their life and skills, as well as a short interview to kick off their entry into Versus. This aims to introduce the viewers to the cast, but doesn't give too much away, allowing more and more to be revealed each week through the tasks.
The episode would run for an hour and a half. The host would also inform the public of our social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and we would invite viewers to send comments and questions for our judges, as they would have ready access to public tweets and messages.
To kick off the action, we would have a pre-recorded task. The contestants would be put into randomly generated pairs and given a list of 5 clues. From these clues, they must work as a team to figure out a location and get to this location before any of the other couples. The team that figures it out first are the team captains and get to choose their teams. This is the only advantage to being the team captain. Once we have our teams, the show is concluded.
Episode 2: Now that we've gotten to grips with the format, it's time for some action. Our first task would begin and the contestants would all gather in the main area to be briefed on it. As an example, each team will be provided with items they must use as part of a story for a play. The team must divide themselves up and write a short play while the others to about casting it. The catch is they must get people off the street to agree to take part. We would be provided with a half an hour of highlights from this. Then each team would perform their plays live for the audience and judges. For this task, the judges would decide who has done the best job and the losing team would have to vote off the person they feel contributed the least. There would be a short interview with the losing contestant and a teaser of the next task.
Episode 3: Now that we are a member down from one of the teams, it's getting more challenging. Another example of a task that may be used in this episode is that the teams would be taken to a dance class (eg: hip hop) and taught a routine. They would have a celebrity coach each (perhaps Louis Spence and Andrew Stone) and it would be very entertaining to watch the stresses and challenges. We would be shown half an hour of their rehearsals and then the routines would be performed. The public have 10 minutes to vote on the routine they enjoyed more. As with the last episode, the losing team would lose a member. In this particular task the dance coaches would choose who leaves based on everything they saw on stage and in rehearsals.
Episode 4: This episode of ‘Versus’ pits the two teams against each other in an Olympic sized water sports pool. The guest celebrity mentor is the one and only Tom Daley – British diving child prodigy.
For the first half of the episode, the teams are trained both individually in one-on-one sessions with Tom, and as a team. They then are consulted that to win the task, they must have the highest score. Points are awarded depending on the dive they complete. The points potentially awarded are below.
0 points: Failed dive or withdrawal
1 point: A successful dive off the 3m board
2 points: A successful ‘typical’ dive off the 5m board
4 points: A successful ‘difficult’ dive off the 5m board
5 points: A successful ‘typical’ dive off the 10m board
10 points: A successful ‘difficult’ dive off the 10m board
25 points: A successful dive off the 25m board
The villages will be trained how to do a ‘typical’ dive (basically just focusing on positioning and posture) and a ‘difficult’ dive (doing a twist or something to make it different). The aim of this particular mission is for the teams to do one single dive with the points being added up and the winning team is the team with the most points. The winning team would then be immune from this week’s elimination and receive a three course meal for the dinner as well as more rations.
The losing team, however, are then forced to nominate two people each and the three people on the team who have the most nominations will then be put up to face the public vote. The second show will be the night after (Sunday) and the results will be conducted, live. The person with the fewest public votes will be outcast from the village and must return home with no money.
Further episodes would also follow this light hearted pattern as we whittle down the teams further. Other examples of tasks include a scavenger hunt in the wild, organising a themed party which will be attended by the judges and their family and friends and rated by them, as well as putting on a variety show for schoolchildren and a sports task.
As the teams get whittled down, they will be changed around to make them as even as possible and as we approach the final few episodes, we get rid of the teams and each member will work as an individual. This means that any alliances formed to get this far will be abolished and it will make for interesting viewing. As well as the tasks being fun entertainment, we would also rely on the personalities chosen to take part to provide comic relief (judges and contestants alike.)
An example of the final episode would go as follows:
Episode 12: We are down to the final two contestants (who, at this stage, will be well known to viewers and will have their own fans backing them. Therefore this task will be left purely down to the public vote to add to the excitement and build up. This episode would be a little bit longer at approximately 90 minutes and there would be two tasks. The tasks would be ones that involves use of all the skills gained during the process. For example, the contestants may have to go on set of a soap opera (Emmerdale and Coronation Street for example) and take part in a scene which would be played to the nation and the judges as well as coaching a sports team and being followed by our sports judge. The voting would be open all the way through the show to allow viewers to really get involved and vote as much as they want based on the tasks in the final or the contestant’s performance the whole way through.
We would have 12 episodes, with no one leaving in episode 1 and two contestants remaining in the final. Each episode, apart from the first and last, will run for an hour.
Episode 1: This episode would be purely for getting to know the format and the contestants. As this is a new show, rushing right into the tasks may overwhelm the viewer, and it's possible they would lose interest straight away. Thus, our focus here is just introducing it. Our host would give a brief rundown and explain that we have a "Control Room" where our panel of celebrity judges can watch all of the actions from the task. The viewers would be shown the control room and introduced to our panel of celebrity judges. Here we might also get a little teaser of the tasks to come. We would also be informed that the prize is £25,000.
Then, we would get on to introducing the contestants. There would be a quick VT about their life and skills, as well as a short interview to kick off their entry into Versus. This aims to introduce the viewers to the cast, but doesn't give too much away, allowing more and more to be revealed each week through the tasks.
The episode would run for an hour and a half. The host would also inform the public of our social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and we would invite viewers to send comments and questions for our judges, as they would have ready access to public tweets and messages.
To kick off the action, we would have a pre-recorded task. The contestants would be put into randomly generated pairs and given a list of 5 clues. From these clues, they must work as a team to figure out a location and get to this location before any of the other couples. The team that figures it out first are the team captains and get to choose their teams. This is the only advantage to being the team captain. Once we have our teams, the show is concluded.
Episode 2: Now that we've gotten to grips with the format, it's time for some action. Our first task would begin and the contestants would all gather in the main area to be briefed on it. As an example, each team will be provided with items they must use as part of a story for a play. The team must divide themselves up and write a short play while the others to about casting it. The catch is they must get people off the street to agree to take part. We would be provided with a half an hour of highlights from this. Then each team would perform their plays live for the audience and judges. For this task, the judges would decide who has done the best job and the losing team would have to vote off the person they feel contributed the least. There would be a short interview with the losing contestant and a teaser of the next task.
Episode 3: Now that we are a member down from one of the teams, it's getting more challenging. Another example of a task that may be used in this episode is that the teams would be taken to a dance class (eg: hip hop) and taught a routine. They would have a celebrity coach each (perhaps Louis Spence and Andrew Stone) and it would be very entertaining to watch the stresses and challenges. We would be shown half an hour of their rehearsals and then the routines would be performed. The public have 10 minutes to vote on the routine they enjoyed more. As with the last episode, the losing team would lose a member. In this particular task the dance coaches would choose who leaves based on everything they saw on stage and in rehearsals.
Episode 4: This episode of ‘Versus’ pits the two teams against each other in an Olympic sized water sports pool. The guest celebrity mentor is the one and only Tom Daley – British diving child prodigy.
For the first half of the episode, the teams are trained both individually in one-on-one sessions with Tom, and as a team. They then are consulted that to win the task, they must have the highest score. Points are awarded depending on the dive they complete. The points potentially awarded are below.
0 points: Failed dive or withdrawal
1 point: A successful dive off the 3m board
2 points: A successful ‘typical’ dive off the 5m board
4 points: A successful ‘difficult’ dive off the 5m board
5 points: A successful ‘typical’ dive off the 10m board
10 points: A successful ‘difficult’ dive off the 10m board
25 points: A successful dive off the 25m board
The villages will be trained how to do a ‘typical’ dive (basically just focusing on positioning and posture) and a ‘difficult’ dive (doing a twist or something to make it different). The aim of this particular mission is for the teams to do one single dive with the points being added up and the winning team is the team with the most points. The winning team would then be immune from this week’s elimination and receive a three course meal for the dinner as well as more rations.
