Introduction into The Social Second...

When it comes to Social Media there is nothing more important than brands announcing their take on live moments online in a way which generates more user interest and discussion. Jumping in on a relevant events or news stories at the right time with the right brand message and tonality will help a brand be a part of a topical trend at that point in time where everyone is talking about it. The Superbowl and Oreo 'You can still dunk in the dark' content is the best example out there, 4 minutes after the power cut they had already bid on 'Power outage' as a search term and gained almost 16'000 retweets on their creative. 

I found an interesting blog by Mike Mikho published on February 2013 stating 'Brands Please Stop Trying To Start Conversations On Twitter'. I beg to differ on the point he made about there being no point in adding a Facebook or Twitter logo at the end of a TV commercial with no page name or call to action as brands that do this are just reinforcing the fact that they are active on social platforms. So, if consumers ever need that one-to-one brand experience, if they have something to share or just need advice they know where to contact the brand. Repeatedly seeing a Facebook or Twitter logo at the end of the same advertisement will subconsciously stick this thought into the viewers mind, the same technique advertising uses for a particular product or service being advertised. Yes, consumers do generate the conversations online but saying that 'Social media is dictated entirely by consumers, not brands' is not true. If done effectively and timely, brands can fuel conversations online and if the content is share-able then consumers will seed out this information further and engage more with the interesting content especially when a brand catches news information first and jumps on the news bandwagon at the right time.

I find it exciting how brands can take advantage of social platforms such as Twitter to react to and deliver real-time responses to trends, news and conversations happening online. My blog aims to find out more about how brands can go about this as it is easy to say it will work but not many brands or agencies know how to tackle this and become an expert in this field.

In my blog I will be covering strategic ways and tools which brands can use to be a success on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and in the near future Linked-In, Instagram and more with a specific interest in what I like to call 'Social Seconds' where brands need to act now on social media and not let the world go by without them having their say too... I welcome any comments, thoughts or ideas... actually I encourage them.

Sublime is starting to come together consisting of vibrant colours and vegetables on both sides of his body. Yesterday (Friday 27^th May 2011) Helen worked her magic on his back paws and his legs with her lettuce designs blending lovely shades of green to give it a fresh look. We want to give the lion the effect of walking through lettuce as if its being dragged along with his feet to give our lion a natural look.

More peppers were added to his right barrel with shades of red, orange, yellow and green. It was clear, when finished, that the green pepper needed to have more definition and be darker in order to stand out from Sublime’s lime green body.

Like my initial design where I entered the competition, the vegetables are going to have a darker outline to give them definition and give them an artistic touch. I did this to the tomatoes on the mane to test it out. What do you think?

As a participant in this Pride in Bournemouth event it was my job to stick posters around Bournemouth University to advertise the event. Experience from a previous project for Scream pubs aided me into which areas around University would get the most attention. So I stuck them within restroom cubicles, lifts, cash points and the library. This way students around the university will be stationary for a period of time and will notice the posters.

In order to generate interest and further attempt to catch student’s attention I printed out slips which I created to promote my own blog accompanied by the Subway logo. This will help engage students in the development of Sublime and get them involved!

If you are one of those students thank you for visiting my blog :) please comment about anythingor ask any question to do with Pride In Bournemouth or the Subway Lion who is called “Sublime”. Any vegetables which you think we have left out from Subway which you think will work on the lion?

A further successful day with Sublime...

Below are a few examples of lions currently in the den just to show you the designs from other artists.

After liaising with Helen it was clear that no meat or cheese was allowed to be painted onto Sublime as we were advised, by Subway, to focus on bright and fresh vegetables. The main focus on the painting of Sublime has been on his tomato mane and peppers going from his front left leg to his barrel. Helen and I worked well together constantly changing what section we were doing to create variation and make sure the painting was accurate and something we were both happy with.

A Further Idea

A thought came to mind when I looked at the back of the lion; the yellow tail looked a bit out of place going from the lion’s green body straight to a bright yellow tail. After a visit to Subway (making good use of my Subway vouchers!) I took pictures of the vegetables within Subway. I was inspired by seeing a picture of a piece of pepper which had been sliced. I thought that this, in yellow, would look good placed at the top end of the lions tail. This way the colours can be eased in staying close to the theme of freshness. This way the tail would look like it emerges from the pepper.

Tonight pictures of chillis are going to be printed out in order to obtain the right shape and form of a chilli to place on the lion. More peppers will be added to Sublime varying in colours and tones of green, red and yellow (as shown in the picture below). More detail is going to be added to the vegetables such as lighting effects; painting white dew drops and shimmery surfaces to each vegetable.

Any further ideas or comments are more than welcome!

The development of the Sublime Sublion

Yesterday (24-05-2011) I went to the Lion's Den and was amazed at the designs on the finished lions (I will take some pictures today and post them up) As I look further on I noticed my design on a lion at the far end of the den. After meeting the artist Helen and seeing her at work I felt very proud and was eager to get involved.

