OUGD501 - Studio Brief 01 - Research: Spotify Campaign

Today, Simon highlighted a really interesting campaign that Spotify launched at the end of this year called "Thanks, 2016. It's been weird”. As my essay focuses on data, and how marketing strategies can be used online to improve a company/brand, this was perfect to include in the essay and talk about - especially for the visual analysis exercise.

Some further research was made into the campaign to find out more about it. I tried to use various sources to write a few paragraphs that can be used in the essay. Some of the points found include the following:

According to Business Insider, ‘different versions of the ads, which [were] rolled out across 14 markets, contain localized messages from Spotify, driven by data from listeners and pop-culture topics relevant to events from 2016’. By analysing the data of millions of users, Spotify were able to find unique pieces of information that could be developed into a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign. One UK billboard example reads: "Dear 3,749 people who streamed 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' the day of the Brexit Vote. Hang in There”.

Seth Farbman, the head of Spotify’s marketed explained that ‘there has been some debate about whether big data is muting creativity in marketing, but we have turned that on its head. For us, data inspires and gives an insight into the emotion that people are expressing’ (2016). The campaign was hugely successful, and really highlights how technology has impacted the possibilities companies have when marketing and branding themselves.

Source - Spotify says: 'Thanks 2016, it's been weird,' in its largest ad campaign yet. 2016. Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/spotify-global-ad-campaign-signing-off-2016-2016-11


In terms of Studio Brief 02, this is the type of work that I would love to produce. Whilst Spotify has no real issue to address, they have demonstrated an incredibly sophisticated level of understanding over their own data to produce work that targets, not only their users, but non-users too. Digital marketing is definitely the pathway that I want to follow in the practical response to my essay.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 01 - Study Task 04: Triangulation

After researching into email marketing I used this triangulation worksheet to condense some of the points found into a triangulated section of the essay. Multiple for and against points were gathered so that there is an ongoing argument with the main focus - is email marketing beneficial to companies?

Triangulation:

In terms of marketing, the main benefit that technology has brought to companies is the ability to advertise to a much larger target audience. According to Eric Brantner, an online blogger, ‘46% of the world’s population is now online — 3.4 billion people’ (REF). Brantner’s graph highlights how there are over 3 billion users online today. This is a huge target audience for companies – one that was non-existent before the digital age. Without the Internet, companies would have previously had to advertise themselves through the use of printed media, such as newspapers, magazines, flyers, billboards etc. Whilst these methods of advertising were successful, it was much more difficult to find out about specific statistics and demographics. Meredith Davis strongly supports this point, highlighting that ‘it quickly became apparent that interactive media held the potential for bigger and better things’ (2012, p209).

Alongside the ability to create websites and use data, one aspect that has not been discussed is the effect that emails have had on the way companies market themselves. Before the digital age, companies had to notify their customers through the use of flyers, newpapers, paper ads, billboards and word-of-mouth. With email marketing, companies can now immediately contact their current customers, and also reach out to new potential customers, through the use of collected data. Renown email marketing company GetResponse emphasise that ‘regular email marketing to existing customers generates a 15 – 50% increase in total online business’ (p3). Fariborzi and Zahedifard support this point that email marketing has been hugely beneficial, as they explain that companies can ‘easily find the number of E-mails sent, number of E-mails that have been opened and that those who have opened up, the number of people who are not registered, and click rate’ (2012). Emails can be personalized to customers and are immediate to send out. In this sense, the advancements in technology have given companies a much more efficient, direct option to get in touch with their customer base.

Despite the clear positive impacts of email marketing, there are some identifiable disadvantages. The main negative associated with email marketing is spam, and the over-frequent saturation of emails sent to consumers. Companies that send out too many emails, or emails that are resultantly filtered, end up in spam folders – which are mostly deleted and never read by consumers. Abusing certain spam regulations can also result in legal trouble, which would impact a company’s reputation hugely (Forneris, 2011)

Whilst Fariborzi and Zahedifard earlier supported the use of email marketing, they do agree that email marketing can have a negative impact on companies. They explain that ‘when an E-mail gets through to the consumer, there is so much E-mail that needs to be looked at sometimes it is difficult for the individual to distinguish between solicited and unsolicited E-mail, as well as have time to read through’ (2012). In this aspect, the use of technology can have a negative impact on the success of companies, as traditional marketing methods were less frequent and more engaging as a result. It is therefore very clear that a fine balance must be made when using email marketing, so that a positive reaction is received by the consumer.

