Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Study task 7

Project statement / evaluation:
Write a project statement that explains and justifies your choices in respect to your essay, practical project and the relationship between the two. 
You should start by discussing what literature you have read and what arguments were formed through your written piece then go on to explain and justify your choices and decisions made in establishing your practical project with particular reference to your written work. 
Explain and justify how you have used your theoretical research (essays) in your practical work and how your essays have influenced your practical work.

The key messages I took from he research done for my essay were that a brand is not just a brand, it is a promise of satisfaction that is established and makes consumers reliant on them. I wanted to use the speedo brand to back up my event plan therefore used their typeface throughout in order to enforce the idea of brand satisfaction. Listening to consumers needs is also a big factor in terms of emotional branding as the aim is to fulfil them and bring a pleasurable experience to the consumer. As well as this, engagement is important and addressing the target audience, in this case families, is key to forming a connection. This guarantees a deep long term connection based on trust. Using the technique of encouragement and persuasion through the slogan makes the consumer feel as though the brand is talking directly to them. I think using the slogan 'Go to new depths' achieves this well, it will stick in peoples heads and make them think. It doesn't just apply to swimming it can be applied to all aspects of life, push yourself to the limit. I took inspiration for my slogan from nike's 'just do it' as this is forceful and straight to the point. They also use black and white imagery in the poster of theirs I analysed, this portrays exercise in a true light. It isn't always enjoyable but it is always rewarding and is worth doing. Bold text is also used which I think makes the slogan even more impactful, I have also done this in my design. Similar techniques are used in the lucozade ad I analysed. Their ad is also very true to light and shows sport in an honest way, it's not all fun and games. It shows the life story of Anthony Joshua which is really moving, how he has gone from a difficult past and being in prison to a world famous boxer. This campaign also uses a lot of grey imagery, similar to my design. I think this helps put emphasis on the text and in the case if the lucazade ad, it puts emphasis on the storyline. Showing him as a baby and his mothers reaction to the events in his life pulls at your heartstrings therefore I have used imagery of children and their parents to try create this emotional bond. 


Proposal - study task 6



1. RESEARCH QUESTION​

How are men and women portrayed in sports branding and how does this influence their attitude towards exercise?


2. RATIONALE (Why do you want to research this topic? What impact will this have on your practice?)​

I want to look into how women's sports equipment is very feminine, pink and light where as men's is very bulky, thick and dark. As well as the ways in which brands tailor their ads to different genders mainly lots of dirt and sweat where men are involved and delicate yoga moves where women are concerned.

3. CONTEXTS (What are the immediate contexts in which your theoretical and practical research will be situated? Political? Social? Technological? Aesthetic? Cultural?)​

Social

4. THEORETICAL APPROACH (Identify no more than two potential theories that will help structure your research – must be appropriate to the theme/question)

​Feminism & masculinities


5. METHODS (Secondary: theorisation, semiotic analysis, textual analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis / Primary: surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations​)

Surveys focusing on people who go to the gym and why as well as those who are put off any why, observations of attitudes towards sports brands potentially looking how people interact with brands in sports shops etc. 


6. PRACTICAL OUTCOME (what do you plan to produce/develop?)​

Ideas: 
A gender neutral sports brand suitable for both men and women to use. 
A campaign encouraging both men and women to exercise, not just one gender or the other


7. RESOURCES (what resources will you need to access?)​
Library,

8. SUMMER READING LIST (find 5 books that you will endeavour to read in preparation for CoP3 - related to either 3 or 4 above)​

1. 

Branded: Branding in Sport Business 


2.

Advertising: Some Restrictions Apply


3. 

Sexual Sports Rhetoric: Global and Universal Contexts, Volume 1


4. 
The Gender of Branding: Early Nike Women's Advertising a Feminist Antenarrative

5.

Good sport: The relationship and effectiveness of branding and sport


6.
Gender and the media 



9. TIME MANAGEMENT (Plan of actions from now until 14th Dec 2018)

SEPERATE BLOG POST



2. BRIEF




Write a project brief to accompany your CoP3 proposal. You will be expected to be working on your practical work alongside your written work and accessing supervisor feedback for both parts of CoP3. Write a project brief now to avoid procrastination and other potential issues. The brief will inevitably be subject to changes but having a stable starting point will be beneficial.





TITLE​

Encouraging men and women to do more/ a broader range of exercise.