Having dicussed the design and what the lion was going to look like in the end I realised some adjusments had been made by Helen which I found very creative and inspiring. I love the effort she put into the lions design and how she integrated the vegetables to look like they blended into eachother (see picture below)

As the painting of Sublime has recently been started, further adjustments to the design might occur. An example of this is the background on the lion's belly which Helen was thinking about painting a lighter shade of green lettuces. After thinking about this coming home, I thought that the design on the lion was a bit too much towards a vegetarian option from Subway. I now think that some sort of meat in the form of meatballs, ham or pepperoni should be incorporated to make it look more mouth-watering. Or, like my previous design, have a variation of the breaded rolls.

Lets see what today brings! Please leave a comment if you have any ideas or interests in the Sublime Subway Sublion! :)

Subway Sublion - Pride in Bournemouth - Summer 2011

I recently won a charitable competition supporting Pride in Bournemouth who, this summer, is raising money for the Born Free Foundation and Julia's house which is a children’s hospice.

"Pride in Bournemouth is a fantastic concept and great way to bring out the best of creativity, businesses and people in Bournemouth!"

Cowlard 2011 (Tandi Creative Media)

It all started when I was around Bournemouth University and thought I would read our students monthly magazine. When I got home I flicked through the pages and came across the competition with a blank lion which caught my eye probably due to the fact that I am South African and lions are part of the Group 5. The subway logo drew my attention in to read on further... what could Subway possibly have to do with a lion? Have a look

As I walked in I realised that the first thing customers see are the photographs of the foods available above and on the walls as well as the fresh bread standing alongside the ingredients enclosed inside the shimmering glass. I then thought that this delicious, fresh and brightly coloured food needed to somehow be in potential consumers faces on the lion, like it is inside Subway. This way the public will see the lion at Pride In Bournemouth this summer and be enticed to come in and try what they have to offer.

I was announced the winner in April (see the Facebook link) and received free subway vouchers and tickets to Pride In Bournemouth. I am very excited to be a part of such a big charitable event and am so happy that I went for the competition.

My rough design:

As you can see my design comprised of cheese, cucumbers, lettuce, meat balls, tomatoes, fresh bread rolls and peppers. I want these colours to be bright with a combination of warm colours as well as fluorescent ones which compliment each other and makes the outlines of the food stand out as if you can touch them.

On the back of the lion I have further incorporated the design of the green Subway promotional/ loyalty card. This is on offer in any Subway and is a way of collecting points and gaining great deals and offers from Subway. The bright green needs to stand out in order to promote the card itself, this way consumers who get the card will feel involved not only with Subway, but with its Subway Sublion. I deliberately did this to create a connection between the Subway brand and Pride In Bournemouth. This pattern should be bright and the white circles should compliment the design on the card. It should be glossy and look attractive to consumers as if they were getting a very special card, only for Subway customers.

Loyalty card:

I will be attending the production of my Lion throught its development and will blog about what went on and what ideas or alterations to the design occur. Please comment and say what you think of my design! I am no artist but I thought the idea was appropriate for the Subway brand, what do you think?

The competition involved having to create a design on the lion which promotes the Subway brand. Yet, Subway’s logo was not allowed to be placed on the lion which gave me a chance to show my creative skills. I went to the Subway in Winton to get inspired for a unique design which I could implement to the colourless lion.

Mobile phones; the new platform for advertising

In a recent blog (20^th February 2011) I talked about how mobile advertising has influenced the way we act as consumers and the rapid rate at which information is dispersed around the world due to the internet. This is an appealing subject I engaged with and enjoyed researching about; a reason for wanting to further discuss mobile advertising.

This blog will reflect on how mobiles are not used in the same way they were used in the early 1990’s such as texting and calling others. They have become devices from which advertisers can target products, brands or services to consumers on the go. This leads onto an additional topic of privacy which ties in with advertising on mobile phones.

“The future of advertising is bright, the future is digital, but new ideas are constantly emerging”

Tibbs,2010

Mobile advertising expenditure in 2010 was worth £83million with an increase of spending by 116% from 2009 (iab, 2011) . Mobile² (2010) predicts an increase in mobile advertising spend in 2011. Nick Lane, the chief strategy analyst at Mobile², further investigated mobile advertising from March to April (2011). Over 46 companies took part including Mediavest, Mindshare and Ogilvy with results collected “independently from mobile” (Lane, 2011). One interesting result is highlighted in the pie chart.

As you can see from the pie chart, a large 30% of agencies suppose 32.6% of their clients’ campaigns will embrace mobile technology to enable communication of an advertising message to potential consumers.

