OUGD501 - COP2 - COP3 Proposal

OUGD501 - COP2 - End of Module Evaluation

In evaluation, I feel this module was the most challenging of the year for me due to the amount of work we had to do for the module. The amount of research I undertook was far more than I'm used to, however this made the result more rewarding and produced a more informed end result.

After writing about consumerism last year, I felt I wanted to expand on this subject but make it relevant to my interests and take a more positive approach to the topic this year. I decided to delve into the world of marketing and research how professionals project it will evolve in the future

I've been able to properly construct an essay from start to finish and I feel my essay has more structure than last year and stays on topic, whereas last year my essay was loosely written and didn't have a clear argument behind it. I also produced a well synthesised practical project that clearly related to my essay, and due to this I was able to use the research for my essay as a basis for the research in my practical project.

I could have presented my argument in a more balanced fashion, as I mainly talk about my thoughts on what marketing will go into as opposed to citing more professionals on the subject. However, I think this presents an original take on the subject and I am able to dissect the references I have chosen and make educated assumptions on the basis of this data.

I have found that I thoroughly enjoy marketing and advertising, and I plan to expand on my essay topic next year for my dissertation. I think that advertising is an industry I would be interested to go into after my degree and so the more research I can undertake on the processes of the industry, the better for me. 

Next year I plan to undertake more physical research such as focus groups and in-person interviews as I feel that this will allow me to collect more in-depth data for my essay and create a new level of research to analyse for my dissertation. I feel this was one thing I was missing in my research as I mainly stuck to online surveys and questionnaires which is good for quantitative data but I was lacking in qualitative data to analyse.

Overall, this module has opened up new routes for me to take in my research and I have learnt how important making informed decisions is, not just informed in the context of my own decisions but informed with the preferences of my target audience.

OUGD501 - COP Practical - Retrospect Evaluation

On final contemplation, I think Retrospect is an app that could definitely lead the way for advertising in new media. With educated design decisions led by academic research, I was able to create an app that properly identified a gap in the ever-evolving market and propose a concept that could be executed at any point. 

Everything from the medium to the colour palette was carefully thought about, and fits the needs set out by myself at the start of the project. The project synthesises well with my essay, as the essay forms the basis of research for the future of advertising in new media, and my practical project is a means of execution of research. 

The project is also design for change, aiming to change how consumer theory works entirely. An ambitious project, but with growth could be a whole new process to consumers choosing which products and companies to buy into. Focusing on the fact that Word-of-Mouth marketing is the most effective strategy to gain an organically grown loyal fanbase, Retrospect is simply a means of "getting the consumer and producer in the same room at a party, and forcing them to talk".

I enjoyed this project as I was able to further delve into consumer theory which is something I aim to research for my COP3 proposal as marketing theory is extremely useful for someone who wants to go into advertising.

OUGD501 - COP Practical - Retrospect Presentation

OUGD501 - COP Practical - Retrospect Adverts

In order to promote the app, I decided to create some posters that would be shown in and around large cities in order to attract a following for the app. I tried to play with the idea of giving consumers the power while companies have to cater to them. In doing this, the audience should feel empowered and in order to see more, there would be a way of researching further into the app before deciding whether or not they'd like to try it. Below are my designs so far:

These posters work well to attract the target audience of Retrospect, as they are direct bold statements targeted at people who share the same view of the world as Retrospect aims to achieve. I think these work well in trying to convert people from the normal consumer theory in place today, and into a more utopian version.

OUGD501 - COP2 Practical - Initial Ideas

The name of the app has to convey:

• Reviewing
• Friendliness
• Professionalism
• Subtlety

For this I created a list of names I could use, and decided to ask for feedback on which was best.

ReviewMe

Retrospect

Reminiscor

OnceOver

TheReview

Whatdidyouthink

These were the six names that represented the company, and I created a survey to ask which name was best.

Out of the names listed, Retrospect was the one people liked the most. After asking people for more detailed feedback in person, people liked the phrase "In Retrospect," as it relates to reviewing something which is more subtle than a name like ReviewMe which obviously shows context. Due to the survey results, Retrospect will be the name of my project.

INITIAL LOGO DESIGNS

With my logos, I am trying to convey giving power to the consumer, but I feel that the fist is too aggressive and could portray negativity towards companies and drive them away. I need to create a neutral logo that empowers consumers to actively seek products without alienating the companies producing for the audience. I also need to experiment more with colour, as black and white isn't a friendly palette and doesn't relate to the content of my project.

OUGD501 - COP2 [SB2] - A global review app

The practical idea I have decided to create for COP is a global review app. With my conclusion in my essay determining the future of advertising to be through WOMM, what better way to communicate this research other than creating a concept for an app that places WOMM as a priority? 

