Advertising Principles & Practices || Project 2
November 02, 201713/10/17 - 3/11/17
Week 7 - Week 9
Beatrix Leong Yi Wen
0331043
Advertising Principles & Practice
Project 2: Media Strategy
Lectures:
Lecture 4 || Week 7, 13/10/17This week I was absent for the class therefore I missed the lecture. However, by consulting my classmates and the lecture notes given online, I was able to derive these learnings. There are two types of media used in advertising: traditional media and new media. Traditional media consists of mediums such as print ads in newspapers, posters, billboard etc. New media refers to advertising via social media, internet and generally through the digital world. Media strategy is also a key topic. This refers to choosing an appropiate medium for the advertisment. We also learnt about the 3Ms, Market, Money, Media, Mechanics and Methodology.
Week 8, 27/10/17
No lecture.
Instructions:
Project 2 (20%)
The Brief
Advertising Campaign: Media Mix (or Strategy)
Duration of Assignment 2
Weeks (Briefing on Week 7)
DEADLINE
Week 9
Description
The student now has the task of developing an Advertising Campaign – a total of 5 ads across different/same media – for The Design School @Taylor’s University. Utilising the insights researched (Project 2) and the ideas developed (Project 1), choose the most effective combination for the target audience (consumer) in context of the local market. The most important, is an idea with legs, and one that resonates with the target audience (consumer).
In part 1 of the advertising campaign, the focus is on developing the media mix, which media will be used, where, and when. A media mix is a “combination of advertising channels employed in meeting the promotional objectives of a marketing plan or campaign”. It is the process of analysing and choosing media for an advertising campaign.
What are the considerations for choosing the media mix? Arens & Schaefer (2005) suggest the 5Ms: Market, Money, Media, Mechanics and Methodology (Please refer to the PowerPoint presentation on Advertising Message & Media Strategy).
The brand: The Design School @Taylor’s University
The product: The Design School (See figure 1.)
SMP/USP: Nurturing The Hybrid Designer Of The Future.
Target Audience: Gen Y.
Requirements
The student must document the above analysis in their eportfolio and A4 hardcopy portfolio. The results of the analysis must be collated and presented in a PowerPoint presentation. This will be uploaded to your eportfolio and printed as thumbnail slides 4 per-page for your A3 clear sheet hardcopy portfolio. The use of visuals, diagrams, charts, time-lines are highly encouraged.
Submission
1. All gathered information (printouts, websites, images, charts, etc.) documented chronologically in the A4 Clear Sheet folder. The works must be labelled and dated.
2. All gathered information (screen grabs, websites, images, charts, etc.) documented logically and chronologically in the eportfolio for every week, for the duration of the project in one post.
3. Powerpoint presentation of final analysis and choice of the media mix with relevant visuals, diagrams, charts, time-lines included, along the lines of the 5Ms. Printed as a hand outs, 4 slides per page and presented.
Objectives
1. To develop students ability to synthesise knowledge. 2. To develop students ability to gain and utilise insight for effective advertising 3. To develop students ability to determine a media mix based on analysis.
Introduction:
Gen Y are highly driven and have a need to feel empowered. They are also very community minded and feel a need to be engaged and connected in order to have a sense of belonging. They are also technologically dependent and are often digitally savvy. (AIF, 2017), (Nahai, 2013)
Within Gen Y, there is a high amount of diversity. They value individuality and are socially aware. Their mindset tends to be optimistic and confident. Gen Y tends to be distrustful over mainstream media and prefer alternative and new media as their source of news. Gen Y prefer brands that have a customised feel and they will have a stronger brand loyalty to a brand with personality. (Milo, 2017), (AIF, 2017)
Considering the above insights regarding Gen Y, the TDS advertisement will use a visually strong campaign that has a shocking visual impact by combining two unexpected components together. This will give the TDS brand personality and a sense of individuality to attract Gen Y. As Gen Y spends an average of 5.4 hours on social media daily (Milo, 2017), it makes sense to use social media as the main form of advertising. As Gen Y communicates with images best (Milo, 2017) it is important to make sure media used is visually impactful hence posters will be used as well.
Social media advertising:
Social media is defined as forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos). (Merriam Webster, 2017)
Advertising through social media is definitely a surefire way to attract Gen Y due to the high amount of time they spend online. In addition, it is an obvious choice for modern brands. It is able to reach the target audience based on being able to identify online users shared interest (age, occupation, address, etc). Also, it can reach users while they are on their phones which is a good way to grab attention without being disruptive. (Garguly, 2017)
Within Malaysia, Facebook is the most used social media, with 13.3 million users as at July 2013. The highest users are aged 18-24 at 34.5% (born from 1990 to1996). Next, the second-highest at 29.5% are aged 25-34 (born from 1980 to 1989). Lastly, 16.3% are those aged 13-17 years (born from 1997 to 2001). (Creative Paramedics, 2017)
From this data, we can conclude that social media, specifically Facebook, is perennial to the average Malaysian Gen Y.
