In this lecture, we began with a definition of both influence and behaviour. The definition of influence was:
'The capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behaviour of someone or something'.
The definition of behaviour was:
'The way someone behaves to a situation or stimulus'.
From this, we were asked to consider questions such as: why do people do what they do?/ feel the things they do?/ make the choices they do? There could be a range of responses to these questions such as the media, the people around us or society, culture, politics or emotion. We dove into some of these examples with the help of a ven diagram which linked all of these influences.
The definition of manipulation was given. It is to 'changing something'. I also researched the definition and I got results such as 'alter', 'edit' 'control' and 'influence'. Therefore, manipulation links well with the topic. This brought us onto propaganda (or public relations), which occurred heavily during World War 2. Eddie Berneys was someone who was involved in 'manipulating the masses' and was the nephew of Sigmund Freud and therefore had a psychological educational background. Berneys saw images such as Charles Dana Gibson's 'Gibson Girl' which had become iconic and recognised as a free spirit as well as being part of an elite social class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Girl
Gibson became the editor of LIFE magazine and was very influential. Bernays noticed this and wanted to make something of it.
'Torches of Freedom' was a phrase that linked with this 'Gibson Girl' free spirit and elegance. During the woman's liberation movement in the USA in the 1920's, cigarettes were associated with men and it was not actually legal for women to smoke. Edward Bernays used this to encourage women to smoke. Bertha Hunt, Bernays' secretary, was arrested for smoking in public. This was a set up by Berynays and attracted a lot of attention to the fact women can't smoke. Lucky Strike was the brand that was associated with this movement and reflected women's independence and freedom. Because of this, the brand became more popular.
http://yourstory.com/2014/08/torches-of-freedom/
Even in the modern day, smoking has this 'free' and attractive appeal about it. The Blu E-cigarette was advertised very similarly. Even though we know now smoking isn't healthy, it still has certain connotations attached to it which came from this Torches of Freedom movement.
The second part of the lecture was called 'Find Your Greatness' and began by looking at the winning pitch for the 2012 London Olympics, designed by Wolff Olins.
http://www.designboom.com/design/london-olympics-2012-the-look-of-the-games/
The logo was supposed to look flexible although not everybody agreed it was a successful logo because it was ambiguous and didn't link with sport directly. However, Wolff Olins wanted a logo that brands could make their own and Brian Collins, one of the senior developers of the logo, didn't want it to be 'the houses of parliament' or predictable, which it wasn't.
During the Olympics, Nike launched the 'Find Your Greatness' campaign which was a series of advertisements that used video from all around the world. All the people that were recorded were doing a sport of some kind, They were not professionals and each person was in a place called 'London' from all areas of the world. This campaign was so effective as it did not directly link the Olympics to it although it linked the world with sport, which is what the Olympics achieves.
https://www.talentsquare.com/blog/book-review-moments-of-greatness/
FCB Inferno also did a similar campaign, aimed at women. Women were filmed from all parts of the world doing different sports and enjoying different sports. The campaign was called 'This Girl Can' and took information from Sport England and reflected it in a positive way. It was a very uplifting and clear campaign that focused on sport and well-being
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/02/05/anatomy-ad-behind-scenes-sport-englands-girl-can-and-its-celebration-women
Looking at campaigns like this shows us how effective the media can be and how it can portray anything in a certain light. They work well and use ordinary people to demonstrate that anyone can do it and everyone should do it.
We then went onto look at deception and began by looking at Red Bull which is said to keep you awake as well as improve your performance. The sponsorship for Red Bull is well known as the slogan 'it gives you wings' is well recognised and often used. However, we were taught that not everyone agrees with this slogan and Red Bull went to court as one of their consumers disagreed with the idea that it gave you wings. They lost the case and suffered a $15 million loss because it does not give you wings. However, they used this loss to their advantage and created a one off advertisement to laugh it off and the tagline was 'No Red Bull. No wings'. They do now have to be more careful of how they advertise this 'it gives you wings' promise.
Whenever we engage with a business, whether its when we drive past a billboard or see an advert on Tv, this is called a touch-point. The more touch-points there are, the more well known a business is. For example, Red Bull is advertised massively and is incredibly well known and therefore popular.
http://pcwallart.com/red-bull-gives-you-wings-wallpaper-3.html
All these campaigns and brands have to work on the functional pyramid.
http://blog.studiojubilee.com/post/47612225776/a-pyramid-of-needs-for-design-branding-and
If any part of this pyramid fails, then the design as whole fails. This pyramid is a very useful resource when considering a brief or when designing something as you have to make sure the design meets all these standards. In the examples I have gave, all these targets have been met and from this, we have a successful and memorable design.
From this lecture, I have taken important points when considering branding and advertising. Such as, manipulation and deception, no matter how obvious or not it is, shouldn't be the intention when trying to convey a campaign, message or a story. It is also important to consider the audience, context and what the audience will take from the message, story, advertisement or campaign.
Overall, it was a very interesting lecture. I am particularly interested in advertising and to receive this information gave me an idea of how a campaign works and how to approach a campaign if I were to design one.
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