Learning Process

The past week has been mentally busy, and setting out all of my key insights from my research, the most important insight has to be regarding brand terrorism, and the context of the term in its entirety. This insight, as previously pointed by the tutors present at the presentation last week, is already known to the general public, but what has been done to solve such a problem?

Examples such as Logorama by H5/François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain & Kapitaal by Studio Smack both note the problems that the terrorising messages become meaningless as a moral through a visual narrative. On the other hand, Deleting Space by Christopher Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf’s outdoor methods of erasing brands on the high street created an impact through the erasure of noise, the response from the audience were clear. But the underlying point is that those examples do not suggest what can be done to avoid the meaningless messages as a whole.

While this key insight serves more direction towards the outcome, it has brought another insight that in fact, the essence of this project is about raising awareness about something that is already known to everyone; raising awareness about something familiar. As it is an analogy to state that rather than making a point by proving that the problem with media is constantly pointing out the negativities within society to provide the shock value for its audience, as Gerbner (as cited from Seward Barry, p.306) states

Under the umbrella theory of "cultivation process" Gerbner has traced how "mean world syndrome" can come about when, with the repeated exposure to negative messages, people can become convinced that the world they live in is an inherently dangerous and primarily mean one...when people believe what they see and what they see is a world enmeshed in violence, they expect violence to happen to them...and inadvertently actualize what they fear – all without understanding how the process has worked or the actual reality behind the fears.

This draws insight that I had raised towards the beginning of my Major Project on the exposure of negative media, but there are not as many suggestions as to how to improve their negative findings.
   
So how would I be able to raise awareness about something that is already known to the audience?

Had a think (not necessarily in a dark room though, as my tutor had suggested) over the output, a web interface with a type of humourous and engaging shock for the audience; the stats and facts will connect with the different scenarios that will be asked, with metaphoric titles such as "Rise and shine" – asking the audience what they do when they first get up; some may go to the bathroom, some may use their phone to check their social networking sites / emails etc., or their daily commute, with small analogies such as "we spend x time watching/seeing ads about health/fitness products that would equate to x amount of hours spent at the gym". The important message behind this site to be engaging and informative. Thusly, creating the creative co-ordinates of
   

• engaging
• informative
• which directs contemporary.

The tone of voice which directs the site still requires work, as there may be multiple dynamics that I am adding as a result of utilising both analogies and metaphors within the language; the interpretations of them would be different for all.

Importantly, the outcome brings learning about brand exposure to a more informational extent by using such analogies, and it can help at the end of the interactive survey by offering suggestions on purchasing (such as making search terms more direct, and to spread the news of awareness on this site), creating the link from my key point, to offer positives in light of the negative discovery. Whether or not it would create the realisation that branding is the contemporary method of escapism for the audience is up to the individual.
   
Sketches of the site are being created as I write up; on a 12 column grid to retain the simplicity that would be required to keep in line with the creative co-ordinates. The name of this campaign, or essentially, the brand, has currently been proposed as “Brandology” – literally, meaning the study of branding. (Still subject to change)

For the purpose of online viewing, I have attached Logorama and Kapitaal for your viewing pleasure.

Bibliography
Seward Barry, A (1997) Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication. State University of New York: New York.

Video
H5/François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain (2009) Logorama [video online] Available at:

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[Accessed 10 May 2011]

Studio Smack (2006) Kapitaal [video online] Available at:

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[Accessed 4 October 2011]

Website
http://www.steinbrener-dempf.com/index.php?article_id=5 [Accessed 1 October 2011]

This week, I managed to also get in touch with members of mumsnet, the online community for parents, by parents; Sharna Jackson of Tate Kids, as well as some raw data on the public’s acknowledgement of product placement from OFCOM, all of which will add great data towards my research. The main problem that I have been experiencing with this subject is that, due to the nature of this subject, and the fact that this is still relatively new, it is hard to gather raw data to create visualisations to show the flow of process.
   
Definitions of the three main keywords/phrases so far as gathered from my research:
   
Product placement is about implanting an idea of purchasing purposes within media; a communication tool that is integrated into the media
Branding is about providing the terminal values for the consumer to build the ultimate brand loyalty relationship between themselves and the brand
Childhood is a period their mentalities are still in development, and therefore should be a period where any form of communication exposed to them should allow to continue to grow; the idea of childhood nowadays is more about consumption and consumerism rather than a process of developing their own identities; their own brand.
   
Carrying on from the previous week on fairytales and fables; the main objective of these stories was to provide a sense of morals for the reader, and to allow them to develop a sense of morals on their own accord. Fairytales and fables are not much different from branding, where both stem from the idea of storytelling, and to create a relationship between the narrative and the reader themselves; to create an emotional link, and to allow the children to relate themselves to the appropriate characters.
   
We, as designers/creative thinkers/design philosophers/all of the above, have objectives, one of those perhaps, is to improve society with future changing concepts, wanting to add some meaning to the society. These life-changing decisions? They are adult concepts. They were influenced by what we were exposed to ourselves, or other ideas. So can it be said that ideas are also adult concepts? If so, how about starting from where we began ourselves? Childhood. 
   