Furthermore,it is “common for businesses to invest their traditional advertising in campaigns to promote online activity” (Tibbs, 2010 p.68). This highlights the attractiveness of online communications. A mintel report from 2010 said that an advantage for using mobile advertising is that it allows a brand to be in touch with young consumers which limits its audience appeal for advertising. The report also states that around 23% of internet users access the internet through their mobile phones which is appealing for mobile advertisers.

Lovestruck.com

Lovestruck.com is a leading dating website in London which uses mobile communications. They had a geographically targeted campaign focusing just on users in London which I found clever.

Lovestruck.com wanted to increase the number of people interested in their service in London so they introduced a free iPhone application:

B.Harding (2011), the managing director of Lovestruck.com, stated that at the beginning of the year, “mobile marketing wasn’t even on our radar” and is “now our most important route to market” this is because the return on investment is very rewarding. Due to the success of mobile advertising, Lovestruck.com’s advertising now accounts for 40% of its marketing budget showing how successful mobiles can be in creating awareness for brands.

Unilever and mobiles

Over the past three years Unilever have indulged in mobile marketing in order to communicate their messages to potential consumers and raise brand awareness. They have done this with brands such as Axe deodorant, Clear shampoo and Omo washing powder.

Jay Altschuler, the communications planning director at Unilever, talks about how Unilever, a traditional brand, has become more modern by taking on mobile communications. He says that there are three ways in which Unilever has tried to modernise itself;

1)  People must live in the space and engage with this new technological advancement.

2) Reframe what they think about media

3) Instead of having it from a marketing perspective Unilever has it from a consumer perspective “putting consumers at the centre”.

This is all very exciting and emphasises how Unilever are determined to keep up with their consumers’ lifestyles. Cappo (2003) believes that media decision makers need to find the right frame of mind rather than burst out campaigns on media platforms where consumers pay little attention and mobile is one way to do so.

Privacy on your mobile?

Advertising through people’s mobile phones can be viewed as an invasion of their personal possessions. Mobile advertising would be in your pocket following you around wherever you go. Will such advertising be able to track more than your information you place online? Will companies have the ability to know where you are shopping or going out using GPS signals on your mobile to directly target consumers at point of sale? This is a scary thought, yet who knows what the future will bring. Technological advancements are of the essence, consumers want more and more when will we reach a peak?

 To express such change, in 1987 “phones were a rarity and a luxury” (Cooper,1997,p.35). On the other hand, today, Altschuler (2011) talks about “Nomobphobia”, the new coined phrase relating to when people get anxious when they are not with their phone. He adds there is not any other media which has this sort of power and believe this can help Unilever follow its consumers. Altschuler sees using mobile phones as a way of “being passionate” to consumers as it takes their interests into consideration yet some people may find this invasive.

The future

 “Consistency and tone of voice are vital components to all marketing communications” (Tibbs, 2010 p. 69) this needs to be taken into consideration when implementing mobile advertising into a campaign. This can be difficult to achieve through such devices due to this innovative nature of advertising. Companies need to embrace this exciting medium in today’s society to modernise themselves and keep up with consumer trends, especially as more people own mobiles due to the economy moving out of the recession (Mintel, 2010)

In conclusion, mobile advertising is original and personal; adding more meaning to the advertising message as if it is just for that individual like their text messages. In agreement, Altschuler (2011) believes that people are spending the majority of the time with their mobiles as its personal to them. I think mobile advertising will escalate and become a great advertising platform to reach young consumers. People have a relationship with their phone that they do not have with any other channel providing great opportunities for advertisers.

References

·         Cappo, J., 2003. The future of advertsing. London: McGraw-Hill

·         Cooper. A., 1997. How to plan advertising. 2^nd ed, London: Cassell

·         Harding. B., 2010. Dating site targets love-seekers by city location on mobile, London: Google. Available from:  http://www.iabuk.net/media/images/Lovestruck_7859.pdf [Accessed 12 April 2011]

·         Internet Advertising Bureau (iab)., 2011. Mobile advertising research, London: Addvantage Media. Available from: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/mobileresearch.html [Accessed 16 April 2011]

·         Lovestruck.com., 2011. Lovestruck.com where busy people click, London: Lovestruck.com. Available from: http://www.lovestruck.com/london/ [Accessed 15 April 2011]

·         Mintel., September 2010. Digital trends Autumn. London: Mintel Group. Available from: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=479889/display/id=545914#hit1 [Accessed 14 April 2011]

·         Murphy. D., 2011. Unilever Talks Mobile, London: Dot Media Ltd. Available from: http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/content/unilever-talks-mobile  [Accessed 16 April 2011]

·         Tibbs. A., 2010. Advertsing its business, culture and careers. London: Routledge

Pie Chart reference

·         Lane. N., 2011. Key developments in mobile advertising. United Kingdom: Mobile². Available from: http://www.strikead.com/storage/Key%20Developments.pdf [Accessed 15 April 2011]