The losing team, however, are then forced to nominate two people each and the three people on the team who have the most nominations will then be put up to face the public vote. The second show will be the night after (Sunday) and the results will be conducted, live. The person with the fewest public votes will be outcast from the village and must return home with no money.
Further episodes would also follow this light hearted pattern as we whittle down the teams further. Other examples of tasks include a scavenger hunt in the wild, organising a themed party which will be attended by the judges and their family and friends and rated by them, as well as putting on a variety show for schoolchildren and a sports task.
As the teams get whittled down, they will be changed around to make them as even as possible and as we approach the final few episodes, we get rid of the teams and each member will work as an individual. This means that any alliances formed to get this far will be abolished and it will make for interesting viewing. As well as the tasks being fun entertainment, we would also rely on the personalities chosen to take part to provide comic relief (judges and contestants alike.)
An example of the final episode would go as follows:
Episode 12: We are down to the final two contestants (who, at this stage, will be well known to viewers and will have their own fans backing them. Therefore this task will be left purely down to the public vote to add to the excitement and build up. This episode would be a little bit longer at approximately 90 minutes and there would be two tasks. The tasks would be ones that involves use of all the skills gained during the process. For example, the contestants may have to go on set of a soap opera (Emmerdale and Coronation Street for example) and take part in a scene which would be played to the nation and the judges as well as coaching a sports team and being followed by our sports judge. The voting would be open all the way through the show to allow viewers to really get involved and vote as much as they want based on the tasks in the final or the contestant’s performance the whole way through.
Here is the concept for the spin-off show to Versus, Versus: Overtime!
The spin-off show would focus more on what makes reality TV so addictive. Centered around the drama, the romances, the fights, and the lives of the contestants, Versus: Overtime would be the perfect companion to the high-stakes competition Versus provides. We thought it was a great idea to separate the lives of the contestants from the competition so as to add an extra element of drama for those who want it. As Versus is such a revolutionary and ground-breaking show, it needs the perfect companion show. In hopes of offsetting the chemistry of Cat Deeley and Nick Grimshaw, we have chosen comedian Iain Sterling! He has proven his worth working on many television shows across the UK. In addition, he has a history of being a law school student - his well-rounded nature thus gives him the perfect credentials and outlook to host our companion series. So now, with Versus: Overtime, you can keep up with all of the action that goes on behind the scenes, without having to compromise the experience of competition presented in Versus.
The spin-off show would focus more on what makes reality TV so addictive. Centered around the drama, the romances, the fights, and the lives of the contestants, Versus: Overtime would be the perfect companion to the high-stakes competition Versus provides. We thought it was a great idea to separate the lives of the contestants from the competition so as to add an extra element of drama for those who want it. As Versus is such a revolutionary and ground-breaking show, it needs the perfect companion show. In hopes of offsetting the chemistry of Cat Deeley and Nick Grimshaw, we have chosen comedian Iain Sterling! He has proven his worth working on many television shows across the UK. In addition, he has a history of being a law school student - his well-rounded nature thus gives him the perfect credentials and outlook to host our companion series. So now, with Versus: Overtime, you can keep up with all of the action that goes on behind the scenes, without having to compromise the experience of competition presented in Versus.
The original idea that Team Reflections had was a very extremist show called ‘Force.’ We, as a team, felt that this show would be a suitable idea, as the brief we were given mentioned The Hunger Games. We thus thought this was a clever ploy to make us consider a big and futuristic idea. However, we then decided that the best way to encompass the viewers in our creating process was to ask them to complete a survey, which meant they could relay their thoughts and ideas. The feedback we received for ‘Force’ became negative, so we decided to put a more realistic twist on the show, and eventually came up with ‘Versus’.
In our brief for this task, we were asked to come up with something “compelling, entertaining and something that will get people talking” and I feel it’s clear that ‘Versus’ is exactly that. Anything with such a fierce element of competition is bound to keep an audience captivated, as well as the fun of the drama and personality clashes with the contestants. We have kept some of the elements of reality TV that make it so successful, as well as making it original with our by mixing everything together (such as the judging panel, along with everyone living together and being divided into teams).
The logo is something that encapsulates all of the ideas we had about our show - fun, light-hearted, and edgy. The paint-splatter effect gives it an abstract and accessible look. Additionally, the colors are pastel rather than primary. This effect streamlines the look to make it more youthful and less "hard" and "battle-like". You might notice that over the splattered paint background, there is a futuristic cityscape. The goal of ‘Versus’ is to find a leader - someone who is a modern day renaissance man or woman. The cityscape is a metaphor for finding the ruler of the village - the king/queen of the country, so to speak - while keeping the look more modern. Ultimately, our logo is something that is simple enough to not be overpowering while being complex enough to grab attention. It's the perfect representation of the message and goal of ‘Versus’, and we hope you all love it as much as we do.
One of the most exciting things about our show is the fusion of genres it provides – it really does encompass every aspect of reality TV. It’s skills based and competitive, doing away with the idea of talentless contestants – and the focus on articulate, skilled people really creates positive characters for the audience to be endeared towards. ‘Versus’ also has a very human-based thread running through it, our spin off shows the competitors as real people – their relationships, friendships, rivalries – really emotionally investing people into the show. In short, its action, drama and personality rolled into one – ‘Versus’ really should be a success.
Overall, the task has definitely been a success for Team Reflections. Despite changing the entire concept last night, the team has really come together to produce ‘Versus’; a concept with so much potential that it’s shocking it hasn’t been done already. Sprouted from one of our team member’s ideas, every single one of us took the original concept and added different factors to produce the best TV show possible. I think that the whole team would agree in saying that we are very proud to have designed & produced something as brilliant as ‘Versus’ and are 100% behind the idea. We have thoroughly enjoyed working as a team to come up with the product and we hope you have enjoyed our presentation and thank you for reading through it.
Any questions or queries you would like to ask would be welcomed – thank you again.
In our brief for this task, we were asked to come up with something “compelling, entertaining and something that will get people talking” and I feel it’s clear that ‘Versus’ is exactly that. Anything with such a fierce element of competition is bound to keep an audience captivated, as well as the fun of the drama and personality clashes with the contestants. We have kept some of the elements of reality TV that make it so successful, as well as making it original with our by mixing everything together (such as the judging panel, along with everyone living together and being divided into teams).
The logo is something that encapsulates all of the ideas we had about our show - fun, light-hearted, and edgy. The paint-splatter effect gives it an abstract and accessible look. Additionally, the colors are pastel rather than primary. This effect streamlines the look to make it more youthful and less "hard" and "battle-like". You might notice that over the splattered paint background, there is a futuristic cityscape. The goal of ‘Versus’ is to find a leader - someone who is a modern day renaissance man or woman. The cityscape is a metaphor for finding the ruler of the village - the king/queen of the country, so to speak - while keeping the look more modern. Ultimately, our logo is something that is simple enough to not be overpowering while being complex enough to grab attention. It's the perfect representation of the message and goal of ‘Versus’, and we hope you all love it as much as we do.
One of the most exciting things about our show is the fusion of genres it provides – it really does encompass every aspect of reality TV. It’s skills based and competitive, doing away with the idea of talentless contestants – and the focus on articulate, skilled people really creates positive characters for the audience to be endeared towards. ‘Versus’ also has a very human-based thread running through it, our spin off shows the competitors as real people – their relationships, friendships, rivalries – really emotionally investing people into the show. In short, its action, drama and personality rolled into one – ‘Versus’ really should be a success.
