Advertising Principles and Practice ( Project 1 )

3rd April 2017 - 2nd May 2017 (Week 2- Week 6 )
Jason Ong Ngie Min (0324104)
Advertising Principles and Practice 

Lecture 2 : Advertising and Marketing 

The lecturer begins the lecture by explaining the meaning of Marketing is, from it's definition, how marketing works and explained it in more detailed way metaphorically. We were then showed how advertising was a small part of the large marketing process. Besides, the lecturer also explained us the synchronisation of of the four marketing elements which is also called the 4P's of marketing. He then showed us a quote from Theodore C Levitt. Levitt claims that marketing is a strategy about developing a demand for a product and fulfil client's needs. On the other hand, advertising seeks to communicate the client convincingly that this should be the client's choice amongst the range that is available in the market.

Learning outcome from the lecture:

• Marketing need values for someone otherwise it is pointless
• Value is key
• Understand the consumers properly (insight) when any marketing is conducted

Forum

We know that Marketing functions in a capitalist system, how does marketing function in a Communist System (Economic Model)?

My Answer 

Communist System is an economic system where the government owns most of the factors of production also, decides the allocation of resources and what products and services will be provided. The end goal in this system is to eliminate class distinctions among people, where everyone shared equally in the proceeds of society, when government would no longer be needed. Besides, another major feature of communist economies was their emphasis on the country's self- reliance, making it discouraging international trades and investments. Although the purpose of Communist System was to serve the needs of the lower class, communist government simps became restrictive until it exploited their people to acclaim their own power which I think is inadequate. 

Lecture 3 : Creative and effective advertising message for a specific target audience

The lecturer started the lecture and asked us how long do we take to be attracted or not from an ad. He then asked us 'Are you creative?' , followed by ' why' . Individually, we answered the questions and then we were briefed on how creativity is defined and the two involved processes which is thinking, then processing. The lecturer then brief us the reasons why people are motivated to be creative by Robert E. Franken which are

1. need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation 
2. need to communicate ideas and values
3. need to solve problems

Besides, the slides is then continue with one of Franken's quote which sums up that we have to know to views things differently as a designer in order to be creative and the ability to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. The lecturer also showed us Drewnainy & Jewler's suggestions on the context of advertising requires any creative ad to make relevant connection between brand and its target audience, present a selling idea and be unexpected. After showing several impressive ads from the power point, we then introduced about segmentation of a consumer market. We are separated into groups of two or three to find the definition of behaviouristic, geographic, demography and psychographic. 

Learning outcomes from the lecture:

• Creativity is a collective point of view, not from an artist point of view
• Choose a topic that stand out but make research first
• Find an angle that never been used in order to be creative
• The process of creating an ad have to be enjoyable in order to create something effective

Forum

1) Describe creativity in your own words.

;2) Is Marketing Evil?

My Answers
1) To me, creativity is when one has the ability to imagine, visualise and think critically of it's original idea and then was translated into a message or any works of art.

2) In my view, marketing is not evil and the reason is because most of them are trying to convey the message of any particular product that is going to be marketed. Hence, marketing is not playing any malicious part of the society but they are just there to be advertised , giving the message to the audience to buy the products.

Lecture 4: Advertising Practice in Support of Marketing

The lecturer begins the class by giving the definitions of Advertising and also Marketing. He also explained briefly about advertising in a free market economy to gain a deeper understanding of Advertising practice. Then, the lecturer asked us to Google quickly, understand and explain some advertising strategies like:

• product differentiation 
• market segmentation
• positioning 

Part 2: the lecture continues with five advertising practices in support of marketing.

• understanding the target audience 
• the planning process
• the creative process
• reaching the target audience 
• integrated marketing communications

Learning outcomes from the lecture:

• Advertising is Fine Market
• Product positioning means the way how we intend to position our brand to the consumer's "Perception"
• TV ads can be targeted too, but not as much as social media

Lecture 5: Roles and Responsibilities of an Advertising Art Director

For this week, the lecturer unfortunately did not manage to give the lecture hence we are ought to read it by ourselves. From the powerpoint, the lecture explains the role of an Art Director, where this role fits in the organisational hierarchy of an advertising agency. The lecture also briefly explained job scopes of an Art Director followed by several interesting visuals . An Art Director simply 'borrows' from the world around us, and recreates new things out of it.

Forum

Is there a difference between a creative director and an Art Director? Do both occupations share any similarities?

