Evaluation

Introduction

For this topic we had to create an advertising company, logo, slogan and product. We came

together as a group of 4 and switched our creative minds on straight away. Unfortunately we

lost 1 of our members (due to some unfortunate lab testing) but we weren’t going to let that

put us off and we continued with the hard work. After many weeks of research, analysis and

team discussions all the aspects of our company were coming together. We alllearnt about

the factors of marketing and the vital aspects to what makes each product so successful and

then finally, we pitched our product to an audience

Our Company

The Name:

We are an advertising company called ‘Swaits’. Our name originated from our team

members’ initials Sophie, Will Aaron and Aaron hence the SWAits. Our name needed to be

short and sweet whilst attractive and recognizable. However we came to the agreement to

use our logo as our name, similar to how everybody knows the ‘Golden Arches’ represents

‘McDonalds’. We decided on our name pretty quickly and we decided that it was more

important to move on the more important parts, research and marketing.

The Slogan:

Our slogan ‘Sweetening your product’ took some time to create. We wanted a slogan that

would tell the consumer what would happen to their product if they used our company. We

also wanted the slogan to link back to our name so hopefully the customers would remember

one of the two. Our aim was to ‘Sweeten’ their product and link to our name, so that’s when

‘Sweetening’ became ‘Swaitening’ and was just the slogan we were looking for.

‘Don’t be average’ Our first slogan was created to get our audience thinking. ‘If they used our company or ate our gum they would be different and better off for doing so.’ It was aimed to get the consumer believing that we were different to everybody else.

‘Leaving the chew to you’ Our second idea was to incorporate some rhyme into the catchy phrase. This slogan was mainly focussed to go with our gum with telling the consumer that we have down all the hard work with creating and research and now all they have to do was sit back, relax and enjoy our hard work.It’s rhyming

‘Swaitening your product’ The final slogan we chose to go with was just a simple, bold statement. Although it doesn’t feature any rhyme it is still memorable and is just short, quick and informative. We left our product and logo to do all the talking and rely on our success.

and memorable.

The Logo:

Finally, our logo needed to incorporate our main initials and colour, because it needs to be

attractive. At first we just wanted our name in an eye catching font, but in the end we chose

our key initials S and W with ‘S’ looking like an ‘8’ to sound like ‘SW8’. We used lots of

colour in our ‘Superman’ logo with the mixture of colour coming from the mixture of sweets,

again linking back to who we are as a company. Our final logo features some colour, but

more of our team initials being recognized but still attractive. We also didn’t want to copy

anybody so coming up with our own logo was important for our image.

Our first ideas were sketched out onto paper as a planning sheet. Free hand drawing was easier for us to create a starting point than on the computer. Of course we had no colour, but after a rough sketch of our final logo, we could play around with colours and fonts on the computer.

It was my idea to use the ‘S’ from the ‘Superman’ logo as our main initial and recognizable style. This colourful logo and recognizable font was used to be an eye catching symbol that all of our target audience would instantly recognize and be attracted to. Unfortunately due to some unfortunate copyright issues, the ‘Superman’ logo had to be abandoned.

After going back, literally to the drawing board, we created our final logo that would stay with us for all of products and adverts. We simplified it down to the main initials, something colourful but not too off-putting that people would still be attracted to.

The Wrapper/Packaging

The wrapper for our gum took some planning and was quite a time consuming section of the

project. We used some market research of some existing chewing gum brands to give us an

idea into what makes companies like Wrigley’s so successful. It came down to two choices,

a packet of gum or a box with

strips of gum. We worked out that our

gum needs to be easily accessible for people who are on the go looking for something to

chew. This meant that the smaller packet was the right style for us.

Our wrapping of our packet was our next challenge to overcome. We wanted a ‘fresh’ and

‘fruity’ looking wrapping that was colourful, attractive and informative.

The Pitch

After weeks of research and development, and days of preparation we finally got the chance

to pitch to an audience about who we are as a company and what product we have

produced.

