I haven’t posted a blog update for a couple of days, yet since my last blog update I have made significant progress. I collected my report so far from the Wiser adviser, and she was very complimentary about my work, suggesting only a few minor amendments which she left to my discretion. I then arranged a date with Jacinta Boon, the proofreader for when she would be able to read through my report – we have agreed the date the 6th March. If possible I will try to get it to her prior to this, the sooner the better as far as I am concerned.
I do, however, want to make as much progress as possible with this report, filling in as many different sections as possible, as it is excellent to have a professional critical eye read over your work, I would hate for her to only be able to read a few sections, and not grasp the full idea of the report.
While Jacinta is reading over my work, I will start considering different ways to format this, whilst working on my promotional graphics. The graphics I choose to use for my promotional items can be easily integrated into my report, and therefore this will be mutually beneficial.
Also, today I resubmitted my report to Wiser, with the changes I have made to it since I last handed it to the advisor. Usually they are unable to read work that is longer than 3,000 words, however because the lady said that there were no real problems with my work, with regards to my written style, she was able to make an exception.
The only difficulty which arises is the fact that I am due to get this document back on the 8th March, and that Jacinta will already be reading the final version by then. In order to overcome this I have decided that I will listen to any guidance that Jacinta has to give me, and then compare this to the Wiser document, and make amendments depending on whether I feel they are beneficial to the overall impact of the text.
Today was also successful as I have completed the photoshoot which I will use to illustrate a couple of sections of my report. This is something which is a massive sign of relief to have out of the way, as photoshoots can be both very stressful and timeconsuming.
I have decided that tomorrow I will not work on the written report for the first half of the day, yet that I will ensure that all of my photographs from my primary research so far are annotated and up-to-date. I will also be able to print these pages as I have coloured ink now, so I will be able to assess my research realistically. I feel that my primary research at present is excellent, however that I have made poor progress with the secondary research. However, it is clear to the reader of the report that I have an extensive range of secondary research by looking at the report bibliography.
Tomorrow, therefore, I will go through this bibliography and locate all of the key texts and extract the relevant parts from there. This will enable me to get my secondary research up to date, whilst also equipping me with the knowledge needed to write the literature review at the end of the report.
Friday, 25 February 2011
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Quick Update Regarding Photoshoot
Yesterday I had a productive day with regards to planning for the photoshoot. I have successfully communicated with different models, and now have narrowed this option down to the one model which I will use in the shoot. I am currently undecided as to whether I will use this shoot in promotional material, or rather just for the benefit of enhancing my academic report. I have purchased a labcoat for both the model and myself. I would like the photoshoot to be as fun and animated as possible.
I have purchased a chemistry set and bubble blower. I will use one model and myself;
this photoshoot will form the front cover of my report, and individual pictures may be used to narrate my report within.
I will make the photoshoot look as dynamic and interesting as possible. I must dash now to collect my report from WISER as this is being looked over. I will update a blog entry tomorrow once changes have been made.
I have purchased a chemistry set and bubble blower. I will use one model and myself;
this photoshoot will form the front cover of my report, and individual pictures may be used to narrate my report within.
I will make the photoshoot look as dynamic and interesting as possible. I must dash now to collect my report from WISER as this is being looked over. I will update a blog entry tomorrow once changes have been made.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Further Research To Aid The Written Report
This morning I had a lecture on branding and brand guidelines, this focussed my mindset today more towards creating an identity which suited both the LSF and UCLan. From this I contacted Joanna Heaton again, proposing the following questions:
1). I have been looking into the production of a mascot character suit (human size), regarding cost and viability of using this to promote the LSF. This would be custom made, based on the LSF character (e.g. robot). Is this something that you feel is within the given budget? Also, is this something you would ever consider?
2). Which other regional universities are working with UCLan to assist with this event?
3). Please could you explain the relationship/association with the LSF and Preston Guild?
4). What do you hope will set the LSF apart from other science festivals? (USP of the festival).
5). Are there any regulations (government, for example) which state that the festival must be free of entry?
6). Is it important that the university ‘breaks even’ after this event? How do you intend to ensure this will happen, (e.g. charge for science celebrity lectures etc), what measures have been put in place?
7). Do you have a clear idea on the budget?
8). Do you have access to UCLan’s brand guidelines? If so, do you know if it would be possible to gain access to these?
9). Do you have a list of activities etc during the event?
I also chased up Aissa at Hot Munkey and am currently awaiting his reply. I also contacted a few companies regarding creating a character mascot costume. This would be used both throughout the event launch and the promotion in the run up to the event. I have also been speaking to a proof reader today who is willing to look through my marketing report for me.
Therefore I aim to have ‘completed’ my report – to as high a level as I possibly can – by mid march. This will then allow the lady to look over the report for me. This will take around four days, which is useful as these four days will allow me to go and further enhance another area of my work, or to work on promotional material, as opposed to constantly reworking my current report and potentially missing obvious mistakes.
I have the studio booked for a photoshoot on Friday, therefore tomorrow I will look into sourcing costumes for this. I will initially look in town for this, as this will save the cost on delivery, however if I am unsuccessful in this department then I will resort to looking online, and choose the next day delivery option, to save any disappointment. Tomorrow, therefore, will be dedicated to the organising of the photoshoot. However, tomorrow I also wish to enhance my report with research from WGSN, as this is a research which the external examiner will expect me to have used.
I will update the blog tomorrow with progress regarding fancy dress costumes.
1). I have been looking into the production of a mascot character suit (human size), regarding cost and viability of using this to promote the LSF. This would be custom made, based on the LSF character (e.g. robot). Is this something that you feel is within the given budget? Also, is this something you would ever consider?
2). Which other regional universities are working with UCLan to assist with this event?
3). Please could you explain the relationship/association with the LSF and Preston Guild?
4). What do you hope will set the LSF apart from other science festivals? (USP of the festival).
5). Are there any regulations (government, for example) which state that the festival must be free of entry?
6). Is it important that the university ‘breaks even’ after this event? How do you intend to ensure this will happen, (e.g. charge for science celebrity lectures etc), what measures have been put in place?
7). Do you have a clear idea on the budget?
8). Do you have access to UCLan’s brand guidelines? If so, do you know if it would be possible to gain access to these?
9). Do you have a list of activities etc during the event?
I also chased up Aissa at Hot Munkey and am currently awaiting his reply. I also contacted a few companies regarding creating a character mascot costume. This would be used both throughout the event launch and the promotion in the run up to the event. I have also been speaking to a proof reader today who is willing to look through my marketing report for me.
Therefore I aim to have ‘completed’ my report – to as high a level as I possibly can – by mid march. This will then allow the lady to look over the report for me. This will take around four days, which is useful as these four days will allow me to go and further enhance another area of my work, or to work on promotional material, as opposed to constantly reworking my current report and potentially missing obvious mistakes.
I have the studio booked for a photoshoot on Friday, therefore tomorrow I will look into sourcing costumes for this. I will initially look in town for this, as this will save the cost on delivery, however if I am unsuccessful in this department then I will resort to looking online, and choose the next day delivery option, to save any disappointment. Tomorrow, therefore, will be dedicated to the organising of the photoshoot. However, tomorrow I also wish to enhance my report with research from WGSN, as this is a research which the external examiner will expect me to have used.
I will update the blog tomorrow with progress regarding fancy dress costumes.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Considering Further Research
I have dedicated a half day to study today as I have had to work this morning. Despite this, I have had a productive day working on my report. I have written around 5,000 words now this is a very good start. Once I have got a solid 6,000 words – which I am happy with, and which I feel read very well – I will start working on my promotional material.
I have also started looking into a proofreading service; this is something I would only use once I have 100% sure that my document was ‘finished’ and ‘perfect’ in my eyes. Today I have been working on the ‘competitors’ and ‘people’ sections of the report mainly.
Other than this I have been looking into different places which I may be able to visit before the submission of this campaign. Please see the Education Show at the NEC below:
Opening Times:
09.30 - 17.00 (16.00 on Saturday 19 March)
The Education Show is the UK’s largest general educational resources event. It has been going over 20 years and has recently celebrated its 20th Anniversary.
