OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - Evaluation and Synthesis

Evaluation: 

The campaign succeeds in utilising marketing strategies most appropriate to the target demographic which develops the most engaging format in which to communicate with this audience. From further millennial research it was identified that influencer marketing has a profound effect on this demographic as 60% of Millennials have said that they would try a product suggested by a YouTuber and ⅓ consider blogs to be a top media source when researching a purchase. Identifying 'The Anna Edit' as initial blogger to be the face of the campaign entitled 'The Wander Diaries' was appropriate due to her social status within this millennial culture. With over 400,000 subscribers to her Youtube Chanel, this infers Anna will be a strong brand advocate with a high social reach which will convert blog traffic into audience engagement with the 'wander' brand. 

The concept of the campaign works positively, inviting lifestyle bloggers, that have strong influence with this millennial demographic, on a sponsored trip in which they are flown to exotic European destinations and asked to document their adventures. This specifically targets the blog audience and demonstrates how the brand can facilitate such aspirational experiences that they will want to engage with so that  they can be perceived to have a similar exciting lifestyle. The campaign will be run over a number of episodes, this first episode featuring 'The Anna Edit' targets 3 distinct motivations for travel, adventure, relaxation and culture which succeeds in maximising the travel inspiration and accentuates this brand experience in order to manipulate a strong consumer-brand relationship. This experience was quoted at £6,800 without paid activities demonstrating how the campaign is constructed to exploit this consumer-brand relationship, suggesting to this audience they too can have this experience if they use the brands stress free service however this is largely unobtainable due to the price of the trip making its replication impossible for an average millennial user. 

Utilising bloggers with different audiences within the millennial demographic and tailoring travel experiences to that audience, is planned to expand the campaign series and extend  this audience engagement developing a strong  brand equity within this demographic through the use of these social influencers. This  Further generates a brand personality of authenticity through the seemingly unbiased user generated content and culture through the destinations and activities blogged about evoking a more personal consumer brand relationship. 

Synthesis: 

This campaign generates a high level of contextual synthesis with my research essay developing a strong association with psychological constructs discussed within this dissertation. The marketing strategy of 'the wander travel diaries' is constructed to manipulate a brand personality of authenticity through the use of a brand advocate, creating the perception this sponsored content is more legitimate coming from this high profile brand advocate. The approach of the concept converts this idea of excitement and adventure into brand equity with the audience positively associating the trip with the brand generating a positive consumer brand relationship. The most critical sense of synthesis between this practical example and the theory discussed within the essay is the exploitation of the target audience in order to condition a consumer brand relationship. In associating this experience with the brands service, it is inferred the user can emulate this campaign experience however this experience is valued at £6,800 making it unobtainable for the majority of the brands target audience, exploiting this demographic through an unobtainable fallacy. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - Objectives and Extensions

Below highlights the main campaign objectives, demonstrating the main preseasons behind the campaign and what it hopes to generate for the brand. This demonstrates the exploitation of the consumer in utilising this social influencer theory to present the brand as authentic and engaging when in reality the campaign has been carefully constructed to manipulate this audience response and condition a positive consumer brand relationship. 

Goals: 

• Primary Objectives - To generate significant brand awareness by targeting a millennial demographic via popular lifestyle bloggers identified by the target audience. 

• Secondary Objective(s) - Leverage this blog traffic to generate a strong brand equity that can be converted into brand loyalty through the use of brand advocates. 

Approach: 

• Create rich user generated content for the campaign ‘The Wander Travel Diaries’ inviting well known lifestyle bloggers that have strong influence with this millennial demographic on a sponsored trip where they are flown to exotic European destinations to document their adventures. 

• Share this aspirational content with their audience in order to generate a brand personality of authenticity and excitement. 

• Generate opportunity for influencers to frequently but organically reference the brand generating a strong brand equity associating the trip with the brand. 

