Advertising Principles & Practice // Week 6

7.10.2016 // Week 6
Chia Yee Hsean (0322352)
Advertising Principles & Practice
Exercise: Idea Sketches

Instructions: 

Exercise: Idea Sketches

Project 1: Insight (PlaySafe Condoms)

Exercise: Idea Sketches

I had a slogan from last week's sketches which I decided to focus on, "Thin wins", because I felt it was catchy and could appeal to a lot of people. I also had a few other ideas along the way.

Drafts:

Figure 1: Drafts 1/3

Figure 2: Drafts 2/3

Figure 3: Drafts 3/3

Sketches:

Figure 4: Sketches 1/3

Figure 5: Sketches 2/3

Figure 6: Sketches 3/3

Feedback

Specific feedback: The idea with the stick tiger is good, perhaps making the stick tiger hump may be funny. The eyes looking at the thin line was good. There were other individual ideas that were good but didn't have legs.

Reflection

Experience: We each had a one-on-one discussion with Mr Vinod about our Project 1 presentation slides. Mr Vinod mostly asked about certain parts of my slide for clarification, especially the strategy and big idea. 

Observation: I had noticed my confusion when I received fewer comments/suggestions about my slides than I expected. This usually happens and then I start overthinking about where my assignment actually stands in accordance to the brief and lecturer's expectations. 

Findings: I'll just need to be more vocal about my concerns next time and ask the lecturer for more feedback.

Book of the Week 

Another book on advertising by another advertising great, John Hegarty writes about advertising based on his experiences in his book “Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic”. The book is filled with witty advice and anecdotes, something which I appreciate from authors. There is the usual run-down of the ideation process, brands and audiences, creative pitches, plus case studies of successful agencies and their ads.

I’ll list down a few of my favourite quotes form the book here:

- Ideas are the most egalitarian thing we do. They can be done by anyone at any time. You don’t need any special qualifications to be able to do them or special equipment to conceive them: they can be created anywhere.

- Everyone walks out of the meeting feeling satisfied, except the creative people - the ones who have to come up with the magic.

- The brand is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world: a corner of someone’s mind.

- My view on briefs is: accept nothing and question everything. 

Also, a few highlights from the part where Hegarty discusses about client briefs:

The author mentions how important it is for the creative team to meet the client and discuss the brief face to face. This is because when briefed directly, the creative team can learn a lot more about the client’s worries, concerns, expectations through their choice of words and body language. With that said, it’s also important to never blindly accept the brief; to challenge it, interrogate it, question its very foundation. This is to explore, probe, understand and eventually expand upon what is in the brief. An intelligent brief understands the limitations of the process and functions as a way of kickstarting the search for that ingenious idea.

I also like how Hegarty candidly talks about his experience with famous agencies and clients, as it really gives you a sense of the industry!


Picture credits:
Figure 1-6: Personal sketches