The Education Show is the host to over 470 exhibitors and has five CPD seminar theatres focussing on Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Special Educational Needs and Leadership.
Visitors who attend the show can find thousands of inspirational ideas and new resources and suppliers for their schools!
So far I have received heavily into the ‘fun’ side of the LSF, with extensive research into the marketing of activity zones and adventure centres. However, I must extend this research to look into the education sector. This would satisfy the two key brand attributes ‘fun’ and ‘education’ to ensure a well-rounded project.
I am currently waiting on email replies from Joanna and UCLan and also Aissa at Hot Munkey. Once I have received email replies from these two I will be able to make further progress with the written aspect of my report. However, until then I feel that it would be wise to spend my day tomorrow collating secondary research, or even continuing with the annotation of the primary research I have gathered so far. For example that which I have started annotating on word documents, and also the mound of leaflets, brochures and postcards which I have collected to this date.
Tomorrow I will work on this research, and also redraft the report one more time.
I have also started looking into a proofreading service; this is something I would only use once I have 100% sure that my document was ‘finished’ and ‘perfect’ in my eyes. Today I have been working on the ‘competitors’ and ‘people’ sections of the report mainly.
Other than this I have been looking into different places which I may be able to visit before the submission of this campaign. Please see the Education Show at the NEC below:
Opening Times:
09.30 - 17.00 (16.00 on Saturday 19 March)
The Education Show is the UK’s largest general educational resources event. It has been going over 20 years and has recently celebrated its 20th Anniversary.
The Education Show is the host to over 470 exhibitors and has five CPD seminar theatres focussing on Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Special Educational Needs and Leadership.
Visitors who attend the show can find thousands of inspirational ideas and new resources and suppliers for their schools!
So far I have received heavily into the ‘fun’ side of the LSF, with extensive research into the marketing of activity zones and adventure centres. However, I must extend this research to look into the education sector. This would satisfy the two key brand attributes ‘fun’ and ‘education’ to ensure a well-rounded project.
I am currently waiting on email replies from Joanna and UCLan and also Aissa at Hot Munkey. Once I have received email replies from these two I will be able to make further progress with the written aspect of my report. However, until then I feel that it would be wise to spend my day tomorrow collating secondary research, or even continuing with the annotation of the primary research I have gathered so far. For example that which I have started annotating on word documents, and also the mound of leaflets, brochures and postcards which I have collected to this date.
Tomorrow I will work on this research, and also redraft the report one more time.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Reviewing Progress of Marketing Report and Character Development
Today I have been working on the marketing report. I am currently around 3,000 words. I have reflected on other marketing reports to see the structure which I must adopt throughout this. From this it was decided that I should include a PEST/PESTLE analysis of the political, economic, sociocultural and technological factors which may impact upon my product. I have printed out the report and made changes to it using pen and paper as this is the best way for me to notice mistakes, from this I made amendments.
I also communicated with my course leader today regarding the inclusion of case studies. It was mutually decided that these case studies should be mentioned within the market segment of the report, specifically under the ‘competitors’ section. This should give a brief outline of findings derived from this case study, and from this the reader should be directed to view the appendix.
I have also been in great communication with Jo today regarding the characters I created. Jo believes that the cell characters are inspired, yet believes that the name ‘cell mates’ holds negative connotations of prison which neither the university of LSF itself would want to be associated with.
Jo therefore suggested that I tweaked the name of this slightly. Off the top of my head I decided that ‘Cell Crew’ could be plausible due to the alliteration of ‘C’, which may also make the character group more recognisable.
I stated to Jo my intentions about including these characters in an online game whereby they helped the main character (yet to be developed) in solving different science/maths related problems. By including a game on the online site, children will spend longer on the site, therefore increase the amount of time which they are exposed to the brand identity, thus making it more memorable.
From this Jo suggested that the cells could be called into action to fight infection. This stems from the idea that your immune system has different cells such as phagocytes (that eat up bacteria) and neutrophils (make bacteria burst). Therefore there is potential to do something very creative with this in the context of a game.
Jo completely ruled out the idea of using a scientist/professor as the mascot to represent the LSF. This is because the LSF offers much more than just physics – extending to all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths. Jo also reinforced the idea that she was keen to see a robot used, therefore I decided that this would be the focus of my day tomorrow.
I considered different ways in which I could bring this project into fruition to make the characters as child-friendly yet relatable to teenagers and adults as possible. I considered the brand which I have previously conducted extensive research into, including interviewing the brand manager. Hot Munkey was a giftware wholesaler and retailer of mutant dolls. I spoke to Aissa at the brand, and discussed the possibility of creating one-offs of the cells.
I visualised many exciting opportunities for how these could be used. I would also see if the robot character could be produced into one of these toys. From this I could conduct photoshoots, taking the toys into real-life scenarios such as classrooms, field trips, looking at insects etc, in order to educate the children in a way which is memorable and enjoyable to them.
I could then upload these onto a blog which would be continuously updated months prior to the launch of the event. This would tell stories of the cell mates and their adventures/misadventures with the robot. The children would be given access to this site and would be allowed to pass comment.
This would also be syndicated through the Facebook and Twitter news feed. I am very excited about this idea. I will get working on the robot character as soon as I have finished writing this blog entry, then I will send it over to Aissa at Hot Munkey, for him to provide me with pricings and timings.
Also today I have been communicating with models for the science-themed photoshoot. This is something which would visually satisfy my creative report – even if the marketing team were against the idea of using these images. The studio is booked out for Friday, and I have full confirmation from one of the models.
What next? I will update the blog entry tomorrow once I have potentially heard from Aissa at Hot Munkey – I will also keep the blog posted regarding my written report. I am to be on 5,000 words by the end of tomorrow. I must work on a concise list of promotional items which I would like to be produced. I must also remember to write up a review of Paul, for inclusion in my portfolio, as well as this blog.
I also communicated with my course leader today regarding the inclusion of case studies. It was mutually decided that these case studies should be mentioned within the market segment of the report, specifically under the ‘competitors’ section. This should give a brief outline of findings derived from this case study, and from this the reader should be directed to view the appendix.
I have also been in great communication with Jo today regarding the characters I created. Jo believes that the cell characters are inspired, yet believes that the name ‘cell mates’ holds negative connotations of prison which neither the university of LSF itself would want to be associated with.
Jo therefore suggested that I tweaked the name of this slightly. Off the top of my head I decided that ‘Cell Crew’ could be plausible due to the alliteration of ‘C’, which may also make the character group more recognisable.
I stated to Jo my intentions about including these characters in an online game whereby they helped the main character (yet to be developed) in solving different science/maths related problems. By including a game on the online site, children will spend longer on the site, therefore increase the amount of time which they are exposed to the brand identity, thus making it more memorable.
From this Jo suggested that the cells could be called into action to fight infection. This stems from the idea that your immune system has different cells such as phagocytes (that eat up bacteria) and neutrophils (make bacteria burst). Therefore there is potential to do something very creative with this in the context of a game.
Jo completely ruled out the idea of using a scientist/professor as the mascot to represent the LSF. This is because the LSF offers much more than just physics – extending to all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths. Jo also reinforced the idea that she was keen to see a robot used, therefore I decided that this would be the focus of my day tomorrow.
I considered different ways in which I could bring this project into fruition to make the characters as child-friendly yet relatable to teenagers and adults as possible. I considered the brand which I have previously conducted extensive research into, including interviewing the brand manager. Hot Munkey was a giftware wholesaler and retailer of mutant dolls. I spoke to Aissa at the brand, and discussed the possibility of creating one-offs of the cells.
I visualised many exciting opportunities for how these could be used. I would also see if the robot character could be produced into one of these toys. From this I could conduct photoshoots, taking the toys into real-life scenarios such as classrooms, field trips, looking at insects etc, in order to educate the children in a way which is memorable and enjoyable to them.
I could then upload these onto a blog which would be continuously updated months prior to the launch of the event. This would tell stories of the cell mates and their adventures/misadventures with the robot. The children would be given access to this site and would be allowed to pass comment.
