Best 46 seconds of video you will ever watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvEiSa6_EPA&feature=share

Block 2 - Links

Wikipedia's Story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abercrombie_%26_Fitch#Marketing_and_advertising

Sales within Social Media

http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=mattrhodes/158024/learn-abercrombie-fitch-embed-social-media-every-customer-touchpoint

Sending a wrong message to kids?

http://www.helium.com/items/912006-Business-Issues

Bock 2

The Abercormbie and Fitch franchise have developed unique methods in advertising and marketing their brand. These methods are somewhat controversial but have been both highly effective and cost efficient. I am going to analyse the branding and marketing strategy of the Abercormbie and Fitch franchise and how this compares to other major high street stores. In particular, I will be focusing on particular marketing techniques they employ such as promoting their brand through word of mouth as opposed to billboard/television/magazine advertisements and their use of in store employees to model during seasonal promotions as opposed to using paid professionals. 

Instore Employees

Getting ready for the show!

Lots of indecisive decisions and many group meetings later, we have eventually chosen what ideas we feel work and which don't. Our final meeting took place last week (as upsetting as that was for all of us), so we cloud finalise chosen ideas and to generate a powerpoint for our presentation the following day. This powerpoint worked as evidence for the audience to see as Louise and myself talked through our proposal. We structured our presentation in a generic order including an introduction, showing identified problems with the i, initial ideas and final outcomes etc. Our rough list (not exactly in order) was as follows:

1. Gavin 

– Introduction (show slide with brief description) 

- Present identified problems

– Present initial ideas/research

- we did investigation posters where we placed A1 sheets of paper with specific questions around the university.
Questions: What article do you read in newspapers?
What newspapers do you buy?
Emphasise how these techniques did not work and how we felt we needed to get face-to-face opinions with our target market to collect more in-depth answers.

- Problems with the availability
- The main problems with the availability of the i is that most shops do not sell it. However, the shops that do sell it have failed to place the product in an adequate area. The i could be found underneath lost of different papers and due to the design of the front cover, the logo was hidden.
One of the strategies was to get as many students to go into local shops to ask for the i newspaper. This was to analyse the the reaction of the shops to see if the amount of i newspapers which they had in stock, would increase.
(show e-mail from Carnoustie shop as evidence)

4. Louise

-Booklet
-We had an idea of having a small booklet within the i that was purely just for students, however this wouldn’t be cost effective and the booklet would consequently take away from the newspaper itself.

- With regards to poster design we started out initially making posters which advertised the i generally around the campus and what the newspaper had to offer. We played on the idea that it was cheap, simple, compact and to the point. The posters roles were purely just to increase awareness of the i amongst students as there is very little advertising for it in general. This is the current advert for the i just now. (show advert)
We then went down the route of associating the i with an event for example: red bull and fashion week. We wanted to associate the i with something that would make it popular – like tenants being associated with T-in the park and red bull being associated with fashion week. We came up with the idea for a Student Comedy Road Show, where local student talent could take part at all the different unions around the country.
At first we were using high profile names on the posters with the likes of Michael McIntyre and Russell Howard, however we changed this idea to a simpler look without any images of names of comedians as this was causing misconception about the event and what comedians would be performing. In addition, we changed the i logo so it was not the key feature in the posters and to make sure students were not put off thinking the event was all about the independent .

- To improve the poor product placement and availability factors of the newspaper, we decided to introduce American styled Newspaper dispensers that would be located around the campus in the hotspots. For example, beside vending machines to encourage people to pick up a paper while they were buying a quick snack.
This idea creates a quirky alternative and more interactive way to buy a newspaper and makes buying a newspaper more of an experience which in turn would tackle the problem of online readers. In addition it promotes the ‘’cool’’ factor of reading a newspaper and gets rid of the stereotype of a newspaper being ‘’fuddy-duddy’. The advantages of this are that there would be no other competition for this way of selling newspapers and in terms of funding, the box could be rented out to other companies who could advertise on the side of the box. It is also free to advertise the comedy road show on the side. 

7. Gavin

- Lastly, another low budget promotion would be to have the i put inside the independent as an insert during students’ holidays such as Christmas and Summer in the hope that they would pick it up and read it while they were at home and become somewhat of a tradition or a nostalgic attachment to home. Consequently, students may decide to keep reading the i when they return to university during the semester.