Results (expected): 

• High levels of audience engagement generating significant brand awareness 

• Converting blog traffic into brand loyalty through the brand equity associated with the campaign 

• Articulating a brand personality of authenticity and culture through the campaign strategy to evoking a more personal consumer brand relationship 

Extensions: 

Extending this initial campaign based on initial success would involve generating more brand advocates through this influencer marketing technique. Utilising bloggers with different audiences within the millennial demographic and tailoring travel experiences to that audience. For example this could be extended to engage a more male demographic using gaming bloggers such as Casey Neistat and tailoring a more adventure based holiday including adventure sports and high energy activities to engage a more stronger male demographic through this social influence. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - Travel Diary Itinerary

With a blogger identified to be the face of the first travel diary I started to compose a hypothetical itinerary that would engage her audience to become excited by the brand converting the trip into positive brand equity. Due to the concept of the brands service this trip needed to have multiple destinations to maximise the brands service demonstrating how this road trip can be stress free with the use of Wanders visa style application process. I wanted to target 3 distinct motivations for travel, adventure, relaxation and culture in order to maximise the travel inspiration and articulate the experience that awaits. 

I chose 3 destinations for travel with each of these aspects in mind; 

Relaxation - Montenegro

Montenegro offers a classy connotations of luxury and sophistication, travelling to the idyllic island for the first leg of the trip will create an aspirational sense of longing for a similar travel experience that will engage the audience in the concept of the travel diary. As this destination focuses on relaxation a complementary spa day will be included for Anna to experience, as a high percentage of her audience follow her for beauty content this will appeal directly to them converting this experience into positive brand equity that reflects back on the brand. 

https://www.aman.com/resorts/aman-sveti-stefan/sveti-stefan-island

Culture - Rome, Italy  

Rome is renowned for its culture offering heritage, religion, cuisine, architecture, and fashion all in high proportion making it a cultural icon within Europe. This will provide a rich experience for Anna to blog about showcasing a range of planned excursions such as a tour of the colosseum with a local tour guide, evening meal at an authentic Italian Restaurant and a trip to the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. This will generate a brand personality of cultured and authentic and further create a consumer brand relationship through this example of influencer marketing. 

https://www.roccofortehotels.com/hotels-and-resorts/hotel-de-russie/

Adventure - Alps, France

For the final stop of the travel diary a resort in the Alps provides an engaging adventure to engage an audience who are eager to try new experiences. This provides an exciting brand personality and further generates brand equity that will encourage the diary audience to want to use the brand due to the amazing experience they have witnessed through this manipulated user generated content. Excursions provided include a guided hike along the Verdon Gorges, which provides spectacular scenery, perfect for instagram opportunities and other user generated content. 

http://terre-blanche.com

Quote: 

To make the campaign as real as possible I contacted a travel agent to generate a quote for this travel diary to better understand how this sense of influencer marketing exploits the audience in proving the trip free of charge, which generates a strong brand equity that this audience then want to engage with so book through the brand to emulate this experience. Due to the theme and style of Anna's blog, I chose to book with luxury hotels as this will most engage her particular followers and inspire them to desire such an experience which they will then associate with the brand. The quote including flights, transfers and accommodation came to £6,800 without activities, this demonstrates the level of exploitation this type of campaign develops as it is extremely unlikely any consumer will be able to re-create this experience creating a constant sense of desire they will experience when watching the campaign and hearing about Annas experience courtesy of Wander. 

Quote from Eden; http://www.edencollection.co.uk

OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - The Anna Edit

Talking to friends and other students as to what blogs they engage with I came across several key blogs that engage with this millennial demographic, however the blog I felt was most engaging and would represent the brand best was The Anna Edit. Anna is a Brighton Based blogger in her twenties that blogs about her life with particular focus on minimalist makeup, minimalism in general, monochrome and Whistles. She has been blogging for around six starting as  ‘Vivianna Does Makeup’ in university she kept this blog due to her passion for connecting with people saying 'because I’m older (definitely), wiser (maybe), have a few more hairs on my chin (unfortunately yes) and enjoy typing out posts on a bit of everything now; from food to fitness and beauty to books.' She posts videos on my YouTube channel twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays at 9am GMT) and posts on her blog every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 9am creating a consistent dialogue with her audience.