As previously said, childhood nowadays has become a term that is associated with materialistic values, where children grow up surrounded by brands, and are branded themselves, this categorising by sub-culture creates an tidal wave effect of wanting to seek out the latest gadgetry to fit within their evocative values that the children themselves want to see themselves become associated with.
   
By influencing perceptions from a young age, we can change the future from the beginning.  An idea of influencing perceptions is where this final major project was stemmed from; the recent lift of the product placement ban to its essentials, is about the placement of ideas or a concept. On the discovery that children are becoming increasingly obsessive about consumption, this can be interpreted in different ways; whether in food or other products, we are becoming increasingly materialistic in our values, and the age of desiring and obtaining materialistic luxuries are getting younger. Why? One thing is clear; advertising. 
   
Advertising’s role in brands are important in their own right, as advertising becomes the first point of contact in establishing a link between the consumer and the brand itself. How about the products that are targeted towards children? The juxtaposition of promoting a product for children with an advertising campaign that is an adult concept, what effect would this have on children psychologically?
   
The stressful lifestyle that the majority face in this metropolis are beginning to show strains and their children are also noticing too, as the gradual increase of both parents having a full-time job, the amount of time that can be devoted to their children has decreased significantly; “working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes each day looking after their children – including mealtimes.” (Donnelly, 2011)
The parents’ role to their children are supposed to be setting an example on growing up and providing a positive mental attitude towards their developing, but as adults begin to go through the routine of wake up, eat sleep and work, and less time is being spent with children; bills to pay, mouths to feed, their children will also begin to be exposed to the routine of becoming slaves to the clock.

Upon reading more on the origins of fairytales, and its psychologies, it provided the most wonderful insight that very much links my research on how ideas and implanted in the first place, with the impacts and function of branding. This is a crucial turning point within the project, as this is about gaining an understanding of the metaphors that became idealised, or branded, and its utilisation of them in today’s society within many contexts.

Combining this with the strategic methods of advertising, particularly, product placement and the overload of information everywhere; on billboards, television, on the internet, that even we, ourselves, as young adults, are being influenced, sometimes unconsciously in light of product placement, where this project began. There seems to be nowhere to hide, and we are being brought up in an environment where advertising is the norm that one probably gets exposed to more than their homework or more time spent with advertising than their own parents; branding is no longer child's play, but  rather, a materialistic maturity for the growing youth in the way that this can be classified coined as a brand terrorism; where brands bombard so much that they dictate our own lifestyle and we inherently lose our freedom of choice.
   
So has branding become the modern adulthood to the modern childhood?

   
Bibliography
Donnelly, L. (2011) Working mothers send 81 minutes a day looking after their children The Guardian [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8408503/Working-mothers-spend-81-minut...> [Accessed 22 August, 2011]

From 28th July:

Why do we have to keep explaining everything to death? A need to justify and contextualise design is increasingly letting daylight in on magic and typically makes the design in question look less, rather than, more impressive. Propping up design with explanation suggests it cannot speak for itself, that there is a ‘trick’ being played. The best design simply ‘is’. But the PR industry just won’t or can’t stop. [Amos, 2011]

The juxtaposition of positivity and negativity can be reduced to the most simple marks known: + and -. They are very simple, and minimal visually, but their context is vast in many different aspects – take, for example, a juxtaposition of colour – cultures signify black and white in different ways; black is the default colour for a traditional funeral in the Western society, whereas Eastern cultures are usually white. Black, in English history, represented dignity, respect and of spiritual reflection; Queen Victoria wore black for the majority of her reign to mourn for the loss of her beloved husband Prince Albert.

Who is to know whether culture of bad and evilness, who knows that black = evil? Or white = evil? Death = black in british culture, and white in Chinese culture – why is Chinese culture white? Or rather more specifically, who was to discover the meaning of ‘bad’, and ‘evil’, differentiating between ‘good’ in the first place? In a religious sense, it would be the Bible.

The Bible, essentially, is an archaic storybook that tells the life of Christ throughout the centuries, passed down by many different generations, told to children and adults alike, making it accessible for all ages to understand (and perhaps embrace) religion. In Elizabeth Tucker’s report The Dramatization of Children’s Narratives, Tucker explains that  (1980, p.184)

Most stories are told in the single dimension of the human voice. Through the young narrator’s blending of traditional and creative elements, the story gradually unfolds and comes to life for its listeners.

The modern-day influence of narrative is no different, with copywriters, marketers and advertisers loitering around the sweet and innocent vocabulary, we are influenced everyday to buy their products by being dictated to with the product, and combined with our increasingly materialistic culture,  our associations between the brands and ourselves (how we will be portrayed if we used this brand), we are sold.

Summary of findings and questions so far before the Summer Break:

• Product placement is an adult invention, perhaps something which may be too advanced for children, whom are still developing mentally
• A  new materialistic culture has been produced as a result of the adult concept of product placement and advertising; the increase in commercialisation of childhood has dynamically changed the development of children
• How is an idea implanted into a child's mind? Can be begin to implant brands as necessities, as the power of choice is beginning to develop in childrens’ minds?
• Can negative/positive experiences for children be branded?
• What is the difference between the media ‘idea’ and the cultural ‘idea’. Is an idea therefore, the driving force for all communications? If so, what drives the idea?

