Sunday 29 May 2011

APOLOGY BRIEF

This brief was to apologize for an inanimate object we would probably never EVER have to apologize for. If you can do that, you can do anything! I had to apologize for slippers, so chose the view point of: Slippers are bad for your health and restrict your bone movement when you walk - so saying sorry for the destruction of your feet.

Sunday 3 April 2011

LIVE BRIEF: MARMITE

Okay, so im helping a few second years out with one of their live briefs, they are on the Buisness side of advertising and have asked me to be their Creative and come up with ideas and concepts. This brief is for Mindshare to promote the product Marmite, iv got quite a few ideas, and with a budget of £5million anythings possible! Everyone already knows the slogan "you either love it or you hate it", but i wanted to go for a different slant on it. Demographic: current users/early twenties.

My first idea involves the well known game of Russian Roulette - the loser gets the shot of Marmite.
My next idea involves the summertime, everyone loves a good water fight or a well aimed flour bomb yes? Why not make this the best summer yet and mix a few Marmite bombs up in it! Inviting anyone and everyone to the event, builds a sense of community among the lovers AND the haters.
How about growing plants in its nutritious goodness?
Or come up with 100 different uses. They could also open this to the public, so people who have other ideas can post them up on a website.
Have you heard the myth where people smear peanut butter on the roof of their pets mouth to keep them busy? Why not try Marmite?
An advert idea to get an employee out of a day at work - their butter is contaminated with remnants of butter, so they ring up work apologizing for not being able to come into work for having a "fungal infection".

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Its mothers day. BUT also Easter soon! So i posted my mums present with an army of easter chickens on the inside.

PROMOTE A SHIT JOB - VIA DIRECT MAIL

Each person was given a different job. I was given "Tele-sales". During this period i learnt a lot about the lives of employees, i went to the nearest one in Wycombe and interviewed the manager, even got offered a job in the process, but i couldn't find a specific reason for someone to WANT to do the job, as most people dislike them. I started off on a sarcastic tangent, coming up with this video to try set the scene.
But the more i thought about it, and worked it, it just didnt flow, and i couldn't promote it. So back to the drawing board. I wrote before "most people dislike them", which means a small portion of the world does, i came to the conclusion it is mainly lonely people who haven't got anyone to talk to appreciate them the most. This opened my group up to: old people, people who have been bullied, victims of domestic violence.
I found Domestic Violence the most interesting, so my tele-sales people are undercover DV's from the well know charity Woman's Aid. Their purpose is to ring up the houses, and if many of the symptoms are recognized from the phone call then steps will be taken. That is step one.

Now, i had to bring Direct Mail into this (Direct Mail is more formally known as junk mail, but done well it can be very effective. Most people don't like DM as they get a shit load of leaflets through there door -not as many these days as company's are trying to be "greener"), so i have chosen to send post cards to the people we fear may be victims of Domestic Violence. Postcards are pretty much non-traceable as you don't write a return address, they will have foreign post marks, and addressed to a different person than the abused.

They will have subtle tips and hints, and just a friendly voice to make them know they are not alone. If they come to a point when they want to escape, that is what they are for.
The theory is, as there is no return address, it will just be lying round the house until it is put in the bin. A post card addressed to someone else looks like a mistake so it doesn't matter how many you send, its not an automatic assumption it is for someone in the household. Post cards are step two.
Iv also thought about sending undercover telesales workers as door-to-door-sales-people as well, for example, someone could go to the house (and as an excuse) say "for having requested a survey to have a conservatory in the garden". Which is step three.

TRACKING

This was to do with tracking somone down who you dont know anything about apart from where they work. We had to track down an "ex Bucks student", who used to be on my advertising course a few years ago. It could be a man, or a woman, they could be a secretary or the creative director, they might not even work there any more! So. We were each given an agencey, the weekend and our heads to try track down our person. Lots of people found theirs on the agency websites, i wasn't so lucky. Even after internet stalking, a trip to the Agency, a blagging past 2 receptionists, and an almost-street take over with a couple of posters i still wasn't any wiser...

ROOM PERVING

Since starting advertising, i feel a lot of my projects are to do with perving on people. I think the technical term is "getting an insight", but when your told to go into someones room you don't know, go through their draws looking at their belongings and make assumptions on their lifestyle and background.. Then i think im justified to to call it perving:)



BOREDOM IN HALLS

Halls get a bit boring sometimes, i think its really nice when people put themselves out there to make life more interesting (some might call it annoying) for other people. I decided to make a string maze for my flatmate's to enjoy -weirdly they didn't really appreciate it..
The view from my room.
General view down the corridor

FLOWER POWER

So i spent my Christmas working in a florists, it was brilliant! I started off making grave posiesWorking my way onto bunches of flowers
Then onto dressing the outside of the shop