Anna's youtube channel has just under 400,000 subscribers, with weekly videos generating over 100,000 views each. Her target audience is mainly other millennials who look to Anna to have an aspirational lifestyle making her an effective social influencer. Anna makes the perfect brand advocate ha she channel is extremely personable and reflective of her experiences, she is a real person enjoying food and family and experiences making her more relatable than a 'barbie' blogger who only posts about clothes, fitness and makeup which evokes a better connection with her audience and by extension the brand. Within the blog disclaimer it states she does produce sponsored content for brands she really loves, reinforcing the validity of this concept proposal. 

The Anna Edit creates a suitable brand advocate for the 'Wander' brand, her aspirational lifestyle is viewed by over 400,000 fans with her target audience of millennials giving her a great sense of social influence. Using Anna for the first episode of the wander diaries campaign will allow the brand to be positioned favourably with these 400,000 viewers,  turning this blog traffic into brand awareness. Enlisting The Anna Edit as a brand advocate throguh this campaign will generate a stronger brand personality of authenticity and attributes the persona of the blogger, Anna, which is defined as personable, fun, engaging and gunning to brand equity generating a stronger consumer-brand relationship through these constructs of brand psychology. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - Research

Generating more focused research into this field of marketing I looked examples of how this strategy has been utilised by brands to position bloggers as brand ambassadors to increase its popularity with a target audience. A study by Universal McCann reports more than three quarters of internet users now read blogs, with 900,000 blog posts going live daily in 81 languages. A brand ambassador is simply defined as  person appointed by an organisation to positively represent its identity: raising awareness, increasing sales and driving traffic. Initially these brand ambassadors were celebrities and other high-profile individuals however in todays society shifting to a millennial audience brands what 'real' people to represent their brand creating user generated content and using their social influence to increase the brand awareness 

One of the most successful examples of blogging becoming profitable is Teen vlogger Zoe Sugg who created her beauty and fashion blog 'zoella' in 2009. In 2016 she has gained more than 10 million subscribers and has a vlog view count of over 700 million views. As well as promoting several brands within her vlog this mass following has lead her to individual opportunities such as a two-book deal with Penguin in 2014 of which her novel 'Girl Online' achieved the ‘highest first-week sales for a debut book’ other opportunities include a beauty range launched exclusively for super drug also achieving high volumes of success.  This suggests the impact bloggers can have on product success through their communication with their audience. Another notable example of how bloggers directly influence a products success is the  Chloé Valentines Day fragrance campaign. This was an online campaign featuring sponsored placements with top fashion bloggers to promote the product in the run up to Valentines Day. As seen below the result of the campaign succeed with generating favorable audience sentiment, as well as generating significant audience engagement converting blog traffic into brand awareness, proving the success of influencer marketing within the millennial demographic. 

Chloé case study data 

OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - Introduction

Defining a brand identity I can now start to develop the rest of the brief, the main element of this being the campaign, this will provide the most contextual synthesis in relating to the content of the essay to a practical context. From the my initial research into millennial marketing strategies it was established that the most effective way to target this demographic is through user generated content and social media influencers, as this creates a personal connection with the consumer and reinforces the authenticity of the brand. From this research it can be concluded a social media campaign is the most effective way to promote the brand to the target audience. 

