Progress

After a dicey start to the week and a major panic on Tuesday I have finally calmed down somewhat.  I have forumlated my presentation into something that seems slightly more coherent than my original plan, it’s just that gosh darn problem or sorting the timetable out properle! How do you plan 6 months of work, when your work could end up going a different way? Im off for a mini-meeting in a bit with the girls to go over our PGC presentations so we can view therm and give each toehr feedback.

That being said just need to sort all my work into some sort of order…….so many photocopies that i have accumulated over the past few weeks! Still re-reading some of them has helped in formulating my presentation.

I have also been thinking about collaboration with a client. peter suggested I get in touch with the Hive but I’m currently to busy so it might have to be something I look at over the christmas period, that or getting in touch with real companies.

During the last couple of weeks I have also sourced some locations including campsites and walks that are particularly interesting. I have tried to pick somewhere that has a bit of a story to tell, somewhere thats a bit different. 

I’m a bit late putting these up, but I apologise my posts have generally me panicing or rambling on!

There is quite a selection of specialist campsites including

• nudist
• dog friendly
• golf
• eco

The ones Ive selcted to look at are:

Acorn naturist retreat

http://acornsindevon.co.uk/

Lud’s Church (walk, Ive perosnally visited here and it’s stunning. has a great history.)

http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/visits/ludschurch.php

Gradbach Scout Camp

This is situated not far from Lud’s church and I have stayed in both the farmhouse and camped in the grounds. It’s a beautiful site with a lot of scout history.

http://www.gradbachscoutcamp.org.uk/

4 Winds lakeland Tipi’s

This place is in the lake district and offers a unique camping experience in the form of native American Tipi’s.

http://www.4windslakelandtipis.co.uk/

Narrampara Campsite

This campsite is situated in cornwall and is Dog friendly. they also have 3 goats and a duck Pond!

http://www.namparracampsite.co.uk/

I have picked these areas because I think they are quite interesting. Viral marketing for a location is something thats rarely been done, so experimenting with this could bring up some quite interesting ideas. I tt will be fun to try something new!

Less than a week

So i had my last tutorial today. This one was about the learning agreement. Peter had a few helpful things to say in helping me to make it more concise. My timetable is apparantley too broad, even though I thought it was quite detailed for me! 

I need to work various things in that I didn’t cover. we discussed the possibility of collaborating with an actual client, or contacting a business to see if they wouldn’t mind me doing a project based on their product( I don’t want to get sued!). Also I have to keep looking at the small classified ads to see if something jumps out at me.

We also discussed the possibility of it being a location or an event, somewhere that has a story to tell, you don’t have to do a product. This has got me thinking about other ideas. Further research into this area will help me at the moment. It got me thinking about creating a buzz. What if made something up, and see how many people showed? It’s one way of documenting if a campaign worked but is quite underhand.

Even after all this I have to admit this semester has been a struggle. I just seem to hit roadblock after roadblock, and when I actually start to get somewhere I lose my focus again. I think part of the problem is the fact that I am not used to doing so much research prior to a project, I am finding it difficult to adjust to NTU’s way of working as it’s so different to my old style. 

Peter said himself he thought I was a little bit behind. How can I catch up in a week? I thought i must have been doing something wrong but in my tutorials I am not great at voicing my ideas. I forget what I want to say and confuses me and everyone else around me. He last word’s were don’t panic, but thats what I do.

Hopefully i can get my presentation to make sense.

Project proposal draft….another one

An experiment into viral advertising for the niche market, and how to combine this with traditional methods of advertising to reach the wider audience.

 

My area of interest for my masters degree is advertising, and within this I would like to go into art direction. I am interested new methods of advertising such as Guerrilla/Ambient to viral based advertising.  I want to investigate how viral advertising can be expanded from the niche market into the wider audience, by combining it with more traditional methods such as print etc.