Our presentation was

created with the

assistance of

PowerPoint. However

we didn’t want spinning

texts and slides packed

with colours and

images. So we decided

to keep it simple and

informative with the

persuasion of our

advertising to sell our

product.

We didn’t use

wacky

backgrounds and

patterns, just a

simple detail to

give it a

professional

finish.

Our first design featured an ice

background to represent the

‘freshness’ of our gum. The colour of

the yellow and green gave the

image of asweet and fruity flavour.

We changed our wrapping font,

colours and images to give off a new

image. Our first design looked a bit

tacky and amateur, so we used more

advanced tools and skills for a more

professional look. We also analysed

that our wrapper needs to tell the

consumer what flavour is inside so

we added a little flavour indicator in

the corner, a bit like Trident.

Again, sticking with the plain

and simple theme, the constant

reminder of who we are and

getting our logo stuck in

people’s minds.

Occasionally we used images,

and often quite a few. However

the images weren’t surrounded

by blocks of text, which allowed

us to do the talking and the

images helped explain.

On one occasion we did fill the

screen with photos but had them

come onto the screen on our

demand. This allowed the

audience to sit back and listen

whilst the relevant pictures

appeared as we were talking

about them.

All of our slides consisted of no more than 3 or 4 words. This

Print adverts

Poster – One of the tasks we were assigned was to create a poster to advertise our

company. A poster is something you can put anywhere that is available for everybody to

see. We had 1 idea, a eureka moment that didn’t require a second thought and without

wasting a second we started research and design. U It required us searching for teeth on

Google and making a collage with a ‘perfect’ set of teeth in the middle forcing the viewer to

spot the not so perfect teeth, and find that ‘perfect’, healthy smile that looks so much better

when next to others. Much like if the consumer was to have this healthy smile, the other

people around them would look worse off and would hopefully be persuaded to improve their

oral hygiene and buy our gum.

This advert was also going to be used and seen at bus stops. We decided not to make

another print advert solely for bus stops and the more we use our powerful poster the more

our powerful message will be displayed. This is what it will look like:

To create our purple/white theme we

used the gradient tool on Photoshop.

To create this angle of gradient we had

to drag a line from left to right across the

page. (Red arrow) The final outcome would

see this gradient style

appear at the bottom of

our poster as a

recognizable feature that

would also be on future

advertising schemes.

Underground Station – Another location for a print advert is the tube stations. This is a

perfect location as it is a common area to find our target market (20-30 year olds) and is

used by thousands of people standing and waiting with our advert to occupy, inform and

persuade them.

My first design for the underground

advert was the blue and white colour

scheme. I chose this as they are fresh

and bright colours. However the

disadvantage was the basic font and no

other information other than the

contrasting photos.

I then decided to change the blue and

white to purple and white, keeping the

purple our consistent brand image. The

main advantage was also key to include

our logo and slogan wherever we are

seen so that people never forget and we

almost become a part in people’s

everyday life.

For this style gradient I used a

downwards motion of the mouse

creating a top to bottom gradient.

This then changed to a different,

slightly more attractive diagonal

gradient. This was created by a

diagonal drag motion from right to

left.

Television Advert

Our television advert was another extremely important part of the topic, and would separate

the best from the rest. This would be the defining point in our company as to how affective

our creative skills will prove to be.

To start our filming project, we made a storyboard to follow when

filming and editing. We didn’t always film everything in order of the

storyboard or exactly what we had planned but it was a baseline to

stick to.

To add the logo to our

underground advert we had to

undergo these simple steps.

To have our logo neatly presented onto the

advert, we had to erase the white border

around the logo so that it would blend in to

the other colours on the advert and not look

‘stuck on’. For these we used the eraser tool

and alternated the size of the rubber to erase

the smaller parts.

Finally we dragged the logo onto

the finished the advert into the

bottom corner. That way if any

outstanding white marks were

left they were hidden the white

gradient.

