Week 11: Final Project Class Evaluation

Week 11: Final Evaluation

Advertising had never been one of my strengths. Even in business I never felt like I had no idea what to do with advertising or how to go about it. So the best way to learn something about advertising would be to dive right in. Advertising class wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be actually. While I have always had that business mind set I love the creativity it takes to come up with some of the advertising campaigns we’ve seen in class. True, I have never been the person with the most creative ideas but after this class I think I have definitely opened my eyes to a whole new side of myself that enjoys advertising because I actually know it enough now to be confident with what I come up with. Some advertisements that have been put out for the world, or even some advertisements for things right here in Las Vegas are much worse than my own ideas. The final project definitely took a lot out of me, creatively speaking. But I did go into it with a sense of knowing what I was doing because of what we’ve learned in this class. Since the midterm I have been a bit stressed more than usual but I know I’ve tried my hardest just to do my work. Has it been the best? I’ve never been one to turn in anything mediocre. That just would not be who I am. I might not be the most creative but I think I have done a good job. This class has bombarded me with things that I haven’t done before, including tweeting regularly and blogging. One thing I will say for twitter, it’s instantaneous. Something else I would like to say to twitter, ADIOS! Blogger I think will be something good to keep up but the tweeting must go, Thanks Pinto!

EOC Week 10: Art Serving Capitalism

The age old question for this post would be, “Is making money good?” Most of our responses to that would be along the lines of, “That’s rhetorical right?”
Art serving Capitalism means that we are making art not for the sake of art but to make a pretty penny from it. Is that wrong? Of course it isn’t, especially in this country. The first rule of business is to go in and make money. In advertising the way to make that money is to connect consumers to a company.
Lately people don’t respond to words as much as we used to. Instead we tend to respond to visuals and then if we become interested we take in the line or words in the advertisement. If we decide that the line and visual stir something up within us we accept it, and accept the company as something we like. The ad company just did its job; to make a connection with us using the product or company.
This is not only vital to know if you’re going into the advertisement industry but for us to know now when we have to create a completely new campaign as a final project. Mine has been decided and I am keeping all of it for myself. Everything I learned today was just the icing on the cake for me. It helped me out so much to learn about line and copies. The pieces that I had come up with separately seem to have fallen into place. But there seems to be one last thing I find of the utmost importance.
When we have both line and visual, they have to balance each other. By that I don’t mean to try and make them the same size. In advertising the utmost important thing is that if

EOC Week 9: Triplets

When referring to triplets I don’t mean when someone has three babies at one time. These triplets that I refer to in the advertising world mean advertisements that have elements that appear in all of them. So here we are looking for triplets, and I have found some.

In my search for, ‘triplet,’ advertisements I found not only one but two different ad campaigns that I liked and plainly demonstrated the similar elements between them. I finally decided on my personal favorite; Givenchy advertisements.

Givenchy has always been one of my favorite brands just because it has a dark and sensual feel to it that is very chic and elegant and without a doubt appealing. Its elegance and fierce sexual nature was something very obvious and never lacking in Givenchy’s campaign.

There are always similar elements in ad campaigns, but how do we know that they’re triplets??? Simple, Triplets will always have the same format which include, “color palette, style of images, work from the same photographer or illustrator, or font family.” The similarities between Givenchy’s ad is the color palette and style of images.

These Givenchy advertisements are triplets for a few different reasons. First off let us start with the most obvious, color. All of the images are completely black and white. Not only making the images look alike and obviously reminiscent of Givenchy but also giving the images an elegant feel. I think that there is a more obvious reason and more important reason why these images are considered triplets; that reason being style. The style of images is this futuristic, elegant, and badass feel that is never lacking in Givenchy.