This would also be syndicated through the Facebook and Twitter news feed. I am very excited about this idea. I will get working on the robot character as soon as I have finished writing this blog entry, then I will send it over to Aissa at Hot Munkey, for him to provide me with pricings and timings.
Also today I have been communicating with models for the science-themed photoshoot. This is something which would visually satisfy my creative report – even if the marketing team were against the idea of using these images. The studio is booked out for Friday, and I have full confirmation from one of the models.
What next? I will update the blog entry tomorrow once I have potentially heard from Aissa at Hot Munkey – I will also keep the blog posted regarding my written report. I am to be on 5,000 words by the end of tomorrow. I must work on a concise list of promotional items which I would like to be produced. I must also remember to write up a review of Paul, for inclusion in my portfolio, as well as this blog.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Progress Update
Today I have made a lot of progress regarding the written aspect of my report, with my word count over 2000 words; I am 1/5th of the way towards writing the minimum word count. Obviously I understand that I should redraft the written report religiously before I submit it as this will mean that it is precise, to the point, and that all of the content is completely relevant.
Below is information which I extracted from the Brand Management Vectors PowerPoint. I went through this information and extracted only the pieces of information which fitted under the headings in my report – as I was using this as a strict guideline. I handed the written report so far into Wiser, and have agreed to go back next Wednesday to collect this, and to discuss potential changes, although I have plenty of time to continue redrafting this.
Changes which are affecting branding:
Development of digital technology
High-profile companies and luxury goods market
The re-positioning of the importance of branding into a central concern
Movement into countries, cities, charities, the arts, academia etc.
Environmental dangers which stimulate changing consumer attitudes and develop a more caring society
Recession and instability:- implications and impact
Importance of brand recognition / brand perception
A symbol, a typeface, a logo – applies across a range of situations, from a shop front to a website or tail fin.
and branding can indicate or promote a big concept or idea, often representing social, cultural or religious behaviour or habits
The face of the brand
The outward, visible signs of the brand provide differentiation.
In the past when advertising was the prime communication tool used to reach the target consumer, the product was the focus, so the name of the product was the main feature of the brand.
A new approach to branding has emerged through digital media, sophisticated information technology, internet, blogs, the multi-faceted consumer, product/services complexity and the emergence of a caring society.
This has led to the development of the corporate brand.
• USP Unique Selling Point
• ESP Emotional Selling Point
• The brand wants and needs the audience (internal and external) to respect and admire them.
• The organisation’s corporate name to encompass the whole offer, is growing in importance, offering credibility and sustainability.
• ESP
• Need to demonstrate a commitment to society, and publicly show responsible behaviour
• Brands can have a role in society, and their reputation can be enhanced by effective communication of their values and messages relating to this.
• It is important for a brand to present its personality, values and ‘mantra’ in an integrated way, to maintain consistency across all methods of communication, and to all audiences, both internal and external.
• Branding programmes must include a good dialogue with the people who work within the organisation (the internal audience).
• External audiences include the consumer, plus journalists, analysts, stockbrokers and ‘suppliers’ e.g. manufacturers, design agencies i.e. partners.
Core values create the construction and complexity of the brand.
Good brand foundations establish an effective brand identity.
Brand value extends beyond the commercial worth, to include an expression of personality, differentiation, emotion and relationship.
Brands in the 21st Century must create, manage, sustain and promote an identity / personality.
The communication or delivery of the identity is where branding occurs.
The brand must project clarity around its identity and PURPOSE.
CONSISTENCY must be achieved in purpose, performance and also visually.
Consistency must flow through everything in and around the brand (or organisation), and will be driven by the CORE IDEA / VISION.
Product - what an organisation makes and sells.
Environment – how the brand lays out its stall i.e. the physical environment of the brand.
Communication – how it tells every audience about itself and what it is doing.
Behaviour – how its people behave to each other and the outside environment.
Today I have also communicated with Jo about which aspects of the festival will be carbon neutral, and also which celebrity guests were confirmed to be attending; I then filled in the relevant pieces of information accordingly. Finally, I have just sent over to Jo ideas for characters which will be used as a mascot for the event.
I have stated that these are only very basic ideas and that I welcome any suggestions about improvements and further developments of these characters – I will await the Jo’s response before I do any further development on these characters. Also today I have brought plasticine in line with my research into characters like Morph. I will attempt to create characters out of this, before uploading them onto the computer for editing.
I have also been in contact with a few children regarding modelling for a science-themed photoshoot. I am currently awaiting confirmation to book the studio out for this shoot next Friday. I will update the blog once I have received this confirmation.
Below is information which I extracted from the Brand Management Vectors PowerPoint. I went through this information and extracted only the pieces of information which fitted under the headings in my report – as I was using this as a strict guideline. I handed the written report so far into Wiser, and have agreed to go back next Wednesday to collect this, and to discuss potential changes, although I have plenty of time to continue redrafting this.
Changes which are affecting branding:
Development of digital technology
High-profile companies and luxury goods market
The re-positioning of the importance of branding into a central concern
Movement into countries, cities, charities, the arts, academia etc.
Environmental dangers which stimulate changing consumer attitudes and develop a more caring society
Recession and instability:- implications and impact
Importance of brand recognition / brand perception
A symbol, a typeface, a logo – applies across a range of situations, from a shop front to a website or tail fin.
and branding can indicate or promote a big concept or idea, often representing social, cultural or religious behaviour or habits
The face of the brand
The outward, visible signs of the brand provide differentiation.
In the past when advertising was the prime communication tool used to reach the target consumer, the product was the focus, so the name of the product was the main feature of the brand.
A new approach to branding has emerged through digital media, sophisticated information technology, internet, blogs, the multi-faceted consumer, product/services complexity and the emergence of a caring society.
This has led to the development of the corporate brand.
• USP Unique Selling Point
• ESP Emotional Selling Point
• The brand wants and needs the audience (internal and external) to respect and admire them.
• The organisation’s corporate name to encompass the whole offer, is growing in importance, offering credibility and sustainability.
• ESP
• Need to demonstrate a commitment to society, and publicly show responsible behaviour
• Brands can have a role in society, and their reputation can be enhanced by effective communication of their values and messages relating to this.
• It is important for a brand to present its personality, values and ‘mantra’ in an integrated way, to maintain consistency across all methods of communication, and to all audiences, both internal and external.
• Branding programmes must include a good dialogue with the people who work within the organisation (the internal audience).
• External audiences include the consumer, plus journalists, analysts, stockbrokers and ‘suppliers’ e.g. manufacturers, design agencies i.e. partners.
Core values create the construction and complexity of the brand.
Good brand foundations establish an effective brand identity.
Brand value extends beyond the commercial worth, to include an expression of personality, differentiation, emotion and relationship.
Brands in the 21st Century must create, manage, sustain and promote an identity / personality.
The communication or delivery of the identity is where branding occurs.
The brand must project clarity around its identity and PURPOSE.
CONSISTENCY must be achieved in purpose, performance and also visually.
Consistency must flow through everything in and around the brand (or organisation), and will be driven by the CORE IDEA / VISION.
Product - what an organisation makes and sells.
Environment – how the brand lays out its stall i.e. the physical environment of the brand.
Communication – how it tells every audience about itself and what it is doing.
Behaviour – how its people behave to each other and the outside environment.
Today I have also communicated with Jo about which aspects of the festival will be carbon neutral, and also which celebrity guests were confirmed to be attending; I then filled in the relevant pieces of information accordingly. Finally, I have just sent over to Jo ideas for characters which will be used as a mascot for the event.
I have stated that these are only very basic ideas and that I welcome any suggestions about improvements and further developments of these characters – I will await the Jo’s response before I do any further development on these characters. Also today I have brought plasticine in line with my research into characters like Morph. I will attempt to create characters out of this, before uploading them onto the computer for editing.
I have also been in contact with a few children regarding modelling for a science-themed photoshoot. I am currently awaiting confirmation to book the studio out for this shoot next Friday. I will update the blog once I have received this confirmation.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Primary Research Assistance
I have been communicating with a company called Hari’s World. This company is targeted towards children and centred on road safety. Below is a passage I have put together for my course leader to type onto UCLan headed paper – this is to prove that I am a genuine university student, and not just someone trying to find out company information.