Keeping up to date

As our group is made up of myself and 8 other design students within the Duncan of Jordanstone, there has been a great amount of creative input as we try to take on the mighty i. We have created a wordpress blog specifically to keep on top with one another, to share any ideas with the group/module leader and to overall try and inspire anyone else that is interested. 

Blog - http://dcadadvertising.wordpress.com/

Initial Research - Competitors and Availability

Having put together a strong team to take on the mighty 'i', throughly read through the brief  to identify all problem areas, it was time to get down and dirty with as much research as possible. After a few group meetings we decided what the weaknesses of i were. The independent had aimed to produce a paper that would be a short but good 20 or so minute read that had informative articles on basic daily news and current affairs. This aim also dwindled on business, leisure, sports and entertainment  sections but although it may have created a decent enough interest in large cities, it failed to grab sufficient interest throughout the nation. 

As we felt the each issue would contain only short, but informative articles, the paper should be used for people that are always on the move or have a small amount of time in their day when they are looking to do something, for example, commuters going to work. This caused a major concern as it would then be placed in a field of competitors such as City AM and the Metro, both well known and very liked papers for such purposes of a quick read. So how often are these papers sold? Like said before, the papers are bought for those who look for something to do on a daily commute. The Metro is probably one of the most popular as its meets the target audiences needs, as well as it being completely free. The i only tends to rise in sales when competing papers are sold out. The Guardian, Times and Independent have recently played a large role within the aid of online reading and have surprisingly generated a lot of interest amongst students. If the i takes on this same role within the online community and re-think how to gain student interest, it will go very far. Then again, the i is only 20 pence, students love a bargain and that certainly is one.

As Dundee is a largely populated student city, as a group, we decided to go out and individually explore where the i was sold in Dundee. I retrieved my information by going into shops I knew students would take notice in when walking to and from University. 

My first stop was at the Premier shop outside the union as it is right beside halls of residence and is passed by a large majority of students daily. Although the premier did have a few in stock, it certainly would not be enough to satisfy the amount of readers that other leading newspapers currently sell. That is if the i could even reach that stage of popularity. Another thing that was noted was the positioning of the i newspaper within the shop. The more dominant newspapers seemed to be place over the i, making the headline logo less visible to the eye. This could also be a design flaw within the newspaper. The i logo is positioned vertically down the left hand side of the page, making it almost impossible to view when one paper is stacked on top of another. 

The next stop on my journey was a visit to the canteena. Their selection of newspapers was limited as it was never mind having a single i. I questioned the lady at the cash desk to see if I had just been the unfortunate one unable to get my hands on one. The lady explained that the canteena's stock had nothing to do with them and that the premier was in charge of it all. They also explained that is assumed from previous sales that it would be a waste to get some in without insured sales of the i.

Perth road of Dundee is another area highly populated with student as well as myself. I visit Nisa (previously Londis) numerous times a week for snacks and drinks. If I was going there to buy a newspaper, I know for a fact it wouldn't be the only thing I would leave with. The idea of product placement within a shop became noticeable to me when I stepped into Nisa the other week. As a student, it would make more sense to have the newspaper/magazine stall placed closer to snacks and drinks (areas in which I mainly go straight to when in Nisa like mentioned before) instead of where they are currently situated (beside fruit/veg and breads etc.

YCN Student Awards

For our Advertising and Branding Module, the choice of 8 different briefs were handed to us to tackle for the YCN student awards competition as well as the end of semester 1 assessment. The YCN usually has a good range of competition briefs and this years seemed to follow the tradition. These presented briefs were for companies such as Fedrigoni, The Feel Good Drinks Company, Heinz Salad Cream, i Newspaper, Industry Trust, Peacocks, Swarovski and Triumph. 

We were divided into smaller groups to go away and investigate the company in which we were assigned with. My groups company was the feel good drinks campaign that allowed not only myself, but everyone else in the class to gain a little more knowledge when having to stand up and resent company facts and figures. This was a good learning tool, not only to learn about a handful of companies, but to get a better understanding of how you could help/develop problem areas. 