Overall, the task has definitely been a success for Team Reflections. Despite changing the entire concept last night, the team has really come together to produce ‘Versus’; a concept with so much potential that it’s shocking it hasn’t been done already. Sprouted from one of our team member’s ideas, every single one of us took the original concept and added different factors to produce the best TV show possible. I think that the whole team would agree in saying that we are very proud to have designed & produced something as brilliant as ‘Versus’ and are 100% behind the idea. We have thoroughly enjoyed working as a team to come up with the product and we hope you have enjoyed our presentation and thank you for reading through it.
Any questions or queries you would like to ask would be welcomed – thank you again.
Congratulations on your pitch, I thought it reflected how hard you have all worked on this.
Lord Sugar's task asked you to do create an original reality television show, one that you see as the next step for RTV, with The Hunger Games cited as an example.
I would like to ask you to explain a bit more how your idea does this? I understand that you said the originality comes from combining all the different elements you mentioned, but I'd like to hear more from you about how this is revolutionary and 'the next step' for this genre as TV, rather than just combining several other successful shows.
Thank you in advance!
Lord Sugar's task asked you to do create an original reality television show, one that you see as the next step for RTV, with The Hunger Games cited as an example.
I would like to ask you to explain a bit more how your idea does this? I understand that you said the originality comes from combining all the different elements you mentioned, but I'd like to hear more from you about how this is revolutionary and 'the next step' for this genre as TV, rather than just combining several other successful shows.
Thank you in advance!
Originally Posted by cheekypeter:
“Congratulations on your pitch, I thought it reflected how hard you have all worked on this.
Lord Sugar's task asked you to do create an original reality television show, one that you see as the next step for RTV, with The Hunger Games cited as an example.
I would like to ask you to explain a bit more how your idea does this? I understand that you said the originality comes from combining all the different elements you mentioned, but I'd like to hear more from you about how this is revolutionary and 'the next step' for this genre as TV, rather than just combining several other successful shows.
Thank you in advance!”
“Congratulations on your pitch, I thought it reflected how hard you have all worked on this.
Lord Sugar's task asked you to do create an original reality television show, one that you see as the next step for RTV, with The Hunger Games cited as an example.
I would like to ask you to explain a bit more how your idea does this? I understand that you said the originality comes from combining all the different elements you mentioned, but I'd like to hear more from you about how this is revolutionary and 'the next step' for this genre as TV, rather than just combining several other successful shows.
Thank you in advance!
”
Thank you very much for your question, Pete! We appreciate you taking the time to ask us this.
As a team, we feel that Versus is revolutionary in a few ways. The main thing that differentiates this idea from the crop of shows currently on TV is that our show is reality television in its truest form. We have minimized the amount of possible "editing" that can occur, so we can give a true and honest picture of or contestants to the public. After reading forum posts and hearing feedback from our peers, we have learned that this is a huge point of contention with current reality shows, and we hope to fix that in Versus.
Second, our show attracts a different type of contestant than other shows, namely Big Brother. We don't have people competing who are just looking for that 15 minutes of fame that being on a television network can provide. We are taking contestants with a plethora of talents and skill sets and putting them in real world situations to put them to the test. It's fun, it's light-hearted, but it still has the intelligence of some of the more seasoned competition-type shows. We are really trying to find a winner who is a jack-of-all-trades, and taking real, relatable people and putting them in real, challenging situations is the way in which Versus hopes to achieve that goal.
We hope this answers your question, Pete, and we welcome any follow up questions you may have!
Hey guys A few questions.
1. How do you see this show fitting into the current schedule? Which channel will air it and at what time of the year?
2. A few of the tasks have a business element to them rather than focusing upon on the practical skill sets of the competitors. How will you make these tasks different from The Apprentice for example?
3. Why do you think it's important to have Cat Deeley involved? After all, she presented Peter Kay's piss take reality tv show, do you have any other possibilities?
4. What are the benefits of including the celebrity panel in the main show as opposed to just the spin off? Do you not think it's more interesting if the contestants have to judge/eliminate one another?
5. What happens with the final 3? Would it not be more conventional to have three in the final, otherwise you've got 2 vs 1 in the penultimate week?
Looking forward to your responses
A few questions.1. How do you see this show fitting into the current schedule? Which channel will air it and at what time of the year?
2. A few of the tasks have a business element to them rather than focusing upon on the practical skill sets of the competitors. How will you make these tasks different from The Apprentice for example?
3. Why do you think it's important to have Cat Deeley involved? After all, she presented Peter Kay's piss take reality tv show, do you have any other possibilities?
4. What are the benefits of including the celebrity panel in the main show as opposed to just the spin off? Do you not think it's more interesting if the contestants have to judge/eliminate one another?
5. What happens with the final 3? Would it not be more conventional to have three in the final, otherwise you've got 2 vs 1 in the penultimate week?
Looking forward to your responses
Originally Posted by jag02010:
“Thank you very much for your question, Pete! We appreciate you taking the time to ask us this.
As a team, we feel that Versus is revolutionary in a few ways. The main thing that differentiates this idea from the crop of shows currently on TV is that our show is reality television in its truest form. We have minimized the amount of possible "editing" that can occur, so we can give a true and honest picture of or contestants to the public. After reading forum posts and hearing feedback from our peers, we have learned that this is a huge point of contention with current reality shows, and we hope to fix that in Versus.
Second, our show attracts a different type of contestant than other shows, namely Big Brother. We don't have people competing who are just looking for that 15 minutes of fame that being on a television network can provide. We are taking contestants with a plethora of talents and skill sets and putting them in real world situations to put them to the test. It's fun, it's light-hearted, but it still has the intelligence of some of the more seasoned competition-type shows. We are really trying to find a winner who is a jack-of-all-trades, and taking real, relatable people and putting them in real, challenging situations is the way in which Versus hopes to achieve that goal.
We hope this answers your question, Pete, and we welcome any follow up questions you may have!”
“Thank you very much for your question, Pete! We appreciate you taking the time to ask us this.
As a team, we feel that Versus is revolutionary in a few ways. The main thing that differentiates this idea from the crop of shows currently on TV is that our show is reality television in its truest form. We have minimized the amount of possible "editing" that can occur, so we can give a true and honest picture of or contestants to the public. After reading forum posts and hearing feedback from our peers, we have learned that this is a huge point of contention with current reality shows, and we hope to fix that in Versus.
Second, our show attracts a different type of contestant than other shows, namely Big Brother. We don't have people competing who are just looking for that 15 minutes of fame that being on a television network can provide. We are taking contestants with a plethora of talents and skill sets and putting them in real world situations to put them to the test. It's fun, it's light-hearted, but it still has the intelligence of some of the more seasoned competition-type shows. We are really trying to find a winner who is a jack-of-all-trades, and taking real, relatable people and putting them in real, challenging situations is the way in which Versus hopes to achieve that goal.
We hope this answers your question, Pete, and we welcome any follow up questions you may have!”
Thank you. I have a few more questions.
Firstly, I think the minimal editing thing is a good idea to revolutionise the genre, as this is something that doesn't always sit well with me in RTV. But you said in your opening pitch you will have a 'likeable cast' and 'villains': to get these things, surely heavy editing is required to some degree?
Next, in Carly's bit about the logo, there were lots of things that appealed to me: 'futuristic cityscape', 'ruler of the village' etc, but these elements didn't seem prominent in the rest of your pitch. Would things like this to be used to differentiate your show? A lot of the rest of your pitch sounds like a Big Brother / Shipwrecked hybrid with a bit of the old skills show Krypton Factor thrown in.
Finally, do you think all of your casting fits into a revolutionary approach to RTV? A couple of your line-up seem a bit cliched, e.g. Kym Marsh (from 'Popstars' and 'Popstar to Operastar') and Cat Deeley (who hosted Peter Kay's spoof p!ss take of reality shows).
I think you have worked extremely hard, but I would like you to address these further points please.
Hey, Alex! Thanks for the questions.