My Answers
In my view, there is a difference between a creative director and an art director.

A creative director plays the role where concepts, ideations, philosophy are planned and leaded. Also, a creative director supervise the creative process and give guidance to the creative people that work under them . 

An Art Director on the other hand tries to come up innovative ideas for the visual elements of any conducted project in all kinds of media.

They both share the same similarities in a way that both of them make sure that every work is on track and above all, easily to be understood.

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Instruction

Project 1 (15%) The Brief
Insight. (Taylor’s Design School)
Duration of Assignment
4 Weeks (Briefing on Week 2)
DEADLINE
Week 6 (1 May 2017)
DescriptionThe student has the task of researching and analysing the brand/product: The Design School for the purpose of developing “insight” that will eventually be used to develop creative and effective advertising message.
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.
Figure 1. Brand logo.
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 strategeis.
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/visitng/using the product/brand or talking to a sales person or visiting the retail outlets/company/institution, etc. Secondary research entails data gathering from, websites, magazines, journals, previous advertisements, literature, etc. You will approach this by looking into the 3 areas mentioned below:
1. Brand & Product insight
To do the above you will need view the links below:

• What is SWOT analysis? 
  http://articles.bplans.com/how-to-perform-swot-analysis/ 
• What does the end result of a SWOT analysis look like? http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/2372-durex.html 
• Visit the institution, Speak to the sales and marketing people, identify key informers and contact them to obtain any key insights. 
  2. Target Audience insight 

• Segmentation for Gen Y: Behaviouristic, Geographic, Demographic & Psychographic 
• Who are they? What do they look like? What motivates them? What are their beliefs? 
• Empathy: What they say? What they do? What they feel? What they think? 
  Its good to know what people always do (Behaviour), that’s knowledge. But its even more important to know why they do the things they do (Motivation), that’s insight. If you know their motivation you can predict their actions, that’s foresight. If you can predict their actions you can take advantage of the outcome, that’s power.

  
  

  Figure 2: Brand logo

The Design School @ Taylor’s

Always try to seek and understand the, bigger picture and the deeper motives.
Resource:
http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/segmentation/ http://study.com/academy/lesson/generation-y-definition-characteristics-personality-traits.html http://www.generationy.com/about-generation-y-in-the-workforce/characteristics/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEDXSZBeYQ8
3. Competitors (Malaysia Only)

• Who are the competitors? (SWOT analysis) 
• How and where do they advertise? 
• What is their advertising strategy? (USP/SMP) 
• What do their Ads look like? 
• What is the difference in the product? 
• How is it sold? 
  Requirements 
  The student must document the above research and analysis in their eportfolio and A4 hardcopy portfolio. The results of the research must be collated, analysed and presented in a PowerPoint presentation. Identify the strategy and creative idea. This will be uploaded to your eportfolio and printed as thumbnail slides 4 per-page for your A4 clear sheet hardcopy portfolio. 
  Submission 

1. All gathered information (failures, printouts, websites, images, charts, etc.) documented logically and 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 the duration of the project in one post. 
3. Powerpoint presentation of final analysis: Brand/Product, Target Audience and Competitor. Printed as a handout, 4 slides per page. 

Objectives
1. To develop students ability to gain and utilise insight for effective advertising

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Research: Brand and Product Insight

For the past four weeks, I have conducted a research for project 1 which includes insights of the target audience which is Gen Y, collecting datas from TDS, also conducting primary and also secondary research to gather all the informations required.

Primary Research 
My classmates and I made an appointment with the TDS's marketing group to gather all the informations we could get. 

Figure 30: TDS SWOT Analysis

Figure 31: TDS Competitive Environment information 

Figure 32: TDS Target Audience's information (Student)

Figure 33: TDS Target Audience's information (Parents)

I performed a SWOT analysis after the gathered information from the marketing group, based on the example provided.

Parent Company	Taylor’s University
Category	Education
Sector	Private University
USP	Nurturing the hybrid designer of the future
Strengths	Shared Experience Number 1 private university in Malaysia Graduate showcase event Internalisation : Activity Week, Field Trips , Site Visits Taylor’s University (TU) trains both students in both creativity and design-thinking aspects
Weakness	Brand awareness not strong compared to other universities like The One Academy (TOA) No industry collaboration
Opportunities	Fees are not the highest among competitors. Highest is The One Academy Approach to design -  competitors are skewed to skill-focused learning Parents are willing to pay to get a luxury brand Premium education Positive business reception Growing recent market
Threats	TOA has more design related programme- more niche and focused TOA’s dual award with Hertfordshire TOA has strong business partnership- Pixar
Competition	The One Academy (TOA) Lim Kok Wing University (LKW)

* In which referring to the general restrictions in advertising as imused by the relevant government department under the home ministry

Secondary Research 
I took leaflets from TDS to have an overall reading towards the informations they provided and also searched their website as well and looked through the advertisements TDS has advertised before. 