After our day research, I returned to my original team to discuss what brief we would most like to do. Although myself and the few others that presented with me really enjoyed what we found about 'feel good', we decided to go in the direction of tackling the 'i' newspaper. The brief seemed to be aimed towards a more specific target audience but also left it very open to develop ideas in whatever way desired. The i is a British newspaper published by Independent Print, owned by Alexander Lebedev, which also published the Independent. The i newspaper is a new kind of paper designed for people with busy, modern lives. Colourful and accessible, concise and intelligent, it's an essential daily briefing for only 20 pence.

The Brief:

'We would like you to engage with a younger audience, specifically students, to make i the most read newspaper amongst the student market, as well as significantly raising our readership numbers. In addition, we want to build a student community and have in-depth engagement/interaction with this market.'

The Merchant City

If there was ever a time to get a free lift down to my lovely home city, then this would have been it. The only alternative on arrival, was not to go see friend and family, but to view the Merchant City. The trip was organised by our advertising and branding module with hope of us exploring surrounding retailers to analyse how each one market their business' and if any specifically stood out. The only problem that stood out for me, was that Buchanan Street was considered as part of the Merchant City? I believe not, but maybe I am wrong. This point made, could be a possible message to put out to visitors or even Glaswegians themselves, some type of promotion or mapping of where you are in the city and small description on it.

The expedition began by passing through George Square. Unfortunately for Pete and Dave who I was with at the time, the excitement of getting a chance to step into a Philadelphia movie set was a month or so too late. We captured some photographs along the way.

It was interesting to hear from others in the class that were not from Glasgow themselves and had only visited a couple of times, how they would stereotype the Merchant City. The aspect that neither of them could really pin-point what and which things that were actually in the area, they still had an idea of the area having connotation of an upper class standard. This point became much clearer and more realistic when we continued our journey. The place is crawling with designer shops and high-end cafe's. The Merchant City also includes the nicer side of architecture within Glasgow. Like said before, signage within the Merchant City lacks tragically. The outskirts of the area can change depending on what part you head for which dampens the beautiful picture you are initially left with. Problems have to be solved.

Glasgow is known for its wide range of shops and is one of the most successful shopping points in Britain. But as well as it's wide variety of shops to meet everyone's needs, Glasgow is made successful as it provides residents and visitors with 'an unequalled shopping experience'. From breathtaking window displays, to live street bands, Glasgow and most importantly the Merchant City always finds some way to intrigue the public into whatever is presented in front of your eyes. 

Examples of these are as follows….

Apple Store Glasgow

Glasgow Buskers

All Saints Glasgow Store

Abercrombie & Fitch - Hollister Store

The Domino's have certainly not fallen this time....

http://mashable.com/2011/11/21/dominos-ipad/

Domino’s Pizza has found a novel way to engage iPad users and maybe sell a few more pizzas along the way. The pizza chain has created an app that lets you make a pizza onscreen and then order it in real life.

24 hour brief (updated)

The 24 hour brief picked up to be a more difficult and exhausting experience than initially expected. This became noticeable when trying to balance ideas from everyone in our very large group, but then again, I guess it was a good learning tool to understand how things would work in the real world of advertising. 

Our Brief was to come up with an advertising campaign urging women to persuade their men to visit the doctor on a regular basis. The twist here was being able to aim our advertisements at women. This was probably the hardest part of the brief.

Like mentioned before, our group was made up from myself and 17 other students that specialised in other art sectors.  As there was a lot of areas to tackle from the beginning - Brain Storming, Desk Research and Live Research - we split the group evenly into 3 separate groups so everyone had a role. Mind mapping was an important technique used within my brainstorming group to retrieve a wide range of answers to such questions as, 'Ways that women can persuade men to go to the doctors' and the most important 'why men don't go to the doctors'. Each student had post-it notes to personally write down their own ideas to stick onto an a1 sheet. We then reviewed all collaborated answers as the other two groups set out gaining information online and through different interviewing techniques.

