Amy's A2 Advertising Blog

2009-05-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

un blogged stuff

2009-05-06T14:49:00.001-07:00

Wish I had seen this earlier

2009-05-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.zu3d.com/gallery/the-snails

This is a vidoe filmed in frame by frame of snails. the quality isn't very good but i like how the snail eats the flower, and to create the effect of a snail trail prit stick was used.

More codes and conventions!

2009-05-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

codes and conventions are

using a celebrity to sell the product... Calvin ckline..peppsy
been unusuall....cadburys gorilla advert
brand name advertised over and over
using a popular song to sell....boots "Hear come the girlie's whenever you hear it you think of them
Catch tag lines such as harribo "Kids and grownups love them so"
Fear facure skin cream adverts do this alott....if you don't use this he wont love you hair adverts use this as well
using guilt and pension skeeps use this and insurance don't leave loved ones without anything
shot styles....close up on face of person caffod or other Charity's use this
creating a episode....BT cencon all did this automaticly you relate this to the product and create a conection to the famiily or people in it
style.....carlsberg...You know who your friends are
all of the things you see in advert are influenced by what the public want for example cadburys realised that the public wanted something a little more unusual and something they can remember It may not necessarily relate to the product. But it gets word of mouth going "Did you see that new cadburys advert ?" and you remember it

these are the things that company's need to be looking at to sell their product.

Target Audience

2009-05-06T04:44:00.000-07:00

Our target audience demographics:
Age- 18-50
Gender- female
Social class- middle class
Status- single or married
Race- any race
Interests- fashion and beauty

2009-05-06T04:42:00.001-07:00

L'Oreal advert

2009-05-06T04:37:00.000-07:00

glam shine lip gloss

adverts

2009-05-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

Timotei advert in french because again the english version wouldn't work- lame

commercial shampoo adverts

2009-05-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Garnier advert in french cos the english version wouldn't work

Our adverts

2009-04-24T02:36:00.000-07:00

Below is a link to Laura's blog which contains all three of our completed adverts.

http://laurasa2advertisingblog.blogspot.com/

Our campaign.

2009-04-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

We have almost finished our three adverts.

All of the adverts are complete with music, apart from we need to add a voice-over at the end saying, "Simply what your hair needs!"

I will put them on here A.S.A.P, however YouTube nor Blogger will upload the videos so we'll have to try again from a different internet connection probably!

ad 3

2009-04-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

this is the music which have decided to use for ad 3 which is set in space

common craft

2009-04-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

this company make videos which give instructions in a simple format and use paper which is similar to what we are doing in our adverts

music for ad two

2009-04-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

this is the music we are going to use for ad 2 as it reflects the period of time in which it is set.

feedback on ad 1

2009-02-27T03:40:00.000-08:00

After discussing ad one with Mr Michie and the amendments that need to be made (lighting, using a photo for character), we have now planned to make these changes at laura's house Thursday next week after school. This will enable us to put music and narration to ad 1 ,as well as making a few changes to make it more effective. So hopefully by the end of next week we can move on to the production of ad 2- finally!

How I have progressed

2009-02-25T01:28:00.000-08:00

Looking over what I have done from september up until today, I believe that a lot of progress was made on our coursework from september til novmber. By this point I had done all the filming needed. The footage was editied and ready to go into flash animation, and we had made a start on our first adverts, although we had a few problems with having to learn all the tools to use in flash.

However, my downfall was the lack of knowledge on using flash and it seemed to take me hours to create the smallest of movement in the animation. Although our initial idea and method seemed like a good idea, it was taking too much time and by January, despite me spending hours at a time in the mac room, and laura working on the ad at home, only about 6 seconds was complete in animation.

I then took a break from working on the coursework in January as I had 4 exams to focus on. Once all the exams were over in Febuary, laura and I thought about what we could do to solve the problems we had incurred. We decided to scrap the idea of using flash as it was just taking too long and we feared we would miss our deadlines. We decided to keep our ad ideas the same, but change our method of production. Instead of using flash we drew the setting and characters and used stop frame animation as laura had previous experience in the method of filming, and the software to edit it. So we got our act together and I spent the whole of last thursday at laura's creating ad one in stop frame and making sure we followed our storyboard. And by the weekend, ad one was complete.

From this, i believe the downfall in our production was that editing in flash was just taking an immensly long time and I spent too much time focusing on every littile detail to make sure it was right. Although what we had done looked good. The reality of it was that we were running out of time. Using stop frame proved easier and we still kept to the original ideas and managed to create ad one in a week. I just think we should have chosen to use stop frame a lot earlier as it would have saved us a lot of time and stress. And I do think its a shame that we wont get to create a whole ad using flash as it did look really effective and different from other students work. But we had to be realistic and meet deadlines. With more time we might have been more successful with using flash.

But overall, I think as a team laura and I worked well together. We had good ideas and both wanted to achieve something a bit different. Together we resolved the problems that we incurred, and although our coursework didn't go as planned, I'm still happy with the way ad one has gone. We now need to nuckle down and complete the next 2 ads, but looking back on how the production of ad1 went in stop frame, we now know what we are doing and it shouldn't take much time.

This experience has introduced me to animation and I have enjoyed learning to use new software such as flash, that I didn't think i would. It has also showed me just how important it is to use my time effectively on work (have already started revision notes for other subjects as I dont want to get in a blind panic come june!). But from all this I now have a lot to write about in the evaluation of my coursework.

Half term!

2009-02-22T05:33:00.000-08:00

We spent a day in half term on our coursework trying to get Ad 1 complete. We decided to do it in stop-frame animation using paper shapes that we made because our coursework really wasnt going well with Flash animation. This is what we have now:

We still need to find some music for it, something jungle-ish. Maybe from The Jungle Book? But thats what we got done over half term :)

how it all works...

