Advertising and Marketing: Module One

Today was the first module of the new semester. We met up in our groups for the first assignment and collaborated with another group to make teams of eight. Our first task was to create a development objective for companies or institutes in our surrounding area. We were given the Victoria and Albert museum to investigate. The V&A have plans to build a new museum on the water front of dundee to expand on there existing museums around the country. Our strategy led us to make a plan on how to provide dundee residents with information on the new build and an insight into the positives the museum will bring to the city and its surrounding areas. We discussed the effects on the local economy; the boost on tourism and hospitality and pitched it to our class to conclude our findings for the module.

In the afternoon we were given a second project to look into. A woman, who was a graduate from dundee university, came in to the class to pitch a product to us that was in its prototype stages. Jo had created a product that allowed couples to interact through the sound of their heartbeats if they lived away from each other or where in a long distance relationship. the product consisted of two sets of speakers the users placed in there pillows at night and two rings that went on the fingers of the users. They could then hear each others heartbeats as they slept at night. I thought this product was lovely. It is a simple concept that has the ability to do so well in a large market. So for the second part of the day we were asked to create another objective to name some of the flaws to this company and how the company could improve. We suggested that the product should be improved in pice and aesthetic appeal. The product was in early stages and quite clinical looking.

Overall, today i felt working in a team very refreshing and useful; especially when trying to address problems like these ones where everyones point addresses the bigger picture.

Assignment 5: Proposal.

Collaborative consumption is a method of trading and bartering that we should all adopt soon. The world is overrun with large corporations who rely on custom and new products for their growth. Collaborative consumerism is the term used to describe companies that rely on people and social networks to function. These companies are usually non profit and focus more on the consumers than the business itself so all money goes back into making the business work better. These kind of organisations are on course to work well because they function well in today's economic climate because people still want to buy new things without really having to spend allot of money or any money at all. We cannot all have cars on the roads, we can't all have massive amounts of land in the cities and we can't keep cutting down trees or using fossil fuel reserves to produce the materials the western world desires. We can however make do with the things we own by sharing them or trading them for other things. Rachel Botsman, who wrote the book: The Rise Of Collaborative Consumerism, talked about her friend having a couch she wanted to get rid of in her flat. She couldn't budge it and one day she bumped into the neighbour from the flat downstairs who had purchased a new couch that was more expensive and of lower quality than the one the Girl up the stairs was trying to sell. If these people had known each other they may have been more aware of the situation. This happens all over the world and it needs to change. More small businesses should be shaped and people should start spending their money again on things they can trust We all have facebook these days and other forms of social interaction; we all connect but are we actually all connected?

  I propose to contribute to the rise of collaborative consumption. It is important to me because I am young and I do not want to be hindered by the recession for the rest of my life. Young people are amongst the largest group of consumers in todays society. Young people are also the best connected people. They are the people who use social networks the most. 17,000,000 people between the ages of 18-25 use facebook, a group almost twice the size of its runner up. I think this audience would benefit from collaboration because they are so well connected. I would use my skills that I have learned in semester two as an entography primer. My idea is very broad and requires allot of refining. The idea for this proposal came from my original investigation six months ago where I looked at a book written by Rachel Botsman a woman who speaks about her ideas for the progression of collaborative consumption. If I was investigating this too I would consider speaking to people about collaborative consumption in there community and ask them how it would affect them in their day to day lives. I have already begun visiting places where I think collaborative consumption could work. I live in a rural environment that relies on sense of community to keep businesses going. I have spoken to farmers who collaborate when they move there livestock from farm to farm during seasons; a way of providing an honest service to another farmer who may struggle for land space to graze his livestock. Collaboration works here. Could it make a diffrence in other places? Is it practical? At the other end of the spectrum I recently visited Barcelona where I was very impressed by how well the city functioned compared to other cities. I could see that population where quite well educated on the importance of working together for better. Cars hardly exist here; people travel on rented mopeds or by cycle schemes. The city is a much cleaner and more productive place to live. Visiting and taking note of these places is a skill I learned in semester two when we were asked to visit places to record social situations.

 Initially I would speak to an audience about the main topics of the introduction. The audience will be exactly the kind of people who use the internet and social networking sites but feel that they could do more to connect as a community. These people must be minded the same as me; there is no point in introducing this idea to people who aren't going to put anything back into the process. Obviously this method would require allot of understanding by the audience.

 I would like to make a difference to our University. Universities are organisations that rely on communities for their growth and progression. Universitys are more than just educational institutes but a main source of contribution and innovation in all of today's industries and professions.  I would host and tell the audience they have been targeted because they are key innovators in this field and I feel that  talk then ask the audience to brainstorm their ideas I would have given them examples of the types of collaborative services available around them and how they could help them. At the end of the talk the findings would be recorded from the groups to see what their ideas were on the subject. I would then take the subject that the audience would find most useful for example a ride to work scheme where you could jump on a bike, cycle it to uni, then leave it at a designated place on campus, then progress it into making a questionnaire to ask members of the public more questions on the refined subject. I would have to ask a cross-section of students of differing ages respectively to address an outcome. Visiting the kinds of places the students had discussed would be important too. Location is of great importance for this proposal. In the end I would have designed a service that worked for students I had targeted. I would have to make sure everybody's views were heard because this is about a proposal that requires collaboration thus I don't think the method of interviewing would be suitable for this proposal because interviews happen in small parties and don't allow for collaboration. 