I understand that a student of mine, Catherine Wilkinson, has contacted you to ask for your assistance with primary research. As a third year student at the University of Central Lancashire Catherine is currently working on her final campaign - to promote a local science festival. In order to expand Catherine’s knowledge of different products/services directed towards children, and the methods used to promote them, Catherine is expected to communicate with members of the industry to gain a firsthand insight.
Catherine understands that the information she has requested is sensitive in terms of your operation at Hari’s World, therefore she has agreed that any findings from her research will not be directly attributed to Hari’s World; rather they would be stated as general findings within her marketing report.
I will await the reply from my course leader with the letter attached, before including this in my primary research file and then sending it to Tristan. I will spend the majority of tomorrow writing as much of my marketing report as possible, before passing this into a member of the WISER team to look through. Doing this gives me greater confidence in the fact that I am on the right track – also it is useful as any grammatical errors are corrected from the outset, rather than potentially missing any mistakes as the weeks go by, as I continue adding to the content. I also prefer this as it motivates me to move onto writing other areas of the report as oppose to constantly redrafting one specific area.
I will update the blog post once I have had feedback from WISER. I have also decided that tomorrow I will send over one of the characters I have created to the marketing team just to have a look over to see if this is on the right track – await the next blog post.
I understand that a student of mine, Catherine Wilkinson, has contacted you to ask for your assistance with primary research. As a third year student at the University of Central Lancashire Catherine is currently working on her final campaign - to promote a local science festival. In order to expand Catherine’s knowledge of different products/services directed towards children, and the methods used to promote them, Catherine is expected to communicate with members of the industry to gain a firsthand insight.
Catherine understands that the information she has requested is sensitive in terms of your operation at Hari’s World, therefore she has agreed that any findings from her research will not be directly attributed to Hari’s World; rather they would be stated as general findings within her marketing report.
I will await the reply from my course leader with the letter attached, before including this in my primary research file and then sending it to Tristan. I will spend the majority of tomorrow writing as much of my marketing report as possible, before passing this into a member of the WISER team to look through. Doing this gives me greater confidence in the fact that I am on the right track – also it is useful as any grammatical errors are corrected from the outset, rather than potentially missing any mistakes as the weeks go by, as I continue adding to the content. I also prefer this as it motivates me to move onto writing other areas of the report as oppose to constantly redrafting one specific area.
I will update the blog post once I have had feedback from WISER. I have also decided that tomorrow I will send over one of the characters I have created to the marketing team just to have a look over to see if this is on the right track – await the next blog post.
Receiving The Official Brief
Below is the official brief I received as forwarded from the UCLan marketing department. This provided me with a great basis for reworking my report, including
Creative brief
Date: 15.02.2011
Job description: LSF design style
Issued by:
To sum up this brief:
To design a style and mascot for the Lancashire Science Festival.
Note – there should be no separate brand or logo.
The style should sit under / alongside the UCLan logo, reinforcing the UCLan brand.
See similar concept at Cambridge: http://comms.group.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival/
as reflected in their programme http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival/csf_2011.pdf
Quick background
The Lancashire Science Festival will be a three-day event held at UCLan in June 2012, comprising lectures, demonstrations, shows and interactive exhibits.
The Festival aims to:
• Engage, enthuse, entertain and excite audiences for Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) and Health
• Communicate complex research to a general audience in an accessible, user friendly way.
• Encourage educational progression in STEM and Health
• Indirectly raise the profile of UCLan as a leader in STEM and Health education and research
• Encourage businesses to engage with the University
What is the objective?
For the Science festival to be a success, the event needs to be promoted with a design style that has a consistent look and feel, to facilitate recognition and recall. We need a professional approach to ensure high attendance and create a buzz in the run-up to the event. Communications must convey the high-energy and excitement of the event and must be applicable to all key audiences.
Who are we talking to?
The Science Festival will attract five audiences:
• primary school children,
• secondary school and college age students,
• teachers
• businesses and organisations
• general public.
It will feature some ‘celebrity’ scientists and input from local employers and other regional Universities.
What is the single minded proposition?
The design of a creative platform that can be flexed to appeal to specific audience groups.
It should encapsulate the wider genre of science and not be restricted to one particular aspect.
Mandatories
The design must include a mascot; we would prefer that this is an avatar, such as a friendly robot, or similar, that can be used throughout the marketing campaign.
It has to work as an easily recognised integrated design style applicable to online, offline, point of sale, large scale and small scale media, in a range of sizes.
Key Supporting Messages
Tone: Fun, dynamic, inspiring, professional
Call to action. What do we want audiences to THINK, FEEL & DO?
THINK:
Younger children: Science is fun. UCLan isn’t a scary place.
(may currently think science is difficult and the University is big and forbidding)
Older children: I want to study and work in Science / Health. I like UCLan.
(may currently think science is only for geeks, may not have considered studying here)
Teachers: UCLan is a credible University with a lot to offer.
(may currently think of UCLan as a polytechnic or second class University)
Businesses: UCLan is professional and friendly, with cutting edge ideas
(currently may not know much about what we can offer)
Public: UCLan is forward thinking, dynamic, supportive
(may currently have misconceptions about UCLan)
FEEL: It is a hands-on science event, even better than the Big Bang.
We will enjoy this event, it will be worthwhile.
DO: Come to the event!
Timings
Core style/mascot - 11.03.11. At least three suggestions to be submitted.
Flexible platforms for webspace, to suit each audience- 01.04.11
Above there are clear deadlines set in place for what the marketing team required being achieved by a certain date. I will therefore work in accordance to these. The next blog post I write will dictate how much of the marketing report I have written -this is my main focus at present. Once I have written this I will go back to the research side of this an make sure that annotation is completely up to date before working on graphics and promotion.
Creative brief
Date: 15.02.2011
Job description: LSF design style
Issued by:
To sum up this brief:
To design a style and mascot for the Lancashire Science Festival.
Note – there should be no separate brand or logo.
The style should sit under / alongside the UCLan logo, reinforcing the UCLan brand.
See similar concept at Cambridge: http://comms.group.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival/
as reflected in their programme http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival/csf_2011.pdf
Quick background
The Lancashire Science Festival will be a three-day event held at UCLan in June 2012, comprising lectures, demonstrations, shows and interactive exhibits.
The Festival aims to:
• Engage, enthuse, entertain and excite audiences for Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) and Health
• Communicate complex research to a general audience in an accessible, user friendly way.
• Encourage educational progression in STEM and Health
• Indirectly raise the profile of UCLan as a leader in STEM and Health education and research
• Encourage businesses to engage with the University
What is the objective?
For the Science festival to be a success, the event needs to be promoted with a design style that has a consistent look and feel, to facilitate recognition and recall. We need a professional approach to ensure high attendance and create a buzz in the run-up to the event. Communications must convey the high-energy and excitement of the event and must be applicable to all key audiences.
Who are we talking to?
The Science Festival will attract five audiences:
• primary school children,
• secondary school and college age students,
• teachers
• businesses and organisations
• general public.
It will feature some ‘celebrity’ scientists and input from local employers and other regional Universities.
What is the single minded proposition?
The design of a creative platform that can be flexed to appeal to specific audience groups.
It should encapsulate the wider genre of science and not be restricted to one particular aspect.
Mandatories
The design must include a mascot; we would prefer that this is an avatar, such as a friendly robot, or similar, that can be used throughout the marketing campaign.
It has to work as an easily recognised integrated design style applicable to online, offline, point of sale, large scale and small scale media, in a range of sizes.
Key Supporting Messages
Tone: Fun, dynamic, inspiring, professional
Call to action. What do we want audiences to THINK, FEEL & DO?
THINK:
Younger children: Science is fun. UCLan isn’t a scary place.
(may currently think science is difficult and the University is big and forbidding)
Older children: I want to study and work in Science / Health. I like UCLan.
(may currently think science is only for geeks, may not have considered studying here)
Teachers: UCLan is a credible University with a lot to offer.