2009-02-13T05:07:00.000-08:00

FrameByFrame works by taking a picture and putting it into a sequence, it uses something similar to "onion skin" effect in Adobe Flash CS3 where you can see the last movement made in a more opaque view. From this, you can make slight changes to the image, moving it slightly so that when lots of movements are played together in a sequence, it appears as if its moving by itself. FrameByFrame lets you export your animation in many different formats, we will export it into a quicktime format and put it into iMovie HD where we will then add audio and narration and there we will be able to edit it if need be.

Time is running out!!!

2009-01-22T01:27:00.000-08:00

Had my last two exams yesterday. However, I'm in a state of panic as the first two ads are due in a week tomorrow and little progress has been made due to exams. Laura is ill today and not in so we cannot work together to organise our next plan of action. I believe we are going to spend all of next week re-doing them in stop frame animation as laura is an expert at this thanks to her photography work and can guide me in what to so so that we can work together to create our ads. We are keeping the ads the same with the different time periods. the only thing changing is the method in how we do it. However this will give us loads of things to write about in our evaluation My task for today is to find music that will fit each ad and to sort out the narration.

2009 and loads to do!

2009-01-07T04:31:00.000-08:00

In yesterdays lesson laura and I had a reality check and realised we have loads to do. Im already stressing as I have 4 exams in the next two weeks so finding time to work on coursework poses a problem for me. Together we agreed that I would work on the ads in my free periods in school so that i can revise at home in the evenings. So all day tuesdays, wednesdays mornings and all day fridadays I shall be working hard in the mac rooms. And now that laura has flash at home she can carry on with the ads at home. So if we work hard we shall hopefully reach the deadlines with quality work.
Today I plan to take filming equipment home (camera and tripod) and film a few new shots that are needed to get the right flow of movement in the jungle ad so that on friday I can start cracking on with it. Hopefully we will encounter no more problems with the production process. All that we have to do is ensure we manage our time correctly so that we create 3 ads that are of a high standard and fit the brief.

Plans for 2009

2008-12-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

We have all the footage needed for ad1. All that is left is to complete it. However for ad 2 and 3 I will have to reshoot a few scenes because the movement in a few shots does not flow with the animation. My task will be to re film these shots with my sister at the start of next year while laura continues with ad 1. My main problem for next year is that i have 4 exams to revise and sit in January which means i may have to spend less time to spend on our coursework. However, I hope that by this time laura will have flash at home which will mean she can spend extra time on it. Our group aim is to have ad one complete by january. It seems that we have bitten off more then we can chew but we dont intend on giving up and I feel that we are making more progress each day.

Current status

2008-12-17T06:03:00.000-08:00

where I'm at so far...

Unfortunately we didn't meet the first deadline which was to have ad1 complete for last week. At the firt deadline we only had the first shot complete. However, for us as a group this was an achievement as we had many problems getting started due to the footage not fitting with the movement.

Looking at the rate at which we are working, the time its taking us to complete one shot and the deadline itself, i cannot see us having all ads complete to the standard we want for feb. Our main problem is time, or rather lack of. But I don't believe that we aren't using our time effectively, to day i was working on our coursework from 9:20am until 11am. I spend at least 2 hours twice a week working on our coursework atm but little is achieved in the time as I think we are paying too much attention to detail and wanting everything to look perfrect. Another factor is that I'm not the best at using technology and I have struggled using flash. However I'm progressing each time I use it.

So far I have learnt how to use the different drawing tools and prefur to use the mouse and not pen to draw objetcs. I have learnt a few keyboard short cuts and how to create a motion tween to make objects move. All of whcih i have a challenge.
As it stands. laura is better at using flash then me as ahe has more experience and her pva course thing has taught her animation. However, laura has far less free periods then me, so im trying to spend as much time as i can in the mac room doing whatever my skills enable me too. Laura is trying to get flash as home so she can work on it there which will benefit us and our coursework.

Hopefully, with a bit more practise I can learn to use flash more effectively so that I can progress further with our coursework.

2008-12-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

This is what we have created so far. The whole process has taken a lot longer then expected, mainly because we didn't know how to use the software. But we are slowly starting to get the hang of it and during my free periods i work on our coursework .

Link to Laura's blog

This has more clips of our work to view

production

2008-11-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Laura taught me how to use the software to rotescope and I had a go at doing it myself. I found it quite easy to use and drew trees and leopard print on the character which looked quite effective.
We then started to rotescope the first two frames for the caveman ad but had a few difficulties in creating depth as we didn't know what to put in the background and which colours to use. The footage we had didn't give the correct movement of the character searching. Are failing to resolve these problems we decided to re shoot the first few shots as the searching movements weren't correct. The re shoot will take place sometime this week.
On Friday I went to the mac rooms to then start rotescoping ad 3 which is the futuristic ad. I spent all of the time doing the first frame. As the storyboards were done by Laura I wasn't sure which colours she had in mind to use and guessed instead. I gave the chrarcter purple and pink hair but spent ages on it trying to make it look thick. I also drew the products floating around her but the products may need to be made ab bit bigger as I think I drew them too small. I need to show Laura what I have done and get feedback from her on the changes that need to be made. The time it took me to finish one frame made me realise how time consuming the whole process is, and I'm goin to spend as much time as I can in the mac rooms as i forsee many problems will occur and other shots may need to be filmed again. Once I have obtained feedback from Laura I will be more confident that what I am doing for ad 3 is correct.

This month...

2008-11-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

Laura has started rotescoping some of the footage which has enabled me to get an idea of what the final product will look like.

I did some extra filming over half term but im not happy with it. The camera isn't steady and the lighting is poor. The actual shots, I believe don't fit with the rest of the advert.

next week I will film again without encuring the previous problems. I have also had a few new ideas of shots to try as the footage goin in and out the shower don't look right. i may try tracking the feet to see how that works.

my last filming task is to find out what looks similar to hair folicles.

whats going on right now?

2008-10-10T02:57:00.001-07:00

All storyboards are complete. Laura is going to try and scan them so that we can post them on our blogs. I have completed all the filming for the vintage ad. Next week I'm fimling Hannh for the caveman ad. The follwing week after that I will film Hannah for the space ad. While I'm filming, Laura is working on flash animation and is going to teach me how to use it too. My aim is to have all the filming doen by the end of the month and sepend the rest of the time we have completing the ads on flash.
At the moment everything seems to be going to plan. However i am concerned about using flash as my comuter skills aren't brilliant but i am willing and able to learn.
I'm in the process of putting up past work on my blog. After the production stage is over i will be working on my analysis and evaluation and will be working on audience feedback.