OUTLINE OF THE BRIEF​

Many stereotypes exists within the sports industry, for example football is seen as a mans sport where as yoga and pilates are seen as female activities. The campaign aims to break these gender stereotypes and make all sports socially acceptable for men and women.

BACKGROUND​

Look at how men and women are represented in existing sports branding
Look at facts and figures in terms of what sport is most played by each gender
Look at gender stereotypes

DELIVERABLES​

A campaign encouraging men and women to try new sports
A poster
An information leaflet


MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

A final outcome
6 x design boards
evidence on blogs


Time management



















image and collage

Rhed Fawell - 'Me. You. Us'.  - Collage 2016

Bauhaus - Art as Life

To get some inspiration in terms of collage, shape and colour I looked at some collages I really like and had saved on pinterest.




Flyer design



I took the collage I made previously and used it for the basis of my flyer design. I placed it in the centre of an A5 rectangle and left a lot of white space around it. I really like the clean simplistic look of it. Despite it being aimed at families I still wanted it to be striking and look sporty. Above you can see how I initially chose a smaller text for 'join in today' however I find the design below has more of an impact.


Join in today looks a lot better larger and shows a sense of urgency. The leaflets would be handed in weeks before the event however the message is trying to get across the fact that swimming is something you can do at any time and don't need any training for. You simply put a swimsuit on and jump in.




Here is a mock up of how the leaflet would look when printed out, I think it looks really impactful and I think simple snippets of red really grab your attention and put focus on the logo.


I decided to use the theme of red on the back of the flyer too, the back has dates of a local swimming event. I made the title short to put focus on the fact the event is free and aimed at families. 


I tried adding some flags under the title however I didnt like the look of this.


I then added some lines to represent the swimming pool lanes which I find works a lot better. Inside the two lanes I put the name of the sports centre that it is at. I chose Huddersfield leisure centre. I chose to keep the title in red to make it striking and grab attention as this is the most important part of the leaflet and would encourage people to read on.

I the  put the dates and times in smaller black text as despite this being important it doesnt necessarily need to instantly capture someones attention. 


I moved the positioning of 'huddersfield leisure centre' and put it in line with the rest of the text as I find this looks more professional and consistent.


I then added the speedo logo and slogan to finish it off to remind people of the brand name and ethos. 





This girl can

Our research reveals a huge difference in the number of men and women playing sport. And it's not because females don't want to get active. Millions of women and girls are afraid to exercise because of fear of judgement. 
We responded by creating the groundbreaking This Girl Can campaign. It is the first campaign of its kind to feature women who sweat and jiggle as they exercise. It seeks to tell the real story of women who play sport by using images that are the complete opposite of the idealised and stylised images of women we are now used to seeing.
Our campaign has clearly captured a nerve: 13 million people have now viewed the flagship This Girl Can film online.
The campaign doesn’t hold back in trying to encourage women to beat their barriers. "Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox" and "I kick balls, deal with it" are among the hard-hitting lines used in the campaign to prompt a change in attitudes and help boost women’s confidence.
It comes as research, carried out by us, reveals that at by every measure, fewer women than men play sport regularly – two million fewer 14-40 year olds in total. Despite this, 75 per cent say they want to be more active. In some other European countries, this disparity doesn’t exist. 
Further research into what's stopping women turning their ambitions into reality found that a fear of judgement – on appearance, ability or how they chose to spend time on themselves – puts women of all ages off exercising.
The findings were the driving force behind the campaign’s creation, which aims to empower women and encourage more to get active.

OVERCOMING FEAR OF JUDGEMENT

Sport England CEO Jennie Price, said: “The figures on participation are crystal clear. There is a significant gender gap, with two million more men than women exercising or playing sport regularly. I believe we can tackle this gap, because our research shows that 75% of women would like to do more.
“Before we began this campaign, we looked very carefully at what women were saying about why they felt sport and exercise was not for them. Some of the issues, like time and cost, were familiar, but one of the strongest themes was a fear of judgement. Worries about being judged for being the wrong size, not fit enough and not skilled enough came up time and again.

