Matching quantity with quality: How the BBC is using semiotics to tackle stereotypes

Jo Bowman

A mixed-methodology research project with semiotics at its heart is helping the BBC deliver on its commitment to provide content that is truly representative of the British public.

The BBC has a large and varied consumer audience to satisfy – 68.5 million people of all ages, incomes, backgrounds and lifestyles. “Our mission as a public service organisation is to ensure all audiences across the UK receive value from the BBC,” Lauren Eriser, Research & Insight Specialist at the BBC, told the MRS Semiotics & Cultural Insight Conference (March 2022).

Understanding a diverse audience

“But in order to do that, we have to have a more nuanced understanding of the incredible diversity of today’s British public,” she said. “This means going beyond understanding just their demographics and media behaviours,...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands