ADVERTISING: Week 02

5th April 2016 (Week 2)
Gabriella Godeliva Adytanthio (0324170)
Advertising Principles & Practice
Marketing/Project 2/Marketing as per economic model/VW Challenge

Lecture
Advertising and Marketing
We started off the class by reading a very lengthy description of marketing by the University of Lincoln. From that description we have extracted keywords, like ‘multi-billion dollar global industry’, ‘able to predict/foresight’, ‘constantly evolving’, ‘creativity’, ‘insight’, and ‘imagination’. We discussed the significance of the last three words in our career as a designer.

Following the definition by University of Lincoln is the etymology of the word ‘marketing’, and after that we read more definitions of marketing by various institutions/organizations such as AMA, Entrepreneur, and Lake. We also learned that marketing does not only fulfill demands—it creates them as well. After the lecture, we were given two questions to answer on TIMeS about marketing.

Outcomes of the lecture that I understood:

• Definition of marketing by various institutions and organizations
• How creativity, insight, and imagination are important to everyone regardless of their field of study
• Etymology of the word ‘marketing’
• Fundamental job of marketing
• Marketing in its purest form
• “People don’t know what they want” – Steve Jobs
• Hierarchy of marketing (as a branch of business) and advertising (as a branch of marketing)
• What the 4Ps are and the importance of their synchronization
• “Marketing is not always about selling.” – Theodore C. Levitt
• What an ad consists of
• Project 2 brief 

Marketing as per economic model
In this lecture, we discussed the questions Mr. Vinod gave us last class regarding marketing as per economic model. The question was: we have learned how marketing functions in a capitalist system, how would marketing function in a communist system (economic model)? In this class we learned more about how communism is pretty much the opposite of capitalism and how the economy works in a country that implements the communist system. Finally, at the end of the lecture part of the class we were able to conclude the answer to the forum question.

From this lecture, I understood:

• Capitalism, communism, and socialism in general
• Everybody is corrupt and therefore ideas, when in contact with people, get corrupted
• There are no competition in the communist system because of the license regime
• Without competition there is no marketing
• Marketing exists in the propaganda (marketing of message)
• There is always a struggle between the ‘left’ and the ‘right’

Instructions
Project 2 Individual work (15%)

The brand: Playsafe Condoms

The product: Air Ultra Thin
SMP/USP: Extremely thin condom for extra sensitivity

Target Audience: Gen Y

Description

The student has the task of researching and analysing the brand/product: Playsafe Condoms for the purpose of developing “insight” that would eventually be used to develop creative and effective advertising message.

Students will need to gain “insight” into; the brand & product using SWOT analysis; the target audience using market segmentation; and the competition by identifying their USP/SMPs and through the analysis of their respective advertising.

There are two types of research approaches that you will use inadvertently: 1) Primary research and 2) Secondary research. Primary research entails you physically handling the product or visiting the manufacturing plant or talking to a sales person or visiting the retail outlets (Point of Purchase/POP), etc. Secondary research entails data gathering from, websites, magazines, journals, health magazines, etc. You will approach this by looking into the 3 areas mentioned below:

1. Brand/product insight
2. Target audience insight
3. Competitors (Malaysia only)

Duration of Assignment

4 Weeks (Briefing on Week 2)

Deadline

Week 6 (2 May 2016)

In-class exercise: Decoding Ads and Ad Campaigns

The class was paired up with a partner and we were instructed to find one single advertisement and one ad campaign. Our task was to deconstruct or decode the ads—identify the product, proposition (USP/SMP), its creative idea, strategy, and elements. 

I was paired up with Mei Jin in this exercise. After spending some time browsing the internet, we finally picked out an advertisement created by an agency called McCann Worldgroup India. 

Figure 1 – Author Headphones: William Shakespeare

It's an illustrated advertisement with a visual of William Shakespeare's body twisted into the shape of headphones. Here's the result of our decoding:

• Product: Penguin audiobooks
• USP/SMP: Bringing books to life
• Creative idea: Showing as if the author's story has been brought to life
• Strategy: They are highlighting by having the author reading their book, you can feel the sensation of a book that is so real
• Elements: Visual and logo

 For our ad campaign, we picked Lego. 