I then proceeded to do extra research on Gen Y's use of social media and managed to collect some interesting and valuable data:
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| Millennials Infographic |
Source: https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/03/social-media-usage-by-age.html
As seen in this infographic above, millennials spend much time online and most of them are avid users of Facebook, Youtube and email.
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| Gen Y social media use data |
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| Gen Y social media use graph |
Source: https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/millennials-social-media/
From this data and chart, we can conclude millennials spend plenty of time on social media, especially Facebook with 57% of them using it daily.
Why social media advertising:
84% of millennials distrust traditional advertising (Kavanangh, 2013). In addition, social media is an obvious choice for modern brands to use as it can reache target audience by using data and search history they share to target which users to show ads to, for example their age, occupation, area, those searching for universities, etc. It can also reach users while they’re using apps on their phone which is a good way to grab their attention without being disruptive (Garguly, 2017).
Gen Y tends to be distrustful over mainstream media and prefer alternative and new media as their source of news. Hence, they are more responsive to social media (Kavanangh, 2013). 71% of Gen Y use social media daily with an average of 5.4 hours- therefore social media is an obvious way to advertise to them (Milo, 2017).
Facebook:
As can be gathered with the previous data, Facebook is the most popular social media with millennials. Thus, Facebook will be used for the TDS campaign. Based on user analytics, Facebook ads will be targeted towards Gen Y who are in Malaysia and countries where many TDS international students come from. It will also be based on their search history such as those who have been searching for Taylor’s and/or design courses.
The advertisements will lead viewers to the a Facebook page created specifically to advertise TDS and post media such as regarding students work. This will generate interest in prospective students after viewing appealing student work. Thus, they can then proceed to the TDS website to find out more information and enquire further.
The advertisements will appear all year round but be more frequent and intense during enrolment seasons such as after IGCSEs/A levels and SPM/STPM.
Facebook case study:
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| Threadless Facebook advertisment |
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| Threadless Facebook page |
Threadless is a brand that allows artists to sell their artworks on T-shirts, print on demand. They showcase their artworks in a tasteful, attractive and aesthetically pleasing manner, rotating different artworks for the banner. TDS Facebook page should take a similar approach with student’s work.
Instagram:
As can be gathered with the previous data, Instagram is one of the top three choices of social media with Gen Y.
Therefore, Instagram will be used as it can attract responsiveness from Gen Y. Instagram ads will appear in users feed based on a specific target audience demographic such as age, region, etc.
The ads will direct the viewer to an Instagram page dedicated to the work and life of TDS students.
Ads will be shown throughout the year but will increase in frequency and target audience size during enrolment seasons such as after IGCSEs/A levels and SPM/STPM.
Instagram case study:
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| The New School's Instagram |
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| The New School Instagram advertisement |
The New School has a comprehensive Instagram page that features a variety of snippets such as life on campus, students, student work and student activities. The photography and quality of media is high and has aesthetic appeal. TDS should also take on this approach as it makes current students feel involved and generates a sense of belonging with them. In addition, it attracts prospective students by showing them highlights of life on campus.
Print media advertising:
Social media definition: Print media advertising is a form of advertising that uses physically printed media, such as magazines and newspapers, to reach consumers, business customers and prospects. Advertisers also use digital media, such as banner ads, mobile advertising, and advertising in social media, to reach the same target audiences. The proliferation of digital media has led to a decline in advertising expenditure in traditional print media. Advertising revenue for national newspapers, for example, fell from $7,653 million in 2000 to $3,777 million in 2011, according to the Newspaper Association of America (Linton, 2017).
Print media is considered mass media, and mass media as its name suggests is capable of reaching thousands or even millions of people- hence a very large audience is a guarantee. Successful brands are often known for having a notable presence in traditional mass media as printed ads are often associated psychologically with luxury. In addition, businesses tend to believe that traditional ads are necessary for good credibility, reputation and image. Research has also shown that people understand and remember printed ads three times better than digital ads. (Goh, 2017)
In Malaysia, there are also many good reasons to use print media advertising. Newspapers and TV make up 74.5 % of total media consumption in Malaysia (Goh, 2017) and 41.9% of total advertising revenue spent in 2016 went to newspapers (Wong, 2017). From this data, we can conclude that print media is far from dead in Malaysia.