(may currently think of UCLan as a polytechnic or second class University)
Businesses: UCLan is professional and friendly, with cutting edge ideas
(currently may not know much about what we can offer)
Public: UCLan is forward thinking, dynamic, supportive
(may currently have misconceptions about UCLan)
FEEL: It is a hands-on science event, even better than the Big Bang.
We will enjoy this event, it will be worthwhile.
DO: Come to the event!
Timings
Core style/mascot - 11.03.11. At least three suggestions to be submitted.
Flexible platforms for webspace, to suit each audience- 01.04.11
Above there are clear deadlines set in place for what the marketing team required being achieved by a certain date. I will therefore work in accordance to these. The next blog post I write will dictate how much of the marketing report I have written -this is my main focus at present. Once I have written this I will go back to the research side of this an make sure that annotation is completely up to date before working on graphics and promotion.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Progress Check
Tomorrow I must submit rough customer / brand profiles and submit the contents / introduction draft. After speaking to my course leader on Friday I am aware that I may be unable to submit the introduction as I am yet to speak to the person in charge of the live brief. I have received an email from my course leader to the lady involved, trying to organise a time for a meeting. Once I have been to this meeting I will have a much better idea of which direction I am to take this project in, and of course which steps are necessary to get to this stage.
Looking through the timetable, and at the different milestones, it was important that I stayed on track. There is a sense of urgency with this brief, both with me and also with the lady involved due to different deadlines.
This sense of urgency appeals to me as I like working under pressure and it will also motivate me to achieve more in shorter time scales. This week is quite hectic with me with other commitments; however I am determined not to let my focus slip.
After speaking to Paz we concluded that it would be a good idea for me to work my way through the different elements which are required in the brief and start writing my marketing report based on what I know at each of these stages. I will therefore commence on this during this coming week. I will reference correctly along the way and begin to compile a strong list of references.
I will also take a full day out of my studies next week to continue emailing people for primary research – as this is invaluable with regards to the marking criteria.
Another full day next week will be taken out of my studies as I am going to visit the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry – this is the most directly relevant place I will have visited, I will pay attention to the different apparatus there which encourage children to interact, and consider how these can be developed into promotional materials, furthermore I will look out for the promotional methods used by the museum itself, and if possible arrange for an interview with a museum official.
Being a Lancashire based museum, with a focus on science, this will be very insightful for me. Yesterday I spent the day printing out all of my primary research so far, this gave me great confidence in acknowledging and appreciating what I had learnt so far at such an early stage in the project. I must consider creating a questionnaire about fonts, logos, graphics and the use of a photoshoot.
What next? The next blog update I do will inform the reader how my visit to Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry went, and what I learnt.
Looking through the timetable, and at the different milestones, it was important that I stayed on track. There is a sense of urgency with this brief, both with me and also with the lady involved due to different deadlines.
This sense of urgency appeals to me as I like working under pressure and it will also motivate me to achieve more in shorter time scales. This week is quite hectic with me with other commitments; however I am determined not to let my focus slip.
After speaking to Paz we concluded that it would be a good idea for me to work my way through the different elements which are required in the brief and start writing my marketing report based on what I know at each of these stages. I will therefore commence on this during this coming week. I will reference correctly along the way and begin to compile a strong list of references.
I will also take a full day out of my studies next week to continue emailing people for primary research – as this is invaluable with regards to the marking criteria.
Another full day next week will be taken out of my studies as I am going to visit the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry – this is the most directly relevant place I will have visited, I will pay attention to the different apparatus there which encourage children to interact, and consider how these can be developed into promotional materials, furthermore I will look out for the promotional methods used by the museum itself, and if possible arrange for an interview with a museum official.
Being a Lancashire based museum, with a focus on science, this will be very insightful for me. Yesterday I spent the day printing out all of my primary research so far, this gave me great confidence in acknowledging and appreciating what I had learnt so far at such an early stage in the project. I must consider creating a questionnaire about fonts, logos, graphics and the use of a photoshoot.
What next? The next blog update I do will inform the reader how my visit to Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry went, and what I learnt.
Friday, 11 February 2011
Spring Fair 2011 and General Update
It has been a couple of days since I last updated this blog, and since then I have made a lot of progress. First of all it is important to mention that I received final confirmation of the fact that I am taking on the marketing of the Lancashire Science Festival.
From this I started to look back at the character and logo I have created, once I have received contact details for the Advancement department, I will be able to send over these for approval/tweaking. I have also considered creating a series of cells, companions for Professor Lancs, I will start experimenting with these later this evening and then update the blog accordingly.
I also attended the Spring Fair 2011 on Wednesday. Although I was not permitted to take photographs there (I got a few sneaky ones), I spoke to many of the brand managers and buyers – this was insightful regarding what I would they are looking for in a brand/company.
I collected a number of business cards and was told that I was welcome to send over questionnaires if I had any questions after the day. I therefore spent yesterday compiling questions and sending these over – this is actually a fairly lengthy process as it is important that the emails are personalised in order to gain a helpful response!
Today I have been looking through the replies that I have received, and have also directed my primary research now towards contacting companies and also adventure parks which I have visited, in order to have quotable material which can be integrated into my marketing report.
I understand that, for next Thursday, I must have completed the customer profiling section of my review, and also the introduction. Thus far I have completed a section of the ‘customer profiling’, which links directly to the market segment which the service is being targeted at.
I have also written the contents page, and started numbering sections of my report, and written a few sentences for the methodology – therefore, at this stage, I feel that I am just on track.
By the end of today I would like to have sent out emails to all necessary people, and also to have made more progress in annotating my primary research – having uploaded the photographs onto a Word document.
I have also spent today looking into potential places to visit in the next coming months:
The three listed below are exhibitions hosted at the Birmingham NEC:
The education show http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/educationshow
Packaging innovations: http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/packaginginnovations
Focus on imaging http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/focusonimaging
Next week I will visit the Manchester Museum, and also the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, and I feel these would be directly helpful in understanding how the theme of science is promoted across the board.
Now, back to annotating these images...
From this I started to look back at the character and logo I have created, once I have received contact details for the Advancement department, I will be able to send over these for approval/tweaking. I have also considered creating a series of cells, companions for Professor Lancs, I will start experimenting with these later this evening and then update the blog accordingly.
I also attended the Spring Fair 2011 on Wednesday. Although I was not permitted to take photographs there (I got a few sneaky ones), I spoke to many of the brand managers and buyers – this was insightful regarding what I would they are looking for in a brand/company.
I collected a number of business cards and was told that I was welcome to send over questionnaires if I had any questions after the day. I therefore spent yesterday compiling questions and sending these over – this is actually a fairly lengthy process as it is important that the emails are personalised in order to gain a helpful response!
Today I have been looking through the replies that I have received, and have also directed my primary research now towards contacting companies and also adventure parks which I have visited, in order to have quotable material which can be integrated into my marketing report.
I understand that, for next Thursday, I must have completed the customer profiling section of my review, and also the introduction. Thus far I have completed a section of the ‘customer profiling’, which links directly to the market segment which the service is being targeted at.
I have also written the contents page, and started numbering sections of my report, and written a few sentences for the methodology – therefore, at this stage, I feel that I am just on track.
By the end of today I would like to have sent out emails to all necessary people, and also to have made more progress in annotating my primary research – having uploaded the photographs onto a Word document.
I have also spent today looking into potential places to visit in the next coming months:
The three listed below are exhibitions hosted at the Birmingham NEC:
The education show http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/educationshow
Packaging innovations: http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/packaginginnovations
Focus on imaging http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/focusonimaging
Next week I will visit the Manchester Museum, and also the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, and I feel these would be directly helpful in understanding how the theme of science is promoted across the board.
Now, back to annotating these images...
Monday, 7 February 2011
Science Museum On Tour
This evening I visited the Science Museum On Tour. Below is my very very honest review of it. Expletives have been included for impact.
----------------------------
There I was, seated, popcorn in one hand, slush in the other. This was going to be immense.
The stage looked....interesting, displaying a medley of all sorts of fascinating scientific equipment. Well, I presume it was scientific as this was THE world famous Science Museum on Tour. To be completely honest with you, the only thing which looked familiar to me was the tripod. No bad jokes please.