                                                                                               

Figure 34: TDS official website

Figure 35 : TDS official website

Figure 36: TDS official website 

Figure 37: TDS official website

Figure 38: TDS sample ads 

Figure 39: TDS sample ads 

Figure 40 : TDS leaflet 

Figure 41: TDS leaflet

Conclusion :

The Design School however is lacking of their brand awareness specifically advertising The Design School itself. Most of the advertisements available are promoting regarding the campus which is Taylor's University or Taylor's College. The informations provided are very informative as it gives a good impression about the brand but with a little help from the marketing and advertising group and with more brand awareness strategies, TDS could have a good potential to be widely known. 

Target Audience Insight
I began my research by looking through the definition of Gen Y, the years and also some of their characteristics.

According to Kate Lyon,

(Definition)

• Gen Y are a group of population born between 1980 and the mid-1990s are currently aged between 20 - 37. 
• They are also known as the Millennials . 
• Gen Y has the largest cohort since the Baby Boomers,  their high numbers reflect their births as that of their parent generation. (theguardian.com 2017)

1.Behaviour

      According to WJ Schroer,

• Gen Y kids are known as incredibly sophisticated, technology wise, immune to most traditional marketing and sales pitches as they are not only grew with it, they've seen it all and been exposed to it all since early childhood. 
• Gen Y members are much more racially and ethnically diverse.
• Less brand loyal
• Gen Y kids often raised in dual income or single parent families have been more involved in family purchases (socialmarketing.org 2015)

Behaviours ( Malaysia)

• Gen Y in Malaysia buys mostly from online retailers via Facebook and Instagram ( Muda, 2016)

I then also found some studies and statistics about education statistics across millennials.

Figure 42: Percentage of Millennials taking further education  (brandongaille.com , 2013)

2. Demographics

I did several research towards the populations of Millennials in Malaysia to get the approximate data for more in depth studies towards Gen Y

Figure 43: Estimated populations of Gen Y according to age ( livepopulation.com, 2014)

Figure 44: Estimated populations of Gen Y according to age ( livepopulation.com, 2014)

Figure 45: Estimated population of Gen Y according to gender (indexmundi.com ,2014)

According to the definition above, it can be generalised that Generation Y is born between 1980 and mid 1990s. This would mean that in 2017, Generation Y will be between 20-37 years in age.

3. Geographics

From the results of Department of Statistics Malaysia, the following map was drafted:

Figure 46: Population of Malaysians according to individual state in 2014 (dosm.gov.my, 2014)

According the studies that is conducted, Selangor has the highest percentage of population which is 19.9% while Wilayah Persekutuan has the percentage of 5.6%.

I also managed to gather informations about the statistics about international students that is currently studying in Malaysia.

Figure 47: Population of international students in Malaysia (iss.okstate.edu , 2017)

Based on the results :

• Students from India has the highest population which is 472 students , followed by China with the amount of 386 students

4. Psychographics

An article that is written by Valentine and Powers in 2003 provide the facts on the psychographics of the Millennials. I have summarised them below :

• As gen-y graduates from college and enters the work force, their earning potential will make them even more important as a powerful consumer group.
• Gen Y represents powerful aggregate spending.
• Skeptical towards traditional advertising
• Members of gen y are the least likely of any population under the age of 60 to use e-mail on a regular basis and the most likely of any age cohort to utilize texting as a regular mode of communication.
• Gen Y is mostly attracted to wide variety media regularly using blogs, reviews and social networks to openly express their interest and feelings.
• Males and females millennials have also been shown to differ in their attitudes towards web advertising, with males exhibiting more positive beliefs about and attitudes towards web advertising than females.
• Women can decode the nonverbal cues in an advertisement more accurately than men.
• The internet ( 49%) and television ( 54% ) were rated as high to very high importance as a source of advertising information.

Informations that gathered from Grefe and Vandiver in 2013 that is talking about psychographics in designers from Gen Y.

