ADVERTISING = THE ART OF SELLING

Just to hype up the spirit, this is the last blog post for this semester. I'm really happy, this whole blog thing has been something that I really look forward to do among all the other assignments. I love writing that's for sure, but to write about something that big corporations talk in their boring meeting.....I think I deserve an "I'm so proud of you" from mum.

HOW ADVERTISEMENTS RELATE TO PEOPLE'S NECESSITIES

In this blog post, we are going to talk about how advertising changes the mindset of people and how it has completed people's necessity. First of all, we are going to make comparisons between two types of advertisement.

In these two pictures, which one would you listen to?

or

Dear government ads, Kapten Aquair,eh?niceeee.... ;) makes me wanna waste water more so Kapten Aquair will be dead.

The main point here is sometimes it's not about the message. IT'S ABOUT HOW THE MESSAGE IS DELIVERED.

In the slides shown to us, I found out that 40% of non Nike+ users started to buy Nike+ products after the online running club campaign. Yup, Nike is of course among the leaders in sports-based products. But if Nike decided to make a Captain Stud-Shoes, people will buy Nike products? To explain further, I would like to quote Hannibal Lecter's quote from the highly acclaimed  film, Silence of The Lambs (how can Hannibal Lecter fits here eh?)

"How do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. "

To relate advertising to this and to sum up among the reasons why Nike is one of the companies with the most successful advertisements is that Nike shows people something they see everyday. The "something" is...yup,sports and athletes. As we all are watching a football game, all of us admire the flairs of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and all others. We want to be just like them. But how to be them? We can't be them, we think. They are what we covet, what we dream of being. But then we see Nike advertisements, and we know at least we can LOOK like them.

Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III ads featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, a Nike's "mascot" :)

The sales of Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III rose up. The reason is simple. So the eyes will be focused at that one kid on the field. His skill isn't even that good, his first touch is awful. But as his yellow boots shine brighter than an evening sun, the other kids are gonna look at the boots and say...

"Those are Ronaldo's boots!"

(do you think the sales will be the same if Nike decided to use Stewart Downing for this promotion?)

Back to my main point, the concept of advertisement isn't just about delivering the message, it's about how it's delivered. This kind of "tricks" actually cause people to want something more than they need because of the ads shown. For example, we need a memo pad, but what we want is an IPad. Nike's motto is simple,  JUST DO IT. When a kid is in a hard time, someone comes up to him and say JUST DO IT, the kid is going to say "easier said than done!". 

BUT PUT A TYPOGRAPHY OF "JUST DO IT" WITH MICHAEL JORDAN AS BACKGROUND, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SAY THAT MJ KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT.

THAT FOLKS, IS THE POWER OF ADVERTISEMENT

KEY FACTORS IN ADVERTISING

1) Avoiding cluster

Have you ever watched any movie with a scene of this one busy obnoxious rich corporate company boss? See how his attitude is like "You only have 3 minutes, make it fast" And in that 3 minutes, you are no longer talking to the boss, you are advertising because if you talk, you won't have enough time. So if you are doing advertising, make sure you reach the point fast. If your client wanted you to talk much, they would have asked you to make an essay out of it. So, if you are meeting your client, instead of

"Sir, today I'm going to present to you an idea regarding the most effective way of how we can prevent people from smoking"

Let it become

"EVERYBODY SMOKES,EH? WELL, THAT'S GOTTA STOP."

It catches the attention more I guess. Because the most important thing isn't talking the talk, it's walking the talk.

And I'm sure we all have encountered this, how in movies or TV shows that have a certain sponsorship, the product from that sponsor tends to just pop out of nowhere.IT'S REALLY ANNOYING! Like a show I watched which was sponsored by Panadol, the characters in the TV show kept getting headaches. That's not the worst, in another TV show sponsored by Ribena, the family only drinks Ribena and the main character wore purple attire wherever she goes! Oh by the way, since Ribena was sponsoring, the name of the main character is Rubina. -_-

2) Gaining trust

Some advertisement tends to advertise their products so desperately they start to tell things that aren't the way they are. Take DAIA advertisement for example, that Whiter Than White  ads. First of all, even the tagline is a lie already, there's no way something can be whiter than white, like there's no such thing as blacker than black. And in the ads, when the DAIA thing (I forgot what it's called in English and too lazy to Google it) pops out, that kid's school uniform is like being applied with Photoshop's Dodge Tool (Just pretend you guys know what I'm talking about) This isn't what advertising should be. It's funny, I must give it. But it's not supposed to be like that. Instead of that, why don't we use this kind of commercial :-

cute, funny, and believable = TOTALLY EFFECTIVE!

