Review

It is hard to think how much I learnt in the past three months because you don’t really ever have an have a complete understanding of what you knew and the things you have learnt . Some things have been explained and i have a much better understanding of the branding process , am not sure I understood the complexity of the brand and the depth that go into the creation of brands .I had never considered that a brand has a emotional value or the promise behind it . I suppose I had just considered the logo and not when on behind it .
Market strategies are a complex but fascinating ( it took me a little while to get to grips with them) 4p is straight forward product , Place, price and promotion, Swot – strength, weakness, opportunities and threats ,Perception maps, Ansoff matrix are all clever tool to find where the brand is placed place and the public perception of it place.
The way in which are advertised to and manipulated by advertises has been a revaluation to me . Rational and irrational targeted ads were interesting. Now I look at ads to see if I can spot them. I just need to remember in all campaigns that we are buying the benefits and they are trying to sell them to us . Life cycle of product made complete sense perhaps because I had helped with higher business study revision .

This table diffusion of innovation gave me a understanding of the way people shop for new products , when it comes to new technology I am always a laggard.
Working in teams / groups has been great experience there have been times when i have feeling ancient but hearing the ideas of the others and working together has enlighten me.
Pillow take stretch our understanding of the process at the time , we could do better now but that’s the point . Smash was a good exercise for both interviewing and personas. personas are really useful for getting an idea of the person/people that you are marketing to .
Its been a really good few month , even if at times I wasn’t sure of much and felt out of my comfort zone .
Books i have read used but didn’t blog about or not that much are .we have discussed them in an informal was in the studio and teams.
ED Mayo & Agnes Nairn. 2009 ,Consumer kids ,London .Constable
Kalle Lasn 2000 Culture Jam New York Quill
Dan Roam 2009 The Back of a napkin Great Britain Marshall Cavendish
Paco underhill ,1999, New York, Simaon&schster
Tim Brown , 2009, Change by design, New York ,Harper Collins.
Plus the set books

Chistmas big stores adverts ,to give or get !

This advert is about receiving present where as the john Lewis ad is about wonting to give presents which is what Christmas should be about . Merry Christmas

m-and-s-christmas-advert-2011

photos I didn`t blog about

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After the Culture Jam

After the Culture Jam I when on to read consumer kind, this was because I found it hard to understand why people fall so fully for the campaigning hype. Being in an older age group (45 to 55) and having parents how were brought up by Victorians with all that implies, I think I have a very different approach to brands.
If I was to say in “my life time” it makes me sounds really old but I can remember the excitement and anticipation of a second hand black and white television arriving home when I was about 7 and if you were away from home you were out of touch. In fact I remember trips to the phone box on a Sunday afternoon at a prearrange time to speak to my grandparents and a land line being connected to our house with a number that was just four digits long since then another 8 digits have been added to it length .
This is preamble in the topic of consumer kid and why we have allowed marketing to get them under their spell. It was so gradual that it gone unnoticed, it becomes the norm. The way that the marketing advertisers have studies nature of children allows them to manipulate us. By putting a child’s traditional play ground game down in supermarket they can get parents to stay in the area longer ( hopefully spending more while waiting ) . Family spending power has become has become an indication off children’s happiness. Children that come from lower house hold incomes watch more televisions, so are influenced more by campaigns, those how have less are encourage to wont more . Low income groups are targeted with offers of loans, 34% of deprived kids are impressed by special games and branded clothes. The most effective way that markets use is to get peer groups to peer group. This is obvious because everyone is influence by friends, per groups and the situation they move in. Children aren’t idiots when they get older they can see through the hype so we should protect them while they can’t. Then we must education them in the ways of the world, what is important and what the s the different between wont and need.
We should all be adults and not fall for the campaigns. Small rant the Disney corporation is trying to turn us into sugar coated puppets making us all into happy families, princesses , heroes that can save us from villains but how are the villains , they encouraging us putting Disney dummies in our babies mouths ,get theme children food ,visit make believe world all to trap the next generation into the spiral of wont and spend our children should not be used for profit .

My great aunt used to say if you can’t afford to buy two you can’t afford one.