Resent change to storyboards

2008-10-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Recently, we have been working on our storyboards, re-drafting and finalizing our idea. We started off with 3 ads - one set in pre-historic times, one set in 1940s/1950s (vintage) and one set in modern times. However, after going back and looking over these we realized that the time-gap between the 1940s/1950s ad and the modern ad was not big enough in comparison to the time-gap between the pre-historic ad and the vintage ad and our campaign didn't flow that well. So, to overcome this we decided to make a futuristic ad instead of the modern ad. Laura researched "The Jetsons" and got inspiration from that to come up with another storyboard for the last ad in our campaign. We also brainstormed ideas for the futuristic ad and came up with things like, a "hair-styling pod" which washes, drys and styles all at the same time and we decided to have the products "floating" as if in zero-gravity when the character goes to choose a shampoo. Sound effects we want to use are mechanical sounds for the hair-washing pod and air-lock sounds when she enters and exits the pod.

our Idea

2008-10-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

Jus to recap over what we are doing...

Our chosen product is "Simly Shampoo" and shampoo without all the harmful chemicals. Here is some info we found on shampoo:

Shampoo additive ingredients to avoid:
- Avocado
- Balm Mint
- Balsam
- Essential Oils
- Eucalyptus
- Grapefruit
- Horseradish
- Lavender Oil
- Lemon
- Lime
- Menthol
- Orange
- Papaya
- Peppermint
- Rose
- Sage
- Thyme
These will not help your hair or hair care problems. Infact, they can be a reason for hair-loss.

Vitamins and provitamins:
Offer no advantage to hair care or hair problems.
Botanical extracts:
Make a product smell good but do not offer any other beneficial qualities to hair care.
UV protectant:
Very minimal results were noted on the tested products.
Fruit acids, a.k.a. alpha-hydroxy acids:
Offers no benefit to hair care.
Antioxidants:
Offers no benefit to hair care.
Designer water:
Benefits derived from including designer water to hair products will be washed away with normal shower water.
Proteins:
Digesting proteins will certainly improve your health but washing your hair with them won't change a thing.
(taken from http://couponing.about.com/cs/beautyproducts/a/shampooingred.htm)

End of our narration could be, "No chemicals, no additives, no perfumes, simply shampoo"

Types of TV advertisements

2008-10-10T02:48:00.002-07:00

TYPES OF TV ADVERTISEMENTS:
- Political TV advertising = made by an organization/institution to influence the decision making process eg. elections.
- Infomercials = run for over one minute or as long as a television program and are usually on in the early hours of the morning. Also known as teleshopping.
- Product placement = promotional advertisements made by marketers using real commercial products and services in media.
- Sponsorship = something to support an event, activity, person or campaign which is funded financially through the provision of other products or services.

- Development of digital video recorder (TiVo, Sky+) means people can record television programs directly onto a hard drive, allowing them to "fast-forward" or "skip" through the advertisements. As a result of this, many speculate that TV advertisements will be eliminated altogether and replaced by product placement advertising such as how in the TV program, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", they only use certain brands of products when building the houses. By showing these products being used on a program, it immediately provides that brand with promotion and advertising.

Extra ad research

2008-10-10T02:48:00.001-07:00

First television advert was broadcast in the United States on July 1st 1941 when the Bulova Watch Company paid $9 on New York City NBC for a 20second spot before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. It simply displayed a Bulova watch over a map of the U.S with a voice-over of the company's slogan, "America runs on Bulova time!"

- Codes and conventions of television include: catchy jingles, catch-phrases, animation, element of surprise.

- Animation (drawn or computer generated) can give a certain appeal which would be difficult to achieve with actors etc. Notable advert: Kellog's Rice Krispies, combining the characters, Snap, Crackle & Pop with real actors. ANIMATION APPEALING TO CHILDREN.

- TV advertising takes airtime away from programs. Typical hour-long American show in 1960s would be 51mins of the show and 9mins advertising, split up through the show. Today, a similar program would be only 42mins of the show and 18mins of advertising. A typical 30min block of time on a TV station today would include 22mins of the show with 6mins of national advertising and 2mins of local advertising.

- TV adverts today appear between shows but also interrupt the show at intervals. This method of interrupting shows was used grab the attention of the viewers because they were already focused on the TV show and would not change channel during the adverts because they would not want to miss any of the show. However, with the development of remote controls, it has made it a lot easier for people to change channel during the advertisements, meaning advertisers are having to come up with ideas to keep the audience interested enough to sit through the advertisements.

More Research

2008-10-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

Researched 'Guerrilla Marketing' which is an unconventional system of promotions on a very low budget.
- Guerrilla Marketing is specifically geared for the small business and entrepreneur.
- It should be based on human psychology instead of experience, judgment, and guesswork.
- Instead of money, the primary investments of marketing should be time, energy, and imagination.

We decided that we want to do something very simple & arty for our advertising campaign. We want to use Flash animation but dont really know how to use it! Our initial idea for the product to advertise is an alcoholic drink but after researching into the restrictions involved with advertising alcohol, I'm not sure that it would be a good product for us to advertise.

As we were doing some research, we found something about how easy it is to make shampoo adverts. This is what we found: "How to make TV Adverts...Without Really Trying!"
After reading that and researching Guerrilla Marketing, I had a thought that we could use those blunt codes and conventions of shampoo advertising to make a shampoo advert that pokes fun at other shampoo adverts, showing how generic they are! I dont know if it'll work, but its just an idea. I think it could work if we develop a really good slogan/statement.