Bibliography
Amos, S. (2011) jkr: Design Gazette [online] <available at:http://www.jkr.co.uk/design-gazette/2012-olympic-medals-silver-for-design-a-bronze-for-pr-speak/> [accessed 27 July]
Tucker, E. (1980) The Dramatization of Children’s Narratives. [Online] Western Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 3, Children’s Folklore pp. 184-197 <available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1499800> [accessed 16 July]

From June 30 –

When asking the specific question whether or not product placement can have a positive brand exposure towards children, there are several points which have to clarified first before delving into something as specific as this;

• What is product placement?
• Why do we need product placement?
• How do we, as consumers perceive targeted advertising?
• Advertising’s role for brands
• What products are targeted towards children?
• How does product placement benefit / damage brands?
• Current situation in the UK with product placement legislation

   
As Twitter extraordinaire and founder of Alltop Guy Kawasaki once said “If you make meaning, you make money”, how do brands create meaning for the consumers, particularly through advertising?
   
From the vast amounts of reading written by media and advertising specialists, the vast world of media is a forever evolving spectrum that allows advertisers to play with consumers’ minds with the growing list of outlets for exposure. Advertisers have to continuously find new and innovative ways to tap into those markets with something new to try and gain attention from the overload of information and advertising ‘noise’; it almost seems that the “purpose of advertising is to cut through other people’s advertising…” (Niinimäki, 2009)
   
Within the reading so far, the majority of the authors seem to describe the power of image manipulation and advertising with negativity, so would the readers that absorb all this information gathered by the authors also not begin to accept the idea that advertising, as a whole, can only be a evil cog within this giant media machine? In this case, can these ‘findings’ really be said to be findings when they appear to be more of biased reports on advertising and image manipulation? Even when one searches for the keyword ‘brand exposure’, the first page links to a product placement agency named Brand Exposure, which (Brand Exposure, 2011) “offers a comprehensive and proactive product placement service for a range of high-end consumer products”.
   
From a brand’s perspective, the image immediately received by consumers by these outlets must therefore be attention-grabbing and almost as immediate as recognising a colour of the packaging, for example.
   
With the above points in mind, then how do children perceive the brand images when they are exposed to them on television? If it is as subtle and quiet as the first product placement in the UK since the ban was lifted in February 2011, then would they have even noticed or known it was a specific targeted advertising?
   
For consumers to even realise product placement was present in a programme (besides the regulated display of the Product Placement logo before and after the programme in which product placement was present was shown), consumers would have to have the knowledge of a product first; the first product shown in the UK was a Nescafe Coffee Machine during a popular daytime show This Morning. This programme is aired every morning at 10:30am, will aim to display products towards the target audience group that will most likely be in front of the television at this time of the day; mothers who may have just sent their children to school. This group of audience will also be the most likely group to be making the main purchasing decisions when buying products. Combining this knowledge and also wanting to have a morning cup of coffee after a hectic start to the morning, mothers will have certain knowledge of the products on display, perhaps from advertising campaigns outside and on screen during ad breaks, and the majority would be able to recognise the product.
   
    “Color isn’t the most important thing; it’s the only thing…color goes immediately to the psyche and can be a direct sales stimulus.” – Alvin Schechter
    (cited from Alsop, D. 1984, p37)
   
For children, since their senses are still developing, are more likely to be attracted to bright colours, this is why products aimed towards children always contain more than two colour palettes, and are very bright and lively to encourage play. For marketers that have to target products towards children, they must first understand, or even decide, what products should be targeted towards children in the first place. This can be done with insight from market research on aspects such as the most marketed products or the most purchased products in supermarkets or toy stores. Importantly, to control the research scope further, an age group of children has to be specified.
   
On the other hand, the marketers also have to understand the mindsets of parents when they make their purchasing decisions, as they are the users within a family that generate the income, and therefore providing their children with the products. It appears seemingly more so from media coverage that product placement is always emphasised negatively in advertising towards children.

As an advertiser said:

I disagree with the way that advertising has infiltrated my life such that I can’t choose when to view it…I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying commercial time if it’s going to be offered…it has to do being able to have a choice when I receive the messages and when I don’t, and I feel that I’ve lost that choice. (Niinimäki, 2009)

Children, already considered to be incapable of making purchasing decisions, utilises a method called “pester power” in order to persuade those with power, i.e. their parents, to purchase a product.

   
Bibliography

Alsop, D. “Color Grows More Important in Catching Consumers’ Eyes” Wall Street Journal, 29 November 1984, 37.   

Niinimäki, M. (2009) Product Placement. [video] Available at: <http://vimeo.com/4056231>
   
This Morning, 2011. [TV programme] ITV, 28 February 2011 10.30.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Nescafe-Coffee-Machine-Is-First-Prod...
http://www.brand-exposure.co.uk/

"Be postive, my friend." Guy Kawasaki, y agrega "If you make meaning, you make money" #branding

— Andy Stalman (@AndyStalman) June 30, 2011