Analysis of Project in the Real World

Some advertising campaigns are ridiculous and people know it. They are not just ineffective, sometimes they are just down- right mediocre. That is exactly what I wanted to stay away from when I was creating the actually print ad for my campaign.
Do I think it’s the best thing out there? No. But I do think it’s effective and simply to the point. It’s a regular girl getting ready and putting her makeup on when she decides to just show her villainous side by using this specific brand of makeup.
The brand is obviously not the only thing being recognized. The Disney villains, Maleficent in this case would be easily recognized and people will relate that evil, tricky, and fabulous awe feeling we got as children and saw these villains for the first time.
What we definitely know is that we need to draw them in and identify with what this cosmetics line is offering. The chance and reason to be something other than a princess. Not all girls want to be princesses. Not only that feeling of being able to be bad but also the quality we want in a makeup line.
The quality of MAC is already established. The quality of these is amazing with smooth sheer tones but in bright colors. The mineral Maleficent eye shadow is definitely on that mineral trend many women have been looking for and that it is amazing quality, just makes this line so much more in demand and perfect for these ladies.

Creative Content

My strength in definitely in print ad and for this campaign print advertisement would be ideal for MAC cosmetics. Just ad a brand everyone will know exactly who they are and what MAC is coming out with but we definitely want to target a larger audience and therefore will be promoting in magazines, specifically teen magazines.
Exposing the brand to a new audience who will definitely be interested in a new and even darker cosmetics line will establish MAC cosmetics as a company for everyone.
The whole ad campaign which could have been taken farther on my part I think, would revolve around the new line being limited and perfect for the everyday girl who just wants that one day to be a villain. Do we not all just want that one day where we can be bad and not care about the consequences?

Promotion

The Big Idea

Coming up with a slogan for my advertisement campaign was actually one of those moments in which i felt like I was staring at a blank piece of paper. I’d try to run ideas by my friends and it would never sound right. Just the wording and the product wouldn’t match in the least. Until I almost felt like giving up.
Giving up is never an option for me. Simply put it is something that would be like a fail to me. Coming up with a slogan for a product or company that already has a slogan is somewhat easier than coming up with one from scratch. Why? Because at least from there I know where to go with it and what to stay away from.
The hard part with the product I chose is that not only has it not even been realeased but it has not been given a slogan. All we know is the name of this particular line that reminds me of the fifties in which all advertisements were very, “here is the product, her is the price, now go buy it.”
So now to come up with something that would make girls who dreamed about being princesses want to go buy a line made for villains.

Competitive Analyses

While makeup and cosmetics is within the fashion world it is a world all its own and very competitive. High end cosmetic companies like Sephora, Clinique, high end design houses who have their own cosmetics line and even drugstore cosmetics can be huge competition for MAC.
The beauty of MAC is that the company has established itself as one of the best and a brand of makeup that everyone wants. Can we say the same for Disney? Of course. Disney is a company and everyone in the world knows who and what they are.

So how can we offer something that the competition does not have and would give us something exclusively MAC. Clinique is a department store brand which many people want because of their healthy mineral formulas. Sephora is practically the Mecca of cosmetics. Fashion design houses are just that and wouldnt prove a huge competition to a company which specializes in makeup. Drugstore brands, while some might be good quality the exclusivity of MAC overshadows it.The biggest competition will no doubt be Clinique.

In my opinion Clinique won't be a problem for this line specifically because it isn't what we are trying to accompish. Clinique has their clean image going but MAC has the image in which the envelope it always pushed.

Final Project part 1: Name of Product/ Slogan.

How many products exist in the world? Millions? Billions? Let's just say there is too many products to count. So how can I pick just one and improve its current campaign or come up with a complete new and fresh one. Easy I’m practically superwoman.

Honestly I’ve always liked advertising and making ad campaigns for anything is kind of what I want to go into in my career. Me I like beauty or cosmetic products. They are encompassed under the Fashion umbrella and something I want to pursue. So with this assignment and the upcoming launch for a new makeup line within my favorite company it was almost meant to be.

The company in question is M.A.C. cosmetics. High end makeup but is definitely some of the best makeup out in the market. The new makeup line MAC decided to launch is actually the product I’ve tweeted about constantly. MAC teamed up with Disney and came up with an amazing line for the infamous Disney Villains. The Villains featured are Cruella de Vill, the evil Queen from Snow White, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and Dr. Facilier of the Princess and the Frog.