Despite advancements in technology affecting company marketing, the way in which companies brand themselves has stayed fairly consistent. Today, whilst logos and branding campaigns are almost entirely digital, the overall image of brands has not changed dramatically since the days of purely traditional media. To highlight this, the history of Coca Cola identities has been analysed as an exampled. As seen, the logo created in the 1900s is still used to this day. This is essentially because a consistent brand image is imperative to a successful company. Rama Moahana Rao makes a crucial point that ‘the key to creating a brand is the ability of a service company to choose attributes such as name or logo that identify the service and distinguish it from others’ (2011). As indicated by the development of the Coca Cola identity, consistency is key when keeping a brand trustworthy to consumers. Technology has had an impact on the way in which companies brand themselves; however, it has had much more of an impact on the strategies taken through company marketing.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 02 - Study Task 03: Defining The Brief Page (Initial Idea)

Before settling on a question to answer in this module, various aspects need to be considered. A 3000 word essay must be produced, with a certain focus on one chosen theme -  the themes to pick from include politics, society, culture, history, technology and aesthetics. One specific aspect must be focussed on (e.g. "gender" being a specific aspect of Society), as well as one specific graphic discipline (typography, advertising, branding, print etc).

As an initial task, an A3 design sheet was produced to define and outline my chosen research question and design brief. Various questions were answered before starting question-related research.

1. Research Question -  As there is a wide possibility of avenues to take in terms of a research question, I have chosen an area that suits my developing practice and interest in terms of a career. For the essay last year I focused on the role of print media in the digital age, as print and editorial design was an area that I was really interested in further pursuing career wise. This year, I am still very much interested in this area; however, over the Summer break I spent some time doing design jobs that focused heavily on branding and advertising. This is one area that really interests me - especially the considerations that go into how brands advertise themselves. In this sense, I want to pick a question that links my two interests. Out of the CoP themes set, I feel that the most suitable topic to pick is technology, as it is one aspect that is becoming more and more important to understand in an age that is already heavily digital based. The main question that I want to consider and respond to is:

What role has technology had on the way companies brand themselves?

As the development of technology has created new forms of advertisement, such as through utilising social media, websites, online adverts, viral videos etc, a broader response to this question seems more appropriate. Print can be talked about too, as technology will have had an impact on how businesses and products are branded/advertised physically too.

2. Defining the design problem - When faced with branding and advertising a new business/product there are many challenges to overcome. Firstly, there is the target audience, where the design treatment taken must suit specific consumers identified. Furthermore, to be competitive with other companies, the branding and advertising must work with current technology and trends. 

Brief - By taking advantage of the technology available today, brand a new, start-up online company, utilising current marketing ploys to ensure that the company's campaign is successful.

3. 'Client' needs or requirements - The client in this brief would be the directors of the company that have employed me to brand and advertise their business/product. The client would most likely give a deadline date and would want to set up meetings to discuss stages in the process. A time-plan will be key to ensuring that the campaign is fully completed.

4. Audience - The audience will have to be considered with regards to what the start-up company will be producing/selling. As graphic design can encompass a wide range of age groups, the use of technology and marketing should be carefully considered. Younger people tend to be much more knowledgable with technology than elderly people; therefore, audience appreciation is crucial to ensure a successful outcome is reached.

5. Mandatory Requirements - The necessary outcomes for this brief will be inspired by the essay. Whilst it is too early to say at this stage, the outcome must clearly link to the essay title and a range of ideas should be made. In this sense, the outcome will most likely be entirely digital, as my essay focuses predominantly on Internet marketing and social media. A professional-looking outcome is a must.

As I am still quite early on in writing my essay, I am going to wait until I have completed more of it so that I can begin thinking about a practical piece that is very relevant to the argument being made. These basic points made will be considered however, when writing the essay, to begin the thought process of what my practical outcome could focus on.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 01 - Study Task 02: Parody/Pastiche

Fredrick Jameson (pg.16-19) - An American literary critic and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends.

Marxist literary critic Frederick Jameson has a cynical view on postmodernism and, more importantly, parody and pastiche in Postmodernism; or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. He mainly suggests that postmodern culture is representing the end of a historical period, and that pastiche has replaced parody - 'Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter'.

Linda Hutcheon (pg.179-186) - A Canadian academic working in the fields of literary theory and criticism, opera, and Canadian studies.

As opposed to Jameson, Hutcheon is defending the idea of parody and pastiche by stating that, despite parody being more of a mockery of the original work, new work created is refreshed with a different style, meaning and message. This is highlighted where she says 'its art forms (and its theory) use and abuse, install and then subvert convention in parodic ways, self-consciously pointing both to their own inherent paradoxes and provisionality and, of course, to their critical or ironic re-reading of the art of the past.' 

Summary (300 Word Task)

Marxist literary critic Frederick Jameson has a cynical view on postmodernism and, more importantly, parody and pastiche in Postmodernism; or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. He mainly suggests that postmodern culture is representing the end of a historical period, and that pastiche has replaced parody - 'Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter'. Jameson believes that pastiche is non-political, trivial and that modernism is capitalist; this is inferred by his point that we can no longer understand the past, except as a repository of genres, styles, and codes ready for commodification - 'the new spatial logic of the simulacrum can now be expected to have a momentous effect on what used to be historical time'.