The team that went around campus trying to interview any male that crossed paths with them, came back with some very interesting information. Some of the guys they chatted to seemed reluctant to answer any questions, and those that did, seemed to of answered rather dishonestly. The questions that were initially asked were ones such as, ‘How often do they visit the doctor’ and ‘Who persuades you most to go to the clinic for regular checkups’. Those that answered very stereotypically with a blunt and uneasy tone, made the team realise they needed a different approach. This approach lead to a better way of wording chosen questions, and the way they would actually ask them. Thus presenting a more fun and informal interview. And it did work. After asking the first few questions, we the began to slyly introduce if there was any female input within this area. They ate right out the palm of our hand and answered exactly how we wanted them to. The only peculiar thing was  serious a pattern of laughter within the guys as topic was brought up.  

After break, the shouting began in our chaotic atmosphere to agree where we were going to go with this. As we felt pinning individual ideas worked well previously, we decided to do the same but to a much bigger scale. As shown in the image above (top left), we drew up quick sketches and illustrations on our 'ideas wall' as prototypes for our advert. 'Humour' being the key to our adverts success, we jotted down everything we felt would create a funny basis to the scenario of getting a male to the GP.

As imaginative and creative all us art school students are, the two main ideas that stood out were – ‘Superhero’ or ‘Trapping’.  Both ideas must of been too much to handle at once as we could not make an immediate majority vote between the two. So we decided to split into two groups to cover more ground, and report back with the best idea. This later proved a bad decision as we were unable to decide on one idea and to miraculously merge the two together. The group was roughly divided in half with myself partaking the idea of superheroes having weaknesses too. Such slogans were generated:

‘The doctor doesn’t know your superheroes weakness but you do’ - this particular ad would be aimed towards women noticing their male partners/friends (superhero) having difficulty or suffering. And the weakness here, would be the emphasis of not seeing your GP. 

We also wanted to contribute some sort of comic book style with other tagline ideas being: 

‘Save your superhero, so they can save you’

‘Don’t let him become the damsel in distress’.

We made a few poster examples to try get our point across as clear as possible before reuniting with the rest of our team to share ideas.

I wouldn't say the other half of our team had a worse idea, but would also not say that it was better……… They decided to go in the direction of having to trap males in numerous ways (this is where the humour part began to kick in) to get them to go to their local GP. The image of their idea was painted in some description like this. The advert would show a woman hiding behind doors, jumping over bannisters and so on holding a giant net trying to capture males with presented text saying something like, “It must be easier than this”. As we were all excited and in high spirits about both ideas, for what reason, i don't know, but we decided to collaborate them both together. I assume it was to make things less awkward for both groups. This began to make us lose focus o the aim of the campaign, making it unclear and confusing for everyone as well as ourselves. Our ideas separately could of created a well structured deliverable and maybe if we had that tad bit longer to discuss, we could of realised. But i guess thats what design in the big bad world is like and I completely understand that.  

Fun Awareness Test

How many passes does the team in white make?

One Day Brief - Creating your own advertising campaign

Research methods:

Questionnaire – Pressure from mothers more than girlfriends.

Brainstorming – Why men don’t want to go to the doctor

‘Desk Research’ – Research through existing media – lance armstrong

race for life/rachel stevens ad

Problem is:

Men not going for regular health checkups.

Proposal:

Targeting Women to encourage men aged 14 – 45, to go visit the doctor for regular check ups.  We’re approaching this in a humorous way in order to appeal to men more.  Steering clear of the fear factor.

Why humour will work:

- Men won’t do anything if they’re nagged

- More lighthearted approach

- Less intimidating

- Something easy to discuss if a common joke is shared

- Social media could carry the campaign, appeals to younger generation aswell.

Target market:

Women in relationships, in different generations

To narrow it down:

Came up with sketches of proposed ideas, then took a vote between the group to decide on an overall winner using sticky stars & pens.  A choice of 2 were then decided & we split the group in half as we were split on what idea was the best choice.

As a smaller group we bounced ideas off one another in terms of taglines and imagery, coming up with preliminary sketches & then eventually joining forces with the other half of our team and deciding on a final idea to then pursue into the last stages of this process.  As a team we both pitched our ideas to each other and came to a conclusion to combine both our ideas into one ad campaign.  Half of our team came up with a plan for ‘trapping’ your man, whereas the other half followed the ‘superhero’ idea of ‘saving your superhero’, reversing the roles of women as damsels in distress and men as superheroes, all the meanwhile keeping the appeal to women in mind.  We selected one team member to draw out the storyboard, another to design the poster campaign and the rest of us contributed all of our ideas towards it.