Treatment

2008-10-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

Treatment

Our advertising campaign for our product, “simply shampoo” is titled “Simply Shampoo through the Ages” because our campaign is showing three different periods of time in which the shampoo was used. Our overall message is that our shampoo has always been the same, a very simple recipe without hair-damaging chemicals like other shampoo brands on the market which “claim” to have special ingredients to help the hair.
Our target audience is women in the age range of about 15-45 with damaged hair due to dyeing and heat-styling. The part of the narration that says “Then you need to go back to basics” and “Simply what your hair needs” appeals to our target audience because it makes them think that buying our product is going to be the answer to help their hair become healthier.
Our unique selling point is that our product has always been the same which is shown by having each advertisement in a different period of time. In addition, this also reinforces the message that the shampoo has never needed to change with the discovery of new chemicals and ingredients added to shampoo nowadays that claim to be of benefit to the hair. It has always stayed the same and the simple ingredients keeps the hair healthy and does not strip away essential oils, such as modern shampoos do today. Our line of appeal also come into this because we are portraying our product to be completely different to other shampoo brands on the market and making the audience believe that their hair needs our product. This is reinforced by the part of the narration that says “No chemicals, no gimmicks, no fuss.”, and our end text that says “Simply what your hair needs”.
We are planning on creating our advertisement by filming actors doing the actions shown in our storyboards and then Rota scoping over that to create a piece of Flash Animation which is very simple to reinforce our message that our shampoo is a very simple product.
We will use the same actress throughout to link the adverts together to form a campaign as well as keeping the narration the same and the sequence of events to reinforce the fact that it is a campaign. The only thing that will change is the time period and this will be shown through the use of mise-en-scene. For example, the hair-washing and drying methods will change and for the caveman adverts, she will wash her hair in a waterfall. Whereas in the modern advert the actress will use a typical hairdryer used today which will create a sense of realism. In the modern advert the actress will have long straight hair whereas in the vintage advert hair will be curled through the use of hair curlers to reflect and establish the period of time. The music in each advert will change to further establish and fit the period of time. The caveman adverts will have a rhythmic drum beat which will be repeated throughout the whole advert. However, it will change at certain key points to emphasize how good our product is; whereas in the vintage advert, the key points will be indicted and emphasized through the use of sound. But the main music running continuously will be that of a classic radio playing classic song from that era.
The adverts will all end the same with the actress looking happy with the perfect hair she desired. This will make our target audience look and think “I want to have hair like her” and will go out and buy the product. The last shot will be a close up pf the product to familiarize the target audience with what it looks like so the know what it is. Finally at the end the line of appeal is expressed again “Simply what your hair needs” so that it is reinforced to the audience and it is the last thing they will remember about the product.

Slogan research and ideas

2008-10-09T02:56:00.000-07:00

How to create a slogan

What Is A Slogan?
A slogan or tagline is a sentence placed after your company name or product name that helps to give it an identity and a positive image. It's really a brief advertising slogan that is consistently displayed with your business name.
Why Have A Slogan?
How many company slogans can you recall? “Got Milk?”, “I’m Lovin’ It!”, “Just Do It”, the list goes on and on. Why? Because these slogans are unique to one brand name, they are catchy, and they are short.

You too can create a memorable slogan that will implant itself in the minds of potential customers for many years to come.
How to create Taglines & Slogans
A slogan should…

1. Be memorable
2. Recall the brand name
3. Include a key benefit
4. Differentiate the brand
5. Impart positive feelings for the brand
6. Reflect the brand's personality
7. Be strategic
8. Be campaign able
9. Be competitive
10. Be original
11. Be simple
12. Be neat
13. Be believable
14. Help in ordering the brand

A slogan should not…

1. Be in current use by others
2. Be bland, generic or hackneyed
3. Prompt a sarcastic or negative response
4. Be pretentious
5. Be negative
6. Be corporate waffle
7. Make you say "So what?" or "Ho-hum"
8. Make you say "Oh yeah??"
9. be meaningless
10. Be complicated or clumsy

From http://www.biztactics.com/blog/2005/09/how-to-create-taglines-slogans.php

The Art and Science of the Advertising Slogan
By Timothy R. V. Foster
Memorability has to do with the ability the line has to be recalled unaided. A lot of this is based on the brand heritage and how much the line has been used over the years. But if it is a new line, what makes it memorable? I suggest it is the story told in the advertisement - the big idea.
The more the line resonates with the big idea, the more memorable it will be. 'My goodness, my Guinness!', as well as being a slick line, was made memorable by the illustrations of the Guinness drinker seeing his pint under some sort of threat (perched on the nose of a performing seal, for example). It invoked a wry smile and a tinge of sympathy on the part of the audience at the potential loss if the Guinness was dropped.
If it is successful, ideally the line should pass readily into common parlance as would a catchphrase, such as 'Beanz meanz Heinz' or 'Where's the beef?'
In addition to a provocative and relevant illustration or story, alliteration, coined words, puns and rhymes are good ways of making a line memorable, as is a jingle.
Shampoo Slogan examples:
* It takes tender loving care to beat wear and tear.

*My health could compare with the condition of my Pantene hair.
*A tropical fragrance so intense, means every night out is heaven scent.
*Disco divas know full well, fruit fusion means you kiss and tell.

* Infused with fruity energy, my hair stays up as late as me!

*It would give me a brilliant head start, and a perfect finish.

*The berry thought of such a grape experience makes me go bananas!