Opposed to Jameson, however, Hutcheon defends the idea of parody and pastiche by stating that, despite parody being more of a mockery of the original work, new work created is refreshed with a different style, meaning and message. This is highlighted where she says 'its art forms (and its theory) use and abuse, install and then subvert convention in parodic ways, self-consciously pointing both to their own inherent paradoxes and provisionality and, of course, to their critical or ironic re-reading of the art of the past.' Whilst Jameson condemns all Hollywood film as contributing to the problems of capitalism, Hutcheon believes that work should be valued in the following manner - 'Postmodern film does not deny that it is implicated in capitalist modes of production, because it knows it cannot. Instead it exploits its "insider" position in order to begin a subversion from within, to talk to consumers in a capitalist society in a way that will get us where we live, so to speak'. Despite the two differing views in the sense of pastiche and parody having an effect on history and capitalism, Hutcheon and Jameson ultimately have the same view that modernism is capitalist.

Some examples of this argument against and for parody and pastiche can be highlighted by analysing some examples of modern-day contemporary design. Stranger & Stranger produce product designs that have very clearly been inspired by the design of the past. Their 'stranger' design, seen on the left' was clearly inspired by the Victorian graphic design; a poster from the Victoria era can be seen in comparison on the right. The letters in both are extremely similar in style, especially the 'S'. Furthermore, a layering effect has been used in both examples of work. Whilst this proves Jameson's point that history is de-contextualised through pastiche and parody, it is clearly evident that a new context is born through using past references. 

Another evident example of the re-contextualisation of work can be seen by Android phone company's logo. Their logo has been claimed to have been inspired by a character in the Atari video game Gauntlet: The Third Encounter, which was created in 1990 (18 years before Android). Irina Blok, the Android designer who thought up the logo, highlights what actually led to the logo appearing as it is:

'This logo is designed to be international symbol for Android, and it is open source, just like the platform itself. There are no cultural references to any other characters or cultural icons… The process was very simple – we talked to the founder of android and did a research on the whole android/robot theme. It was clear that the logo needed to relate to the name, and the first step was to create a huge mood board with all kinds of droids, robots that were inspired by the android operating system. Next step was to explore a variety of visual languages and directions – ranging from pixel based, realistic to cartoony. There were 2 designers working on this – but at the end my sketch was selected…it is ironic that the most basic symbol was chosen. In fact this was my first sketch that I created in 5 minutes, and after that we spent weeks ideating and sketching more. I think the simplicity of this mark really made a statement, this became an international symbol of android (just like airport signs: men, woman, android)…'

This highlights that not all new work has been inspired or re-contextualised from a previous historic work. My view is fairly relative to Jameson's in the fact that I think modern-day work should not exactly copy historic work, as it can take away the historic, contextual aspect that was so special about that work. However, I agree with Hutcheon strongly that if a piece of work is re-contextualised to give a new, effective purpose, it should be considered as a successful piece of design.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 01 - Study Task 01: Triangulation Task

Laura Mulvey

◦ Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, written by Laura Mulvey, created the known term 'male gaze'.
◦ She criticises cinema for giving women an 'erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness', inferring that women are solely used in films as objects.
◦ Another point she makes is that 'a woman performs within the narrative; the gaze of the spectator and that of the male characters in the film are neatly combined', highlighting that women are received differently from the male characters and audience.

Richard Dyer

◦ Richard Dyer is an academic film critic. He challenges Mulvey’s views by stating that male stars are erotically objectified too.
◦ He argues that ‘male pin-ups’ are able ‘to be looking in ways which suggest they are not an erotic object’ - this insinuates that male stars are more capable of diverting an audience's attention.
◦ Dyer's argument has been written in the perspective of a homosexual male, which highlights that Mulvey's views can be challenged and aren't definitely right.

John Storey

◦ John Storey talks about Laura's views on cinema in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture.
◦ He immediately refers to Mulvey as 'from the perspective of feminist psychoanalysis', which highlights how her essay is from her point of view and not considered from an audience's perspective.

My Triangulation:

Laura Mulvey is a British film theorist and feminist. Her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema created the well-known term 'male gaze', which criticises cinema for portraying women from a male’s perspective. Mulvey highlights that women are given an 'erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness', inferring that women are solely used in films as objects. This is further backed by her point that 'a woman performs within the narrative; the gaze of the spectator and that of the male characters in the film are neatly combined'. Richard Dyer, an academic film critic, challenges Mulvey’s views by stating that male stars are erotically objectified too. However, he argues that ‘male pin-ups’ are able ‘to be looking in ways which suggest they are not an erotic object’, including ways such as ‘looking off as if disinterested in the viewer’. Whilst this brings to light the point that female stars are not the only gender to be objectified, Dyer is insinuating that the male stars are more capable of diverting an audience's attention.

John Storey talks about Laura's views on cinema in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. He immediately refers to her essay as being 'from the perspective of feminist psychoanalysis', which highlights how her essay is from her point of view and not considered from an audience's perspective. This is important to remember; Richard Dyer's argument has been written in the perspective of a homosexual male, which highlights that Mulvey's views can be challenged and aren't definitely right. Overall, it is clear that there are contradicting views on the erotic perspectives on females and males in cinema. However, it is even more evident that stars in cinema, no matter what their gender, are frequently objectified.