 

My project is based on testing these methods, to see the success of these styles of campaigns, and what the future of this could be.  Viral campaigns generally run across many platforms, not just the internet as many descriptions say. Viral advertising, described by PC Magazine Encylcopedia as, ‘An online advertising approach that functions somewhat like word-of-mouth’, these types of ads usually appear as banners or pop-ups, that takes the viewer to a relevant website or blog etc.

 

With this definition it says that they normally appear online but will take you to other links. I am more interested in other ways to generate word-of-mouth results. A recent successful example of this is the viral campaign for the sci-fi film District 9. The campaign consisted of websites, videos done in the style of public messages and guerrilla advertising style posters in the theme of the viral campaign.

 

The purpose of this project is to investigate this new media is to see if it has a lasting place in the world of advertising, or will industry continue to try and find new ways of communicating with their target audience. Methods such as viral advertising have been in use for a few years, and have had success on not only the internet, but also the TV. Rainer Beer is a brewery that nearly went our of business in the 1990’s, and they created a low budget late night TV show about two friends, who had found some of the old advertising in their loft. This show gathered a small cult following  and the viewers could ring into the show and leave voicemails.  This combines what could be considered a traditional medium, whilst using a new an interesting way to target their audience. 

 

By using a niche market not usually associated with viral advertising, I aim to create a campaign for a specific product or products that is first released as a viral campaign, and then expanded into more traditional media to reach a wider audience.

 

The aims for my project are:

 

• To find out about the current trends within advertising, and where advertising sits in todays climate.

 

• To explore how viral advertising can work for a product that is not conventionally advertised using that method.

 

• Determine what key factors make a successful viral campaign and apply them to my own experiments.

 

• Experiment with various ideas and media to create a successful campaign combining viral and traditional methods of advertising.

 

• Evaluate my designs and/or storyboards critically.

 

• Have a greater knowledge of art direction within the advertising industry.

 

• Release a viral ad onto the internet to document the response.

 

 

The objectives for my project are:

 

• Conduct case studies on existing campaigns, including viral and traditional media.

 

• Show how a viral campaign can be combined with traditional media to create a successful campaign.

 

• Demonstrate how a campaign for a niche market can be expanded into a campaign that will reach a wider audience, who may not normally see that product.

 

• Have a body of primary research including interviews, focus groups and/or questionnaires.

 

• Determine what key elements are needed for a successful viral campaign.

 

• Experiment with various appropriate methods and media styles for my campaign.

 

• Document and present my design process for creating a successful combined viral and traditional media campaign, expanding from the niche market to the wider audience.

 

 

 

 

 

I want to research into these areas because whilst doing my undergraduate degree I wrote my dissertation on Guerrilla Advertising and it’s future within the industry. This sparked my interest in these newer methods and how they could work. As that was a written piece and I am interested in undertaking the practical side, and combining this with traditional means as well. I am still interested in print advertising, particularly the use of photography so to see how these to can combine with each other interests me greatly.

 

 

 

The relevant qualifications I have include A-Levels in Art and Design, a Pre-degree Art Foundation and a BA (hons) Graphic Design degree. I haven’t any professional work experience as of yet,  except entering a couple of competitions and doing small projects for family and friends. I intend to do some work placements in the future.

 

Resources I will need include camera and studio access, computer labs, specialised tutorials, printing services, library and research facilities and peer to peer feedback.

 

 This is what I think a more concise version of my project proposal but I think I need to discuss it with my peers and tutors to see if it actually makes sense!

Assessment getting nearer…eep!

Worrying last week about if what I was doing was correct. Am I researching the right areas, how should I go about presenting my project both orally and visually for hand in? After spending a few hours faffing, I came to the conclusion that panicking isn’t the best thing to do ( i know a 5 year old could figure that out right?). I spent some time on my learning agreement and timetable, which i think has helped me focus on what i want to do a little more, but I will wait and see what Peter says in my tutorial tomorrow, otherwise it’s back to the drawing board (groan!). Also doing a timetable is incredibly difficult. First of all how do you plan six moths of work, secondly does it make sense. Again we shall have to wait and see!

I think my final product is going to be the Selk Bag, well at leats thats what I’, working on at the moment.