To answer question 1, we had a lengthy discussion the other night on what channel the show would do best on, and we ended up deciding that the best channel would be BBC One. With the news of 'Total Wipeout' being dropped only the other day, we think a summer slot in the months of May to August would be perfect for the show in the 6-8ish time schedule that Total Wipeout currently takes.
For question 2, although some of the tasks set may be business-related and orientated, every single task will be honing in on the skills of the players. As mentioned above, there will be sport tasks, music tasks and even stand-up comedy tasks. We want to really test every single area of the contestants and business would definitely be one aspect to approach - however The Apprentice focuses the entire thing on Business, whereas 'Versus' will tackle everything.
Question three is an awesome question, Alex! Cat is an awesome host. Her work on So You Think You Can Dance is truly fantastic and she is reknowned for being one of the best TV presenters out there. As mentioned in the pitch, she would really bring fresh light on to British TV as she hasn't been as active recently as she used to be. Having Cat would be a fantastic way of bringing in viewers who are fans of her - as she definitely has plenty of fans, and her capabilities to be a brilliant host are near-enough endless. Cat Deeley did partake in Peter Kay's pisstake one-off special, however so did Neil Fox and Pete Waterman who have both been a part of several Reality TV shows too. It was a spoof show of how Reality TV has been a big role in the television market in recent years and since then she has also appeared on 'So You Think You Can Dance', both in the UK and in the States meaning she has no personal quaints against them. We did look in to alternatives, namingly Claudia Winkleman and as a back-up, Fearne Cotton, both who have proved themselves to be great presenters in the past.
To answer question 4; there are numerous benefits to having the celebrity panel on the show! Firstly, in terms of promotion, shows with celebrity endorsement draw both the press and viewers in, and often decisions made by the panel provide talking points for days after the show. Also, we feel that having a panel of judges fits in well with the flow of the program – a panel with experience in television who have been keeping a keen eye on proceedings will understand the correct choice to leave. Finally, the alternative you’ve suggested is an interesting one, however, in a game like this we feel tactical voting could happen should the contestants have a say in eliminating eachother – our panel really is there to keep things fair.
Finally, almost at the end now! Haha. As mentioned in the pitch, when the number of contestants gets down to 6 (with the starting number being 12), the teams break up and it becomes an individual game. There are no teams or way to be in alliances and definitely nobody to hide behind. When we get down to the later half of the competition, they have to show that they are made of as individuals - as being a strong player themselves is obviously what we want from the jack-of-all-trades winner.
Thank you once again for your questions, Alex. Hope I have answered your questions how you wanted.
To answer question 1, we had a lengthy discussion the other night on what channel the show would do best on, and we ended up deciding that the best channel would be BBC One. With the news of 'Total Wipeout' being dropped only the other day, we think a summer slot in the months of May to August would be perfect for the show in the 6-8ish time schedule that Total Wipeout currently takes.
For question 2, although some of the tasks set may be business-related and orientated, every single task will be honing in on the skills of the players. As mentioned above, there will be sport tasks, music tasks and even stand-up comedy tasks. We want to really test every single area of the contestants and business would definitely be one aspect to approach - however The Apprentice focuses the entire thing on Business, whereas 'Versus' will tackle everything.
Question three is an awesome question, Alex! Cat is an awesome host. Her work on So You Think You Can Dance is truly fantastic and she is reknowned for being one of the best TV presenters out there. As mentioned in the pitch, she would really bring fresh light on to British TV as she hasn't been as active recently as she used to be. Having Cat would be a fantastic way of bringing in viewers who are fans of her - as she definitely has plenty of fans, and her capabilities to be a brilliant host are near-enough endless. Cat Deeley did partake in Peter Kay's pisstake one-off special, however so did Neil Fox and Pete Waterman who have both been a part of several Reality TV shows too. It was a spoof show of how Reality TV has been a big role in the television market in recent years and since then she has also appeared on 'So You Think You Can Dance', both in the UK and in the States meaning she has no personal quaints against them. We did look in to alternatives, namingly Claudia Winkleman and as a back-up, Fearne Cotton, both who have proved themselves to be great presenters in the past.
To answer question 4; there are numerous benefits to having the celebrity panel on the show! Firstly, in terms of promotion, shows with celebrity endorsement draw both the press and viewers in, and often decisions made by the panel provide talking points for days after the show. Also, we feel that having a panel of judges fits in well with the flow of the program – a panel with experience in television who have been keeping a keen eye on proceedings will understand the correct choice to leave. Finally, the alternative you’ve suggested is an interesting one, however, in a game like this we feel tactical voting could happen should the contestants have a say in eliminating eachother – our panel really is there to keep things fair.
Finally, almost at the end now! Haha. As mentioned in the pitch, when the number of contestants gets down to 6 (with the starting number being 12), the teams break up and it becomes an individual game. There are no teams or way to be in alliances and definitely nobody to hide behind. When we get down to the later half of the competition, they have to show that they are made of as individuals - as being a strong player themselves is obviously what we want from the jack-of-all-trades winner.
Thank you once again for your questions, Alex. Hope I have answered your questions how you wanted.
Amroussi, if you read this please clear some inbox space and get one of your team to forward you the Task Evaluation questions. Thank you.
Originally Posted by cheekypeter:
“Thank you. I have a few more questions.
Firstly, I think the minimal editing thing is a good idea to revolutionise the genre, as this is something that doesn't always sit well with me in RTV. But you said in your opening pitch you will have a 'likeable cast' and 'villains': to get these things, surely heavy editing is required to some degree?
Next, in Carly's bit about the logo, there were lots of things that appealed to me: 'futuristic cityscape', 'ruler of the village' etc, but these elements didn't seem prominent in the rest of your pitch. Would things like this to be used to differentiate your show? A lot of the rest of your pitch sounds like a Big Brother / Shipwrecked hybrid with a bit of the old skills show Krypton Factor thrown in.
Finally, do you think all of your casting fits into a revolutionary approach to RTV? A couple of your line-up seem a bit cliched, e.g. Kym Marsh (from 'Popstars' and 'Popstar to Operastar') and Cat Deeley (who hosted Peter Kay's spoof p!ss take of reality shows).
I think you have worked extremely hard, but I would like you to address these further points please.”
“Thank you. I have a few more questions.
Firstly, I think the minimal editing thing is a good idea to revolutionise the genre, as this is something that doesn't always sit well with me in RTV. But you said in your opening pitch you will have a 'likeable cast' and 'villains': to get these things, surely heavy editing is required to some degree?
Next, in Carly's bit about the logo, there were lots of things that appealed to me: 'futuristic cityscape', 'ruler of the village' etc, but these elements didn't seem prominent in the rest of your pitch. Would things like this to be used to differentiate your show? A lot of the rest of your pitch sounds like a Big Brother / Shipwrecked hybrid with a bit of the old skills show Krypton Factor thrown in.
Finally, do you think all of your casting fits into a revolutionary approach to RTV? A couple of your line-up seem a bit cliched, e.g. Kym Marsh (from 'Popstars' and 'Popstar to Operastar') and Cat Deeley (who hosted Peter Kay's spoof p!ss take of reality shows).
I think you have worked extremely hard, but I would like you to address these further points please.”
Thanks for the continued questions, I hope this clears things up a little it!
Of course, with the sheer number of hours of footage involved in the show, editing of some degree is necessary, however we believe it’s imperative not to manipulate or patronize our audience. We really do aim to keep the characters as a true reflection of themselves just condensed, not as caricatures edited solely for entertainment. Versus isn’t about humiliating people, however, we feel that the changing group dynamics are always interesting to watch, you warm to some people, others not so much – our show isn’t about ‘creating’ villains or influencing the vote – we feel our casting will be enough so personalities naturally come to the fore.