Another commercial that I want to share is this DHL Express creative commercial

how something so sensual becomes so funny and effective? such a clever commercial!

ohhh by the way, condom ads are always the best ones. They are not overreacting, often funny and believable thus making audience easily drawn to it. But I'm not going to put them here so you sort it out yourself. ;)

3) Utilization of Social Media

Social network has become the "in" thing in the current world. Thus, by using this alternative, companies can exhibit their products. Every company must have their own website in order to sell their products easily. Ads can also be placed in other websites with payment made to the website owner like ads we always see beside a Facebook page. Let me go to Facebook now and screenshot a company that's doing this kind of method.

We can clearly see that companies are using the lenience of social networking to their benefit as Topman, Lazada and a new uprising beauty-based company, 96 Hair & Beauty is promoting their products on Facebook. This is an effective way to ensure people know about your products.

In other news :- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHER NEE!! :)

I BELIEVE I'VE COMPLETED EVERY TASK GIVEN BY MY LECTURERS

MAY THIS PAY WELL :)

ALHAMDULILLAH

CREATIVITY IN ART DESIGN AND MULTIMEDIA

It's going to be a post full of facts in here........

Something I'm not really fond of.

Somewhere in France in early 1920s, a French looked at this art form above..

"Le Surréalisme!"

(the art of surrealism!)

However, take the same photo, discredit the artist, and take a time machine back not long, just 4 years before it in 1916 only this time, we head to Switzerland

Somewhere in Switzerland in 1916 or early 20th century, a Swiss looked at this art form above..

"Le DADAISM!"

(dada art movement!)

As an art movement that will later inspire the movement of Surrealism, Dadaism first emerged as an opposition towards horrors of World War I leading it to be called an anti-war movement in form of art. Dadaism is a ticket for artists to bail their minds from being limited to logic and reality elements as Dadaism proposes the idea of nonsensical and absurdness, just like Surrealism as the pioneer, Andre Breton was also an activist of Dadaism

It has been described as "anti-art" by a major figure of Dadaism, Hans Richter, a German versatile art personnel (filmmaker, artist, painter, etc.). Anti-art is opposing everything art is holding on too, which in this case, aesthetics value. Anti- art has been a common description to depict Dadaism as a whole.

While Surrealism has evolved to become a major art stream in portraying exquisite talents of the artists, Dadaism is more like a protest to oppose the government benefits or capitalism that the activists believe to provoke war. Dadaists believe that by ignoring logic and reasons, they are letting themselves free or in other words, invoking peace.

poster for Degenerate Art exhibition

However, as time passes, the protest mindset of Dada has been welded into a beautiful art adaptation, Surrealism which is a more modernized as many dadaists have diverged their art path towards Surrealism. Dadaism is also subjected with Nazi's  entartete Kunst or "degenerate art" which are  forms of art that Nazi believed to be provoking or spreading propaganda and might bring harm to them apart from thinking that those arts are not "so-German". Among others listed as "degenerate art" are cubism and Fauvism.

SO IF I'M ASKED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DADAISM AND SURREALISM. WELL, I REALLY CAN'T ANSWER IT, I'M NO ONE IN THIS ART WORLD, MAYBE ONLY THE MAJOR FIGURES CAN ANSWER. BUT, IF TO PUT IT IN SOME WAY.


I THINK DADAISM IS THE EVIL TWIN. ;)

DADAISM IN MULTIMEDIA

ART FILM

French avant-garde movement has also influenced the making of "art film". Some figures in Dadaism are subjected to filmmaking, such as Man Ray, René Clair, and Marcel Duchamp. Among the common technique used in Dada films include Rayographs, soft focus and stopmotion. 