Contrary to popular belief, print media is not lost to Gen Y either. Millennials consider print media as more trustworthy and authoritative and report a stronger emotional connection to messages delivered on paper. More than half ignore digital advertising, and instead pay more attention to direct mail and print advertising. This is partially because of growing up in a digital world, Gen Y enjoys a break from that by accessing traditional print media. Print media tends to feel more personal and creates more of an emotional connection with Gen Y than digital does. (Brown, 2017)
I proceeded to find more data about print media:
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| % Share of advertising expenditure in Malaysia (mediums) |
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| % Share of advertising expenditure in Malaysia (pie chart) |
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| Advertising expenditure growth in Malaysia |
From this data and chart, we can conclude print media still makes up a majority of the Malaysian advertising world, with the different varieties totalling up to a whopping 93.1%.
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| Millenials and media infographic |
Source: http://www.midaspr.co.uk/news-stories/new-research-reveals-print-habits-die-hard-with-millennial-readers/
From this infographic, we can clearly see that millennials and traditional media still go well together as 71% of millennials read print books and 63% read printed news or magazines.
Posters:
Advertising on billboards and posters gives advertisers the opportunity to reach consumers on the move. Putting posters in retail malls, for example, helps advertisers reach consumers close to the point of purchase. Posters or billboards in train stations, airports or busy town centers have the potential to reach large groups of consumers. Advertisers can change the messages on billboards and posters at a frequency of their choice. (Linton, 2017) In addition, outdoor advertisments are able to reach massive amounts of people. (Goh, 2017)
As can be gathered with the previous information, print media is effective in communicating with an audience, including Gen Y. Posters are one of the most effective ways of doing so.
Therefore, posters will be used as it can attract responsiveness from Gen Y and reach a huge audience as it is an outdoor media. Posters will be placed in strategic locations where many prospective students and parents can see it such as train stations, shopping malls, and in schools and colleges.
Posters will be posted throughout the year but will increase in intensity during enrolment seasons such as after IGCSEs/A levels and SPM/STPM.
Posters case study:
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| Posters in a mall |
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| Posters in a subway |
TDS advertisments should be printed as posters and placed in strategic locations such as examples shown above.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it in necessary to ensure a variety of media strategy is employed to target a wide and large enough audience. To do so, the advertising campaign will consist of five different advertisements all following a cohesive theme and concept. They will be conveyed to the target audience using a mix of different medias.
The advertising campaign revolves around the idea of combining two unexpected things together to create a visually shocking and attention grabbing campaign that can clearly convey the meaning of hybrid.
This is to portray and promote the idea of designers that are multitalented and multidisciplinary as well as able to come up with creative and unexpected ways to solve design problems. This will help TDS improve their brand awareness and reputaton.
References:
http://kesselskramer.com/system/files/072014/53c79733e60d817d9b000213/fancybox/subway.jpg?1405589349
First attempt:
Final slides:
Feedback:
Week 6:
A couple of my sketches have potential and I can explore some "legs" for them in the future. Some of the sketches are not acceptable as they do not show hybrid clearly enough.
Week 7:
None
Week 8:
I need to improve the formatting of the blog as some of it is wrong. Exercises should be a seperate post, but forum questions and lectures should be all together. Mr Vinod selected two of my sketches for me to develop further legs for the advertisment campaign.
Reflection:
Experience:
This project seems a little strange to me, as it is called a presentation yet we don't present it. At first I was confused and thought we were supposed to present it hence I created my Powerpoint slides in a presentation style with short bullet points for ease of presenting but in the end I found out on the submission day that we only need to submit the printed out slides, hence I had to redo my slides to a paragraph full sentence format. I find this pretty redundant as we could do the same thing in the blog as a written document instead of in slides that we don't even present. In the end, we are doing double work as we have to include the same content in our blog portfolio.
Observation:
I observed that this assignment is pretty heavy on research which is interesting as it really makes us think about the media used to convey advertisements to the public which is something that we may tend to overlook as designers.
Findings:
I find that this Project 2 was easier to do than Project 1, maybe because I have experience already with Project 1. I found that this advertising campaign in general is slightly redundant in general as it has been done by our seniors already and I feel that we are being used as a free marketing team for Taylor's for them to use our ideas and research for their own benefit.
Books & Articles:
Grids: Creative Solutions for Graphic Designers by Lucienne Roberts
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| Grids: Creative Solutions for Graphic Designers |
How To Advertise by Kenneth Roman & Jane Maas
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| How To Advertise |
This is a really helpful book I found in the library that is very comprehesive in the wide field of advertising. It really covers all the main bases of advertising such as how to attract an audience and how to convey your message effectively.
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| Kiss & Sell |
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