We believe the strapline “The doctor doesn’t know your superhero’s weakness but you do” worked best with the message we were trying to put forth.  The visuals resembled a ‘comic book’ style with a lighthearted approach, this will be carried through the tv advertisements as well as print media.

Media:

TV/Print

Our 'Smash'ing Persona's!

After spending our morning hassling the public and squeezing as honest enough answers out of them, we had the basis to begin generating our four final persona groups. As we split our group in half  to go out to interview, we formed together once again and compared answers to reflect on any similarities and differences. By doing so, we used mind maps to jot down words and phrases that best described our chosen groups.

By coming to a conclusion of what our final lifestyle descriptions of each persona would be, we then drew out a typical profile as such for each one:

Pure dead 'Smash'ing!

This week, we have taking a closer look at not only market research, but the ways companies create it, and overall why they do it. By using 'Reactive Research' - a study of how people react and answer such experiment and surveys - we decided to look into the category of 'Personas' in more depth. A persona is when research make collected data into a representative, or stereotypical person of that target market.
Being given Smash as a product to base our research around, as a group, we had to research and investigate our own data on the matter.

We began by going onto YouTube to experience how we would first of all perceive the product before even tasting it - for the people who had not already enjoyed the pleasantries of the taste! NOT!
After conversing in our group, there was an overall negativity towards the product and advertisement. As designers and having a desperate urge to advance our marketing skills, we took a different approach, and changed our views of the product. By giving smash a chance and becoming high representatives of the product, we could maybe turn the views of others around
We generated a survey/questionaire in the form of an unstructured and informal interview as we did not have the greatest amount of time on our hands. (we thought generative tools might be too time consuming to process and evaluate).
We then identified four personas of who we thought would be a good Smash-user and began hunting the streets for a collection of:  
 
                              - Elderly People
                              - Students
                              - Busy parents
                              - Explorers

As each persona chosen has different lifestyles and attitudes from one another (or so we are assuming), we had to be careful whilst choosing what questions should go to what stereotype.
A example of answers from one of the Stereotypes are as follows:

EXPLORER :

Question1: What food do you take with you when camping/travelling?
    Answer : Alot of pasta and rice, the easier and long lasting things to make

Question 2: Do you often boil water?
      Answer: Always have to boil water for foods and drinks, mainly boiled with a 'Jet Boil'

Question 3: Do you mainly buy in cheap foods? Does the price come into consideration?
      Answer: Usually yes, but there is some necessities and treats that have to be splashed out for.

Question 4: What cooking utensils do you take?
      Answer: cutlery, bowl and Jet Boil etc..

Question 5: Would you take Smash?
      Answer: No! the taste is not great and it is way to messy when trying to cook. 

Marketing Pillow Talk

Having chosen to market pillow talk at patients in such hospitals like Great Ormand Street in London and any other known childrens hospital. As a group, we were given the task to design an poster/advertisement to present in an appropriate magazine or newspaper. Our difficulty was to choose what exact medium/publication to present the product in as the hospital patients were our main consumer. We came to the conclusion that the most interesting aspect of our product marketing, is the love, care and even worried bond between the parent and the ill child. For this reason, we decided that placing the ad in a family publication was necessary to shout out to the right audience, how our product would benefit them. We felt free Supermarket magazines was also a good medium to target an even bigger range of our chosen audience, parents and families. 

We broke down what the main selling points are - Higher percentages of families have more than one child, resulting in parent stress of trying to be at home and at the hospital at the same time. This gave a great idea for an illustration for the front of our advertisement. A split picture - half at home where the mother/father is shown reading to other siblings tucked up in bed using the pillow. And the other half presenting the child lying on his hospital bed comforted by the glow and sounding heartbeats. 'All Together in a Heartbeat' as our tag line continues the satisfied and comforted connection no matter the distance between them. 

Our final advertisement design presented below:

Little Riot!

After warming our brains and marketing techniques up from the previous exercise, we were then dived into a real life business scenario.

