Advertising Principles & Practice // Week 9

30.10.2016 // Week 9
Chia Yee Hsean (0322352)
Advertising Principles & Practice
Project 3: Advertising Campaign (Part 2) - Art Direction


Instructions

Project 3: Advertising Campaign (Part 2) - Art Direction

The Brief:
Duration of Assignment:
5 Weeks (Briefing on Week 8)

DEADLINE:
Week 13 (21 Nov 2016)

Description:

The student now has the task of developing an Advertising Campaign – a total of 5 ads across different/same media – for the Playsafe Condom Brand, and its Air Ultra Thin product. Utilising the insights researched (Project 2), the ideas developed (Project 1), and the determined media strategy (Project 3), execute a well art directed, crafted, creative advertising campaign that maintains the mood, tone and most importantly conveys the ad message (USP/SMP) consistently throughout the different/same media. Create an advertising campaign that is on message, on target and makes a lasting impact visually and emotionally.

In part 2 of the advertising campaign, the focus is on the students ability to translate the creative idea into concepts that are well art directed and crafted ad. campaign, taking into consideration the target audience, media and the socio-cultural factors.

The brand: Playsafe Condoms
The product: Air Ultra Thin
SMP/USP: Extremely thin condom for extra sensitivity
Target Audience: Gen Y


Requirements:

The student must document their progress in their eportfolio and the A4 hardcopy portfolio. The final results must be printed out for the A4 hardcopy portfolio, and the Adobe PDF and JPEGs of the final artworks must be uploaded to your eportfolio. Ensure all aspects of your journey in this process is documented – failures, successes, epiphanies, sketches, visual research, etc.

Submission:

1. All gathered information (failures, successes, epiphanies, sketches, visual research, etc.) documented chronologically in the A4 Clear Sheet folder. The works must be labelled and dated.
2. All gathered information (failures, successes, epiphanies, sketches, visual research, screen grabs, websites, images, etc.) documented chronologically in the eportfolio for every week, for the duration of the project.
3. A3 print outs of the individual ads from the campaign and simulated print outs of what it would look like in its actual setting.

Objectives:

1. To develop students ability to ideate effectively.
2. To develop students ability to synthesise knowledge.
3. To develop students ability to gain and utilise insight for effective advertising
4. To develop students ability to create and execute an effective ad. message
5. To develop students ability to determine a media mix based on analysis.

Progress:

I showed Mr Vinod a very rough draft of what the ad might look like in terms of layout/composition as well as the typography used. He commented that the stick animal drawings still look too serious (not immature/childish/funny enough), and also suggested that I try out different mediums and sketches over the holidays. 

(please ignore the typeface)

Tried some stencil typefaces but they look kinda trashy lol

More stencil-esque typefaces. I decided to go with the Irresponsible Direction typeface.

Reflection

Experience: Everyone in class showed some progress to Mr Vinod. We also had a consultation session on Friday, which I showed Mr Vinod my digital sketches for the stick animals.

Observation: Classes this week were a little quiet. I was a bit hesitant to show Mr Vinod my work, although I did towards the end.

Findings: Everyone (including me) is starting to feel drained from classes and the looming deadlines. I'll have to watch out and not let this fear of mistakes delay my workflow..

Book of The Week

The book of this week is titled Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. As wordy and boring the book seemed, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to read through it and learn the facts. I was focused on the chapter regarding repositioning the competition, as it was relevant for the Playsafe brand. 

Repositioning the competition in this sense would mean replacing your competitors in the minds of the consumers. To put it simply, to move a new idea or product into the mind, you must first move an old one out. 

The book gave a lot of real-life examples of successful brand repositioning. But it also talked about repositioning vs. comparative ads. “We’re better than our competitors” isn’t repositioning. It’s comparative advertising and therefore flawed because they’re using the competitor as a benchmark and “if your brand is so good, how come its not the lead?”. Another interesting note is the debate on whether repositioning is legal and/or ethical, since such advertisements not only tend to name competitors but also break most of the conventional advertising rules.

The book has a very matter-of-fact tone, so it’s got a few good pointers in it!