EXAMPLE OF DADA FILM

Ghosts Before Breakfast - Hans Richter

(damnn I don't understand a thing)

Food (Jidlo) - Jan Svankmajer

MUSIC

Dadaism has influenced a revolution in music as well. Just like the aim of every Dada activity, the mission of Dada music is to destroy the traditional symbolic communication. Kurt Schwitters, a versatile artist (poet, painter, musician,etc) has developed what he called "sound poems" while "dada music" was soon constructed by composers such as Hans Heusser. African music and jazz were common in Dada gatherings, indicting a return to nature.

Kangding Ray - Dadaist

(i really don't want to listen to this kind of music ever again)

A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

(it's called that way because this is from my point of view, I don't know if it's right)

PSYCHEDELIC ART : A MODERNIZATION OF DADAISM AND SURREALISM

Psychedelic art,  not illuminati..there's no such thing as illuminati art.

I believe that psychedelic art shares the same concept and perspective as surrealism art. This is because if the aim of surrealism is to mimic something surreal or out of the world, the aim of psychedelic art is to mimic the effect of drugs usage (because people say when they are 'high', they see things)

REASONS WHY I BELIEVE SO :-

1) It's part of the 1960s counterculture. Surrealism and Dadaism took place about 40 years prior. It's not wrong to believe that psychedelic art it's actually influenced by both art movements.

2) 1960s counterculture as a sign of peace that emerged after United States' military interventions in Vietnam. Similarly, Dadaism emerged to oppose the World War I.

3) While surrealism art's concept is to mimic non-reality subjects, such as visuals of what might occur in dreams, psychedelic art mimics visuals of what might occur when someone is under the influence of drug such as LSD and mescaline.

4) Psychedelic art uses surrealistic subject matters

5) Psychedelic Rock concert posters are influenced by Dada

6) 

Notice how this picture kind of looks the same as the thumbnail of the Dada film? Spiral, the best way to get high

LONG STORY SHORT, I THINK PSYCHEDELIC ART IS THE YOUNG GENERATION'S VERSION OF DADAISM AND SURREALISM.

IF THAT SO, THEN I BELIEVE PSYCHEDELIC ROCK IS THE EVOLUTION OF DADA MUSIC

If psychedelic visual art is meant to visualize surrealistic elements when a person is under influence of drugs, then psychedelic rock is meant to give audio to it. Psychedelic rock music is often tranquilizing, like the type of music you'll listen to when you are going to sleep. Although having guitars (with wah wah) and drums as instruments, psychedelic rock doesn't have hard riff (but the instrumental part is usually long) like other known heavy metal songs as it's trying to build a serenading environment with help from other instruments like percussion and sifar. It also has a large keyboard influence and Mellotron. The lyrics are hard to be comprehended, and always give reference to nature or drugs. The music video has a surrealistic approach. Among the bands that anchor the psychedelic rock scene in present years is of course MGMT.

MGMT - KIDS

TO SUM THIS POST UP, CREATIVITY IS VAST AS IT MAY FIT INTO ANY KIND OF MEDIUM. FOR EXAMPLE, SURREALISM IS STILL SURREALISM IN VISUAL, OR IN MUSIC, THE CONCEPT WILL REMAIN THE SAME.THE QUESTION IS..

HOW DO YOU FIT IT IN? ;)

P/S : I can't believe I can make a factual post this long...I'm infatuated with myself. :3

RANDOM WORD ASSOCIATION - THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING

"Smokers are colourful..they smoke white thing, but have black lungs and yellow teeth"

So for this week's post..no, no, not this week. I'm doing it on 31st December...For THAT week's post, we are supposed to make something out of something else.

HOW TO TURN  THIS

INTO THIS

BEFORE WE START, LET ME TELL A BASIC PSYCHOLOGY OF HOW HUMAN THINK WHICH BRINGS US TO THE REASON WHY THAT RED SLASH IN THIS PIC UP THERE NEVER WORKS.