https://www.sportengland.org/our-work/women/this-girl-can/

swimming benefits

The top 8 benefits of swimming

  1. Full body workout. Swimming uses all the muscles in the body so whether you swim a gentle breaststroke or hammer butterfly, you will get a full body workout. Plus, exercising in water makes your body work harder so 30 minutes in a pool is worth 45 minutes of the same activity on land.
  2. Great for general wellbeing. Just 30 minutes of swimming three times a week alongside a balanced, healthy diet and lifestyle is one of the best ways to stay fit and healthy and maintain a positive mental outlook. Do it with friends, and it’s even more fun!
  3. De-stresses and relaxes. Whether it’s work stressing you out, the kids being a nightmare, or just life in general, we all get times we just want to SCREAM. Well, help is at hand. Swimming regularly can lower stress levels, reduce anxiety and depression, and improve your sleep patterns. Feeling the mental benefits of swimming takes just a light swim. No lane pounding needed.
  4. Burns those calories. Swimming is one of the most effective ways to burn calories. A gentle swim can burn over 200 calories in just half an hour, more than double that of walking. And a faster swim would see that indulgent chocolate bar gone quicker than if you went running or cycling.
  5. Lowers the risk of diseases. As well as being a great form of cardiovascular exercise, swimming just 30 minutes a week can help to guard against heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
  6. Supports the body. Water supports up to 90 per cent of the body’s weight. So if you sprained an ankle at Monday night football or have a long term injury or illness, swimming is a brilliant way to stay active.
  7. Increases your energy levels. Inactivity and not ageing is often responsible for people’s lack of energy. Just 30 minutes of swimming three times per week can boost your energy levels through increased metabolic rate.
  8. Exercising without the sweat. If sweating puts you off other forms of exercise, fear not! As a swimmer, you’ll never feel sweaty no matter how hard you work because the water around you is constantly cooling you down.

Tuesday, 24 April 2018

further development



To make things more family orientated I decided to add some pictures of children swimming to show it is a family activity.
I started off by placing them randomly and trying to incorporate the speedo logo. I struggled to arrange just two photos so decided to add more.

Here you can see I used 4 images to show the competitive nature of swimming as well as it being fun. I think the range of images shows the range of different swimmers, the top left image could be interpreted as someone having a nice gentle swim. Where as the right image appears to be more of a competitive nature. In contrast to this, the image bellow shows a little boy learning to swim on a float where as next to him is 2 children confidently swimming under water. 




I added in the logo to make the focus back on the brand. As well as this I also added in some of the shapes I had made previously to represent the different swimming lanes. I really like the mixed media and how it almost looks like a geometric collage. I think this ties in well with being family friendly as collaging is a fun activity enjoyed by children and adults.



initial designs

As the existing campaigns I have looked at use black and white/ grey toned imagery to make their ads seem more emotional and gruelling I decided to do the same in my work.



I selected this image as I think it represents a sense of achievement and happiness which is something the audience should strive for. The slogan is encouraging and so is the happy image. I put the slogan in the centre of the image to make it the focus on the design. I then put the logo underneath it so people instantly know who the brand is. I chose to use red text as I think it shows up well agains the dark image.



I then added the text in the same font as the speedo logo as I thought this would make the slogan more recognisable. I also added a white background so that the text stands out more and doesnt get lost in the image.



I played around with the idea of having the logo in the top corner however i think this weakened the design as much preferred things when they were central.




To get an idea as to how my poster would look in real life I did a quick mock up of it and really liked the way it looked, however I then realised it wasn't tailored towards families enough therefore needed a re think.

I had also been working on another similar design for the bus advertisement and had the same issue with this.



speedo logo type

Digital Serial Bold

The typeface speedo use is digital serial therefore I am considering using it in my work to compliment the logo and make the slogan impactful

Choosing a slogan

Slogan ideas:

>it's your time to shine
> Good things come to those who swim
> Swim fast
> Swim for your life
> Swim like no one is watching
> You've got to swim it to win it
> Nothing behind you matters
> Give it your all
>Ready, set ,swim
> Go to new depths 

simple designs



I created some simple design elements that may feature throughout my design work which were inspired by the lanes and flags at a swimming pool.

swimming pool lanes

to get some inspiration for design elements I looked at  important aspects from a swimming pool.

Image result for swimming lanes

I Thought about the lines in the tiles of a swimming pools floor to separate the pool into lanes and how they could add character to my design. As well as this the ropes that float on the water also have nice patterns and could be used.

Another thing that stands out to me are the flags that symbolise you are near the edge of the pool which is useful when doing backstroke.