The campaign creates "the wander travel diaries" which invites lifestyle bloggers that have strong influence with this millennial demographic on a sponsored trip where bloggers are flown to European destinations and asked to document their adventures. To the target demographic this appears to demonstrate how the brand can facilitate such aspirational experiences that they want to join in with so they can be perceived to have this amazing travel experience. When in reality this marketing strategy exploits the audience as the brand pays and organises this travel diary to turn bloggers into brand advocates and utilising their following to position the brand as social, aspirational, and engaging. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Logo Evaluation and Synthesis

Final Logo

Example of varying colour palettes

With the development of the 'e' resulting in a far more cohesive logo I was confident in presenting this as a brands final identity. The resolution works well in creating a strong personable identity that is clearly informed through target audience feedback to ensure the resolution engages with this millennial demographic and evokes a consumer-brand relationship. The design direction uses a dynamic display type of interconnected characters to conceptually symbolise the lack of boundaries in traveling from one letter to the next, which encompasses the ethos of the brands service. Further the primary shapes making up the logotype reinforces the simplicity of the brands service as convenience is defined as a key purchase motivator for the target audience. There is no set colour scheme for the brands identity, instead the logotype remains consistent in shape however the colour palette is fluid, changing to suit whatever is most appropriate to each individual application. This creates a refreshing identity that is unique to each users experience evoking a sense of authenticity within the brand personality and defining a stronger consumer brand relationship which can then be converted into brand equity. 

Synthesis:

The brand identity develops several points on contextual synthesis with the theory discussed within my research essay. Using Aakers brand personality framework, it was established display type such as this generated an 'excitement' brand personality. This  defines characteristics of 'imaginative' and 'up to date' which is representative of the target audience, therefore engaging them appropriately and defining these characteristics within the brands image. This brand image is constructed based on a holistic understand of the target audience, this allows the brand to be positioned attractively to this millennial demographic ensuring its success through this constructed brand image. The fluidity of the identities colour palette  begins to define the brand personality as bold and authentic which is further constructed and implemented to engage with the social attitudes of the target demographic.

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Colour Palette

Identifying a colour palette to standardise the fluidity within the brands logo is appropriate to create some element of consistency within this element of the brand Identity. In order to create a conceptual colour palette I first isolated the communal colour within the flags of countries the make up the EU as this is appropriate to the campaign. With these established I then began tweaking these to engage with a more contemporary design direction creating soft pastels and more aesthetically appealing variants to ensure a successfully engaging resolution. This colour palette becomes increasingly appropriate to engage will a millennial demographic due to the association of these colours within pop culture. This concludes the colour palette is successful both aesthetically and conceptually being derived from commonalities within the EU flags. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Typography

Establishing a typeface to be attributed to the brand identity, I considered a range of clean legible sans-serifs, However finding an article from It's Nice That [Here ] that talks about a collaboration between Google and Monotype established a more contextually appropriate typeface for the project. Noto is an open-source typeface family that encompasses every written language in the world, living and dead. It is one of the largest typographic projects ever undertaken and the result of five years collaborative work.

One of the aims of the Noto project is to digitally preserve little-spoken or dead languages to help enable global communication “across borders, languages, cultures and time periods”. It also includes letters in multiple serif and sans serif styles in up to eight weights, as well as numbers, symbols and musical notations. This description of the projects aims works particialry well reinforcing the ethos of the brand in creating a lack of boarders and a greater sense of inclusivity, therefore Noto is not only an appropriate contextual typeface for the brand but also practical in its variety, providing every character ensuring collateral created for different EU countries will be available within the typeface reducing the need for secondary alternatives and improving the identities overall consistency. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - 'E' Development

Responding to feedback I began developing the 'E' letterform as it was suggested this stands out being the only real character and should be refined using the same principles of space that are applied to the rest of the letterforms. Developing the 'E' character I generated a range of visual development creating differing character styles to experiment with. This process was rewarding in generating a range of letterforms that can then be evaluated to either disregard or develop further, from which I established two design directions to develop.

The first direction I chose used a circle with an quarter removed, developing this I added a triangle for the eye of the 'E' and used an angled cut out for the aperture, finally this was simplified removing the eye to create a more minimalist aesthetic more representative of a simple shape. This looked effective when placed with the rest of the letterforms however was perceived as lowercase where all the other characters are uppercase which may result in further problems with legibility and consistency. 