I heard this phrase long ago I don't remember where but it completely makes sense. Remember when our mums used to tell us not to climb the fence, what did we actually we do?

YUP, WE CLIMBED IT UNTIL THE TOP

But remember when mum said...

"HAA KAU PANJAT LAH! KAU PANJAT, KAU JANGAN TURUN-TURUN!"

YUP, we got down didn't we? ;)

HUMAN ARE FOND OF CHALLENGING, FOND OF DOING SOMETHING THE OPPOSITE.

SOO, OBEYING THE SAME LOGIC, INSTEAD OF USING THE COMMON RED SLASH SIGN UP THERE, WHY NOT...

SIMPLE...BUT DEADLY ;)

FIRST, AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON BOTH SUBJECTS, TRAFFIC LIGHTS AND SMOKING/ CIGARETTE. WE ARE GONNA USE 'THE BRAIN' SOFTWARE AGAIN FOR THIS

well, that should do I guess.

....and for the subject of smoking...

yup2, there you go...

So how to relate both of them eh?

1)  BLINKING GREEN LIGHT THEORY

In order for a smoker to stop smoking, we cannot ask them to STOP SMOKING! because they'll smoke more. So, we make them smoke less each day. Blinking Green Light theory suggests that a smoker sets a sensor on his cigarette according to how much he wants to smoke on that cigarette. By using the concept of fire sensor,when the burning tobacco has reached the sensor, the whole cigarette will blink continuously indicating that it's time to stop.

2) METAL HEAT DETECTOR THEORY

This idea for me is a little bit irrelevant, but I don't know, I'm no scientist and Mr. Radzi Bedu said that we should come up with crazy ideas. Why I think it's irrelevant is because how can you smoke a metal cigarette? Well, the idea is not every part is made of metal. Only the part where we put in our mouth is wrapped with a metallic layer. Basic physics tell us that metal is a heat conductor. So as we smoke, the layer will get hotter and at some point, it will become so hot which means the smoking should stop. It will be quite thrilling at first for those smokers, a little adrenaline in smoking makes everything a lot cooler. But after sometimes they'll say, "let's not let this lips get burnt"

3) USAGE OF SIGN

Like all marketing strategy, usage of ads is the best method in delivering message. Therefore, ads is definitely the answer. As traffic lights indicate "stop", it's a great metaphore to be used in anti-smoking ads. Juxtaposition, guys. we've talked about this, haven't we??

someeething like this i guess. 

Just to open our minds, some of my personal favourites in anti-smoking ads...

who says smoking makes u a big boy?

damnn right in the face!

so subtle isn't it? ;)

and many more....

the end....

JUXTAPOSITION

I didn't come to class that day, but I have a feeling that I'm sooo gonna love this... ;)

"Can the saviour be for real, are you just my SEVENTH SEAL?" 

                                   

                                                                                                         - Placebo (Special K)

"You are SMELL BEFORE RAIN, you are the BLOOD IN MY VEIN"

                                                           - Brand New (The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot)

"Shall I compare thee to a SUMMER'S DAY?"

               

                                                                - William Shakespeare (Sonet 18)

Juxtaposition, a hard word to pronounce, but to make it simple. for playboys, we call it "sweet-talking". In literature, we call it "metaphores". For Science students, we call it an act of symbolizing a subject with another known or more familiar subject. It's really irony here because we learned it in Madam Elizabeth Marshall's class that day where we need to come up with a metaphore. This is what I came up with. IT'S NOT ORIGINAL!

"women are pigeons. you can watch them and they are so beautiful. But once you come near them, they'll fly away."

And not only that, there are many other symbols that I've found interesting.

"a man's ego is like a hornet's nest. You better don't poke it"

"become the beach, it gets hot fast, but it gets cold fast. Don't be like the sea."

I REALLY LOVE METAPHORE, IT MAKES EVERYTHING THAT MUCH MORE INTERESTING!

So yea, we have to come up with 3 poems I guess, (I didn't come to class and I'm gonna say that again.haha). This is spontaneous, let's see what I can come up with.

MORTAR AND PESTLE

Am I making you dizzy?