Catching up

I read the Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn weeks ago it is the blogging that got missed isn’t always with me. I found this book quite amazing. I had no idea quite how much our lives are influence by the advertising industry before I started this module and the way in which they manipulate the general population. Although this book is primal looks at America society its message can be taken to all parts of the developed world and for that matter the way in which it creep into all parts of the under The fact that it has been hard even almost imposable to get media space to advertise against the companies that have all the power because they have the purse strings means that we must use the means open to us.
These are the core ideas without which a sustainable future is unthinkable.
True cost: in the global marketplace of the future, the price of every product will tell the ecological truth.
Demarketing: the marketing enterprise has now come full circle. The time has come to unsell the product and the incredible power of marketing against itself.
The Doomsday meme: the global economy is a doomsday machine that must be stopped and reprogrammed.
No Corporation I: corporations are not legal persons with constitutional rights and freedoms of their own, but legal fictions that we ourselves created and must therefore control.
Media Carta: every human being has the right to communicate – to receive and impart information through any media.
developed world. It was written about ten years ago, it almost prophetic . The recent event in the Wall Street which spread worldwide show that people are fed up with the way big business/ banks has been rule / manipulate the society government. The fact that America corporations have the right of an individual under the America constitution makes the control of them almost imposable We have gone from understanding the natural world to being delivered a made up world of the advertising. We are being told what we should have, wont, need and then if we don’t conform we are there left out or seen as odd. The need to belong is great , unless you have the financial means you are marginalized and less likely to feel you belong culture jamming is away to of showing the full implications of the companies polices it suggest that you take back control by provoking a response .
This you tube clip explains the principles of culture jamming, in this instance it looks at using the internet as the way to deliver the message. I think the way the film is put together is cleaver. It implies we are at war against big companies. The format of a video game I think would appeal to a younger audience

The fact that it has been hard even almost imposable to get media space to advertise against the companies that have all the power because they have the purse strings means that we must use the means open to us.
These are the core ideas without which a sustainable future is unthinkable.
True cost: in the global marketplace of the future, the price of every product will tell the ecological truth.
Demarketing: the marketing enterprise has now come full circle. The time has come to unsell the product and the incredible power of marketing against itself.
The Doomsday meme: the global economy is a doomsday machine that must be stopped and reprogrammed.
No Corporation I: corporations are not legal persons with constitutional rights and freedoms of their own, but legal fictions that we ourselves created and must therefore control.
Media Carta: every human being has the right to communicate – to receive and impart information through any media.

As a way to Culture Jam I think this starbucks clip is great !

Nandos , do you wont to eat alone

Have you come across this ad yet , what do you think its trying to say about the people that eat nandos ?

Ongoing research – Goldsmiths chain of jewellers

As part of my ongoing research I visited Goldsmiths jewellers to compare the experience against the experience I had at the Swarovski shop. There are some similarities, all the jewellery is kept behind glass but in Goldsmiths most of the cabinets are at waist level. There is one Central Island which is roughly a horse shoe shape, the assistants can stand in the middle and show the jewellery to you at tabletop height. Towards the back and in the corner that are two tables and chairs, jewellery can be viewed in comfort and customers can be advised about purchases   . On these tables are small bowls of sweets, the shop also had an arrangement of exotica fresh flowers. There is an area at the back of the shop in  which the popular individual  bead are Display   in tall cabinets , what I particular like about these was the fact that they where undulating  in  form  it feel  more intermit  than standing next to a flat door.

 My Christmas shopping is coming on well thanks to the fact that I need to research the shopping experience in a variety of shops.  Today it was my sister in laws turn, she in going to receive a bead!  The sales assistant was very help full, getting out several styles for me to look at and searching on line to see if they could source other designs that she had shown me in the catalogue. She asked me if I wanted the bead it gift wrapped and if I needed a gift receipt. I feel it was a very relaxed experience. I had no intention of purchasing anything when I when in , within a few minutes of being in the shop I was asked if in need help but when I said I was just browsing  I was left

 Another observation I made   was when I was paying for my goods was that the person at the other till was buying over 200 pounds of Swarovski jewellery. I wondered  why she was getting  it at Goldsmiths rather than  the Swarovski  shop two doors away  who have a great range to choose from, I was going to hang about outside to ask her  until she produced  Tesco club card voucher that were redeemable at Goldsmiths.  Tesco gets every where  

 I think the overall impression about this store is that felt as if it flows somehow ,perhaps  because of the central  island  cabinet  you are compelled move / flow around the shop  and because you are looking into the cases  you are less  likely to be aware of being watched  . There were 4 members of staff when I was there and 2 customers. It is not the style of jewellery I would normally buy but it was a pleasant way to pass time

When I left Goldsmiths I walked pass the Swarovski shop  , they had no customers  and the 3 members of staff  were all leaning on the one flat surface  in the shop this being the charm cabinet apart from the cash desk  having a good chat .  I think any customer that was passing would have felt as if they were interrupting   if they had ventured in.  