Yes, Pete, in response to your question about the evaluation of the logo. I think that these were concepts that I was toying around with in my head during the creation of the logo, and the ideas were ones that the team enthused about during our discussions as a group. Ultimately, I think that our idea is one that tries to find the "best of the best," so to speak, so the creation of the king of some empire would be a nice differentiating touch to our show. The "futuristic city scape" was something that i intended to be metaphorical to the modernity of our show, however, I do think hat this ties in nicely with the things I have just mentioned. I hope this serves to answer your question a bit more!
I think we were intensely realistic about the calibre of people who would be available to a show like Versus, and the familiarity of some of the faces on the panel creates a very cosy, welcoming feel to the show. Where we feel our casting would set us apart is in the contestant department – as a team we are adamant in largely shunning the typical fame hungry, wannabe Big Brother style contestant in favour of people more articulate, intelligent and fearless. The show is all about self-improvement, not humiliation, and we feel our contestants should reflect this.
Hey guys, nice pitch, good idea, the only thing is a few of the tasks and the sort of format makes me think of it being something like The Apprentice mixed with Dance X. In addition, the concept is good but what parts of it are completely original thus setting it up as the next step for reality television?
Also, Kym Marsh in particular seems to be quite a marmite character and has made many controversial comments especially on Twitter, do you think it's a good thing to have someone who has quite a number of 'haters' so to speak especially on a show that is promoted as not having to be nasty or trashy?
Also, Kym Marsh in particular seems to be quite a marmite character and has made many controversial comments especially on Twitter, do you think it's a good thing to have someone who has quite a number of 'haters' so to speak especially on a show that is promoted as not having to be nasty or trashy?
As I said I wouldn't make the pitch, sorry about this, however I'm glad you used the things I sent, and am VERY happy with the final product, well done everyone on delivering a GREAT pitch, and good luck to you all!
Originally Posted by cheekypeter:
“Amroussi, if you read this please clear some inbox space and get one of your team to forward you the Task Evaluation questions. Thank you.”
“Amroussi, if you read this please clear some inbox space and get one of your team to forward you the Task Evaluation questions. Thank you.
”
I have done.
Good evening, Kevin!
First of all, thanks for both the praise and also the question! All questions are more than appreciated by us and we're happy to answer them.
To answer the first question, I can definitely see the resemblences to both of those shows. However, there are still plenty of aspects to 'Versus' that separate it from both of these. The main difference, obviously, is that it's a combination for many different aspects - the successful parts of previous shows which can blend together well enough to create something brand new. Think of it as a formula, so to speak. The next step of reality television needs to be something new, something fresh, it is Versus.
Kym is definitely a marmite character and although it may be a negative thing to have someone with a large number of 'haters' on the panel I don't think it should be discouraged. She isn't a national hate figure, or anything too extreme. If she was, then there may be second thoughts on hiring her. However - she knows her stuff. She's proven that she has a knowledge of the music industry as well as a lot of life experience in general. In her time in the limelight, since coming to the public eye through a reality TV show itself in 2001, she's had more children, changed her appearance considerably, established herself as an actress as well as had a #2 hit single solo song on top of 2 #1's as part of HearSay. She has in depth knowledge on success and is a valuable addition to the panel for this very reason. We want people on the panel who have been there and done that - and she definitely fulfills that role.
Thank you again for the questions. Hope I have answered them well enough!
First of all, thanks for both the praise and also the question! All questions are more than appreciated by us and we're happy to answer them.
To answer the first question, I can definitely see the resemblences to both of those shows. However, there are still plenty of aspects to 'Versus' that separate it from both of these. The main difference, obviously, is that it's a combination for many different aspects - the successful parts of previous shows which can blend together well enough to create something brand new. Think of it as a formula, so to speak. The next step of reality television needs to be something new, something fresh, it is Versus.
Kym is definitely a marmite character and although it may be a negative thing to have someone with a large number of 'haters' on the panel I don't think it should be discouraged. She isn't a national hate figure, or anything too extreme. If she was, then there may be second thoughts on hiring her. However - she knows her stuff. She's proven that she has a knowledge of the music industry as well as a lot of life experience in general. In her time in the limelight, since coming to the public eye through a reality TV show itself in 2001, she's had more children, changed her appearance considerably, established herself as an actress as well as had a #2 hit single solo song on top of 2 #1's as part of HearSay. She has in depth knowledge on success and is a valuable addition to the panel for this very reason. We want people on the panel who have been there and done that - and she definitely fulfills that role.
Thank you again for the questions.
Hope I have answered them well enough!
Originally Posted by unclekevo:
“Hey guys, nice pitch, good idea, the only thing is a few of the tasks and the sort of format makes me think of it being something like The Apprentice mixed with Dance X. In addition, the concept is good but what parts of it are completely original thus setting it up as the next step for reality television?
Also, Kym Marsh in particular seems to be quite a marmite character and has made many controversial comments especially on Twitter, do you think it's a good thing to have someone who has quite a number of 'haters' so to speak especially on a show that is promoted as not having to be nasty or trashy?”
“Hey guys, nice pitch, good idea, the only thing is a few of the tasks and the sort of format makes me think of it being something like The Apprentice mixed with Dance X. In addition, the concept is good but what parts of it are completely original thus setting it up as the next step for reality television?
Also, Kym Marsh in particular seems to be quite a marmite character and has made many controversial comments especially on Twitter, do you think it's a good thing to have someone who has quite a number of 'haters' so to speak especially on a show that is promoted as not having to be nasty or trashy?”
Hey Kev! Thank you very much for your questions!
I'm going to answer your second one, by saying that I definitely agree she is a marmite character, however I think that puts an edge to our show, and we are definitely taking a risk using her, but there are other people in other very popular reality TV shows, notably Simon Cowell, who some people dislike very much. It's a risk we were worth taking.
Sorry for the brief answer, I'm on my mobile, and I think your first question requires more detail, which hopefully other team members will provide.
& Also if I haven't said already, thank you very much to everyone who answered our questionnaire!
Thanks for all the questions so far, and me and my team will be happy to cooperate with you, and your questions are very valuable!
The next few posts will consist of the pitches that the subteams made in the latest task, starting with Valerie and Gav's pitch to TheAuburnEnigma (Amy):
Valerie says:
*Good evening! We are here from Team Reflections to pitch to you today our fantastic new toy, Urban Zoo, an exceptional new toy aimed at children of both sexes, between the ages of 5 and 11. Urban Zoo is a multifunctional product that works in two main ways – firstly as an interactive physical game of sorts, whereby the player can create their dream zoo with our fabulous game base mat and figures, and secondly through an aesthetically pleasing and versatile set of accompanying cards.
Gavin says:
*Here on Team Reflections, we’re extremely proud of Urban Zoo, and would like to take a moment to explain the product in more detail to you. At the heart of Urban Zoo is the physical zoo itself, which manifests itself in our durable, easily cleaned, portable mat, which is approximately 0.9 metres square, and made from sturdy yet malleable PVC.
*The mat is printed with zoo themed areas – green plains, jungle canopies, icy worlds, savannah grass – all of which provide the habitat for the animals, which are small, adorable, collectable figures which we feel would really appeal to our target demographic.
*The enclosures are to be built with reinforced, coloured cardboard, which comes with our starter packs, and can be assembled to varying levels of difficult, which again are targeted at different sections within our age range.
*The second strand of our product is our set of animal printed cards, which can be used for a variety of classic games – ranging from simple games of Snap, to more complex games of Cheat to wherever else your imagination takes you – the sky really is the limit.
*Looking to the past, card based games such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh have had a giant cultural impact on pre-teen children, Urban Zoo cards really could be following on in their footprints. They’re simple, easy to use and versatile – perfect ingredients for lots of fun.
Valerie says:
*Here is the logo design – the real forefront to the Urban Zoo brand.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/urbanzoo.jpg/
Gavin says:
*Children, as we all know, are growing up faster than ever and a consequence of our consumer driven lives is that children as young as 5 are developing an increasing brand awareness. We feel that our brand is a huge part of the magic of Urban Zoo, and will appeal to our target demographic.