So we know the product, now we need an advertising plan and campaign for it. How do you get women to want a product of Disney Villains? All girls always wanted to be princesses and hated the villains growing up. Number one challenge of advertising isn’t the layout it’s the actual concept and coming up with a slogan. Even now how do you get these girls to want to be bad??? Inspiration hit and from then it was almost like a rocket took off.

EOC Week 8: Really Good Example of Chapter 8

The theme of this week’s chapter in our book was design and typography. The design of an advertisement is ultimately what sells the product. This blog comes from an assignment of searching in magazines for an ad that is a very good example of what the chapter taught us. After looking through a few magazines and picking from different advertisements I chose an ad for the production of the Phantom at the Venetian hotel here in Las Vegas.

Almost everyone in the world has heard of a little play known as the Phantom of the Opera and even though Las Vegas isn’t Broadway it offers many show productions like this for locals and tourists alike. The Venetian placing an advertisement for this production in Las Vegas magazine we can see who the audience this ad is for. “The cardinal rule: know your audience.”(Advertising by Design, Robin Landa, page 142) The audience for this ad might be a local resident bored with Las Vegas Blvd. Or even a tourist intent on seeing plenty of shows while here in Las Vegas. Alright so we know the audience, let us move onto design.

The layout of this ad is definitely what I love. The black background makes it seem much classier but darker than other productions on the Strip, it matches with the story of Phantom. But layout and a simple picture wouldn’t be the only thing that makes this ad great, font plays a big role in advertisements.

As Michael Sickinger of Firmenich in New Jersey says, “Incorporating images into ascenders and descenders can sometimes work well for logos and headlines.” He also states that, “Using pictographic images in place of letters can be provocative.” (Advertising by Design, Robin Landa, page 163) The font in this ad is easy to read, it seems like a regular classic font, but when you see the logo it becomes interesting because of the Phantom’s mask replacing the ‘O’ in a broken Phantom. Personally I love this ad because it is not overwhelming, you know what it’s for because of the picture and text, and finally because it is simply enticing. They had me at “Be Seduced.”

EOC Week 8: Authority

Stefan Sagmeister of Sagmeister Inc. in New York suggested this; “Have the content determine the form.” This is really something that inspires me because it appeals to the style in which I do most things. I add up all of my ideas and place them in the same place and letting all of that determine how it should be put together. A while back I was given the assignment to do a collage for anything of my interest. We’ll my inspiration is always fashion so whatever I choose I design around it.

For that collage I chose to do the assignment on my favorite design house, Dolce & Gabbana. The design came out as an all black background and brightly colorful advertisements. D&G are known for being sophisticated but chaotic, controversial, and unexpected. When I chose all of the advertisements I liked I started playing with the layout, background, and font. As Carlos Segura of Segura Inc. in Chicago points out, “Use the appropriate font for the job, not the best one installed on your computer.” He also said, “Seek opinions.”

The final result of my project was an all black background which emphasized the colors in the D&G ads, colorful and unexpected font I discovered, and the layout was designed as if all these pictures were dropped onto a board. Simply chaotic and beautiful. I was especially proud of this assignment and if I can replicate the same inspiration into this final project I’ll be good.

EOC Week 7: Excitement, Ad x 4

EOC Final Project: First Thought

First thought about this final project is definitely go with some kind of fashion themed project. What I should do absolutely escaping me right now. Not a very good idea right this second. So here are some ideas:

• Metal Mulisha Maidens
• O’neill
• Rusty

Metal Mulisha is definitely something that not only have people not heard of around here but the only advertisements are for the MM athletic team, and for the Men’s clothing line. O’neill is very much the same. That’s their main focus but it gives me the opportunity to come up with an ad campaign for the female lines especially the Metal Mulisha Maidens.

But there is also untapped parts of the fashon market that should be brought up to their full potential.

EOC Week 6: Make 'Em Laugh

The hilarious commercials are definitely always the advertisements we tend to remember. They tickle our funny bone and make a connection with us, the consumers, by making us laugh. A commercial that I personally find hilarious and can never forget was the Heineken Walk-In Fridge commercial.