Image result for swimming pool flags

swimming imagery







Speedo stigma

over the years speedo has become more well known for its revealing mens swimwear than anything else, after a quick google search I came across hundreds of articles based around whether or not men should be allowed to wear something 'so ridiculous'. I thought this linked in well its my work as I could be showing speedo in a new light, something targeting families that focuses on getting healthy not just body shaming older, slightly over weight men.

Image result for speedos



Speedo - about the brand

Speedo International Ltd. is an Australian manufacturer and distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England. Founded in Sydney, Australia in 1914 by Alexander MacRae, a Scottish emigrant, the industry-leading company is now a subsidiary of the British Pentland Group. Today, the Speedo brand can be found on products ranging from swimsuits and goggles to wrist watches.The Speedo brand is manufactured for and marketed in North America as Speedo USA by PVH under an exclusive perpetual licence, who acquired prior licensee Warnaco Group in 2013.
In accordance with its Australian roots, Speedo uses a boomerang as their symbol. Due to their success in the swimwear industry, the word "Speedo" has become synonymous with racing bathing suits.

Choosing a brand



To get an idea as to what brand I should choose for my work I looked on sports direct at popular sports brands. Here are the top ones on their website, I looked into a few of them to get an idea of the general vibe the bran goes for.  However I wasn't really too interested in them and struggled to gel with their aesthetic.

 


I decided to focus on a specific sport rather than a brand, I want a sport which people can easily engage with and potentially enjoy as a family/ with friends.

Here is the list I thought of:

Football
Netball
Running
Tennis
Swimming
Boxing
Yoga
Trampolining
Basketball

I decided to choose swimming as not only is it a good form of exercise to work out the whole body, it is also a very good life skill to have and could potentially save lives.
The main brand I associate with swimming is Speedo therefore I decided to choose them as my brand to work with.



ideas from the essay

key points form the essay:

> A brand is seen as a promise of satisfaction
> Listening to the consumers needs in order to connect with them and bring them a pleasurable, life enhancing solution.
> Engagement - consumers have in a deep long term emotional connection with a brand
> social trust based relationship
> creating and managing an emotional branding experience can lead to an increase in sales and consumer loyalty


NIKE
>customer loyalty
>heroism
>hero vs villain
. lazy you vs healthy you
> 'just do it'
> Simple to the point slogan
>emotional bond
> B&W image - show exercise in true light
> Bold text - emphasises slogan


LUCOZADE
>heroism
AJ - life story - key events
>brutally honest
>difficult past- inspiring others
> hero and villain
> clip of him and his mother shows realistic life
> grey images

>psycho analysis of feelings
>the more a person trusts another the more control they feel
>tell a story and make it look good

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

Anthony Joshua lucozade sport

The brand worked with Our Parks, which offers free workouts in parks, and brand experience agency CSM to put on a bootcamp session hosted by Joshua this morning.
More than 400 people turned up to take part and be in with a chance of meeting the champion boxer in east London.
Speaking to Campaign after the event James Young, head of partnerships at Lucozade Sport, said: "We don’t claim to be the authority but what we look to do is create something that has a point of difference.
"Doing what we did this morning we could have done that in a number of London parks on a number of occasions and said ‘right, just come down and workout for free’ and in a way that’s what our partnership with Our Parks is about.
"The way we cut through the clutter [in the fitness market in January] is to bring out the star power in AJ and that takes it from a run-of-the-mill piece of activity into something that not only is well attended but will generate sales for us. People will hopefully take away that we’re a really decent brand for doing something like this."Lucozade Sport will also help Our Parks launch free fitness classes in more than 30 new locations, as well as daily online workouts.
The activity is part of Lucozade Sport’s campaign "Made to move" which aims to get one million people moving more by 2020.

heroism in branding

Brands use the hero / villain concept in a lot of their ads. It is believed they do this to relate back to stories and films we watched as children which show the main character conquering a villain or a difficult time. For example the little mermaid having to defeat Ursula.


Great brands turn simple problems into an epic quest, its not just about a drink or quenching your thirst its about defeating the enemy. Satisfying our everyday needs transforms us into heroes.

Thursday, 5 April 2018

Essay updates

Simons feedback was to focus on either sports branding or soft drink branding to make the essay more specific. I decided to focus on sports branding as I managed to find a lot of interesting articles relating to this.