*Our simple, clean logo is instantly recognizable, and easily customised, while our mantra throughout the design process was quality, simplicity and playfulness – think of Urban Zoo as the Innocent Smoothie of the toy world. Nothing is overcomplicated, quality is not sacrificed.
*A back story of an overgrown and derelict inner city plot of land being transformed into a zoo subtly plants an educational seed into the children’s minds, and really plays up the environmentally friendly ethos we want to embody – here on Team Reflections we feel it is important for Urban Zoo to be seen as a responsible brand parents will be thrilled to be associated with.
*The greens of spring and summer plants are reflected in our logo, and the pawprint embodies animals and wildlife, we feel our logo is perfectly simple, and a great representation of our product.
Valerie says:
*As an example, we have already created five example cards – these will all be the most common cards that will come in the start packs with the board and the first exhibits. Here they are: http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/...%20Apprentice/
*We feel that the designs we have produced for the cards are successful for the brand and the product. The images on the cards have been selected as they successfully portray a child’s perception of the animals. The simplistic font gives the card a more child-friendly edge which is exactly what we are aiming for whilst the images have been individually selected because of their use of colour. Colour attracts children and that is also why the starter board (with future extensions explained later on in the pitch) is full of colours. Unfortunately, none of Team Reflections are full on graphical artists so I hope you stay with us as we give you the very basic, first drawing of the starter board. http://imageshack.us/f/252/boards.jpg/ The start board is divided up in to 9 different areas, each area divided by pathway and big enough to cater for multiple exhibits – we hope you like the look of the first designs for our product.
Gavin says:
*So now that you know a little bit more about our product, here’s some information about Urban Zoo to really help you make up your mind and to visualise what a great product it is. As Urban Zoo contains small parts, we’ve decided to place a recommended age of 5+ on it, but the market we’re focusing upon is the pre-teen market of children between 5 and 11 years of age.
*Although this is quite a wide age range, we feel that our product has a very broad appeal.
*Urban Zoo provides a great way for parents and children to flex their creative muscles, fashioning structures and enclosures for their animals, learning about the various different habitats animals need, and settling those all important arguments that happen in every family, like who really would win in a fight between a penguin and a monkey, or an elephant and a giraffe.
*Urban Zoo really is fun for children and parents alike, and its PVC based mat makes the physical game extremely durable and easily maintained.
*Cost-wise, Urban Zoo makes a lot of sense too. We believe that our toy is a rarity in it being at heart a niche product, brought to life with fun features lending it mass-market appeal. We believe Urban Zoo would be an asset to any retailer, with a recommended retail price of £15 for starter packs, our product is below the average price of competition, providing excellent margins for retailers to
*profit.
*Should you be interested in purchasing orders of Urban Zoo, the starting cost price for you, negotiable depending on orders, of £10 provides a 50% gross profit margin for you, substantially above the standard rate for a toy such as ours. Urban Zoo is a solid investment.
Valerie says:
*A very important factor to Urban Zoo is the room it leaves for expansion. Similar to train sets, ‘Hot Wheels’ car sets and even dolls such as Barbie & Action Man – the collection can continue to grow and grow. Everything is very easily adjustable and part of the fun is the ability for the child’s creative side to really come out. They can have the animals in their zoo that they want – they can decide the stories, what animals will be friends; will their be fighting amongst the wildlife and most importantly how large their Urban Zoo will be. Although Urban Zoo’s main product of a starter pack and mat, which we are pitching to you today, is all that is needed for children – and parents – to design and manage their zoo to their hearts’ content. We also think that some budding zoo tycoons may wish to expand their range of species further. We have proposed that there will also be several themed expansion packs released at a later date, each coming with four lots of two animal figures and matching cards. The wonder of these expansion packs is that ultimately there is almost a never-ending amount of expansion packs that can be released meaning that the child’s Urban Zoo is fully customisable.
*Here are some examples of expansion packs:
African Savannah – Warthog, Rhinoceros, Gazelle, Cheetah
Australia – Kangaroo, Koala, Dingo, Emu
Americas – Jaguar, Tapir, Moose, Galapagos Tortoise
*These packs will bring in more money and can be continuously released, increasing the profits and eventually allowing us to move into other countries such as Germany, the USA and the Netherlands, where Zoos and Wildlife Parks are massively popular. Children don’t necessarily have a lot of their own money except the often depleted pocket money supplies. We’ve thought about this and that is precisely why we are making the expansion packs quite cheap, at a retail price of about £2.99. Having the packs affordable is a massive part of our aim to help Urban Zoo become a success. Parents spend so much money on their children, thousands and thousands of pounds, that by setting the expansion card & animal packs and the slightly more expensive £3.99 extension area boards are child-friendly and allowing them to have a reason to save up their pocket money to be able to buy more features for their Urban Zoo. Even with the cheaper prices of expansions, the margins of profit are still exceptional, with a potential margin of between 38% and 48% for your company.
Gavin says:
*Something we focused on with our market research was the critically acclaimed ‘Moshi Monsters’ brand. Ultimately, Urban Zoo is effectively a more realistic edition. ‘Moshi Monsters’ has revolutionised the market for children and proven to be incredibly successful. They show that the combination of frivolity and quality is always a winner.
*Starting off as a small game designed for young children in roughly the same age bracket, recently it has skyrocketed in success. The proven success of the brand ‘Moshi Monsters’ has left a massive gap in the market for something new, exciting, interactive, animal-friendly and most importantly fun.
*The mass excitement that it has sparked is just one reason why you should consider investing in Urban Zoo as it becomes the zoo game children across both the country and potentially, in the future, across the world will be desperate to buy and play with.
Valerie says:
*Thank you for listening to our pitch on Urban Zoo. We feel that a huge memory of many kids is going to the zoo, and has been for a long time. The idea of bringing this to children's homes is just extraordinary, and we feel the card game element is certainly helpful, as card games such as Top Trumps have sold in their millions for decades. It is great fun to take elements like this and combine them with the fun of the animals and the zoo. Once again, thank you for listening and we are now welcoming any questions or queries about the design & concept that you may have.
Amy says:
*Thank you both, a well-delivered pitch. I will mention now that I wasn't able to view the cards for some reason, but about them I just wanted to ask whether on the cards is just a picture of the animal or did you also include some information on each animal?
Valerie says:
*The pictures are of animals easily known to young children - the five we have are zebra, monkey, lion, giraffe and elephant. We didn't include information on the animal because we feel we didn't want to complicate the target audiences since it is for fairly young children.
(cont.)
(part 2)
Amy says:
*Alright, in that case, how would the children or adults be expected to know which respective area on the board the animal lives in?
Gavin says:
*We feel like the last thing we want to do is patronize our audience, children are surprisingly astute, and the learning process of which animal lives where is all part and package of the fun of the game. Also, theres something naievely exciting when you're a child about placing things in absurd situations - putting a lion in the icy cavern, which may seem quite silly to you or me, becomes
*something quite hilarious when you're seven years old. Additionally, part of our planned expansion, when we feel Urban Zoo is successful enough, is on to a range of more educational books to accompany the series, allowing children to really become knowledgeable.
Amy says:
*Ok, I asked you this as in your pitch you mentioned about the child learning what sort of habitat the animals need and I'm uncertain as to how they would do that with the initial game.
Valerie says:
*It can add a real opportunity for parents to interact with their children as well to take them through the learning experience as to where the animals can go, etc.
Amy says:
*That's why I asked how you would expect the adults to know - in my own experience, I'd be able to guess where some of them could go but I wouldn't know for sure unless I looked them up. Maybe providing a small information pamphlet on each animal within the game would be something that you might consider?