Once all the filming was done, it was the lengthy process of editing. We each had different

editing styles and ideas for parts in the advert so we took turns editing and providing ideas to

eventually get the finished result. During our editing we realised our advert was too long,so

we then started editing a separate, shorter advert suitable for a 30

second television slot.

To stick each clip

together there needed

to be a transition

between sketches and

scenes. We needed it to

look professional and

flow freely so the ‘cross

dissolve’ tool was the

perfect choice.

To apply this to the clips, all we

had to do was simply click and

drag onto the beginning or end of

the clip where we wanted the

transition to appear.

This cross dissolve shows the two

clips together as one is ending the

other is starting creating a point

where both clips cross.

To end the advert we created a still

image where titles can appear and the

music can fade out. To create this we

needed the ‘razor tool’ to cut off the very

end of the clip and copy and paste it

multiple times to make a repeating still

image.

After the still frames had been created we added 2 titles

that appeared one after the other. One with our product

name and the second with our slogan which were on

screen with our ending scene of our gum.

Sources of Information

The Group

From the day our team formed, we knew we were going to be creative and give ourselves

the best chance to achieve success.

Strengths:

I believe our group had many strengths. For a start we were all familiar with working with

each other from previous tasks and we were all capable of getting along with one another,

possible one of the best strengths a team can have. Another great strength was that each

team member had individual skills that would come in handy throughout the assignment and

potentially give our group the edge on the competition. Whether that was camera work,

presentation or simply being good with words, it all came in handy when trying to advertise

our company and product. Furthermore, all the team members were dedicated to this

assignment. Often work was completed outside of school and there was never moment were

concentration was lost. This again meant we could be ahead of the competition and also

have more time towards the end to adapt and improve areas.

Personally, I think that my main strengths were my confidence, knowledge about

businesses, advertising and marketing and my ability with words. This helped me and the

group when researching and explaining as I provided that extra knowledge that can separate

us from the other teams. I believe that I worked well in my group, always contributing to the

group and often completing work outside of school to benefit the rest of the group.

Weaknesses:

Fortunately there weren’t many weaknesses for our team. The only flaw I recognized was

perhaps our time management. Although work was completed outside of school this was

occasionally because of the team being behind schedule. We struggled on the creative sides

of some areas like the name and slogan, and when it came to research, let’s just say it could

have been completed quicker.

Personally, I believe that my weakness was my occasional lack of focus. Sometimes I would

have less motivation to get on with long, hard research which often delayed the group from

moving on as well.

The Pitch

Strengths:

In my opinion our pitch went very well, exactly how we wanted it to. We were all confident

and were desperate to deliver an informative and confident message. I believe our main

strengths to our pitch were our confidence as a group and our creativiy with preperation. We

had rehersed our script with the powerpoint and to perfection so when we went up to deliver

the pitch everything was in order and we had nothing to fear. With this knowledge that we

knew what we doing, we were able to show our confidence in the way we spoke and made

contact with the audience. Also our imprivisation when asked questions showed the

audience that we knew what we were talking about and we believed in our product. The best

way to evaluate a pitch is to have feedback, and with 3 sheets of audience feedback we can

analyse all the key areas. On average, our advert that we presented at the end of our pitch

was rated 9 out of a possible 10. ‘Very confident’ and ‘Well presented’ were the chosen

descriptions of our pitch and product showing the impact we had on our audience. Finally,

everybody who gave us feedback, all agreed with our target audience, and said they

would buy the product themselves.

I believe my personal strengths were my script writing, confidence and my clarity and tone of

my voice when talking. After a weekend of script writing for the group, I delivered a

professional and confident speech throughout the pitch.

Weaknesses:

If I have to analyse a weakness of our pitch, then coming from a very critical, point it would

be our script reading. From my personal view, I believe that it wasn’t what we said; it was

perhaps how we said it. Now although, we made eye contact with the audience and engaged

our listeners I felt, that on a harsh note, we as a group could have delivered more eye

contact, maybe moved around a bit more, and not been as tempted to read exactly from the

sheet.