Figure 2 – Lego ad campaign

• Product: Lego 
• USP/SMP: Bringing imagination to life
• Creative idea: Blocks as representations of imaginations
• Strategy: They might be suggesting that big things start small (a child that builds lego planes and ships might be able to build them for real when they grow up) 
• Elements: Visual and logo

In-class exercise: VW Challenge

Conducted on Friday. We were shown a video of an incident in which a Volkswagen Polo runs into a police car and speeds away unharmed, leaving the cops confused as to who just ran into them. Then, we were instructed to design an online ad on a news website that appears only if the headline of the news have something to do with said incident.

Once again, we were separated into three groups. My group members were Velisa and Devina. Mr. Vinod gave us a short amount of time to do some preliminary research about VW Polo (things like its USP/SMP, main feature of the car, slogan, etc.) and at the end of the session we have to come up with sketches of the ad.

Figure 3 – VW Challenge 1

The four sketches on top in the picture above is the result of me and my groupmates. The sketches below ours are Hasya's, Mei Jin's, and Jia Yang's.

Figure 4 – VW Challenge 2

 A closer look to Jia Yang's sketch.

Figure 5 – VW Challenge 3

The sketches above are done by Amal, Kah Lok, and Rebecca. 

Research

Secondary Research

I started by watching a video that was linked to us through TIMeS in the project brief:

In the video, I assume they surveyed or studied male and female students aged 18 to 24 years old, which make up a generation called Generation Y. The traits or characteristics of Generation Y as stated in the video are:

• tech-savvy,
• always connected,
• easily bored, open-minded,
• self-centered,
• narcissistic,
• confident,
• achievement-oriented,
• lazy,
• creative,
• problem-solvers.

I figured I would want to know more about the target audience since it might help me in generating more ideas for my sketches. I went to Wikipedia to look for a definition for Generation Y:

Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when the generation starts and ends; most researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.1

Generation Y demographics:

According to the 2010 report, Generation Y workers make up roughly 25% of the world population.2

I also browsed the internet for the general infographics of Generation Y:

Figure  6 – Gen Y Infographics 1

Figure  7 – Gen Y Infographics 2

Next, I Googled local condom manufacturers, which are considered Playsafe's competitions:
1. Nulatex Sdn. Bhd. 

Screenshot 1 – Nulatex

2. Innolatex Sdn. Bhd.

Screenshot 2 – Innolatex

3. Karex Berhad

Screenshot 3 – Karex

Progress
Second batch of sketches. Most of them are reinterpretations and twists from the first batch of sketches. I'm also thinking of different headlines to use.

Figure 8 – Sketches 1

Figure 9 – Sketches 2

Figure 10 – Sketches 3

Aside of working on Project 1 and Project 2, I have also started doing mind-maps and sketches for the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf competition. I am working together with my friend Madina Berkenova, who is a student in Interactive Multimedia Design, and we have talked over the rough concept of the artwork. We have thought of doing the artwork on paper and then scanning it to submit in a digital format. Since we are not required to promote the Granita Ice Blended Tea, the mind-map below is based on the concept of the artwork we have discussed.

Figure 11 – CB&TL mind-map

We have also discussed potential visuals, so I made a rough sketch on those ideas. At this moment we have yet to achieve a strong idea sketch, which is not surprising since I have only done this much. (Also, sorry for low quality images!) 

Figure 12 – CB&TL sketches 1

Figure 13 – CB&TL sketches 2

Figure 14 – Sketch brought to digital

Feedback
Specific Feedback:

(Written feedback given by Mr. Vinod) 

The e-Portfolio is comprehensive! Everything is documented in detail. Insight into the book borrowed has been shared. The mind-map and sketches have potential, but this is still early days.

Hi Gabriella, 

Some brief feedback: The idea for the headphones, was not so that the author is actually speaking, but rather as though the authors story has been brought to life. Shakespeare is dead :) Excellent work in documenting the process thus far. I saw your sketches, some interesting new ideas. Keep it up! 

(Regarding VW Challenge sketches) As for my group, the metaphors we used in the visuals are on the right track, except the one with the Hulk and Antman that might end up getting sued in a real life setting because of copyright infringement. Our lecturer said as long as we only show the Hulk's foot and make Antman not recognizable, we might not get sued but there is a big chance officials will still try to sue anyways. 

General Feedback:

(Regarding TIMeS forum) Our lecturer pointed out that we did an overall good job at answering questions in TIMeS about marketing. We have learned marketing 'works' in a capitalist system, but surprisingly we correctly answered the question about how marketing would work in a communist system. 

(Regarding VW Challenge sketches) Most of us use twisted visuals and straight headlines to convey the message. By using metaphors and narratives in the ads, our sketches are on the right track.