 

My throught on Swarovski so far !

 

 From what I have observed, I think the Swarovski jewellery brand aims are confused. they seem to be trying to sell costume jewellery in a traditional jeweller way , I feel the shops are set up in a way that feels more like a museum  every things behind glass  with very little opportunities    to handel the jewellery .  The shops we found to be more popular with in our range group seemed to have a much more relaxed feel.

 My initial thoughts are   that if a seating area could be designed   that would allow an informal area too view jewellery the shop would have a more relaxed feel. If a small amount of   jewellery could be kept in draws under the locked display case it would   allow the shop assistance   to   shown the ranges  to customer  quickly without the need of going into the stock room.  I feel going to get jewellery  out of the stock room  breaks the  mood  and could give the  impression  that it just one of many .

     I believe  that the way they market  the crystal in a wider way should be addressed  , some ranges that are  marketed under  their name  are not well made , designed and very cheap , having Swarovski crystal attributed   to this type of jewellery weakens  the brands name .  

Cheaper range of Swarovski

Swarovski crystal bird

Not Swarovski but the prices are good to get the look

 

Lunch time meeting

We meet yesterday lunch time to plan this week’s plan of action.  After diction we decided that we would carry out a field study. This is because we didn’t feel our focus group gave us a wide enough range of opinions or fitted the complete age range we are looking at advertising to in the campaign.

We have a questionnaire of five questions.  I think it would be a good idea to do a post it note wall because it would generate idea quickly and also give us a way of seeing what each other are thinking, at the moment I feel we all see the way a head slightly differently and are pulling in slightly different directions.

The outcome of the meeting was do the questionnaire today and working out the findings, tutorial with JB first think on Thursday morning then working on gathered information with the intention that we start firming up the campaign by next Friday.

Shopping at Swarovski

I when with a friend to have a snoop at the local Swarovski shop   an interesting experience; this takes me back to last year. Swarovski has a relative small shop in the Overgate shopping centre.

It‘s next to a mobile phone shop on one side and on the other side empty shop, that has been dressed to look as if it’s occupied  it is directly the next that one the Goldsmith jewellery shop. It is the shopping centre’s policy not to allow photos to be taken but we managed a couple of sneaky ones.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

As you can see the shop is brightly illuminated to and decorated with very bright   colours I would say French Navy and Orange. The lighting is very bright obviously a show of Crystal to its maximum effect, I think this could be intimidating. Although I have been to this shopping centre many times until I started this brief I have never been into the shop, it has never been one that attracted me to even browse.

It was well staffed; they were attentive almost to the point of being too much asking seven times they could help but not engaging us in general conversation that might put his more at ease. I did note that they were cleaning glass shelves with fine blusher brushes and the whole place was spotless. They were dressed in matching uniforms of a jacket and skirt in a dark blue, it looked very formal but the quantity of fabric was not great so detract from the effect, I think this particular shop  an informal uniform would be better and perhaps one that included trousers and good quality fabrics, I’m not suggesting that it should be the shop assistant personal clothing  but just something that make them look more approachable.

The shop assistants are eager to help and showed me a piece from the cabinet even though I explained that any intention of buying. The brooch wasn’t removed from the cabinet an  identical brooch was brought  through for the storeroom( a quick glance  into the storeroom showed concert    floors, plain walls and  industrial shelving unit, this somewhat takes away from the glamour  of the event)

 

I will positive note having been in and scrutinized the merchandise I was pleasantly surprised, some designs even appealed to me, because the majority of them are kept behind glass doors it’s very difficult to appreciate them .There is however a display of rings that it is possible to try on this gives you an unity to appreciate the quantity of Crystal, they have cleverly included rings from several ranges which encouraged you to look more closely at matching pieces.

I did  purchase the present for my sister , I think it’s quite safe to tell you what it is ,she doesn’t follow my blog. A turquoise colour pen with crystals in the upper part. (Not my taste but I know she’ll love it). This was presented to me in a blue velvet case, I was asked if I wanted gift packaging which I took then it was placed in a  small carrier bag. If I take the opportunity to fill in an online survey there is the possibility of winning hundred gift vouchers. Did the experience make me feel special not really?

As an exercise of customer experience I think it is very valuable and that will be sharing this with my design team tomorrow.