The Big Idea

"Using elements drawn from popular culture, particular social groups, or a certain cultural milieu may appeal to select audiences." Page 97, Advertising by Design. My product is footwear, I've already positioned my product in the market, created an image, and analysed my competition. So, when thinking about what my big idea is going to be I know it has to be unique. The market I chose is not niche at all, it's quite big rather. Using secondary research from other classes I've had I know that young adults ages 21-30 tend to have less shoes than their younger counterparts. Even though they have less shoes they also tend to have less brands. Knowing this I want to come up with an advertising campaign that will be relatable to this market. I also want to use a historic milieu that will be easily recognizable season to season. This is why I picked to use the 50's pinup girl, for this first campaign. Each season the company will pick a different historic milieu to use for the advertising campaign. This will create a relationship with the customer and also a sense of anticipation to see what will be used the next month.

Report Signature: Step Out Of Normality and Step Into Your Signature

As I was researching the brand Report Signature I looked at the ad campaigns that they've had, the ads are kind of dead and regular. Looking at the shoes I came up with a theme that was reminiscent of 50's pin up but still modern day. I shoes to do the shoot inside of a house so that a fantasy can become somewhat a reality. The everyday person can step into a fantasy when they put on their pair of Signature's and become a iconic beauty hence, the pinup. I wanted to keep with this when creating the slogan. I wanted a thought that when you see you would dream, you would get an overwhelming feeling of motivation to be effortlessly unique.
"Overemphasizing a product's quality drives home a selling point quickly." Page 80, Advertising by Design.
I want to use this element of design to tell my consumer to "step" out of the crowd, stop blending in, and "step" into a life where you only matter to you, you feel great, you are successful, and you live life to the fullest.

Competitive Analysis

I want to be able to position the brand Report Signature in a unique spot of the market. Right in between high end luxury and more affordable and mass produced shoes is where the company will fit. In researching large shoe companies and looking at their market share and advertising efforts I believe that the two main competitors are Steve Madden and Christian Louboutin. Both of these companies have a very strong image in the market and people know who these brands are. Their advertising efforts are very strong, consistent, and clear. The main strength that these two brands have that my brand doesn’t is an actual brick and mortar location to sell their shoes exclusively. But to counter this problem we will show the client that by only being at a very few select boutiques, this makes Report Signatures that much more valuable and unique. A challenge that both of the companies are facing is wholesale sells, companies are now wanting to have more direct branding than outsourcing. Louboutin is suffering because they have turned more of their focus on their own retail stores and advertising, Steve Madden is suffering because the consumer now wants more of a unique quality to their wardrobe so they are looking to companies that don’t mass produce.

"He who writes the stories defines the culture... We are given a voice, and we have to be responsible in how we use that voice." Page 122, Advertising by Design.

I will define and revolutionize the high fashion footwear industry with my advertising efforts. Today, I feel that many advertisers don't understand that. I will tell a story that my consumer will fall in love with and we in turn, will love them.

EOC Week 9: Triplets

I took advantage of this EOC in order to research my competition a little more, I picked Christian Louboutin. There is definitely a consistency in their new Fall 2010 advertising campaign, it’s called Winter Tales. First of all I think that Christian Louboutin is an amazing company not just for their designs but also for their unique branding concept. They have a trademarked red sole that everyone knows, this was an innovation that wasn’t seen before in high end footwear. In each of these photographs they have come up with a fairy-tale concept, taking themes from movies such as Alice In Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Sleeping Beauty. If you walk into a Christian Louboutin retail store, you will see the signature red color everywhere. You automatically feel like you are in a red dream world where shoes grow from trees and whatever shoe you pick is unique and unforgettable. This is exactly how this advertising campaign makes you feel, if you have a pair of Louboutin’s, once you step into them it illudes that your life will become a fairy tale, very unforgettable. The ad is very visually driven with no text at all, and it doesn’t even look like an ad, just like a page ripped out of a book. The composition and formatting of the ad is great, there is just enough negative space that you don’t feel like you are being ambushed with a

cluttered mess. There is no asymmetry in this which I think works and is a good thing, they are all very symmetrically balanced with digitally inserted environments.

EOC Week 8: Really Good Example of Chapter 8

Graff London has always had the same premise around their advertising campaigns. All of their advertisements have a dominant Emerald Green tint to the picture. Green is seen as the color of money, it arouses envy, passion. In my opinion, there were two ideas behind having a colored tint to the ad. One is to arouse emotion while looking at the ad, this creates an immediate emotional connection with the consumer, it’s a statement. The second reason is in order for the diamonds that are being advertised in the picture to stand out more. In looking at prior campaigns, it seems as though the company uses the same model for each of the advertisements. She is the company’s spokes model which is a positive, this puts a face to the company and helps to establish and build their image with consumer. It looks like the company used three typefaces in the ad, two for the company’s name which is very curvy and classic, "The typography is the primary performer on-screen, while images and color are edited in the background to flow with the muscial dynamics of the song" and one for all the rest of the information. I like that they put where the store is located in the ad, I think it strengthens their luxury image in that it’s located at the Wynn. Also for the obvious reason, people will know where to get the jewels if they do in fact want to purchase. There are two jewels placed in the advertisement on the model. Another thought that comes to mind while looking at the ad is, by making everything else around the jewels all one color, it makes it seems as though nothing else matters… but my Graff jewels. Another things I thought that was interesting about the ad is that they placed a little logo at the bottom right hand corner of the ad with type that reads “The Queen’s Awards For Enterprise 2006.” This also helps to reaffirm their luxury image and lets the customer know that client service is at the top of the list at the company and nothing but the best is sold from the company.

http://www.graffdiamonds.com/flash.php

EOC Week 8: Authority

In reading through the tips given by each of the professionals, I think I agree most with Denise M. Anderson, DMA, New Jersey. The first tip she gives is to make your choices appropriate to project objectives in respect to the client, market, and the period. This is one thing I think a lot of people forget, amateur and experienced professionals alike. You have to remember, unless the campaign you are designing is for your own company, it’s not about what you want. The second piece of advice she gives is to keep things interesting, you have to know how to have a good balance between numbers one and two. Finally, she says to make fonts easy to read and not to use too many which I think is a very good point. I will want to use a easy to read, rebellious, yet sexy font for my company.

EOC Week 7: Exciting Ad 4 Elements

The ad I chose is the newest campaign from 7 For All Mankind for Fall/Winter 2010. I love looking at fashion ads, this is one of the most powerful ways in my opinion you can convey your message and who your brand is to your target market. The ad campaigns for the brand always create a asymmetrical balance between light and darkness. They always strategically position the models in a way that the sun hits the photo to create a cool Californian light and shadow effect.