I have a head, but inside is empty.

Take my feeling and yours, we blend it in

I'll hold the spices, you lay them flat

A pinch of salt for the dreary days

A pinch of sugar for the moments we favour

So the memory remains as our taste buds tingles 

To remind us that two won't spoil the broth.

NEXT UP....CLOCK THINGY..

CLOCK 

It's an hour of no surrender

An hour of taking it back

An hour of no regret

An hour of starting over

It must've hurt to patiently wait

For the hour to come and propose

To lay out his plan for you.

But you did your waiting, didn't you?

With your hands closely attached to each other

Politely ask for an earlier flight

As the grandfather's clock becomes annoying

The sound is too loud but you don't really mind

Because the plane has arrived to take you away

To the play you belong, to the place you deserve

So fly in the name of this hour. Fly high in the name of time

As time serves a chance if you are ready

And drowns it if you are not.

NEXT UP...ICE CREAM THINGY

ICE CREAM

How old is your soul?

How cold is your soul?

Do insecurities give you brain freeze?

And is the cream your teardrop?

Have you ever build a scoop of hope

Only to see it melts?

Carve an art only to see it breaks apart?

How can something sweet turns into an insult

That turns little children into a group of adults

A sum of people that know little about fun

As fun is temporary.....

Like an ice cream before it melts.

DONE, I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT I WAS WRITING BUT I GUESS IT'S FINE.

GONNA LEAVE THIS POST WITH AN ARTWORK THAT I MADE

DO YOU GUYS GET THIS PICTURE?

YOUR MIND IS A TREASURE, SO MIND MAP IT

I really can't help but to giggle a bit when the lecturer discussed about "How to make a mind map". Here, Tony Buzan, a professor had been introduced to us as a guideline on how we can produce a mind map. I was like..

"So he's a professor specialized in mind mapping. I'm on the other hand, a professor specialized in making paper airplanes"

That's so rude of me, isn't it?

However, mind map of course has been proven as probably the most effective method to reconstruct what the mind is thinking into an understandable form. There are plenty of ways that you can construct your mind map, according to what eases you more.

HOW TO CREATE A MIND MAP?

THANK YOU TRACY, THAT WAS REALLY HELPFUL :)

So, for those who prefer keyboard more than pencil, my friend gave me a software that I regard as "just in time" because she pretty much gave it when I needed it the most. It's a software which allows you to create a mind map so you can have a clearer idea on what actually your mind is trying to whisper to you. ;)

First of all, visit this website...

http://www.thebrain.com/

You should have something like this. Now download it, then I can teach you how to make a mind map. :)

MIND MAP PROCESS

First of all, what you need is the HEADLINE, or the MAIN TOPIC of what the mind map is all about. In this case, I'm using the deadly assignment, Figurine Photography as the subject. (well, I really actually did this mind map so I won't lose track of what am I going to do. It proves that mind-mapping really works)

There you go. FIGURINE PHOTOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENT

Next, what we need to do is branch the sub-headings of the topic. Meaning that the main factors that can be associated to our mind map. In this case, since Sir Che Mat Azhar asked for 6 types of photography skills, we split the mind map into 6 main branches with each signifying the type of photography skill wanted. They are Silhouette, Shape and Pattern, Reflection, Shadow, Foreground Frame, and Leading Line

We have our 6 branches already, we are in the right track

Now come the brainstorming part! So here, all our ideas may now be classified into 6 different segments so that no matter how random our ideas may be, they are not going to be scattered because you've already limited your mind into thinking only 6 sections. What you need to do now is select any segment and if your mind is a car, we say

START YOUR ENGINE!

We are going to use the section for Foreground Frame

In Foreground Frame, I've branched out again a few characteristics that belong to this particular section. For example, how the shot is going to be taken, the position and action of the figurine and even where the light source will be so I will have a clearer vision of how this will be done.

AND THAT'S CHILDREN, HOW TO DO A MIND MAP.. :)

the software indeed helps me a lot, I suggest you guys download it as well...


P/S : you cannot see the pics properly ah?too small ah? click the pictures laa deyy!