*They transform lifeless weak ends into lively weekends!
My Slogan Ideas for Simple shampoo:
Think Ahead. Stay Ahead simple shampoo
Simply Shampoo:

Start the day with simply shampoo

Simply shampoo, the real thing
Splash shampoo:
Why just wash, when you can SPLASH?
Splash, rinse, repeat

Splash in the shower for Shine Power!
Krembo Shampoo:
First class krembo!
The krembo look

Brand research

2008-10-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

Brands

Brands can be defined in two ways. Firstly, a brand can be identification or a mark that differentiates one business from another (through a name or a logo, for example). Secondly, a brand symbolises how people think about a business. Building a brand helps customers in their decision-making, creating a perceived knowledge of what they are going to buy - before they buy it. Brands are big business. They can be worth many millions of pounds. The value of the Coca Cola brand has been said to be worth sixty per cent of the market capitalisation of the Coca Cola Corporation. Defining a brand is not easy. Successful brands create a relationship of trust between the customer and the brand.
Important to all this is the overall idea of the "brand image". The brand image can be created in a variety of ways: personal experience; word of mouth; how the brand is presented in stories in the media; packaging; point of sale display; retail staff; and, of course, advertising. A brand that customers can call to mind easily is called a "salient" brand. Many brands have readily recognisable images which are almost indelibly associated with the brand. Sometimes this is packaging (for example, a Perrier bottle). Sometimes it is an image associated with advertising (such as the deluxe dog). Sometimes it is a combination of elements (for example, the Coca Cola
bottle, the distinctive font for the logo and the colour red). (It has been said that the reason that Father Christmas is represented in red, rather than in his original green, is because of the influence of Coca Cola's branding).
Why do you need to define your brand?
1. to ensure that you have a fresh, compelling and competitive proposition
2. to ensure that your brand works strongly at an emotional as well as at a rational level
3. to ensure that your brand can be delivered consistently and in full by all its stakeholders

Your brand should be defined according to the following dimensions:
1. Its central organising thought – defining it for internal & stakeholder use in one sentence
2. Its slogan - defining it for use with customers in one sentence
3. Its personality – what would it be like if it were a human being?
4. Its values – what does it stand for/against?
5. Its tastes/appearance - what does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it like and dislike?
6. Its stories - what are the stories you tell about how it all came about/what sort of brand it is?
7. Its emotional benefits – how it avoids/reduces pain or increases pleasure
8. Its hard benefits – the “pencil sell”

Advertising research (was a power point i created)

2008-10-09T02:54:00.000-07:00

Advertising research
Amy Morgan
Word list
Account The relationship between agency and client - an account may cover one campaign or many years of advertising, and may include all the products marketed by a client or just one
Advertorial An paid-for advertisement which includes editorial content; normally identified in a print magazine with the word "Advertisement" printed as a head across the top of the page to distinguish it from true (in theory unbiased) editorial content
Agency The organisation which takes care of advertising for clients.
Anchorage The 'pinning down of meaning' that a caption provides when coupled with an ambiguous image - or vice versa
Animatic A filmed storyboard, where stills or short extracts are put together as a rough edit to show the client prior to the filming and editing of a full quality (and therefore expensive) TVC
Benefits The features of a product which are highlighted to customers in ads. there are only two true benefits: better and cheaper. An ad may highlight the supposed emotional benefits of owning a product (eg you'll be happier, more attractive)
Billboard Space for outdoor advertising

Brief The outline of a campaign's purpose given to the agency by the client. The brief is then developed further by the agency for internal use
Campaign A time-limited set of ads - campaigns may run across different media, and for one month or ten years, but can be categorised together as they are the execution of a central idea
Client The organisation who pays the agency
Coverage calculated in percentages, the proportion of a target audience who has the opportunity to see an ad once
Creative The creative ideas behind an ad, or the person/team who comes up with them
Classified advertising which does not used pictures, and is generally not produced by an agency. A good example of how vendors can communicate directly with buyers
Copy The text created for an ad
Demographics Describing an audience by age, gender, ethnicity, location - ie the facts about them
Focus Groups Small, select groups representing a target audience who are paid to answer questions at the behest of a market research organisation
Frequency The number of times an audience get the opportunity to see an ad

Pitch The communication by the agency of a campaign strategy to the client
Penetration The proportion of a potential market that is actually using a particular brand
Product Placement The practice of paying for a branded product to be used by a character in a movie - eg James Bond driving a BMW Z3
Product Positioning Establishing the market niche of a product - which may not be as the brand leader - and advertising to the appropriate segment of the audience
Propaganda The deliberate manipulation of information in order to achieve certain objectives - NB this is RARELY used in connection with modern advertising
Psychographics Describing an audience by their shared psychological profile (likes, dislikes etc)
Reach Similar to coverage
Slogan Line of copy which encapsulates the campaign strategy
Space The pages in a magazine or newspaper which can be sold (as double spreads, foldouts, full, half and quarter pages) to advertisers
USP Unique Selling Proposition/point - a highlighted benefit of a product which makes it stand out from all rival brands.

What is advertising?
Advertising is a process, not a medium in its own right, although it uses different media forms to communicate. Advertising, in its simplest form, is the way in which the vendor or manufacturer of a product communicates with consumers via a medium, or many different media.
The vendor is giving notice that a product is for sale at a given price to people who might be interested in buying it. This harks back to the earliest forms of advertising, when exotic new goods shipped into Europe from the Far East and India (eg tea and spices) needed to be brought to the attention of people who had never encountered them before.
They also have to emphasise the benefits of the product they are offering. There are only two basic benefits that a product has when compared to others of a similar sort. It can be described as being better or cheaper (or both!!).