Joanna Montgomery was our guest speaker, having studied the Digital Interaction Design course (former named Interactive Media Design) at the Duncan of Jordanstone and was pitching us the exciting product of her new Interactive design business. 'Pillow Talk' was the main project of her 4th year degree show and has won numerous award ever since. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfJ9EOSFEU

http://www.littleriot.co.uk/

Due to the hundreds of thousands of youtube views and high demand to put her product on the shelves, in groups, we had to process the information delivered by Jo and create a marketing strategy for her product. Using similar techniques as before, we began to list the pros from the cons, resulting in the most important/relevant areas where this product could be marketed. 

We noticed through SWOT analysis, that the main need for this product is the connection between mothers (also families in general) and the unfortunate member stuck in hospital for whatever reason.

We felt children's hospitals was our main target to market this connection. From research, hospitals such as Great Ormond Street and many others do not allow parents to stay/sleep aside loved ones through tough times. The product would take place in this scenario to keep the strong connection and reassurance that everything will be ok. Our idea gave a win/win/win situation for the family, hospital and Jo:

Family - They will benefit a connection with loved ones to reassure they are not alone and are safe.

Hospital - The hospital would buy a number of 'pillow talks' and rent them out to patients to secure the struggling bond when in need. As hospitals are always in need of money for charity reasons or for refurbishment, the money earned would certainly benefit this.

Jo - The money received from numerous hospital orders would be a given bonus. But not only that, the the image of helping those in hospitals, and even the idea that hospitals use such a product, is a very much admired attribute.

After pitching out marketing strategy to Jo and to the rest of the class, our feedback seemed very positive, giving Jo, 'a lot to think about and another audience to view the market of the product'. As a group and personally, Joanna Montgomery was a lovely person to work with and wish her all the best in the future. 

Workshop 1: Marketing Tools

After a very long and relaxing 4 months off, reality is back and has hit us hard at our very first Advertising and Branding workshop. By using new brainstorming techniques/ strategies learnt in the lecture the day before, the group was given the choice to investigate and brainstorm the strengths and weaknesses of one of the following areas: The Duncan of Jordanstone cantina, DUSA (as a whole) and the DCA.

After choosing 'the cantina', we cracked on by using SWOT analysis to identify what we felt the cantina lacked and benefited. We all quickly jotted down on post-it notes, what we personally felt the strengths and weaknesses were and collaborated them altogether on a large sheet of news print and reviewed as a team. These were then split up into catagories to make things more clearer to view and to overall find where the biggest flaw lay. We then voted a spokesperson to then announce our pitch to the rest of the class.

Hard at work

Result

Our findings showed that the main problems were the pricing and quality of food that the cantina had to offer. Although the pricing of certain foods and drinks were reasonable, the range and quality were not on par. The cantina opening times also created an issue to those who stay in the art school late to carry on work. If the closing time is half 4 and the art school closes at 9, then there is no way of getting a bite to eat. As well as fixing the pricing and quality issues that struggle to make us students happy, 24 hour vending machines with fresh food could solve the hunger if the cantina is still unable to stay open that little bit later.

Assignment 5

Do you ever find yourself browsing through your local newspaper, favourite website, or even listening to a regular radio station and wonder why all the adverts blaring at you are for random unnecessary products/services? The way every single person approaches everyday life revolves around the aspect of word of mouth marketing. The word of mouth epidemic is the spreading of information from one person to another in a very quick and short amount of time. This information is passed through a vast amount and variety of situations such as telephone, SMS, emailing or simple blogging/tweeting. My findings from semester 1 involved the idea that certain brands and services sell themselves through a more interesting and bazaar story, intend of an experience. For example, the rubber soles of Keith Richards (lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones) saved his life during an electric shock whilst on stage. In the 90's, Hush Puppies sales blew the roof and a trend had set. Word of Mouth marketing is that simple.

Throughout the numerous lectures, assignments and seminars of semester 2, I have gained and experienced new design methods and techniques which have helped with the workload of my Graphic Design studies. Having experienced these design methods, it is fair to say that they all gain a great deal of information when looking at the research/investigation side of things. Some methods do work more successfully than others though. For my research proposal, I would like to investigate the personal interests and lifestyles of both close friends and those unknown. This investigation will allow me to experience the word of mouth epidemic in a more hands on, one-to-one situation. Using the method of interviews, I will be able to find out a range of products/services/styles etc these people use/have to teach and spread the genius within the word of mouth marketing.