The second direction took the shape of the W and translated this into an 'E' character, initially this felt too this compared to the width of other letterforms 'W' and 'N' so was developed adding more bulk to the character in order to make it more visually consistent. More subtle development included altering the angles of the arms to match the diagonal stroke of the N, this creates a more succinct visual consistency within the letterforms that allows the design direction to appear more professional.

Asking students and design tutors for feedback as to which direction they felt was the most appropriate the responses were mixed with support for both aesthetics. I concluded direction two should be developed into the final logo as for me using a lowercase letterform within the all caps arrangements feels too inconsistent. The second directions 'E' fits aesthetically with the rest of the letterforms and solves the original problem taking the 'E' which looked too much like a character and developing it into a simple letterform that sits consistently within the logo type.

OUGD601 - Practical Research / Whitney Identity

The Whitney museum of American Art was given a re-identiy in 2015 while moving into its new building. Museum staff employed design studio Experimental Jetset to develop an approach which embraced the spirit of the Museum while serving as a visual ambassador for its new building. The result is a distinctive and inventive graphic system that responds to art, which represents the echoes of the Whitney Museum well. This dynamic identity, which the designers refer to as the “responsive ‘W’”, illustrates the Museum’s ever-changing nature in changing its shape to suit every individual application crsatign a truely fluid identity making the most of the available space. 

Seeing how successful the identity of the Whitney is, and how it can be so easily identifiable while changing to suit every application individually inspires be to create a similar aesthetic within my identity. Using the outlines of the consistent letterform arrangement and filling the shape with whatever colour palette is most appropriate to each individual application will create a refreshing identity that is unique to each users experience evoking a sense of authenticity within the brand personality and defining a stronger consumer brand relationship which can be converted to brand equity.

OUGD601 - Tutorial 4

This tutorial was primarily focused around the development of my practical project, I presented my work thus far which received positive feedback although with my logo it was suggested the E stands out as it is the only real letterform whereas the other characters are made entirely from shapes. This can be developed further trailing a range of different character style to make the 'E' fit better with the rest of the set creating a more cohesive logotype for the brand. 

Consulting my tutor about my problems in identifying a colour palette, he questioned as to whether there needed to be a final colour palette or whether the identity could be fluid. In this he suggested the outline be the final logo which remains consistent however the colour or pattern could be filled with whatever is contextually most appropriate to its individual use. I was suggested to search the 'Whitney' to better understand this concept of how a logo can be fluid and not stick to one permanent form to evaluate whether this could be the case for my brand identity. This is useful as I was stuck with how to develop this further and will hopefully inspire a new thought process for me to develop. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Colour Development

Identifying a colour palette for the logo was a difficult process that required extensive development. My initial experimentation used 3 primary colours yellow, red and blue however paired with the primary shapes felt as though it was appealing to a childrens market. Due to the campaign being entered around the results of Brexit I trailed a red, white, and blue colour scheme to reference the union jack which worked effectively however was unsure if there is a need to focus this heavily on a British colour palette. Identifying a need to be reproducible in black and white, I explored variations of this logo that could be presented as an alternative when applicable. These included a simple outline, alternate letters, a patterned variant that I concluded each needed further development. 

With this difficulty to land on a definitive colour scheme, I created a primary research exercise to utilise the help of a millennial audience. I bought a selection of 2mm neoprene foam in an assortment of colours and used the laser cutter to cut out the letterforms from each of these which I then asked the a selection of students to create the logo in using whichever colours they wanted. Within this exercise I hoped to find a range of commonalities that could be interpreted into a final colour palette. 