Why the Selk Bag I hear you ask! Well my chosen area for my target market was camping and hiking. From this I picked 3 products which I thought would be interesting to advertise. Those being

• Berghaus Opti-Stud technology (http://www.berghaus.com/technologies/footwear/Grip.aspx)
• Lippi Selk’ Bag and Musuc Bag ( http://www.lippiselkbag.co.uk/)
• Gelert Quick Pitch tent (http://www.gelert.com/Products/Quick_Pitch_SS.aspx)

After researching into these a little deep and doing some very tenuous marker visuals, I decided that the final product would probably be either the Selk’Bag or Berghaus opti-stud (further research into then= tent and looking at reviews deemed it a bit of a crappy product!)

At the moment I feel the Selk’Bag is more appropriate for my proejct proposal.

I intend to create a campaign for the niche market, For the selk’bag I was planning this to be for campers who like a bit of extra movement and comfort when they sleep. This market would generally be for the younger audience i.e. 18-30 who like to have the ‘must have gadgets’. This idea came from the American camping scene, where they it has become a very expensive hobby. The swiss army knife became one of these “must have’s” without much avdertising. 

I plan to use viral advertising for the first part of this project, using media platforms such as YouTube, and social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to reach my target audience. It will then expand into a more traditional campaign (including print, editorial, direct mail, tv etc) to reach a wider audience. This would generally be for people who may not be into camping but just like to be comfortable. How tp advertise something different to it’s normal use? For instance the selk’bag is also great for curling up in the house, and is warm and comfortable and so on.

This product is subject to change but at the moment it seems like a fun product and fits by project well.

Heres a thought, might help if I put my projected proposal question down wouldn’t it?!

“An experiment into viral advertising for the niche market, and how to combine this with traditional methods of advertising to reach the wider audience”.

This is a working title, I want to get something a bit snappier but it says my general point.

Product choosin’

So this last week or so I have been trying to figure out what to advertise for my viral campaign. After the last tutorial I have still be searching for that product or company to use as my client. I want to do it for a niche market and/or a product that would not normally be advertised using viral advetising.

I started to list some areas of interest that I might look at

• Fishing/angling
• Surfing
• Skiing/snowboarding
• Photograhy
• Knitting 
• Cross stitching
• Camping/hiking
• Websites 
• etc

I narrowed this down to two options….fishing and hiking/camping. I felt these were two areas that would have a range of interesting things to choose from, and they are areas that aren’t a;so heavily advertised, particularly using new methods such as viral advertising.

These two areas of interest are also hobbies that have a sense of a niche market, but is still broad enough to be able to choose which area of that market to advertise for.

Examples I thought about for fishing included:

                    

Fish baits from www.fladenfishing.com

Power Pro Fishing Line

Gelert Quick Pitch Tent

Berghaus Opti-Stud Technology

Lippi Selk’Bag

Of these products the area I am most interested in doing is the camping and Hiking areas. I have researched into these products a little more and tried to choose things that weren’t generally advertised in the media.

I feel that camping and hiking is a market that is rarely touched upon by mainstream advertising and combining this into a viral campaign, I can see how an unconventional advertising product can be used with a non-traditional method of advertising. I have done some rough marker visuals of basic ideas for these 3 products, but further research is needed at the moment to get solid ideas. All I am trying to do at the moment is get some ideas onto paper to help get the ball rolling, hopefully into something that will become a solid campaign.

I want to have fun with the project, and camping and walking when I can is something I enjoy. by combining the two I hope I can find a happy medium where I can get them to work. That after all is part of my challenge of trying to use viral advertising for something unconventional to the medium.

Thinking, tutorials and research, Oh My!

This post is a little late but here’s what I’ve been doing the past week or so.