Gavin says:
*I think that's a fantastic suggestion! Obviously ensuring our game is top quality is massively important to us, and we would hope to have the opportunity to expand, develop and make adjustments to it as we went along!
Amy says:
*Something else I want to ask - what products currently in the market do you see urban zoo either emulating or competing with?
Gavin says:
*We feel that Urban Zoo is something quite unique in it's two-stranded approach to games, and so would have many different forms of competition. Things such as Top Trumps and Moshi Monsters provide competition on the character based front, whereas more traditional model-building games also provide stiff competition.
*Something we feel sets us apart however, is the combination of those two - its an exciting way to build a brand on two levels, and we feel it really has the potential to catch on in the way concepts like Pokemon and Ben10 have been huge in the past decade.
*Our relatively inexpensive price tag is another factor in what we feel is the creation of a winning product that will have a fantastic future.
Valerie says:
*Moshi Monsters, despite only being released four years ago, is one of the largest children's franchises in the country. Starting off as a website, it's gone on to have books, magazines, video games and even albums. As for Top Trumps, it has sold 70 million copies since 1999, and gone into other branches such as the gaming world and even it's own television show. Imagine what could happen if you take these two concepts and combine them. We could have a lot of business from Urban Zoo and it could face some big competition.
Amy says:
*You have both mentioned Top Trumps and what I would like to know is whether you thought about including a Top Trumps element within your game. In your pitch you said about how the family would be able to finally decide which animal out of 2 would fare best in a fight, so I wondered whether you were going to use the Top Trumps theme with the animal cards at all?
Gavin says:
*We think it's really important for our cards to be versatile - so the front side of the card has been left quite plain - children can make what they want with them - our cards could be perfect for simple games like snap or cheat, and there are a million ways they could be modified by
*hand to suit different purposes!
*The animal fight was more of a reference to the way, at least when I was a child, I was fascinated by pretending to make my toys fight eachother - Buzz Lightyear and Thomas the Tank Engine would regularly scrap, so its just a nod to the fun ways families could play with the animal figures.
Valerie says:
*We also have the idea of not only expansions, but you will be able to collect more cards in the future. You may have a cheetah, and your friend may have a tiger - who will beat who? It's all up to your imaginations and it adds a real fun aspect to the game.
Amy says:
*In that case, it's not really like Top Trumps then is it? It's more just a card-based game.
Valerie says:
*I'd disagree. It may not be exactly the same but remember that in Top Trumps the aim of the game is for your card to be stronger than the others and that definitely can come about in Urban Zoo. The cards are also multi-functional with clear spaces for you to add whatever so if you wanna play a top trumps-esque game, you can. But if you wanna play snap, you can. You have the ability.
Amy says:
*This is only because you both mentioned it within your pitch, and as a competitor for Urban Zoo. Also Val, when I asked about the cards, you never mentioned that there was a space to add information - is that just a momentary lapse or is it something that you've just thought of?
Gavin says:
*It's not a defined space so to speak, but as I mentioned earlier in an answer to another question, there is space for the cards to be modified in any way to suit different purposes - eg numbers added to create a deck of cards, or top trumps-like stats!
Valerie says:
*Also, I had mentioned that there was no information on the cards, giving a clear space, so although I didn't mention it straight away, I feel it wasn't something that was prominent to the question you had asked.
Amy says:
*I'll agree to disagree on that respect, but moving on - you mentioned an environmentally-friendly ethos. Considering this product's target market is 5-11 year olds, why did you think that the product being environmentally-friendly would have some importance? (I'm not criticising, just asking why you mentioned it)
Gavin says:
*We're all really enthusiastic about the environment, and to us it does really feel like the next generation are crucial with respect to the environment - the brief back story really does sow a small environmental seed in the minds of the children playing - creating a two-fold message - on one hand - look how great it is to reuse things, demonstrating what you can do create from a derelict site.
Valerie says:
*I believe eco-friendly products are becoming a lot more popular these days, as you can always see when you're in the shops, so it can also add to an educational value to the children who play it, with their growing understanding of the world.
Gavin says:
*Secondly, it also manifests a message - showing that the animals may not exist outside of the zoo unless we are respectful of the enivonment.
Amy says:
*Ok, coming up to the last 2 or 3 things I want to ask. Firstly, why the name urban zoo? I wouldn't associate a zoo with being urban so just wondered how you came up with the name, and also were there any alternatives that you considered?
Gavin says:
*Urban Zoo was a direct reference to the back story we created - a zoo borne out of a derelict site in the inner city, something we feel gives the zoo a bit of character, and an edge. The word 'urban' also brings up quite forward-thinking and progressive ideas and allows us, and the customers, to have some fun visualising what their zoo would look like brought to real life.
Amy says:
*I see, were there any alternatives at all?
Gavin says:
*There were a few alternatives suggested, that I actually cannot recall, but the overwhelming majority of the team supported the name 'Urban Zoo'.
Amy says:
*Ok, what sort of marketing strategy would you want to work with "Urban Zoo"?
Valerie says:
*If you take a look at brands such as Ben 10 and Moshi Monsters, they have a great focus on social media, as a mass market for them. We would love to carry on this trend and advertise amongst the web, as well as adverts on TV, the radio, and in print.
Gavin says:
*We really do feel that Urban Zoo is the kind of product that can be marketed aggressively at first - it's important for the name to be out there, and widely recognized, however it's the sort of product that would easily spread through word of mouth alongside our advertising strategy - the kind of playground discussions of trading a monkey card for a giraffe card, or swapping
*different enclosures, structures or figures.
Amy says:
*Alright, last 2 questions. 1) would you consider an exclusivity agreement with us, and if so then on what terms? 2) Tell me in 5 sentences or less why I should place an order for "Urban Zoo"
Gavin says:
*We feel that Urban Zoo really is the next 'happening' product that is set to really take off amongst the masses, and a partnership with someone specific could be very helpful both for us in bringing to market our product, and also for the retailer, as we hope you'd agree we have a great product with a lot of potential.
*The margins we have, even on their most basic level are hugely above average for retailers, and we'd be more than happy to negotiate on our prices, should you want to place a substantial order with us - if you are as enthusiastic as we are about our product, we'd be thrilled, providing you placed a viable order, to enter negotiations about exclusivity.
Amy says:
*What would you see as a "viable order"?
Gavin says:
*was there a specific number of orders you were thinking of placing?
Amy says:
*I'm not going to mention that, but the words you use are "substantial" and "viable" so as a retailer we would want to know a ballpark figure where you would consider an exclusivity arrangement
Gavin says:
*I think considering the mass market appeal, we would be looking for quite a large order edging towards the six-figure region of units before we could commit to exculsivity, however, we would be very flexible on price for such an arrangement.
Amy says:
*Ok, in that case, thank you very much Team Reflections
Gavin says:
*thank you so much, we really hope you've enjoyed our product and have a fantastic Easter weekend!
Amy says:
*Thank you guys, can I just say you did a great pitch and I apologise if I seemed a bit harsh on occasion there's some things that I have to think about before deciding on the amount of orders (if any) but you both did a good job
Valerie says:
*Thank you for listening Amy, did you want me to answer the second part of the question?
Gavin says:
*thanks very much, and if you have any more questions at all, feel free to PM them to either myself or Val while you're making a decision!
Amy says:
*Alright, in that case, how would the children or adults be expected to know which respective area on the board the animal lives in?
Gavin says:
*We feel like the last thing we want to do is patronize our audience, children are surprisingly astute, and the learning process of which animal lives where is all part and package of the fun of the game. Also, theres something naievely exciting when you're a child about placing things in absurd situations - putting a lion in the icy cavern, which may seem quite silly to you or me, becomes
*something quite hilarious when you're seven years old. Additionally, part of our planned expansion, when we feel Urban Zoo is successful enough, is on to a range of more educational books to accompany the series, allowing children to really become knowledgeable.
