Week 9 - Collaborations, Endorsement & Sponsorship

Today we looked at collaborations, endorsement and sponsorship, brands more recently have been doing this to try to increase sales by reaching new audiences, markets and product categories. 

Collaborations can be with other designers, artists, celebrities, other brands and much more.

Some collaborations in 2013 included; 

Isabel Marant for H&M

Swarovski for Maison Martin Margiela

Rihanna for River Island

A statistic that shocked me which was mentioned in the lecture was that 90% of collaborations fail! This is due to unequal value, the strategy isn't understood by the consumer and the brand values sometimes don't match.

We also looked at endorsement which is clearly used a lot in the fashion world, almost every single fragrance is endorsed by a celebrity! I haven't seen so much fashion endorsement but you do see plenty of it when it comes to the red carpet or fashion events.

We finally looked at sponsorship, I don't tend to see this used so much by fashion, I didn't even know that H&M sponsored Coachella in 2012 until this lecture. 

Week 9 - Presentation Skills

As we have a presentation coming up, Angi did a lecture about presentation skills to help us for it and for future presentations.
The lecture outlined the main factors for a good presentation which includes;

• tone of voice
• set the theme
• provide the outline
• demonstrate enthusiasm
• sell an experience
• make it visual
• rehearse

Then in our IT seminar we worked in our presentation groups to continue researching our brands and creating our presentations. I was editing our powerpoint, selecting a colour scheme and also creating the Mulberry logo into a gold colour like it is on their web page as we couldn't get the image off the website. The rest of the group continued with research and creating moodboards and colour schemes.

Week 9 - Digital & Social Media

Today we looked at digital and social media, brands are now trying to be that bit more creative than the other by using different techniques with digital and social media. For example Diesel's latest advert was created just using the iPhone, Burberry also did a similar technique but filmed their catwalk show with the iPhone. Brands are also using Twitter and Facebook to launch campaigns, sell products and more.
The latest Dove advert was the most shared in 2013 with over 59million views, I'd already seen the advert before this lecture and I really liked it, it is pretty striking as it shows how lowly we think of our looks compared to our peers. We were also shown a shoppable video, I'd never seen anything like it before, whilst the video is playing any items that the company sell are shown in order below the advert so you can click on them and it takes you to where you can purchase it, I personally think it was a brilliant idea and surprised that still not many brands have done this.

Week 8 - Communication Channels

In this lecture we looked at communication channels, the main focus was on media which includes TV, radio, press, cinema, outdoor (billboards, buses, etc.) and digital. We also looked at integrated marketing which is simply about targeting the consumer at different stages of their journey, ensuring the correct information is given and utilising different media to communicate different messages. The we looked at the benefit and features of both TV and magazines.

In the seminar we continued looking at the other types of media including, outdoor, cinema, newspapers and digital which we then in pairs had to pick out the benefits and downsides of each of these.

Week 8 - Zines

In today's lecture we were introduced to independent magazines and publishing, Matt showed us the best places to find these and also a little bit of history being zines, they've been around since 1600's but only boomed in 1850's during the industrial revolution.

Then in our seminar on the tables lots of different types of zines were placed on them, including ones made by students, brands one and also technical books about them. We were able to go around the tables, look at them and photograph any that we may find useful when we create our own brandzine.

Week 8 - Photoshoot Cheats

In today's lecture Tim talked about photoshoot cheats, as students we can't afford to go on incredible location shoots, instead he showed us how we can still create effective images by using props, multi media, hair & makeup and much more. Since the lecture in my own time I have been making boards on Pinterest of photoshoot inspiration, so far I have done ones on backdrops, hair & makeup and props, there are links to the boards above each of these images below.

All About The Backdrop

All About The Hair & Makeup

All About The Props

Then in our seminar we had to identify the 2 brands we are looking at for our group work and our brandzine project, for me that consists of Mulberry and Ted Baker. 

Week 8 - Innovative Campaigns

In today's lecture we looked at innovative campaigns, from the past to the present. I hadn't seen any of the adverts that were shown as the iconic past campaigns so it was good to be introduced to them and also to see how campaigns have evolved from them.
The past adverts included the VW Beetle 'Think Small' from 1959, Levi's Laundrette which increased sales by 300%, Guinness surfer 'Good thinks come to those who wait' and the Honda Cogs advert which consisted of only 2 takes and no CGI.
Then we looked at present and recent adverts, we looked at the Skittles 'Touch the rainbow' advert, I was surprised when very few people put their hands up to say they'd seen it, as I'm a Youtube addict I had got really into the campaign as this was where it was mainly featured. This was one of the first few interactive campaigns I know of and now other companies and brands are doing similar things.

In our seminar we then got a bit Christmassy and watched the John Lewis Christmas advert for 2013.

After watching the advert and reading an article written about the advert we were given questions to answer to do with John Lewis and the advert. We also watched the video of the behind the scenes of making the advert, it had been made in the traditional way of having a hand made set and using drawings, it reminded me so much of a childhood programme called Watership Down. To me it gives the advert a much more personal touch and authentic. 

Week 7 - The Modern Consumer

In our lecture we looked at the modern consumer, at how they're more connected, active and demanding than ever.
Then in the seminar we continued with the theme of the modern consumer, we created consumer profiles for a female student, 21, product designer from nottingham, male lawyer, 35, from London and a female homemaker, 50, from Gloucestershire. Si had purposely given us bad and unspecific briefs to show how you could end up targeting and a much broader market instead of the specific one the company may want.

We then looked at emerging trends in retail, social networking and new technology which included; decline in Facebook, increase in online magazines, faster payments and online dressing rooms.