Beer commercials tend to always be the funniest commercials and are always selling the experience. Ranging in selling the girls or just the fun time at a game, beer companies tend to make it very humorous. But Heineken just made me always think of them first when thinking of beer with this commercial.

Me, I love fashion so I’ve never really seen a beer commercial even associated with fashion unless you count the endless models they always put in their commercials. One day out of nowhere after watching I think, a Project Runway episode, I see this commercial. It starts with a lady having a housewarming party and showing her friends her apartment when they all walk and she shows them the prize!! No not beer not yet! She shows them the Walk-In closet! We women love giant closets. You hear the ever present squealing! So then we hear even more amazed squealing and happy yelling but it is no longer the ladies. It’s the men! Yelling and screaming over what? The Walk- In fridge full of Heineken! To any men this fridge is most definitely worth squealing, giddy laughter, a few, “Oh my God’s,” and even tears.


The part that just makes me crack up every time I even think about this commercial is that it compares the two genders. This compares a woman’s excitement for a walk-in closet to a man’s excitement for a refrigerator full of beer. I know that when I saw my walk in closet I was extremely excited and giddy. Maybe the feeling I got would be the same as what my husband would feel to have a walk in fridge full of beer!

How much does a six pack of Heineken cost you? Well the men's reactions in this commercial are PRICELESS.

EOC Week 6: Jerry Metellus

At the Art Institute the students in the photography major in what they want to do with their career. Today there was a time when I was considering not coming in just to hear a speech. Then a wise little birdie told me that hearing this guy give a speech was completely worth it and I could not miss it. That wise little birdie was completely right. Photography while it isn’t my chosen career is such a big part of fashion and vice versa, I am absolutely glad I did not miss this. Hearing a real person who has been in the business and knows this business means that much more to me than just learning about people. We hear what they did, with their art. Today we heard about how fun and even rewarding our careers can be but we also learned that at the end of the day it is show business not just show. Marketing yourself doesn’t have to be huge to start with. In fact, all you really have to do is talk, show your work, and work like a dog; when you do you learn and find the next step, what comes next. Another thing I learned is just the attitude of not putting any person above you or yourself above anyone. The teams photographers have on set are there for a reason. I learned that today, you can’t do everything by yourself and it will help to have a team you can trust and get along with behind you. Having that team with you or behind you is necessary. Yet despite having said team you must always handle your business yourself and never seem at all desperate. Thank you to Jerry Metellus for opening our eyes to a reality we needed to see. Also for his humor and honesty and time spent here with us today.

EOC Week 5: Ad Categories

There are many kinds of advertisements. Three of the many categories are Fantasay, Misdirection, and Slice of Life.

Fantasy: People find fantasy compelling and a Mexican Ad agency hit the target by advertising the PS3 by letting you know of the possibility of fighting villains that have the mother- in- laws head on them.

Misdirection: You think its going one way but it goes in a completely different direction. Like the Heineken campaign of "For a Fresher world." We think it's one of those "go green" commercials and it's actually for beer. What a world we live in.

Slice of Life: This is actually one of the most effective categories of advertisements is the Slice of Life in which it shows something of an actual life experience. When you see an Oreo advertisement like this one you remember the taste of an Oreo cookie as a kid and how you too wanted to stuff a hundred cookies in your mouth at one time. Anyone else want a cookie?

EOC Week 4: Bob Isherwood, why is he important?