I hope with the app to create a market where the emphasis is shifted from spending vast amounts of money on advertising, to spending less on advertising and more on trying to create competitive products for sale. The ethos of the app intends to give more power to the consumer and create more of a balanced hierarchy between consumer and producer.

This becomes a win-win situation for both parties, with companies being able to spend less money on advertising and more on product research and design, and consumers are able to enjoy a more competitive market resulting in more innovations in every field. The app will be merely a medium for this and will run through donations (as not to bias the advertising space) and hopefully this will demonstrate that the app is there to help consumers, not make money off of them.

OUGD501 - COP2 [SB2] - Initial Practical Ideas

OUGD501 - COP2 [SB1] - How will advertising change in the future?

In order to form an opinion on how New Media affects advertising, I had to research the future of advertising and where it is predicted to go in the next 5-10 years. I came across an article on Wordstream titled '3 Trends that will change the future of online advertising'.

One of the upcoming trends they write about is PPC or 'Pay Per Click'. In the earlier days of PPC marketing such as when Google first invented AdWords, the ads weren't very targeted towards a certain audience, and hence was not see as a very effective advertising technique. However, with the introduction of cookies that track consumer behaviour on websites and even location etc., PPC marketing is becoming far more intricate and targeted towards a certain market. For instance, you are now able to only advertise to consumers that have previously been on your website (that indicates they were interested in your products at one point) which holds a much better customer conversion rate than random placement of AdWords.

Here are the other two forms of advertising that Wordstream believe will become a big trend in the future to come.

So as you can see, being able to autonomate marketing makes for a much more efficient method of reaching consumers, with the key medium being the internet. With the internet being so paramount in our lives coupled with the fact that it's much cheaper to advertise online, it's clear that the digital age has brought a whole new set of advertising tools that are here to stay. 

OUGD501 - COP2 [SB1] - The best forms of marketing communication

In this age of quickly evolving media, which forms of marketing have stood the test of time? I decided to look into the most successful forms of marketing that have been around since before the digital developments we have today.

Word of Mouth

WOMM or Word of Mouth Marketing is definitely one of, if not the strongest form of marketing you can achieve. It is also one of the hardest to master, as there isn't a way to simply spend money on it, you have to gain the trust of your consumers and put out a product good enough to be recommended to another consumer. This form of marketing has the highest conversion rate simply due to the amount of credibility it carries when a consumer recommends a product to a friend and stands to gain nothing financial from it. 

Here is an exerpt from a Forbes article on a study about WOMM:

'Let’s look at the facts. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. WOMMA and the American Marketing Association (AMA) decided to find out exactly what brands were doing about that fact. In a recent study, 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing. However, only 6% say they have mastered it.'

Clearly, WOMM is a staple of effective consumer communication according to these findings and I believe effectively harnessing WOMM will be a key to future marketing, as consumers become more and more active with their purchases. 

OUGD501 - COP [SB1] - How do consumers decide on products?

The consumer decision is a relatively simple process to understand, but to maximise advertising efforts there are many different ways of reaching out to consumers in order to purchase a product. There's a reason why television stores have all their televisions on showing bright, eye-catching imagery on loop, to show the extent of the televisions capabilities! This is only one small way companies can effectively advertise their services to consumers, but how do consumers make the decision in the first place?

McKinsey and Co. is a consultancy firm to some of the most influential companies in the world. They publish a quarterly magazine on the business world and how to improve marketing decisions for free. One of these quarterlies goes into detail about the consumer choice process and how consumers come to purchase the products they do. 

'Marketing has always sought those moments, or touch points, when consumers are open to influence. For years, touch points have been understood through the metaphor of a “funnel”—consumers start with a number of potential brands in mind (the wide end of the funnel), marketing is then directed at them as they methodically reduce that number and move through the funnel, and at the end they emerge with the one brand they chose to purchase (Exhibit 1). But today, the funnel concept fails to capture all the touch points and key buying factors resulting from the explosion of product choices and digital channels, coupled with the emergence of an increasingly discerning, well-informed consumer. A more sophisticated approach is required to help marketers navigate this environment, which is less linear and more complicated than the funnel suggests. We call this approach the consumer decision journey.'

This is a simplified approach to the choices consumers make but it is definitely a good starting point. What I want to explore is how this has changed in the last generation where consumers are becoming increasingly active in the marketing process, instead of passively consuming the content that companies put out. Instead of waiting for an advert to come on the television for a product they need, they will actively search the internet for the best reviews of the product they need and purchase from there, for example.

McKinsey&Co produced a very informative video of an updated consumer theory they created by holding various research events such as surveys, questionnaires, focus groups and one-to-one interviews of approximately 20,000 people over the three main consumer areas in the world.

This video was very informative in a short amount of time, and explained their updated model of the consumer journey. This accounted for the shift from passive consumption to active, and how a consumer journey is not always linear, but more of a circular path and it's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out to consumers with the constant bombardment of media consumers have to deal with on a daily basis.