Oh look, and there’s the Bunsen burner. I suddenly found myself reminiscing back to year 9, Mr Darke’s science lab and an absolute fascination with the blue flame. Oh, and the gauze mat too – now that was just epic. Oh what fun we had.
WHIZZ! POP! KAZAMMM! SNAP! CRANNNK – thank goodness, the show is starting.
Droning clapping of the audience commences.
* clap clap clap clap *
“Give me a woo”
“Woo”
"That’s not loud enough, give me a proper woo"
“WOOOO”
“You can do better than THAT, one more time...”
I’m sure you get the gist.
The posters had promised a ‘fast, furious and frenetically fun experience’ which would ‘propel you on an exploratory theatrical adventure’. I thought this was aimed at primary school kids? Translate to English please.
Basically, it was set to be a good night. In case you can sense a very negative tone in this supposed-to-be-impartial piece of literature, I can only blame the 3:1 ratio of children to adults. Poor sods.
The theatre was oozing with science enthusiasts, and by that I mean geeks.
And then there was me, purely there for research reasons of course. Not an element of ‘geek’ in me. Oh yes, and Pluto is the largest planet.
The museum had been brought to the stage by the producers of Brainiac and Dr. Bunhead. Don’t worry, I’d never heard of them either, but my ever-so-slightly older housemate speaks very highly of them.
They ask for a volunteer on stage, at that point I decide it’s time to tie my hair in a bun – I don’t want to give them an advantage on the ‘static electricity’ related jokes. I sink into my chair slightly, avoiding eye contact of course. But it’s all good, a young lad from two rows in front has been chosen.
I chuckle to myself unreservedly, he looks remarkably like Little My, you know, the girl from the Moomins.
I wouldn’t say it was a very moving performance, but there was a LOT of talk about Newton’s Laws of Motion. I knew that guy was all talk and no action.
Other topics covered include Living Things, Human Processes and Materials.
The only thing I learnt was to get sweet popcorn as opposed to salted. But I’m sure it was a thoroughly educational experience for everyone else in the auditorium.
As we depart from the theatre all I can hear is parents asking their kids:
“So then, what was your favourite part?”
Decoding that parental interrogation, what they were really asking is:
“Have I just wasted fifteen fucking quid, because you clearly can’t remember any of it?!”
The presenters might have lit their splint, but they really didn’t spark my imagination as a member of the audience.
That is why I give this show the following rating: **.
I will write another blog post explaining in more detail exactly what I learnt from the theatrical display. This blog is to establish a writing style and to dictate the success of the show.
----------------------------
There I was, seated, popcorn in one hand, slush in the other. This was going to be immense.
The stage looked....interesting, displaying a medley of all sorts of fascinating scientific equipment. Well, I presume it was scientific as this was THE world famous Science Museum on Tour. To be completely honest with you, the only thing which looked familiar to me was the tripod. No bad jokes please.
Oh look, and there’s the Bunsen burner. I suddenly found myself reminiscing back to year 9, Mr Darke’s science lab and an absolute fascination with the blue flame. Oh, and the gauze mat too – now that was just epic. Oh what fun we had.
WHIZZ! POP! KAZAMMM! SNAP! CRANNNK – thank goodness, the show is starting.
Droning clapping of the audience commences.
* clap clap clap clap *
“Give me a woo”
“Woo”
"That’s not loud enough, give me a proper woo"
“WOOOO”
“You can do better than THAT, one more time...”
I’m sure you get the gist.
The posters had promised a ‘fast, furious and frenetically fun experience’ which would ‘propel you on an exploratory theatrical adventure’. I thought this was aimed at primary school kids? Translate to English please.
Basically, it was set to be a good night. In case you can sense a very negative tone in this supposed-to-be-impartial piece of literature, I can only blame the 3:1 ratio of children to adults. Poor sods.
The theatre was oozing with science enthusiasts, and by that I mean geeks.
And then there was me, purely there for research reasons of course. Not an element of ‘geek’ in me. Oh yes, and Pluto is the largest planet.
The museum had been brought to the stage by the producers of Brainiac and Dr. Bunhead. Don’t worry, I’d never heard of them either, but my ever-so-slightly older housemate speaks very highly of them.
They ask for a volunteer on stage, at that point I decide it’s time to tie my hair in a bun – I don’t want to give them an advantage on the ‘static electricity’ related jokes. I sink into my chair slightly, avoiding eye contact of course. But it’s all good, a young lad from two rows in front has been chosen.
I chuckle to myself unreservedly, he looks remarkably like Little My, you know, the girl from the Moomins.
I wouldn’t say it was a very moving performance, but there was a LOT of talk about Newton’s Laws of Motion. I knew that guy was all talk and no action.
Other topics covered include Living Things, Human Processes and Materials.
The only thing I learnt was to get sweet popcorn as opposed to salted. But I’m sure it was a thoroughly educational experience for everyone else in the auditorium.
As we depart from the theatre all I can hear is parents asking their kids:
“So then, what was your favourite part?”
Decoding that parental interrogation, what they were really asking is:
“Have I just wasted fifteen fucking quid, because you clearly can’t remember any of it?!”
The presenters might have lit their splint, but they really didn’t spark my imagination as a member of the audience.
That is why I give this show the following rating: **.
I will write another blog post explaining in more detail exactly what I learnt from the theatrical display. This blog is to establish a writing style and to dictate the success of the show.
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Primary Research - Liverpool Continued
I have a good few more hours to spare in Liverpool. Therefore I decided to visit the local museums to see how this could enhance my primary research.
The first museum I visited was the World Museum Liverpool. This was actually very science oriented as it presented skeletal structures of animals such as dinosaurs, and also displayed a series of insects which relate well to the food chain within science.
There was also a special section of this museum dedicated especially to space. This will be a key area of focus at the Lancashire Science Festival, therefore I explored this area in depth, taking photographs along the way.
I then also visited the Walker Art Gallery, which was a two minute walk up the road. This has a children's art extravaganza, where children could make arts and crafts, participate in story telling times, dress up, and use their imagination - unfortunately I was unable to photograph inside of this gallery, yet I took photographs of the art work which pointed the visitor in the direction of the gallery, to provide an insight into fun and education.
Therefore, from my Liverpool trip, I now have a further three albums to annotate. This means that I am a little behind on the annotation and must spend the next few days really getting on top of these.
After returning from my research trip, I spent the rest of the day annotating the photographs from the Ilkley Toy Museum, and also annotating pages where I discussed and developed the logo and character. After work today I will return to annotation, concentrating on the first of the albums I produced.
This week will really be a case of ensuring this research is up to date, and presenting the proposal on Thursday. I am awaiting confirmation on Monday that it is okay for a student to take on this proposal.
The first museum I visited was the World Museum Liverpool. This was actually very science oriented as it presented skeletal structures of animals such as dinosaurs, and also displayed a series of insects which relate well to the food chain within science.
There was also a special section of this museum dedicated especially to space. This will be a key area of focus at the Lancashire Science Festival, therefore I explored this area in depth, taking photographs along the way.
I then also visited the Walker Art Gallery, which was a two minute walk up the road. This has a children's art extravaganza, where children could make arts and crafts, participate in story telling times, dress up, and use their imagination - unfortunately I was unable to photograph inside of this gallery, yet I took photographs of the art work which pointed the visitor in the direction of the gallery, to provide an insight into fun and education.
Therefore, from my Liverpool trip, I now have a further three albums to annotate. This means that I am a little behind on the annotation and must spend the next few days really getting on top of these.
After returning from my research trip, I spent the rest of the day annotating the photographs from the Ilkley Toy Museum, and also annotating pages where I discussed and developed the logo and character. After work today I will return to annotation, concentrating on the first of the albums I produced.
This week will really be a case of ensuring this research is up to date, and presenting the proposal on Thursday. I am awaiting confirmation on Monday that it is okay for a student to take on this proposal.