• Millennials pursue the rewards of creativity as a profession with enthusiasm, an unhindered sense of possibilities and non-ideological pragmatism.
• They often exude confidence, which may or may not be earned. When coupled with curiosity, this can fuel extraordinary explorations.
• Millennials seem very comfortable operating in that looser space, pushing their own boundaries.

Conclusion:
The Millennials in Malaysia has a large market group to work with but with their characteristics of being immune towards traditional marketing and their dependant towards the use of social media. It will be not as easy to gain the target audience's brand loyalty.

Competitors

• The One Academy ( TOA )
• Lim Kok Wing University ( LKW )

I have made some research on some competitors present in the Malaysian market . It is important to research the competition in the market to be able to asses the environment the product is being subject to. 

The One Academy (TOA)

The One Academy ( TOA ) is a design institute headquartered in Bandar Sunway, established in 1991 and is known for it's Animation programme.

SWOT analysis:

Parent Company	The One Academy (TOA)
Category	Education
Sector	Private University
USP	Masters trained Masters
Strength	Industry Collaboration : Pixar Has good amount of provided facilities Dual award (degree) with Hertfordshire, IA Design (by Hertfordshire)   Testimonies from strong industry partners
Weakness	Fees are expensive Animation programme are the programme that is always advertised Student experience Building facilities is not that good
Opportunities	Enlarging the campus’s space to obtain a more progressive environment
Threats	Economical crisis issues - because the fees are quite expensive, not everyone is able to pay a big amount of money for their tuition fees
Competition	The Design School @ Taylor’s University Lim Kok Wing University

Official website:

Figure 48: The One Academy's official website

Figure 49: The One Academy's official website

The official website has good direction where they also have enough information for people to read and have in-depth infos for people are decided to pursue to TOA.

Available ads:

Figure 50: The One Academy's ad

Figure 51: The One Academy's ad

Advertisements that TOA posted in their Facebook page. The ads posted mainly emphasize TOA as a global art and design academy

Lim Kok Wing University (LKW)


Lim Kok Wing University ( LKW ) is a private international university with a presence across Africa, Europe and also Asia established in 1991. It was formally known as Lim Kok Wing University College of Creative Technology ( 2000-2010)

SWOT analysis:

Parent Company	Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology
Category	Education
Sector	Private University
USP	Industry Skills and Employability
Strength	Student experience Global learning exposure across Africa, Europe and Asia Internalisation
Weakness	Location of the campus is too far from the centralised area Design courses is not emphasized as frequent as it used to be.
Opportunities	Moving the campus into a more strategic location Focusing back what they are well known before which is design
Threats	Internal threats
Competition	The Design School @ Taylor’s University The One Academy

Official websites:

Figure 52: Lim Kok Wing University's official website

Figure 53: Lim Kok Wing University's official website

The website generally do not emphasise the design course related they offered and it is not as attractive as the other competitor's official website.

Available ads:

Figure 54: Lim Kok Wing University's ad (personal documentation)

Figure 55: Lim Kok Wing University's ad (personal documentation)

Conclusion:

From the data that we collected and analyse, I can conclude that this brand has poor marketing and advertising strategies though Taylor’s University is well known in Malaysia and it has good amount of informations in their official website and leaflets. The targets audience which is the Millennials are skeptical towards traditional advertising and are technological informed. Also, the competitors like The One Academy is rich with their design course related advertisements which The Design School did not make a good effort towards it.

Final Slides

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Feedback:

Week 1 
(in response from the forum post)

Be precise on choosing words wisely as it might deliver the message wrongly. Furthermore, justify every claim that has been made.

Week 2 
(in response on my weekly idea sketches)
The sketches does not really relate to the word 'hybrid' which is in the SMP instead most of the sketches are related to the word 'nurture'. Emphasize the word 'hybrid' more in my sketches. Tagline are mostly unrelated and thus work more on making the tagline that suits the visuals. 

(in response to our forum post)
'Good answer', said the lecturer. He also mentioned the day before that we can practice their selfishness into our system.

Week 3
(in response on my weekly idea sketches)
Certain sketches could be expanded as I think weird looking ads works well. Moreover, start to generate ideas that could be expanded more or AKA "legs".

(in response on the forum post)
Always be skeptical what been said, make sure to stand rigid on every answer that is answered and also make lots of reserach before answering any questions.