The result of this primary research activity yielded no distinct patterns within the target audience choice therefore did not help me identify a final colour palette. With a tutorial scheduled later this week I will ask tutors for advice as to how I could overcome this problem in creating a vibrant identity for the brand. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Logo Development

With a logo direction finalised I could then begin the development of this concept. With the geometric nature of the aesthetic I began by creating the basic shapes that all the letterforms stem from to ensure consistency within all the angles and proportions of the individual characters. From this I then began assembling the letters using a strict grid to ensure there was perfect symmetry and the chargers were as simple as possible. 

With a basic outline of the letterforms, I then refined these angles, for example where paths intersected created minimal overlaps that from a distance went unnoticed. These were corrected to ensure the quality of the resolution was as professional as possible so that the logo will look great at any scale. This gave me the first outcome of the refined logotype. With all the angles working in perfect symmetry this enhancing the simplicity aesthetic and creates a sense of consistency across all the characters which works particularly well. 

Tutor Feedback:

Showing this refined design directions to my dissertation supervisor he thought the aesthetic worked well to reflect this simplicity of the brands service. Conceptually he suggested that I could have no kerning between the letterforms so they are all connected to suggest a lack of boundaries in traveling from one letter to the next. I found this concept really engaging and would elevate the design direction from purely aesthetic to have a conceptual purpose. Working with this concept I merged the characters into one form and found these worked together surprisingly well. I really liked how this gave the concept a sense of contextual understanding to critically elevate the designs meaning from aesthetic to symbolic. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Initial Logo feedback

Engaging with a feedback critique in university, I took this opportunity to gain feedback from a range of design students that all fit my target audience as they are millennials. Briefly explain the context I asked them for feedback as to which concept they found the most engaging as a logo for the brand and why, this process worked well as it gave opportunity to reflect on how well these concepts engage with the target audience and appeal to them directly. 

Concept 1: This was the general favourite of all the concepts with the sample of students who took part in the critique, they responded positively to the bold use of shape with comments including "Its usual but I like it" "Its playful" and "The unique arrangement will help the brand to stand out, especially on social media". These comments reinforce its suitability and that it positively engages the targeted demographic. 

Concept 2: Students found this concept to feel sophisticated giving feedback suggesting 'It looks really posh and expensive' another student commented saying "it looks too editorial in this serif typeface, to make it work for the brand you should try a sans serif" I had not noticed this within my initial developments however it does bear close resemblance to the style of editorial magazines which make it less effective for my brand. 

Concept 3: Students reacted positively to the aesthetic of concept 3 commenting on its simplicity and clean lines. It was praised for its overall elegance with student feedback stating "it looks trustworthy and professional"

Concept 4: Concept 4 was the least well received by the group overall, they thought the flag iconography was cleaver but felt it wouldn't work as a concept to engage a millennial audience. Comments regarding the aesthetic included "I think it works in principle but you could need the brand name incorporated somewhere". 

Conclusion: This critique was helpful in ascertaining feedback from a sample of the brands target audience as to which logo concepts engaged them most dynamically. From this feedback it can be suggested that concept 1 received the strongest response from this sample therefore I feel confident in developing this further into the brands logo. This is not purely based on critique feedback as this is an extremely small sample however the links to the research essay incorporating Aakers brand personality and the unique aesthetic prove it will create a strong brand image that consumers will be able to identity and engage with. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Initial Logo development

With a range of initial logo sketches I chose to then develop the most promising 4 concepts digitally. This was most appropriate as asking for feedback on paper sketches would have been limited especially when dealing with type, therefore these initial digital development will allow for better visualisation of the concept and inform more relevant and critical  feedback.

Concept 1: 

This first concept uses extremely bold blocky lettering made up of shaped which is used as a display type most akin to the 'excitement' personality trait of my research linking typography to Aakers brand personality framework. This bold and simple logo design will easily catch the eye of the target audience due to its thick wait and unconventional logo dynamic which seems to represent the unique nature of the concept. The type created from shapes creates subtle references to child's play connoting the simplicity of the process and relating back to the name creating a sense of child like wandering which connotes innocence. 