They might also add an image of the desk - a picture is worth 1000 words after all - in order to persuade the consumer still further that this desk is the right desk to buy. They might add a headline or slogan to their ad, to announce exactly what it is that is being sold. Thus they have all the basic elements of print advertising: a catchy slogan, an image, and copy text. This advertisement will hopefully fulfill its purpose which is to provide information which might influence someone to buy the desk. It has done this by linking the vendor of the desk to people who are looking to buy a desk. The link appears in the medium of the supermarket noticeboard, and the vendor pays the owner of the medium to place it there. The vendor has chosen this medium because the kind of people who buy the kind of desk advertised read advertisements on supermarket noticeboards.
Advertising as Branding
Most advertising today is about communicating the complex range of messages about a product known as branding. A brand is a product or range of products that has a set of values associated with it that are easily recognised by the consumer. A brand is distinguished immediately by its name and/or a symbol (eg the Nike swoosh, the adidas three stripes). Brand Identity is created by using the following elements
1. Brand Essence - a way of summing up the significance of the brand to stockholders and consumers alike of the brand in one simple sentence
2. Brand Slogan - a public way of identifying the brand for consumers - often associated with a logo
3. Brand Personality - marketeers can describe their brand as though it were a person, with likes and dislikes and certain behaviour
4. Brand Values – what does it stand for/against?
5. Brand Appearance - What does it look/sound/taste like?
6. Brand Heritage - how long has it been around? does it have customers who have been loyal to it for many years?
7. Emotional benefits – how it avoids/reduces pain or increases pleasure
8. Hard benefits – bigger? better? cheaper? washes whiter?
As consumers, we tend to be more familiar with a whole brand, as opposed to individual products. The process of advertising allows us to associate values with products that may not have a real connection to them - for instance, Nike has always selected rebellious athletes to promote its shoes, the 'bad boys' of basketball, tennis & football, and therefore the Nike brand has connotations of rebelliousness, of doing whatever it takes to win.
The Advertising Industry
The advertising industry has an important part to play in developed economies. As well as generating sales of goods and services, it provides often the sole source of revenue for media companiies such as magazines and radio stations. The institution of advertising is made up of a number of different advertising agencies. These agencies employ a variety of different personnel who perform diverse roles, from coming up with creative ideas, to doing audience research, to post production on TV commercials. The agencies provide expertise in a number of different areas (eg print design, market profiling) to manufacturers and thus provide a vital link to audience. It was recognised as long ago as the late nineteenth century that an advertising agency could offer the services of skilled personnel as and when their specialism were needed on a particular project, and that this was a more cost effective approach that individual manufactuers employing their own advertising department.
Advertising is a global industry, and just as there are huge global corporations who sell and advertise their goods around the world (Nike, McDonalds, Microsoft, Adidas, Samsung) so there are huge global advertising agencies who have offices in every major territory.The main advertising agencies (and their websites) are:
Bates Asia - includes useful case studes (Nokia)
BBDO - Their Mission Statement plus some good case studies (FedEx & Pepsi)
DDB - "bringing Humanity to the Digital Age"
M&C Saatchi - this is the mac link
Ogilvy - plus links to their different incarnations
TBWA - the UK site, flash-tastic (not), but again some good examples of campaigns
The Advertising Process & Personnel
The manufacturer provides a number of different agencies with a particular brief. The brief includes details of the product and the aims of the campaign - it might be to launch an new line or inspire new interest in an old favourite - as well as limitations of budget, timescale etc. Each agency will then research the brief, and come up with a campaign idea which they will pitch to the client. The client chooses their favourite pitch and employs that agency to mastermind the campaign. The agency is then responsible for executing the campaign, producing in full the designs for adverts, buying space in magazines, on billboards and TV, and rolling out the campaign on the given dates.
Producing a single campaign can be an expensive process involving hundreds of skilled people - read about a recent Audi (A8) campaign here which employed over 600 people and "the kind of state-of-the-art film technology otherwise reserved for Hollywood blockbusters".

The main personnel who work for an advertising agency include:

Account Managers - They deal directly with the client and oversee all operations. They have overall responsibility for individual accounts - and their success or failure. Quite a responsibility if your client is FedEx...
Creatives - art directors and copywriters who are responsible for coming up with visual and verbal ideas. They are responsible for turning the strategy devised by the strategic planner and account manager into a series of original and effective advertisements.
Strategic Planners - are responsible for researching audiences and markets -an increasingly scientific task - and coming up with a strategy which will connect audience to product. They need to know about psychographics, demographics and economics.
Media Buyers - spend their time negotiating for pages in magazines, and bashing out deals with TV companies for prime time commercial spots. Because they are often negotiating on behalf of many clients at once, buying huge blocks of advertising space, they are powerful enough to get good deals.
NATURE OF INDUSTRY
Firms in the advertising industry prepare advertisements for other companies and organizations and might also arrange to place them in print, broadcast, interactive, and other media. This industry also includes firms that sell advertising space for publications, radio, television, and the Internet. Divisions of companies that produce and place their own advertising are not considered part of this industry.
Companies often look to advertising as a way of increasing sales. Most companies do not have the staff with the necessary skills or experience to create effective advertisements; furthermore, many advertising campaigns are temporary, so employers would have difficulty maintaining their own advertising staff. Instead, companies commonly solicit bids from ad agencies to develop advertising for them. Next, ad agencies offering their services to the company often make presentations. If an agency wins the account, the real work begins. Various departments within the agency-such as creative, production, media, and research-work together to meet the client's goal of increasing sales

psychographics appeal

2008-10-09T02:51:00.000-07:00

Psychographics Appeal
My idea
Whoop!

Possible products
Cat food: what I found out
Cat food is formulated to address the specific nutritional requirements of cats. Although cats are generally carnivores, most commercial cat food contains both animal and plant material, supplemented with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. An important nutrient is the amino acid derivative tureen, as cats cannot synthesize the compound. Cats fed a tureen-deficient dog food may develop retinal degeneration and go blind.
Chocolate:
Chocolate is a mixture of cocoa paste, cocoa butter, and sugar. It is considered as a complimentary food, since all three organic substances exist (although not well balanced): carbohydrates (starch, diverse sugars), fats (cocoa butter), and vegetable proteins. Minerals can also be found in chocolate: potassium and magnesium in large amounts, calcium and sodium in small amounts, and iron in trace amounts. Chocolate also contains vitamins A1, B1, B2, D, and E.
Chosen product- Chocolate
Further Research:
The benefits of chocolate:
The pharmaco-dynamic substances (those whose action is similar to medications) found in chocolate are responsible for its reputation concerning its abilities. Four of these such substances can be found in chocolate: theobromine, caffeine, phenyl ethylamine, and serotonin. They appear in a negligible quantity, but each in infinitely small quantities plays an important role. Theobromine stimulates the central nervous system, facilitates muscular efforts, as well as having diuretic and cardiotonic action. It is an orexigan (appetite stimulator). Caffeine increases resistance towards fatigue, favorises intellectual activity, and increases watchfulness. Concerning phenyl ethylamine, it has a chemical structure similar to amphetamines and therefore contains psycho-stimulating properties. Serotonin, on the other hand, is a neurotransmitter (substance freed by the nerve endings) in the cerebral cortex--its quantity is often found to be lower during certain nervous depression states. The serotonin found in chocolate helps correct its initial loss. Likewise, the caffeine and saccharose stimulate the body's stimulation of serotonin. Finally, due to the pleasure it offers, chocolate stimulates endorphin secretion thus procuring naturally the same effects as opium. With this description of chocolate's chemical composition, it's never-ending list of virtues are easily explained.
Narrative
Based on my research on how chocolate increases serotonin levels I decided to reflect this concept in my ad.
It starts with a stressed woman at work, stuck at her desk all day with a million and one things to do. She looks out her office window and sees a little girl happily munching on a chocolate bar. She looks on in envy of the girl.
She opens her desk and discovers a chocolate bar (wow!).
As she munches on the bar she becomes the happy girl down the street. The ad ends by saying “Chipper! A little chunk of happiness”. As she skips along.
Review
The advert deflects the fact that chocolate and confectionary makes you (the consumer) happy. The target audience is working women and men between 20-40 who need a way to relax and indulge themselves. Showing that the line of appeal is happiness and a relaxed world away from work.