Primary Research - Liverpool
Yesterday was a productive day for me as far as primary research was concerned. I went to Liverpool to visit Underwater Street. Underwater Street is a hands on experiential learning environment for children aged 2 years to 10 years old - therefore falling perfectly in line with my research into primary school children.
Underwater Street offers the opportunity to do the following:
Paint the car, step inside a giant bubble, join in Battle of the Scientists, pan for gold, see a volcano erupt, design a car, make a fridge magnet, enjoy a science show, walk down imagination street, be a star in the t.v studio, climb the wall, experiment with light, make shadows , crawl through a dark cave, build a house, dig for fossils, beat the alarm tunnel , dress up , serve pizza in the pizzeria, groom the dogs, figure out the rope maze, hit the target with the ball gun, launch paper planes, be amazed by optical illusions, test your senses and listen to a story in the story tent.
This aids the development of fine and gross motor skills as well as sensory and behavioural development. Having been mentioned in the Sunday Times as being on the the six best educational trips, I photographed areas of the adventure land in order to see what all the hype was about. I took notice of the use of colour and texture within the venue to enhance the learning experience.
Please read the next blog to see where else I visited yesterday.
Underwater Street offers the opportunity to do the following:
Paint the car, step inside a giant bubble, join in Battle of the Scientists, pan for gold, see a volcano erupt, design a car, make a fridge magnet, enjoy a science show, walk down imagination street, be a star in the t.v studio, climb the wall, experiment with light, make shadows , crawl through a dark cave, build a house, dig for fossils, beat the alarm tunnel , dress up , serve pizza in the pizzeria, groom the dogs, figure out the rope maze, hit the target with the ball gun, launch paper planes, be amazed by optical illusions, test your senses and listen to a story in the story tent.
This aids the development of fine and gross motor skills as well as sensory and behavioural development. Having been mentioned in the Sunday Times as being on the the six best educational trips, I photographed areas of the adventure land in order to see what all the hype was about. I took notice of the use of colour and texture within the venue to enhance the learning experience.
Please read the next blog to see where else I visited yesterday.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Creating The Contents Page
Today has been a productive day for me. I have decided to take on the live brief, which involves promoting the Lancashire Science Festival. I found out a little more about this, including the target audience for the festival, a rough time scale for its launch and exactly what the essence of the festival was about.
I was have confirmation on Monday as to whether it is acceptable for a student to aid the marketing of this campaign, so up until then it is best to stay quite generic with regards to research. Regardless, today I have started writing the abstract of the report and I have also written the target customer section – this will need enhancing to provide insight into the customers lifestyle, yet at present this is enough to kick start the written aspect.
I am also please as today I have created the contents page, and numbered each section within a word document, including page numbers and figures, as required. This means that I have the basic template for my written review lay out, ready for me to insert text into the relevant areas. I have decided that once I have written a section, I will hand it to a Wiser Tutor to read through. This way any mistakes are highlighted at a very early stage.
The tutors are unable to read whole reviews of this size word count, yet that are able to read a maximum of 1500 per session. I will hand the abstract and target market sections in tomorrow, so that these will be ready for Monday. This also gives me time away from the writing while I move onto other areas, such as annotating or more primary research.
I have also been working on a logo and ‘character’ for this project. So far I have created a standard logo, using the primary colours red, blue and green, and the abbreviated title LSF, alongside a character called Professor Lancs, a science professor. Both of these will be developed as research progresses.
What next? Next I will continue annotating the secondary research from the toy fair. I will also look into visiting the Spring Fair at the NEC, Underwater World in Liverpool, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
I was have confirmation on Monday as to whether it is acceptable for a student to aid the marketing of this campaign, so up until then it is best to stay quite generic with regards to research. Regardless, today I have started writing the abstract of the report and I have also written the target customer section – this will need enhancing to provide insight into the customers lifestyle, yet at present this is enough to kick start the written aspect.
I am also please as today I have created the contents page, and numbered each section within a word document, including page numbers and figures, as required. This means that I have the basic template for my written review lay out, ready for me to insert text into the relevant areas. I have decided that once I have written a section, I will hand it to a Wiser Tutor to read through. This way any mistakes are highlighted at a very early stage.
The tutors are unable to read whole reviews of this size word count, yet that are able to read a maximum of 1500 per session. I will hand the abstract and target market sections in tomorrow, so that these will be ready for Monday. This also gives me time away from the writing while I move onto other areas, such as annotating or more primary research.
I have also been working on a logo and ‘character’ for this project. So far I have created a standard logo, using the primary colours red, blue and green, and the abbreviated title LSF, alongside a character called Professor Lancs, a science professor. Both of these will be developed as research progresses.
What next? Next I will continue annotating the secondary research from the toy fair. I will also look into visiting the Spring Fair at the NEC, Underwater World in Liverpool, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
Considering The Target Customer
Having taken on the Lancashire Science Festival brief, I must consider the precise target audience(s) that I wish to target, in order to use the correct methods of promotion to reach these.
Organisations seek to understand consumers’ needs in order to increase engagement with them, accordingly delivering successful marketing strategies.
In order to successfully promote the Lancashire Science Festival to the appropriate audience, ACORN demographic groups were considered. ACORN is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK’S population (Donnelly et al,. 2009). It analyses social factors and population behaviour, providing an accurate understanding of different ‘types’ of people across the United Kingdom.
The success of the event will fall on the relationship between the customer and the promotional techniques – are they engaging, exciting and enticing? Are they in line with the customers’ lifestyle values?
The audience I will be aiming to reach through marketing fall into the ‘comfortably off’ section of the acorn demographics, the Secure Families group H, in particular Middle-Income Type 27, Working Families with Mortgages Type 28, and Established Home-Owning Workers, Type 30.
The ‘Comfortably Off’ section contains much of middle-of-the road Britain; most people would describe themselves as being ‘comfortably off. This category is relevant to the marketing of the Lancashire Science Festival as all life stages are represented in this category – from children – parents and grandparents.
The audience for the Lancashire Science Festival is almost four tiers: Primary school children, secondary school children, anyone else who is interested in a fun day out and of course the parents of these children. It is useful that these audiences fall in the same category, yet marketing tactics will have to be amended accordingly.
What next? Next I will consider the logo, as the festival will need its own identity creating. I am also require to produce a 'character' in line with this.
Organisations seek to understand consumers’ needs in order to increase engagement with them, accordingly delivering successful marketing strategies.
In order to successfully promote the Lancashire Science Festival to the appropriate audience, ACORN demographic groups were considered. ACORN is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK’S population (Donnelly et al,. 2009). It analyses social factors and population behaviour, providing an accurate understanding of different ‘types’ of people across the United Kingdom.
The success of the event will fall on the relationship between the customer and the promotional techniques – are they engaging, exciting and enticing? Are they in line with the customers’ lifestyle values?
The audience I will be aiming to reach through marketing fall into the ‘comfortably off’ section of the acorn demographics, the Secure Families group H, in particular Middle-Income Type 27, Working Families with Mortgages Type 28, and Established Home-Owning Workers, Type 30.
The ‘Comfortably Off’ section contains much of middle-of-the road Britain; most people would describe themselves as being ‘comfortably off. This category is relevant to the marketing of the Lancashire Science Festival as all life stages are represented in this category – from children – parents and grandparents.
The audience for the Lancashire Science Festival is almost four tiers: Primary school children, secondary school children, anyone else who is interested in a fun day out and of course the parents of these children. It is useful that these audiences fall in the same category, yet marketing tactics will have to be amended accordingly.
What next? Next I will consider the logo, as the festival will need its own identity creating. I am also require to produce a 'character' in line with this.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Live Brief
My primary research so far was progressing very well – I already had a deep insight into the target customer, and their wants/ desires, as well as their parents. A lot of my research had been into hands on activities, and now this was something which I was more eager to explore than ever. I was struggling to match my research and newfound knowledge to the fresh conception of a product idea.
I knew that I would not be producing a product, yet more likely I would be promoting a service. The opportunity arose today to conduct a life brief which is detailed below:
Design a brand identity for Lancashire Science festival, along with guidelines. Produce a marketing plan / campaign which will be assigned to a real budget. With all the obvious bits, customer profile, Social Media Marketing, viral add, website etc. All of this will have to be design and organised by you for an outside agency to produce.