After my tutorial with Peter last week, I talked through my ideas and how I have been trying to narrow down my idea. After discussing what I had found so far and the kind of thing I was interested in doing (see previous post), we decided I finally had a direction….Viral advertising for the niche market. My research has shown me that many successful campaigns have been done for a certain type of audience, like the District 9 one, and larger companies are taking this on board as well, such as Burger Kings ‘Subserviant Chicken’. Viral advertising started out as a low budget way for smaller companies to show off their brands. Peter and I discussed ideas of taking it back to the smaller product, but looking at something quite random like fishing tackle, or another suggestion I have had is cardigans for Marks and Spencers (thanks for that one Charlotte, I’ll look into it!). Peter suggested I look in magazines and on websites for specialist interest and hobbies, at the smaller ads and pick one of those. I have looked at a few but I have seen nothing yet that has jumped out at me as a fun product to do.

Key areas discussed to look at include:

• how to comminucate to niche markets using non-traditional advertising
• examine a range of viral advertising
• how other products have used viral advertising
• extend the parameters of what people think about viral advertising.
• the meaning of viral advertising i.e. not just for use on the internet
• how do crazes start?
• the history of viral advertising e.g. word-of-mouth…before the internet e.t.c

Peter’s end comments being ‘Have fun and be experiemtnal!’

So after this discussion I have been trawling through research papers and books and getting an idea of what viral advertising is about. I have also started some case studies that will hopefully help me find out the key elements to a successful viral campaign.

Narrowing Down….

After spending the last week and a bit desperately trying to narrow down my project proposal I think I may have come up with a more specific subject area.  My interests at the moment lie within newer methods of advertising such as guerrilla/ ambient media and viral advertising. I know this is still quite broad in a sense, but I am interested to see how these methods can enhance a traditional campaign or how they work on their own.

As part of my research I have been looking through books and research papers on the subject on ambient media, guerrilla advertising and viral advertising, and l have begun to write some case studies on a couple of campaigns I have seen, such as the successful viral campaign for District 9, which created a lot of attention on the internet.  The campaign mainly ran in South Africa, America and Canada, but created quite a hype for the film.

http://www.mnuspreadslies.com/

This has got me thinking more about viral advertising. It can combine many forms but letting the viewer think about what they are seeing. I have always been interested in advertising techniques that allow the viewer to come to their own conclusion, and viral can combine both traditional (print, tv etc) methods with newer ones such as using the internet and social networking sites as a platform. This also covers forms of guerrilla advertising and site-specific media.

I think maybe by concentrating on viral advertising, I can see how it works for other products/business rather than just films as we have seen many cult movies follow this type of marketing such as Cloverfield, and even Ghostbusters in 1984 had a phoneline set up that simply stated that they were out catching ghosts. 

I have now been left thinking or the ‘who’ or the ‘what’. Do I try experimenting with a product or business that one does not normally associate with viral advertising? The method obviously works well for films and other things considered to be geek culture. Do I look  at a product as simple as a Post-It or a lightbulb?  Or go bigger and maybe do something for a larger company such as Nike or Adidas, who have already had success with guerrilla campaigns in the past. 

Amnesty International have also used both traditional and non-traditional methods in theor campaigns which have roved highly successful. So there’s another question; how about a charity or cause?

Another end of the spectrum is creating a campaign for something I know is coming out. It runs along the same lines as the District 9 campaign i.e. being  a niche market in so called ‘geek culture’ , where the audience is already fairly ‘tech savvy’ and internet minded. This could include a film due out in the future such as Tron Legacy , a film that is highly anticipated or a campaign for an already well established market such as World of Warcraft’s newly announced expansion Cataclysm, that is set for release sometime in 2010. I think this particular product could lend it’s self well to a viral/traditional advertising campaign, as it is already aimed at a dedicated target audience, but it has been described as ‘redesigning  environments rather than just adding new areas to the existing games….literally change the world of Azeroth as you know it…revitalise rather than alienate the old environments like other expansions’. 

Would a campaign for this attract new players, or re-engage previous players who have left out of boredom in the past?  They would be re-inventing the leveling experience from level 1.

All that is left to do is to decide exactly what or who I am going to do a campaign for and hopefully everything else will flow with it, and I can get out of this confusion I’m in!