reviewing codes and conventions

2008-10-09T02:50:00.000-07:00

Semiotics and Media Language and Sassure

Iconic – Signs which are what they represent
Indexical – Signs linked o a certain aspect e.g. cardboard boxes imply homelessness
Symbolic level – Signs with deeper levels of meaning e.g. American Flag – freedom
Signifier – the physical form of the sign
Signified – what the sound or image expresses
Technical Codes, Genre and Lighting

1) Shot size
2) Long shot
3) Mid shot
4) Close up
5) Extreme close up

Lighting

Low Key – Dramatic, moody
High Key – Bright and exciting
Low contrast – Not many different colours, everyday
High contrast – Dramatic, volatile
Focus
Deep – Look at everything
Selective – Looks at most important subject
Soft – When edges blur together
Denotation and connotation
REMEMBER: Keep the actual image separate from the interpretation of it.
Denotation – What is literally in the picture
Connotation – Different interpretations which might be associated

Genre
We have genre because it gives the producer a list of ingredients which he/she can use to make an effective product.
Audience expectations need to be met with genre in order for it to be successful.
Critics and analysts use genre as a basis for comment
Within Genre there is always the following components:
• Stock characters
• Stock Plots
• Stock situations, issues and themes
• Stock locations and backdrops
• Stock props and signifiers
• Music
• Generic Conventions

Analysis of Adverts
The image needs to be analysed by 7 things;
1) Position of the camera
2) Lighting
3) Composition (how is it set up)
4) Framing
5) Focus
6) Objects and people (positioning of)
7) Meanings which result

back dating work- planning and research

2008-10-09T02:49:00.000-07:00

1. Brainstorm: There are two types of advertisements, so the first thing to do is decide what type you need.

The first is an ad campaign that is more intended to build your brand than for making an immediate sale. This type of ad gets your name out there so that people will recall it, for instance, the ad in the paper that says "Divorce for fathers." By being placed in the paper again and again, this ad is designed to infiltrate people's subconscious so that some day down the road, a father who is getting divorced will remember whom to call.

Branding ad campaigns are long-term undertakings. It's an ongoing process that pays increasing dividends as time goes by.

The second type of ad campaign is intended to create an immediate reaction — a sale — now. The ad may be used to let people know about a special next week or that a shipment of Chinese lanterns just came in. Typically, this campaign is of shorter length and may use several media outlets.

So the first step is to decide what type of ad you want to run.
2. Budget: The United States Small Business Administration suggests that you earmark 2% of your gross sales towards advertising. Others believe the amount should be 5%. Either way, the important thing is to make a commitment and earmark the appropriate percentage of gross sales towards that figure.

And remember the rule: Repetition is the key to success. When choosing an ad and a medium, you will need to budget enough money to get your message heard or seen by enough people enough times. Your ad rep will help you figure out how many ads that is.
3. Choose the right medium: Different media outlets have different strengths and weaknesses. Your campaign may utilize only one or it may take several to accomplish your goals. Keep these factors in mind:
o Choose media that reaches your demographic. You must know what your customers watch, read, listen to, and know where they are located. Once you know that, you can request the media kits for the various media and compare the information contained therein to your target demographic. When you find a match, you are headed in the right direction.
o Choose media used by your target audience. If you sell sporting goods, then your customers likely read the sports page. If you sell to teens, an alternative rock radio station makes sense. Again, you need to know what your customers read and watch to make an informed decision.
o Choose media that you can afford. You need to figure out, with the assistance of the ad rep of the media sources you like best, what sort of frequency you will need to penetrate your target market, and then what it will cost you to advertise. Compare costs with several sources, and narrow the field to the sources that best deliver your demographic at the best cost.
4. Create the ad: Once you know what sort of ad you want to run and what your media options are, you can start to create an ad or ads that both reinforce your brand and/or increase sales. Your ad rep can help with this, as can the right software program.
5. Test the ad: The best way to avoid making a costly advertising mistake is to test an ad before committing a lot of money to it. Make sure it pulls first, then you can run with it. This could mean running a smaller version of the ad in print and then enlarging it, or it might mean running your radio spot overnight before placing it during peak commuter time.
6. Roll it out: Once you are convinced (by your test) that you have an ad that works, and once you know which media sources will offer you the biggest bang for your buck, then you can safely place the ad. In fact, once you have found an ad that works, use it in as many places, and as often, as you can.
http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/motivation/inspirationalquotes,41

Shooting schedule

2008-10-09T02:47:00.000-07:00

Shooting Schedule
Date Time Location advert
Monday 6th October 2008 5:30pm Amy's House vintage
Wednesday 8th October 7:30pm Amy's House vintage
Monday 13th October 4:30pm Amy's House Caveman
Wednesday 15th October 5:00pm Amy's House Caveman
Monday 20th October 5:00pm Amy's House Futureistic
Wednesday 22nd October 5:30pm Amy's House Futureistic

Filming equipment

• Actress- Hannah Morgan
• Camera
• Tripod
• Tape
• Bottle-simply shampoo

filming

2008-10-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

When filming on Monday night I encounterd a few problems. Firstly there wasn't any natural light in my bathroom as there are no windows. To try and solve this I turned on mirror lights and the lights in the hallway to make it brighter. I have quite a small bathroom so it was difficult to achive the correct positioning of the shot that i wanted to film.