This live brief is for the University of Central Lancashire, who would like a science fair promoting. This would be working with the same age range which I am currently researching into.
In line with the new research brief, I started considering different places to visit/things to look into in order to expand my knowledge of the ‘science’ aspect of this:
http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/family-fun/Science_Museum/294
http://www.mosi.org.uk/
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/
To research into: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/01/ubuntu-rocks-up-in-google-science-fair-video/
http://www.mosi.org.uk/explore-mosi/explore-revolution-manchester.aspx
What next? First on the agenda is the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry which I plan to visit of Monday. I aim to see how this encourages children to interact and learn.
I knew that I would not be producing a product, yet more likely I would be promoting a service. The opportunity arose today to conduct a life brief which is detailed below:
Design a brand identity for Lancashire Science festival, along with guidelines. Produce a marketing plan / campaign which will be assigned to a real budget. With all the obvious bits, customer profile, Social Media Marketing, viral add, website etc. All of this will have to be design and organised by you for an outside agency to produce.
This live brief is for the University of Central Lancashire, who would like a science fair promoting. This would be working with the same age range which I am currently researching into.
In line with the new research brief, I started considering different places to visit/things to look into in order to expand my knowledge of the ‘science’ aspect of this:
http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/family-fun/Science_Museum/294
http://www.mosi.org.uk/
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/
To research into: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/01/ubuntu-rocks-up-in-google-science-fair-video/
http://www.mosi.org.uk/explore-mosi/explore-revolution-manchester.aspx
What next? First on the agenda is the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry which I plan to visit of Monday. I aim to see how this encourages children to interact and learn.
The National Media Museum, Bradford - Visit
Yesterday was very action-packed for me, and I also visited The National Media Museum, which is situated in Bradford – the UNESCO City of Film. The museum aims to inspire people to learn about, engage with, and create media.
The museum is renowned for the 3.5 million items of ‘historical significance’ which it holds, however this is not what I was interested in. Rather I visited the museum to look at the new media archives, displays and interactive options. The museum ‘looks after’ the National Photography, National Cinematography, National Television, and National Television and National New Media Collections. Moreover, the museum is home of the BBC in Bradford.
The National New Media section was the most useful for me in guiding my research. This is because promotional activity and all marketing must take into consideration that the digital revolution has radically transformed the ways in which media is produced delivered and consumed, in particular understanding audience consumption of advertising is very important. The digital revolution has radically transformed the ways in which media is produced, delivered and consumed.
I also found the National Videogame Archive particularly inspiring, as video gaming plays a significant role in contemporary cultural life, and development of technology is continuously pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment.
The Animation Gallery was also very useful with regards to character creation, as it is likely that I will be creating characters to aid the promotion of this event. Upon entering the gallery, the first items I encountered were the Smash Martian puppets, illustrating the importance of commercials to the survival of animation studios.
The children’s animation was directly relevant to my investigation of the most successful children’s characters, including Bob the Builder and The Wombles. An interactive display provided me with a basic understanding of how such characters came into creation.
The animation process is explored from idea conception to final film, including storyboards, style sheets and bar breakdowns, providing me with an insight of the depth I will have to go into if I am to develop such a process.
Once again, I photographed all findings at the museum, and these will be annotated in time. What next? Next I must collate my findings and consider my final campaign idea more closely, as the campaign proposal must be submitted next Thursday.
The museum is renowned for the 3.5 million items of ‘historical significance’ which it holds, however this is not what I was interested in. Rather I visited the museum to look at the new media archives, displays and interactive options. The museum ‘looks after’ the National Photography, National Cinematography, National Television, and National Television and National New Media Collections. Moreover, the museum is home of the BBC in Bradford.
The National New Media section was the most useful for me in guiding my research. This is because promotional activity and all marketing must take into consideration that the digital revolution has radically transformed the ways in which media is produced delivered and consumed, in particular understanding audience consumption of advertising is very important. The digital revolution has radically transformed the ways in which media is produced, delivered and consumed.
I also found the National Videogame Archive particularly inspiring, as video gaming plays a significant role in contemporary cultural life, and development of technology is continuously pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment.
The Animation Gallery was also very useful with regards to character creation, as it is likely that I will be creating characters to aid the promotion of this event. Upon entering the gallery, the first items I encountered were the Smash Martian puppets, illustrating the importance of commercials to the survival of animation studios.
The children’s animation was directly relevant to my investigation of the most successful children’s characters, including Bob the Builder and The Wombles. An interactive display provided me with a basic understanding of how such characters came into creation.
The animation process is explored from idea conception to final film, including storyboards, style sheets and bar breakdowns, providing me with an insight of the depth I will have to go into if I am to develop such a process.
Once again, I photographed all findings at the museum, and these will be annotated in time. What next? Next I must collate my findings and consider my final campaign idea more closely, as the campaign proposal must be submitted next Thursday.
Eureka! The National Children's Museum Visit
Eureka! The National Children’s Museum is an award-winning attraction and educational charity for children. I visited the museum, based in Halifax, yesterday as I believed that it would be useful in getting into the mindset of a child and understanding the way they think and learn.
The museum features over 400 interactive exhibits which are intended to inspire children aged 0-11 to learn about themselves and the world around them through imagination, play and discovery. The museum is based on the North American model of children’s museums with a focus on play-based learning and providing inspirational informal learning experiences for young people.
Eureka! was granted charitable status in order to promote the education of children and to develop their imaginative play and social skills, thereby assisting in their personal development and preparation for school
The museum had many different areas to explore including the following galleries: Desert Discovery, Living and Working Together, Me and My Body, Our Global Garden, Sound Garden, SoundSpace, Outside and Eureka! Wonder Walk, Mission: Active Future.
One of the most noteworthy was Desert Discovery, which was a special habitat created for under-5s to explore. This was inspired by the Mojave Desert in the USA and features a desert quarry.
It is a highly interactive experience, also featuring Baby Oasis – a safe, secure oasis design especially for non-mobile children who are not yet walking, encouraging them to reach for textured shapes etc. Within Desert Discovery are other sections such as Boulder Mountain, Cactus Construction, Storytime Tent, and Desert in the Dark.
Another section of the museum which I found particularly interested with regards to children’s development of social skills was the Living and Working Together area. This enabled children to explore the world of work, becoming cashiers, postal workers and mechanics.
Whilst at the museum I took photographs to document my visit. I will annotate these as soon as possible and include them in my research file as primary research. I was not just looking for inspiration regarding child development, but also inspiration relating to colour, texture, imagery, subjects and trend. I will make my finding apparent through my annotation.
The museum features over 400 interactive exhibits which are intended to inspire children aged 0-11 to learn about themselves and the world around them through imagination, play and discovery. The museum is based on the North American model of children’s museums with a focus on play-based learning and providing inspirational informal learning experiences for young people.
Eureka! was granted charitable status in order to promote the education of children and to develop their imaginative play and social skills, thereby assisting in their personal development and preparation for school
The museum had many different areas to explore including the following galleries: Desert Discovery, Living and Working Together, Me and My Body, Our Global Garden, Sound Garden, SoundSpace, Outside and Eureka! Wonder Walk, Mission: Active Future.
One of the most noteworthy was Desert Discovery, which was a special habitat created for under-5s to explore. This was inspired by the Mojave Desert in the USA and features a desert quarry.
It is a highly interactive experience, also featuring Baby Oasis – a safe, secure oasis design especially for non-mobile children who are not yet walking, encouraging them to reach for textured shapes etc. Within Desert Discovery are other sections such as Boulder Mountain, Cactus Construction, Storytime Tent, and Desert in the Dark.
Another section of the museum which I found particularly interested with regards to children’s development of social skills was the Living and Working Together area. This enabled children to explore the world of work, becoming cashiers, postal workers and mechanics.
Whilst at the museum I took photographs to document my visit. I will annotate these as soon as possible and include them in my research file as primary research. I was not just looking for inspiration regarding child development, but also inspiration relating to colour, texture, imagery, subjects and trend. I will make my finding apparent through my annotation.
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