Tuesday, February 28, 2012

BSBADV510A - Questions

Q1: Does advertising work? It can to some extent but it really depends on the following: What product or service are you advertising for and how do you convey the message in the most effective way.

It is hard to define whether or not ads are effective, but it really comes to down to what product/service you are advertising. For example, the ads for McDonalds can be effective if done specifically, like with the 'McDonald's Happy Meal', for it to be effective it comes down to the following:

- When the ads are broadcast (for the above example, usually during the late afternoons around the 3pm to 6pm mark when children's programming is on)
- The colours that are used (in this case Reds and Yellows)
- (What I think is important) What is being advertised

Q2: You are part of an advertising agency and are given a opportunity to pitch an idea for a new TV advertisement on the behalf of the Australian Government, promoting a nation-wide ban of alcohol.


What is the central idea to your ad?
That would be to promote a possibility of a nation-wide ban of alcohol

What advertising techniques would you use?
For the specifics of the ad, sometimes beating around the bush doesn't work, for this ad to work, the techniques are more 'in your face' confronting ads (e.g. the anti-smoking ads) whilst specifically being informative, but without the text, or as minimum text as possible as not everyone likes to read the text on these ads

What are the legal/ethical constraints of the ad do I need to consider?
Firstly, the nature of the ad, like the recent anti-smoking ads, this particular ad could only be broadcast at certain times (generally after 7:30pm to 12 Midnight), otherwise, we would be running afoul with ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) which is never good for anyone working with the media industry. Secondly, the possible backlash from the liquor industry who would no doubt try to counter the ad with some of their own protesting against the nation-wide ban of alcohol.

Thirdly, the liquor industry can simply go 'underground', the prohibition of alcohol would be extremely hard to enforce, if not impossible by the local, state and federal authorities, as well as Customs and Border Protection, as those 'underground' will simply think of 'ingenious' ways of smuggling alcohol.

And lastly, there WILL be job losses for anyone involved in the liquor industry, meaning that anyone involved will have to find other work. Not helpful in the current economic climate.

How does your ad attract the attention of the viewer, how does it sustain interest?
How we would approach the ad is through confronting imagery (on the grounds of what alcohol can do to you) and with minimal text stating statistics of what alcohol has done/or what it can do to everyday individuals (e.g. A certain percentage of individuals are admitted to hospital with alcohol-related injuries each week). Then ending with the ad with the following:

Think of your friends, your family and yourself. Help us ban alcohol.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Diploma 2012

It's 2012 already and I need to make my first post of the year.

I'll be using my Blog site for not only for Diploma in Graphic Design but also for the Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design (although I'm just doing some of the Uni Stuff by Distance, but will be a fully-fledged uni student next year finishing the Bachelor of Arts in 2013). As I complete my works, they will be posted here on my blog.