On tuesday me Laura and i looked through the footage and decided that a few extra shots were needed. We decided that shots over the shoulder would be needed and a shot from inside the cuboard of Hannah searching for shampoo. Finally, we thought that the shots in general were too distant and more close ups were needed. So wednesday night, after discussing what shots were needed I filmed Hannah again.

I placed the camera inside the cuboard to get a shot of Hannah looking into the cuboard. This worked really well when looking at the new footage this morning. The cuboard in my bathroom is made of mirror glass so when filming over the sholder the camera captured Hannah's reflection which gave an effective close up of her face which we didn't think to include. Through trial and error and experiment on my behalf when filming, the footage obtained came out really well for us to then use in flash animation. Next week I will start on ad two, the following week ad three. I aim to have all the filming done by the end of the moth so that we have as much time as possible to spend editing our adverts to perfection as using animation is new to me and will take some time to learn how to use it properly and effectively.

moving on

2008-10-07T02:52:00.000-07:00

i filmed my sister last night so we have footage to start working on for the first advert. laura is creating the final storyboard for ad three which will be complete for tomorrow.
Tomorows aim is to go through the footage and start editing and creating ad 1.

let get rocking!

2008-10-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

first 2 storyboards are fine. I wil film my 13 year old sister after school on monday. I chose to use my sister as she has model looks and long hair. she is always at home so i retakes will be easy to arrange and i can boss her about. so filming ad one is my task for next week.
Laura's task is to complete the storyboard of ad three. we are changing the last ad so that it is set in the future. Watching the cartoon "the jetsons" should help laura and give her further ideas.
So hopefully by the end of next week ad one should be well underway.

planning

2008-09-22T03:31:00.000-07:00

On friday i completed the final storyboard for the first advert (cavemen) as well as the treatment ready for tuesday.
Once the storyboards have been agreed with I will devise a shooting schedule so that filming can start either end of this week or begining of next week.
We need to find someone who is willing to be filmed. As we are having the same person in each ad it makes the filming process easier and as the ad run in the same sequence filimg should be simple and not take too long. This means that we will ahve more time to spend on flash animation.

cracking on with A2!

2008-09-11T02:28:00.000-07:00

laura and i have created our first storyboard for our first ad. its not complete as it still needs some tweeking as the narration doesn't flow properly and needs to to shorter and more to the point.
as our shampoo is "simple" we are not going to bombard our audience with fancy words that sound impressive. we want to show the audience that our shampoo is simple will ingredients that will not harm hair and provideds the simple goodness hair needs.
i looked at the Garnier website to see what their shampoo ontains. Although its "natural" ingredients it still sounds compliated and thats what we want to avoid.

http://www.garnier.co.uk/_en/_gb/garnier/ACTIVE_NATURAL.aspx?tpcode=GARNIER^ACTIVE_NATURAL

here is a link to the website which shows the "natural" yet still complicated ingredients.
we have decided to have a shampoo ad with a caveman theme for the first ad. the second will be vintage. and the last will be a modern ad.

each ad will run in the same sequence with the same message. all that will change is the mise-en-scene to show how the product has moved through the times and has remained successful and the same. it will also ensure that the ads fit with the vast target audience

my aim is to complete the first storyboard so i can research, work and develope a storyboard for the second ad.

at last i have internet!

2008-08-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

first of all, not internet at home which sucks
so i have invited myself to a friends house and while they are at work i can use their net and get more work done.
I have joined uxbridge libary to do some extra reading.
have made first drafts of 3 storyboards but im unsure off them and don't like the first 2.
will see if i can scan some of the storyboards and other work i have done over the past few weeks to post up here.
so that is my next mission

just a quick note on resuts. hope everyone did well. although i didn't do fantastic, i still passed and got a B in my textual analysis retake which i am proud of.

my Heinz ad

2008-07-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

arty ads

2008-07-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

i have heard of this website before when i did art. worth1000 has an artistic ad competition up and these ads will help anyone wanting arty ads.
http://www.worth1000.com/contest.asp?contest_id=10329&display=photoshop&page=5000#entries

where i'm @

2008-07-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have completed my Heinz ad and will post it for all to see on wednesday.
As far as research goes i have studied the history of ads and came across Rube Goldberg a cartoonist known for his "machines" as a start to my investigation for art and advertising.
I have been looking at slogans
www.saidwhat.co.uk/slogans has sologans to quotes

www.adslogans.co.uk has helped me to understand slogans and got me thinking as to:
*What is being advertised?
* To whom are you advertising?
*What do you know about your audience?
*What do you want them to do?
*What can you say that will get them to do that?
* What ideas might work?
* What is your key message?

As a group Laura and I have chosen to create a shampoo advert as alcohol adverts have too many restrictions. I couldn't find any real restrictions on advertising shampoo. however i think they cannot be misleading or lie as with most adverts as i discoverd an article in which a shampoo ad claiming to make hair 10% stronger was banned by the ASA due to "insufficient evidence to support the claim".

my aim for next week is to analyse shampoo ads from johnson, herbal essences and a few other famous brands to see the similarities and differences. I'm gonna try and have an aim for each week so i don't waste time!

i also found a helpful ad website www.tvwhirl.co.uk so check it out.

2008-07-09T05:03:00.000-07:00

back from my holiday and ready to crack on with some work!

chatted to laura about what product to advertise. at first i suggested an alcoholic beverage but there are many restrictions with this. i found a website that explained in a humerous way what the typical childs toy or supermarket ad contained. Using this we decided to create an advert for shampoo in a way which mocks the traditional shampoo advert. if that makes sense?