Concept 2: 

My second logo concept adheres to the sophistication personality trait of Aakers model using petite serif type with extended kerning in order to symbolise the distance of travel. This logo concept creates connotations of an established brand therefore making consumers more comfortable in sharing private data they will need to complete the application process. These sophisticated logo type works effectively in creating a strong brand profile that feels expensive and elegant. 

Concept 3: 

Creating a super minimalist logotype for the brand works effectively with the millennial target audience as this concept feels futuristic and almost dystopian. As discuovered within my research the millennial generation will adopt new technology 2.5x faster than other generations therefore this technologically minimal aesthetic will works appropriately in engaging the audience through this desire to engage with new ideas and represents the simplicity of the process offered by the brand. 

Concept 4: 

Stepping away from logotype I created an icon for the brand to test how this is received by the target audience, I think logo type works more effectively in communicating the brands name and image however I will be interested to see how this is evaluated in a feedback critique. The concept works simply with the w and the icon of a flag, this clearly articulates an ideology of travel and centres the brands positioning around individuality (with each countries individual flag). 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Initial Logo generation

Beginning the design process into the logo of the brand, I began with a quick sketch exercise, this allowed me to clearly visualise different visual arrangement of the name. There was no filter in this exercise whatever I thought of I put down in order to make these ideas tangible as I find this the best method to then be able to develop this further into a more refined concept proposal. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Studio type testing

I was advised by tutors to begin testing and experimenting with different practical outlets as a means to get creative with the research within my essay. Having just researched Aakers brand personality model (below) I became interested in the different personalities brands can embody and felt this would be helpful when developing the logo for the brand. 

Extending this research into a practical context I chose to focus on a typographic element. Taking a morning out of my studio time I got a range of magazines from the students unions and cut out examples of type before asking a range of students to annotate this sheet with the connotations the different letterforms gave them. This was useful to get a number of students demonstrating how different styles of typography connote extremely different thoughts. With these responses I then created a grid applying them to one of Aakers 5 brand personality archetypes by the descriptions that best resembled each typeface. This was interesting as to how particular typefaces can be used to connote different personalities for example serifs generally connote competence or sophistication whereas ruggedness is translated into heavier weighted sans-serifs. This grid can be applied to my resolution using this research as part of my logo generation process to reinforce particular constructed connotations within the brand image, this creates synthesis with my dissertation essay in practically exploring how brand connotations can be manipulated in order to evoke a stronger consumer-brand relationship. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Slogan Generation

Generating a key effective slogan was possibly more difficult than creating a name for the brand as although the name needs to make an instant impression the slogan needs to sum up the whole concept explains it to the consumer in just a few words. This becomes difficult when the concept of the service hasn't yet been defined so there is no prior knowledge to the consumer to fall back on. Taking my research into the Split The Bills business model I looked at their slogan 'we take the fuss out of your shared student bills' to take inspiration from, to me this slogan is too wordy however it explains the service perfectly advocating the primary sale motivation of less 'fuss' and explaining the service they offer. I would like my slogan to be more succinct in order to really capture the attention and imagination of the target demographic. 

I created a vast range of slogans to work from, initially jogging everything that came into my head down unfiltered as a means of producing a tangible form of these ideas on paper. From this I then started refining these to the slogans that most articulated the concept. 

Get up and go

This slogan inspires spontaneity, implying that using brands service the consumer can just get up and go with no organising or hassle when it comes to the visa application process. However I found this alludes to this but doesn't explicitly mention this and could be perceived as too ambiguous for a slogan.  

The easiest way to travel 

The superlative 'easiest' will appeal to the millennial demographic highlighting its the most effective way to incorporate this into their busy lifestyle, being that convenience was part of my samples primary purchase motivation to pay for this service within my primary questionnaire.

Travel more, stress less 

Exploring this concept more, I refined this slogan to 'Explore more, Stress Less' as within my primary research the participants main reasons for travel were to explore new cultures and places. This paired with the primary purchase motivations of convenience and wanting to see new places and cultures paired these two phrases together. 