Week 4
(in response of the weekly idea sketches)

Communicate sketches with SMP, also focus more on 'HYBRID' and make sure sketches is related to tagline. Keep creating more fresh ideas instead of creating sketches with 'legs'.

Week 5

(in response of weekly idea sketches)

Some sketches have potential but work harder on tag lines as the visuals sometimes doesn't work together. Also, focus on the previous sketches that could work and then reflect it into a better version for the following week. Explore more visuals also but will be better if the creative idea is already set. 

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Reflection:

1) Experience 
During week one, it was an exhausting day for me as we had class till 8 pm also, I used up too much of my energy to focus in the class which is tiring. Week two; I was frustrated with myself as the idea sketches is still not meeting with the SMP, also a little bit exhausted from the class. Week three; it was tough for me to generate ideas and be more focused in the class but on the other hand, I am slowly started to be more participative in class to give feedbacks to my classmates. Week four; the lecturer are giving us ideas and help us out even more and I felt encouraged to proceed with the given project. Week five; I felt that the class is getting more interesting and less exhausting maybe because we are keen to learn more from the lecturer.

2) Observation
In week one, I witnessed that we are quite shocked and also nervous to attend the class because it is our first time having the lecturer to guide us for this module and look wise, he seems pretty strict , but he was not. :) Week two;  I observed that I wasn't really sure and a little bit skeptical in the class especially showing my idea sketches to the class. Week three; I witnessed that my classmates and I are getting used to the class as we progressively showed the lecturer our idea sketches, discussing forum questions and having in-class exercises. Week four; I observed that the lecturer are getting more in-depth towards the module as he explained advertising in a broad way. I also noticed that the idea sketches that our class came up with are having similar ideas. Week five; I witnessed that our class is getting more comfortable to each other where we gave feedbacks from our ideations and helping out what is best for the sketches.

3)Findings
Week one; I found that advertising isn't just a random strategy of selling a given product. It takes a lot of studies, understandings and process to market something. Week two; I discovered that marketing and advertising are not the same thing though they are under a same roof. Besides, I found out that the some of our classmates came up with a really good idea for the weekly sketches which motivates me to push harder. Week three; I found out that internet resources isn't enough for our idea sketches. What we need is to think harder and start explore more ideas in a more detailed manner. Week four; I discovered that    taking notes from the lecturer is very useful for me and I believe for everyone because it helps us a lot for the documentation and also more knowledge instead of just learning from the lecture notes. Week five; I found out that I am getting more lazy to finish up the weekly task and project even though we are having a holiday which is not good because procrastination will lead me to a disastrous final outcomes.

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Book of the weeks:

(Week 1)
The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry 

Figure 56: The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry

This book basically explained the need of concept in every advertising which is the most important lesson. Pete Barry's outlines is simple but fundamental rules about how to 'push' an ad to turn it into something exceptional, while exercise throughout will help us assess our own work and that of others. 

(Week 2)
Advertising Outdoors by David Bernstein

Figure 57: Advertising Outdoor by David Bernstein

This book basically analyses the dynamic, exciting exterior medium of outdoor advertising that has until now remained largely undocumented. This book focuses at the art and ingenuity of art directors and copywriters who devise the artwork and ideas, and also explores how their creative input drives an industry that supplies large-scale frames like billboards, transit shelters, bus sides, train cards, phone boxes, taxis, airships, and many other location opportunities. This book is very informative yet exciting to read because it gives several solutions for outdoor advertising issues and many more that I can apply in this module. 

(Week 3)

Creative Engine by Wang Shaoqiang

Figure 58: Creative Engine by Wang Shaoqiang

This book discussed and said that idea is the soul of advertising and the people nowadays pay more attention to the concept, representation, message and implication of advertising. Wang also mentioned that the inspiration of originality comes from life and observation and this is the key to be novel, efficient and improved. 

(Week 4)

 The Copy Book by Anthony Simonds

Figure 59: The Copy Book by Anthony Simonds

This book is telling about the truth about what good advertising is about and showed 32 of the world's top advertising writers go about their work. It helps to teach advertising or plan to discuss the subject with students.

(Week 5)

Advertising Creative Strategy, Copy, Design by Tom Altstiel and Jean Grow

Figure 60: Advertising Creative Strategy, Copy, Design by Tom Altsiel and Jean Grow

This book is stressing about key principles, illustrating them, and then providing practical information students like us and working professionals can use. It also delivers a combination of industry expert inserts as well as fundamental principles to developing and creating impactful advertising/ marketing.