My research will start with the beginning of a mind map, stating down the key things I aim to achieve in the centre of the page. At the top, I will write down a few personal experiences of word of mouth marketing that I can bounce off of the interviewee incase they cannot understand the point I am trying to get across. Next, I will write down a structured set of questions in which I will ask everyone alongside a few follow up questions of a topic I know they can relate to (if interviewing someone I already know). I feel if I make my interview questions simple and easy for myself to read, then I will create a more laid back and comfortable atmosphere resulting in better answers. A main concern by using this method is the idea that if the questions are just being thrown at the interviewee, it may only result in simple yes or no answers. I want to give them the opportunity and time to respond with hope of also asking a few questions of their own to develop the conversation. Alternatively, if I can relate to any returned questions or answers, then it can create a connection between the both of us as we look back on past 'crazes'. I do not intend to write up each persons answers on neither paper or computer. From personal experiences, I always feel an awkward and tense atmosphere when someone interviewing you stops talking for a few minutes to write down the sentences I had just said. To solve this problem, I tend to record each conversation by using any form of recording device. Group interviewing has always been a successful method to bounce and retain information of one another on a chosen topic. Every month or so I work for a market research group which involves an hour or two of my time to sit in a lounge styled room with five other people, the interviewer, two microphones and a large mirror window taking up half of the room. The group contains individuals of both mixed age, gender and race. The research groups range from a large amount of companies such as Carling or Miller beer who come in to investigate what their next step should be in terms of either advertisement, taste or even product packaging. The style of these interviews only have one difference to the way I wish to perform my technique. When investigating such topics like the unnecessary amount of money spent on trends and products, my interviews will consist of groups of the same age and gender. This will effectively create a connection between each of the individuals to reflect back on these events and with hope, understand the concept of why they actually bought the items. It will also be interesting to see if each person regrets such purchases or following such trends.

Word of mouth marketing, I feel, can only be successfully analysed in the form of interviews. The idea of observing individuals to collect information about the certain trends, products they buy, nightclubs visited and early day crazes can be very difficult. The only way in which I would tackle this method of research can only be through the visual analysis of photographs or the observation of the persons home environment. Although I am a very forward and confident guy, I would still not find myself snooping through ones personal belongings. Assignment one of semester two gave me an insight to 'judging a book by its cover' and making a visual analysis of those I had never met before. Having done the experiment now and the results being almost 100% correct, I still do not feel it is the best way to collect information. 

Having experimenting with other methods and taking each outcome fully into consideration, I can only relate back to the successful interviewing technique. Each human speaks on estimate average of between 2000 and 10,000 words a day. Communication is the key to everyday interaction with one another and whether useless or very informative, we use it as a tool to pass information from one to another. The method of interviewing depends solely on communication, and without communication, their would be no word of mouth marketing.






ACTIVITY 5B



5 BOOKS I WOULD LIKE TO READ OVER THE SUMMER:

- Interactive Media: The Semiotics of Embodied Interaction - Shaleph O'neill
- Ethnology: the fundament ethnical problems, the primary ethical groups - A.H. Ken
- The Lucifer Effect - P.Zimbardo
- Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
- More than a name: An introduction to branding - Melissa Davis and Jonathan Baldwin



5 THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO DO TO MY BLOG:

- Create a new design layout for a fresh year next year
- Make each post more visible and easy to read for the each visitor
- I would like to write more about the work in my Graphic Design modules
- I want to touch up on previous assignments even though the semester is done
- Connect with more followers so I have a greater number of people viewing my work

5 PEOPLE I WILL CONTACT OVER THE SUMMER:

- Any local graphic design companies
- Ewan Sneddon to help him out with a logo design for his new landscape business
- Dundee Law School Clinic to develop initial designs for the Clinic badge
- Dave Reid who is working as a junior graphic designer for Schuh in Edinburgh
- My course mates to make sure I am not slacking with work over the summer