 Overall, this idea is quite important for it is design with a real function. I'd like to step out from graphic design and into design things that make a difference. Design has to work and this is a challenging idea to construct successfully but would make a huge difference to a small community if it was executed correctly. 

These guys, their kit and that bike are my biggest inspiration at the moment.
http://athertonracing.co.uk/

Assignment Four: Interviews.

For assignment four we were asked to interview someone or a selection of people to put them in a situation where we could gather information. I began my investigation out with Uni I was at home and I interviewed a family friend; someone I'm not really in very close contact with. The question I chose to ask the subject was the question about. What thing do you treasure most. I was surprised when they answered this but it seemed very obvious when they said their dog. His dog is wired haired fox terrier, It 'pisses' and 'shits' everywhere he says but he doesn't seem to mind because he enjoys the fact that it's cheeky. The dog is only a puppy five months old and I can see why he'd be attached to it. I asked him who he trusts to look after it and he said only his parents; people that he knows have helped him to grow up and can probably help a puppy develop too. He's had the puppy four months and he got it from Aberdeen and was ecstatic the day he got it. The puppy is valuable because it is a living creature and he feels as if he has allot of responsibility for the animal. The last question was 'why do you have it?'. He stopped for a second and said because he likes dogs.

This interview was quite emotional because I initially thought when we'd be talking about something we treasure it would be some sort of inanimate object but instead it was a pet something i can entirely relate to. Sometimes the person was reluctant or hesitant to answer because he knew this was very personal to him. Some of his answers were laboured because he knew that they were about him and his animal having bonds that only they share.

A scrappy mind map of some of the things I was asking my subject.

Assignment 3

Assignment three asked of us to record observations we made of people in some of the places our tutor asked us to visit. For my assignment i went two of the places we were recommended to go to. I went to a football match and then the casino a few days after. This assignment was about seeing how people act in places like this because there are rules or etiquette when your in such a place.

This assignment has been very interesting because it has made me think of thinks that i've often thought before but never really pay much attention to. The football game i went to see was just an amateur game with about 100 spectators in the regional sunday league. My younger brother plays for the home side so I went to watch him play. Watching people spectate is nothing unusual, I've been watching football games for as long as I can remember. There is obviously a strict etiquette at football matches like this. People dress the same, people talk the same and everyone is obviously from a very similar social background. The people watching the game varied in ages. Most of the people there were boys my age who had a keen interest in football. at the other side of the park there were older people. they probably stood there because they did not want to mix with the younger spectators. Normally at larger games this would be different but because it was an amateur football match not everyone was there solely to concentrate on the game. At this game there was allot of encouragement from the fans. With football like this you don't get 'glory hunters'; people there for the hell of seeing a good team play good football for there entertainment, but instead a large amount of people who have been supporting the team for a long time. People get stuck into the football, if a player messes up he's soon to get an ear full from a fan. This is the kind of behaviour that isn't normally acceptable anywhere apart from a football game. The boys my age seemed to be the kind of people who enjoyed the banter of a football match. There was lots of loutish behaviour often allot of bad language and general arsing about! Most people turn a blind eye to this or sometimes enjoy some of the witty remarks the boys come out with to offend the opposing team. This assignment was supposed to be investigated in a place where we felt uncomfortable. Out of the places we were asked to visit i found this place the least uncomfortable. I felt like i fitted the criterium for a stereotypical supporter very well; young, loutish and supporting a team of importance to me.

The next place I visited was the Casino. I go there quite often and usually gamble a little bit of money. I went to the casino late at night because it's usually at its busiest then. I always feel uncomfortable in there because you know that at any point you could potentially be wrestled to the ground with the suspicion you'd been card counting or trying buy out the casino. The people gambling are often extremely drunk or half cut and you get the feeling the dealer could be leading them on. If you sit at a table to play either a game of roulette or a game of blackjack you feel like its going to be a team effort even though your out to win all the money the casino has for yourself. When i went in I went straight to the bar because there is nothing better to hide behind than a 15cm tall pint of Tennents when your in an uncomfortable situation. I got my drink and i sat next to a few people. I sat next to four other people at the black jack table. one guy was an ice hockey player from chicago. Another guy was an old boy who had lived in dundee all his life and two younger guys who were very drunk about my age. The american was a very nice guy he had allot of presence at the table from the size of the pile of chips he had accumulated. He was feeling very generous and donated me a five pound chip with the promise of another one if I won the hand. The old man wasn't very happy with this. He lost the hand and was obviously down for the night. I think everyone in a casino is slightly uncomfortable because of the security. Its a very nerve racking place to go. It either makes your night or ruins your night and you can see the winners and the losers as you walk through the place. Obviously the casino is a place where you have to dress smartly. However these days it's quite easy to look like some sort of socialite with a shirt and tie and some black shoes you picked up in primark for just over a tenner. I'd say the football game was definately my sort of stage.