The week so far…..

Typical of me I have spent the week in an air of panic (think beaker from the Muppets!) Trying to narrow down my project proposal seems a daunting task. I still have 2 or 3 areas of interest that I was wondering if I can combine them. I still feel this may leave to to be too broad still for a research project. 

I have found in the past it is easy to become overwhelmed yet I still let it happen, panic about not getting enough done or being specific enough, the feeling of being behind my classmates just adds to this panic. What is the answer to this problem?

Well, right now I feel the answer is to take a step back. To look at what I want to achieve and how I plan to go about it. What really interests me within the advertising field? What would I like to investigate further? 

I plan to make targets to help me achieve this. Todays seminar on the learning agreement was useful but the thought of doing it terrifies me! The solution is to harness this fear and put positive use to it. At the end of the day, if your not scared then you may not be doing something right. Let’s just hope my plan of action works!

Project Proposal-Tutorial 1

I had my first meeting with my group and Peter Lester today. The issues discuseed were our project proposals. The tutorial confirmed for me that my proposal at the moment is still a bit vague, and its the kind of project that would take a team od researchers years to complete! Typical of me always being to broad!

The advice Peter gave me helped me a lot in how to help me refine my brief. My problem  is a lot of my proposal is based on my own personal opinion, and not enough on actual fact. 

Areas to look at include:

• revisit the module guide
• investigate contexts of audience and media
• kinds of product/content i.e. how it is advertised
• find some purpose for my proposal

The next two weeks is going to involve a lot of reading, visually reseaching and constant revisiting my original proposal to make it work as a masters project. it’s going to be tough but hopefully very enjoyable.

MA Project Proposal-work in progress

This is my first draft of my project proposal. After presenting today it was discussed that it probably covered too many areas, so i am going to do a bit of brainstorming to see if I can get a more concise proposal. Positives were that the areas I am looking into are very current, and I am looking forward to discussing it with my personal tutor.

 

An investigation into advertisings future. (working title)

 

My area of interest for my masters degree is advertising, and within this I would like to go into art direction. I am interested in combining traditional and new methods of advertising to see if it is still effective in todays changing culture.

 

My project is based on testing various methods of advertising to see what the future of advertising could be. The world is moving forward and advertising needs to move with it, to help keep the publics interest. People are getting a bit tired of seeing the same old style advertising, and agencies are going to the extreme to sell a product or cause.  Another part of my research project may be to create different extremes of advertising such as sexual, shock, humour etc and record my findings when testing them on the general public.

 

The aims will be:

• Experiment with different methods of both traditional and new ways of advertising

 

• Test the extremes of advertising campaigns/causes

 

• Conduct surveys and record my findings

 

• Has the appearance of newer forms such as guerilla and viral helped in the publics reaction to advertising?

 

• Are traditional methods still as effective as the used to be?

 

• Try and re-ignite the publics interest in advertising

 

The objectives are:

• Have a substantial amount of experimental work completed

 

• Documented and evaluated the publics reactions to various methods and extremes of advertising

 

• Have a portfolio of test campaigns

 

• Gained a greater knowledge of art direction within advertising

 

• Have a resolved answer to my research question

 

 

The relevant qualifications I have include A-Levels in Art and Design, a Pre-degree Art Foundation and a BA (hons) Graphic Design degree. I haven’t any professional work experience as of yet,  except entering a couple of competitions and doing small projects for family and friends. I intend to do some work placements in the future.

 

My proposal relates to my existing study of work because I specialised in advertising during the last year and a half of my degree. I wrote my dissertation on Guerrilla Advertising and how it could possibly be the future of advertising. I tried several different methods of communication but I would like to expand these skills further on my MA.  My future plans are to go into advertising, and within that field be an art director eventually.

 

The audience for my MA project will range from the general public (for the testing) to possible future employees. The target audience is also partially me as I really want to experiment and have some fu with my project this year too!

 

Resources I will need include camera and studio access, computer labs, specialised tutorials, printing services, library and research facilities and peer to peer feedback.