Alright so maybe I am going to have to study much more about people in advertising because some of the modst important men in advertising and I have never heard of either of them. Jerry Della Famina was one thing but i truly had no idea as to who Bob Isherwood was. Let's just say that the information I found on the internet was not a very big help in any way, shape, or form. So what was the problem? Was Jerry Della Famina more important? Not really. Bob Isherwood has a 35 year career in advertising under his belt and as for his work,"his work has been well documented in many books and endorsed by the industry's most prestigious national and international award shows." (http://www.conference.net.au/auiac2002/speakers/isherwood.htm)
As of 1995 he became the Chairman of the Worldwide Creative board, and as of 1996 he is the Worldwide Creative Director and member of the Executive Board for Saatchi & Saatchi. “Bob’s work has been documented in many books and endorsed by the industry’s most prestigious national and international award shows.”(http://www.abeopartners.com/bob_isherwood/) I am honestly almost never impressed by awards. But for someone to have won awards like the very first Gold lion for cinema, be one of the few people to have actually won a British Design and Art Direction gold award, and not having to mention a Clio Lifetime Achievement award is a very big deal. What I find even more impressive than these awards is the hard work and creativity this man has had to put into his work to even be nominated for these awards. So lets take a closer look at this Clio award. The Clio award is, “, in recognition of outstanding and ongoing contribution by an individual who is leading the industry forward.”(http://www.saatchi.com/news/archive/clio_lifetime_achievement_award_for_bob_isherwood) Bob Isherwood seems to be very aware of the path he must take to keep the advertising industry moving forward.

BOC Week 4: Jerry Della Femina. the Big Idea

Jerry Della Femina I’ve never heard of until today. I typed his name into Google and all of a sudden I am bombarded with “From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor.” Here is the story. The company Della Femina worked for was given an account from their new client, Panasonic. They had to sell Panasonic’s televisions. “It was Della Femina's first day on the job and he was surrounded by account executives, art directors and copywriters awaiting his direction. Finally he cleared his throat. "I've got it! How about this for a headline: 'From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor.'" (http://www.designobserver.com/observatory/entry.html?entry=14668) So who was this guy who on his first day came up with such an big idea. Years before, back when he was trying to break into the business, Jerry Della Femina was practically an Italian nobody from Brooklyn, trying to get into a world where clients like Ford didn’t want to work with, “his kind.” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128695927) “He muscled his way into his first job by sending weeks of samples signed only with his initials before presenting himself triumphantly at the agency's door, announcing, "I'm J.D.F." He immediately went to work creating not just ads but his own image.” He came out on top with shocking and unexpected ideas for advertising. Like his idea for Panasonic’s televisions he also came up with things like using Hitler and the holocaust as an example of not reading. Who would’ve come up with that before? “The irreverence that characterized much of his work obscures the fact that Della Femina's creative upstarts demonstrated strengths that included determination, a sense of humor, dedication and a love of advertising.” (http://adage.com/century/people071.html) I believe that the sense of humor ever present in his ads might have been a bit scandalized but if I had seen them it would’ve won me over completely.

EOC Week 3: Tobacco

The very first tobacco advertisement to come out in America was in the year 1789, "when the Lorillard brothers advertised their snuff and tobacco products in a local New York daily paper." (http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa/tobacco.html) them for about 70 more years Tobacco ads looked the same. There were some pretty typical ads promoting that smoking was sexy, sophisticated and cool. The one ad I found pretty, um, interesting was an ad for Marlboro which is targeted at parents and features babies in the campaign. In 1950, Marlboros were promoted as a cigarette for mothers as stress relievers, but thank goodness it never caught on. The problem was that they still needed a target audience to sell their products to. Their strategy failed because they didn’t think through that mothers wouldn’t want their children exposed to smoke. So they had to quickly call on a brilliant advertising guru to come up with something new. “Famous advertising guru Leo Burnett helped the company to reposition Marlboro as a rugged man’s cigarette by inventing Marlboro Man. You know, rugged men galloping on fast horses on rugged countryside. Until then, filter cigarettes were not for real men.”(http://www.quitsmokingpainlesslynow.com/cigarette-advertising/marlboros-for-mummy/) Since these men wanted to be ‘real men,’ the Marlboro man was the perfect example for them to want to emulate. They didn’t have to outright say, smoke Marlboro’s and you’ll be this man. The way the Marlboro man was who men wanted to be and who women simply wanted. But I digress, back to the baby campaign. It actually does say that the miracle of Marlboro was that you never feel “over- smoked.” Wow what does that even mean? I’m not saying it’s horrible to smoke; I would be a hypocrite because I smoke, but to use babies to sell cigarettes I feel is like saying you would sell your own grandmother to make a quick buck. I’m just glad they ditched the babies for the Marlboro man.