Amy says:
*Ok, I asked you this as in your pitch you mentioned about the child learning what sort of habitat the animals need and I'm uncertain as to how they would do that with the initial game.
Valerie says:
*It can add a real opportunity for parents to interact with their children as well to take them through the learning experience as to where the animals can go, etc.
Amy says:
*That's why I asked how you would expect the adults to know - in my own experience, I'd be able to guess where some of them could go but I wouldn't know for sure unless I looked them up. Maybe providing a small information pamphlet on each animal within the game would be something that you might consider?
Gavin says:
*I think that's a fantastic suggestion! Obviously ensuring our game is top quality is massively important to us, and we would hope to have the opportunity to expand, develop and make adjustments to it as we went along!
Amy says:
*Something else I want to ask - what products currently in the market do you see urban zoo either emulating or competing with?
Gavin says:
*We feel that Urban Zoo is something quite unique in it's two-stranded approach to games, and so would have many different forms of competition. Things such as Top Trumps and Moshi Monsters provide competition on the character based front, whereas more traditional model-building games also provide stiff competition.
*Something we feel sets us apart however, is the combination of those two - its an exciting way to build a brand on two levels, and we feel it really has the potential to catch on in the way concepts like Pokemon and Ben10 have been huge in the past decade.
*Our relatively inexpensive price tag is another factor in what we feel is the creation of a winning product that will have a fantastic future.
Valerie says:
*Moshi Monsters, despite only being released four years ago, is one of the largest children's franchises in the country. Starting off as a website, it's gone on to have books, magazines, video games and even albums. As for Top Trumps, it has sold 70 million copies since 1999, and gone into other branches such as the gaming world and even it's own television show. Imagine what could happen if you take these two concepts and combine them. We could have a lot of business from Urban Zoo and it could face some big competition.
Amy says:
*You have both mentioned Top Trumps and what I would like to know is whether you thought about including a Top Trumps element within your game. In your pitch you said about how the family would be able to finally decide which animal out of 2 would fare best in a fight, so I wondered whether you were going to use the Top Trumps theme with the animal cards at all?
Gavin says:
*We think it's really important for our cards to be versatile - so the front side of the card has been left quite plain - children can make what they want with them - our cards could be perfect for simple games like snap or cheat, and there are a million ways they could be modified by
*hand to suit different purposes!
*The animal fight was more of a reference to the way, at least when I was a child, I was fascinated by pretending to make my toys fight eachother - Buzz Lightyear and Thomas the Tank Engine would regularly scrap, so its just a nod to the fun ways families could play with the animal figures.
Valerie says:
*We also have the idea of not only expansions, but you will be able to collect more cards in the future. You may have a cheetah, and your friend may have a tiger - who will beat who? It's all up to your imaginations and it adds a real fun aspect to the game.
Amy says:
*In that case, it's not really like Top Trumps then is it? It's more just a card-based game.
Valerie says:
*I'd disagree. It may not be exactly the same but remember that in Top Trumps the aim of the game is for your card to be stronger than the others and that definitely can come about in Urban Zoo. The cards are also multi-functional with clear spaces for you to add whatever so if you wanna play a top trumps-esque game, you can. But if you wanna play snap, you can. You have the ability.
Amy says:
*This is only because you both mentioned it within your pitch, and as a competitor for Urban Zoo. Also Val, when I asked about the cards, you never mentioned that there was a space to add information - is that just a momentary lapse or is it something that you've just thought of?
Gavin says:
*It's not a defined space so to speak, but as I mentioned earlier in an answer to another question, there is space for the cards to be modified in any way to suit different purposes - eg numbers added to create a deck of cards, or top trumps-like stats!
Valerie says:
*Also, I had mentioned that there was no information on the cards, giving a clear space, so although I didn't mention it straight away, I feel it wasn't something that was prominent to the question you had asked.
Amy says:
*I'll agree to disagree on that respect, but moving on - you mentioned an environmentally-friendly ethos. Considering this product's target market is 5-11 year olds, why did you think that the product being environmentally-friendly would have some importance? (I'm not criticising, just asking why you mentioned it)
Gavin says:
*We're all really enthusiastic about the environment, and to us it does really feel like the next generation are crucial with respect to the environment - the brief back story really does sow a small environmental seed in the minds of the children playing - creating a two-fold message - on one hand - look how great it is to reuse things, demonstrating what you can do create from a derelict site.
Valerie says:
*I believe eco-friendly products are becoming a lot more popular these days, as you can always see when you're in the shops, so it can also add to an educational value to the children who play it, with their growing understanding of the world.
Gavin says:
*Secondly, it also manifests a message - showing that the animals may not exist outside of the zoo unless we are respectful of the enivonment.
Amy says:
*Ok, coming up to the last 2 or 3 things I want to ask. Firstly, why the name urban zoo? I wouldn't associate a zoo with being urban so just wondered how you came up with the name, and also were there any alternatives that you considered?
Gavin says:
*Urban Zoo was a direct reference to the back story we created - a zoo borne out of a derelict site in the inner city, something we feel gives the zoo a bit of character, and an edge. The word 'urban' also brings up quite forward-thinking and progressive ideas and allows us, and the customers, to have some fun visualising what their zoo would look like brought to real life.
Amy says:
*I see, were there any alternatives at all?
Gavin says:
*There were a few alternatives suggested, that I actually cannot recall, but the overwhelming majority of the team supported the name 'Urban Zoo'.
Amy says:
*Ok, what sort of marketing strategy would you want to work with "Urban Zoo"?
Valerie says:
*If you take a look at brands such as Ben 10 and Moshi Monsters, they have a great focus on social media, as a mass market for them. We would love to carry on this trend and advertise amongst the web, as well as adverts on TV, the radio, and in print.
Gavin says:
*We really do feel that Urban Zoo is the kind of product that can be marketed aggressively at first - it's important for the name to be out there, and widely recognized, however it's the sort of product that would easily spread through word of mouth alongside our advertising strategy - the kind of playground discussions of trading a monkey card for a giraffe card, or swapping
*different enclosures, structures or figures.
Amy says:
*Alright, last 2 questions. 1) would you consider an exclusivity agreement with us, and if so then on what terms? 2) Tell me in 5 sentences or less why I should place an order for "Urban Zoo"
Gavin says:
*We feel that Urban Zoo really is the next 'happening' product that is set to really take off amongst the masses, and a partnership with someone specific could be very helpful both for us in bringing to market our product, and also for the retailer, as we hope you'd agree we have a great product with a lot of potential.
*The margins we have, even on their most basic level are hugely above average for retailers, and we'd be more than happy to negotiate on our prices, should you want to place a substantial order with us - if you are as enthusiastic as we are about our product, we'd be thrilled, providing you placed a viable order, to enter negotiations about exclusivity.
Amy says:
*What would you see as a "viable order"?
Gavin says:
*was there a specific number of orders you were thinking of placing?
Amy says:
*I'm not going to mention that, but the words you use are "substantial" and "viable" so as a retailer we would want to know a ballpark figure where you would consider an exclusivity arrangement
Gavin says:
*I think considering the mass market appeal, we would be looking for quite a large order edging towards the six-figure region of units before we could commit to exculsivity, however, we would be very flexible on price for such an arrangement.
Amy says:
*Ok, in that case, thank you very much Team Reflections
Gavin says:
*thank you so much, we really hope you've enjoyed our product and have a fantastic Easter weekend!
Amy says:
*Thank you guys, can I just say you did a great pitch and I apologise if I seemed a bit harsh on occasion
there's some things that I have to think about before deciding on the amount of orders (if any) but you both did a good jobValerie says:
*Thank you for listening Amy, did you want me to answer the second part of the question?
Gavin says:
*thanks very much, and if you have any more questions at all, feel free to PM them to either myself or Val while you're making a decision!
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