Conclusion: 

Obtaining feedback from millennial participants it was established that the most effective slogan is "Explore more, Stress less" This combines primary purchase motivations for paying for the service with the key reasons the target audience choose to travel. It acknowledges their busy lifestyle and willingness to pay a third party for convenience and encompasses the ideology of the brand which is to let them take care of the boring applications leaving the consumer to have fun and enjoy travelling, not stressing about the details.

OUGD601 - Practical / Identity - Name Generation

Naming for the brand needed to instantly underpin the concept and inform the consumer of the brands service with a strong aspirational name. This is the consumers first impression of the service therefore needs to be engaging and relatable. I started this process by brainstorming a range of names centralised around the concept of travel, borders, and freedom which is representative of the service allowing the consumer to travel through Europe with less hassle, paying a third party company to complete this visa style application process for them. 

My initial name preferences included: 

Plot

This took inspiration from archaic travel, plotting points on maps and creating large opulent voyages. This satirically uses these connotations providing a oppositional meaning as the brands product works to reverse this sense of large scale planning making it as simple as possible to travel overseas. This creates connotations of heritage and authenticity dating the brand back to the 1700's exploiting a sense of consumer loyalty. 

Wander

I used a different though process in creating this name, The definition of wander is to 'move in a leisurely or aimless way' this underpins the concept of making travel as simple as possible as the act of wandering is not planned or a stressful process, it is natural and instinctive. This is in essence what the brand provides, taking care of the application process leaving the consumer to have no worries and be able to wander off and enjoy these new experiences.

Venture

This name instantly sounds established which connotes loyalty and would make consumers more comfortable in sharing personal information such as passport numbers etc. The word venture sounds exciting and dynamic therefore appealing to a millennial audience however this also sounds imposing and isn't as relaxed as the other two options making it slightly less appealing. 

Conclusion: 

Consulting members of the sample from my primary research I concluded that the most appropriate brand name was WANDER. This is due to its simplicity in underpinning the core values of the concept, the connotations of freedom and simplicity actively articulate the primary ideologies of brand. This will appeal to the target audience who identified culture and hassle in the top purchase motivations and appeal to a well cultured audience travelling as a child is reminiscent of these family holidays in which the parents do all the planning and they are left to just enjoy the experience, this line to Packards selling a sense of roots within my research essay and creates a strong practical visualisation of this. 

OUGD601 - Practical / Refined Concept

As a result of my initial research I am more informed about the target audience and subject of the brief, therefore feel justified in refining the original concept in order to ensure it is focused and creates a high level of contextual synthesis with the research essay. 

From this research I can establish the main element of the brief is to create a campaign that promote's this conceptual service to the target audience; the millennial demographic. This most succinctly articulates the elements of brand psychology as discussed within my dissertation such as  the audience positioning of this campaign generating brand equity and it's format will clearly articulates the brands personality. The informed research into this millennial demographic identifies consumer purchase motivation and generational preferences which can be exploited within the campaign to evoke a more profound consumer-brand relationship. Due to the service the concept provides is purely conceptual at this stage as it imagines the world of travel in a post Brexit society. I will need to create the outline of a brand that offers this service as opposed to creating a campaign for a pre-existing corporation. Within this I will create a specific brand identity including name, slogan, and logo that will also implement features of brand psychology into this design process creating further synthesis with the dissertation. The final element of the brief is to create a range of campaign collateral, the brief states this should include a poster campaign and point of sale leaflet which will help extend this brand personality and clearly identify the brand image, this also adds tangible outcomes to the project along with the main element of the written campaign proposal.

It should be further reinforced that  I have chosen to produce the campaign for a significantly different area of commerce different to my case studies in order to demonstrate the cancerous nature of this framework and how can be universally applied across brand theory in order to exploit a consumers relationship with any brand in order to create contextual synthesis with the research essay.