Our lecturer also showed us works done by diploma students, and in one particular assignment the student used different headlines containing different facts for each poster/ad. It will be nice if we can try to implement this instead of using the same headline for every ad.

(Updated 15 April 2016: Given in class)

• Sketches are less potent to some degree, although research has been undergone
• Sketches should be clear
• Explanations should be written outside the box, headlines inside the box
• Describe the sketch if it is too rough to be understood on its own
• Comprehensive research of local competitors (sold locally) in week 3
• Some text in the e-Portfolio is too small, thus not readable
• Be sure to delete the formatting of copied text
• For the Gen Y research, explain the analysis in addition of the information 
• Reflections should be insightful
• Sacrifice free time now to enjoy the smooth ride in the future
• Idea sketches should only be based on USP/SMP
• Remember the basis of a good idea: unrelated subject + SMP
• Link to previous project briefs instead of copying the whole text
• A decrease in quality for the TIMeS forum answers

Reflection
Experience

I realize that I have already gotten used to the amount of information flow and the intensity of this class. However, that does not help clear up my anxiety—I assume that is because there is so much work to do for each subject I feel scared I might not be able to keep up. On the other hand, I feel quite relieved that my e-Portfolio (so far) is up to the standards of my lecturer. I hope I can continue to document things in an orderly manner and step up my game.

Regarding the lectures about marketing, I find it really enjoyable, especially when we discussed how marketing works differently in a communist system. I also particularly enjoy works when we are put in groups or when we are paired, since it gives me a chance to interact with people more. I am also glad I survived both lectures when I was not feeling well, otherwise it would be such a loss if I did not attend. Another fuel to my anxiety is I am afraid I might get sick. 

Observation

I suddenly realize that I seldom interact with my peers and there is still so much I don’t know about them, and working together with them has helped me know them better. I feel myself begin to like doing e-Portfolio entries, regardless if I am doing it right or not. I notice I am still a bit confused about citations. 

Findings

I decide to just go ahead with using Harvard citations to avoid further confusion, using a citation generator for easy citing. I feel like I can improve more on my e-Portfolio, especially since I'm not that eloquent in grouping my thoughts in the Reflection part of the journal—I need to re-read the definitions provided by our lecturer to ensure that I have got the right thought in the right section. I also need to actively seek critics from my peers and learn from them more.

All in all, this week's classes are enjoyable, especially with the exercises that bring the class together. 

Figure 15  – How to Advertise
by Kenneth Roman and Jane Maas

My book for this week is How to Advertise: Building brands and businesses in the new marketing world by Kenneth Roman and Jane Maas. From this book I have learnt several things that I find really useful and inspiring (quoted directly from the book, chapter 1: Advertising Is About Ideas): 

• Successful concepts are not complicated. They are relevant and easy to understand.

• ...creativity doesn't create something out of nothing. It uncovers, selects, reshuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, skills, and ideas.

• Working with a creative product starts with the principle of tolerance for error. Risk.

• Risk is at the heart of creativity.

• Analogies are a useful way to generate ideas, even with dissimilar business.

• Ideas represent change, so be prepared to be shocked if you genuinely want big ideas.

• Don't start by evaluating the idea or expecting it to be perfect.

References

1Wikipedia. (2016). Millennials. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials [Accessed 8 Apr. 2016].

2Generationy.com. (2016). Generation Y Demographics | Generation Y. [online] Available at: http://www.generationy.com/about-generation-y-in-the-workforce/demographics/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2016].

Picture credits

Figure 1 – Author Headphones: William Shakespeare

http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2014/crafts-for-advertising/22853/author-headphones/

Figure 2 – Lego ad campaign

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a9/41/c3/a941c3af40408c65a9afef27175ef51f.jpg

Figure 3 ~ Figure 5
Personal documentation

Video - Generation Y Characteristics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEDXSZBeYQ8

Figure 6 – Gen Y Infographics 1

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AYn2GEjNSJqJ2gTQZQveYddeBMjlxbd11rA26FHZFl5MybmhsNZB1MM/

Figure 7 – Gen Y Infographics 2

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/407857309973826558/

Figure 8 ~ Figure 14

Personal documentation

Figure 15 – How to Advertise by Kenneth Roman and Jane Maas
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41aqdtkm14L._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Screenshot 1 – Nulatex
http://www.nulatex.com/about-us/

Screenshot 2 – Innolatex
http://www.innoltx.com/

Screenshot 3 – Karex

http://www.karex.com.my/history/