About Me

As a Fashion & Retail Management professional I am very comfortable in the Fashion world. I have always been drawn into it. Even though I am most definitely not a fashion designer I feel that my success is in the business side of this world. I have studied the history of fashion and am completely awestruck at how far it has come and how it has come back. Witnessing this has only furthered my desire to work at store like Neiman Marcus. Many people don’t realize what a buyers or stylists really do. Buyers sometimes work as forecasters for their specific stores or departments, searching for what will be sold there from vendors or fashion shows and always keeping in mind what their customers want. I love what a buyer does, even if sometimes it isn’t glamorous most of the time. To be a buyer you must be in high paced industry, be creative, and be flexible. Traveling, forecasting, fashion history, and even mathematics, which are some of the things that most draw me into this career, play a major role. The high paced fashion industry brought out my confidence and I feel that with my knowledge and desire for this industry motivates me to drive this industry to a completely new level.

EOC Week 2: Ethics in Comercials

Ethics: a system of moral principles

Have you ever seen a commercial that was just wrong?
There have been a few commercials that in the attempt to appear one way seem to come out as ethically wrong. For me one commercial particularly seemed very unethical to me. The commercial was the, Burger King/ Sponge Bob commercial. For those who have not seen this commercial let’s just recap this commercial real fast. It’s starts up and the very first thing you see is Sponge Bob, the children’s cartoon character, on TV. Yet the very first thing you hear is a remix of Sir Mix A Lot’s “I like big butts,” but it is square butts rather than big butts, as if that is any better. At the very end we see sexy women dancing with their backsides to the camera. The whole commercial these women are dancing, showing their rear ends, while trying to sell this to children! Today we see sex everywhere and we have all heard that famous saying, “Sex sells!” Is it true, of course it is. There is absolutely no doubt that sex sells and D&G are the prime example of that. So when does this ‘Sex sells!’ attitudes go too far for us and crosses that line from ethical to unethical. For me it is fine for Dolce & Gabbana to have sexy and risky ad campaigns. That’s who they are and the people who buy their clothing can choose to shop because of those ads. This Sponge Bob BK commercial would have been fine if it had been targeted toward adults rather than to little kids. Why would you advertise something for little kids with this kind of content? Is it right to have a connection between Sponge Bob and ‘square butts’? I find it a little disturbing that the people who came up with this idea find it don’t.

EOC Week 1:VW lemon

“The ad featured a black and white photo of the Volkswagen Beetle with the word “Lemon” in bold san serif font… the image follows a statement that proclaims that this particular car was rejected by Inspector Kurt Kroner because of a blemish on the chrome piece of the glove box.” (http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=1731) Well personally I had honestly never even seen this advertising before class today. Obviously I have heard of a Volkswagen Beetle before, I mean who hasn’t. So why is the 1961 Volkswagen Beetle advertisement so important? “God bless him, because in so doing he also gave advertising permission to surprise, to defy and to engage the consumer without bludgeoning him about the face and body. Kroner offered up a lemon with approximately the same result of Eve offering the apple. Not only did everything change, but suddenly things were a lot more interesting.”
(http://adage.com/century/campaigns.html) Before Volkswagen’s ‘Lemon’ advertisement the ads were so boring and just facts. When the “Lemon” ad came out with a much more interesting and different manner than the advertisements that came before them, they captivated and changed the world of advertising. No more laying around and just stating facts, now we wanted something to grab our attention. Alright so we know what it meant for the world of advertising, what it looked like, and what came after it. So only one question remains. “How could Volkswagen sell Hitler’s favorite car to the American people only a decade and a half after World War II? This was the question asked of the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1960. In order for them to solve this problem, they would have to find a new way to advertise their products.”(http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=1731) I think America is happy with the Volkswagen Beetle despite whose favorite car it was. Passing through such vigorous testing, that just because the glove compartment was slightly damaged spoke very highly of the car.