OUGD601 - Practical - Digital Development: Regulations

The first idea that was digitally developed forward was Drinkaware Regulations on Social Media. The task for this idea was to make chatbots, CTAs and custom tabs that work inside Facebook. They needed to link to the Drinkaware site and promote alcohol responsibility in a clear, direct way.

For the set of regulations I was able to find three websites that simply explain how to implement the chosen Facebook tools. These are as follows:

Chatbots - https://chatfuel.com/
CTAs - https://www.ducttapemarketing.com/facebook-call-to-action-buttons/
Page Tabs - https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/26330/how-to-create-custom-tabs-for-facebook-business-pages.aspx

In order to physically make and test tools, I made a live, replica page of the UK's top alcohol brand Stella Artois.

In terms of the regulations, CTAs and custom tabs were extremely easy to create and implement. I was able to simply use the Drinkaware website URL to embed information in the Facebook tools. The chatbot was much more complex however; to provide users with a wide coverage of alcohol related areas, I made a tree diagram which divides the Drinkaware site into 3 main sections. These were developed from the Drinkaware site map and ensured that the majority of content on their website would be included in the chatbot. 

By using Chatfuel, I physically made the tool by using text and images taken from the Drinkaware site. All automated responses were carefully written and considered to ensure that the user experience would feel fluid and personal. Depending on what the user chooses, the chatbot has been designed to eventually take them to the Drinkaware website. This bridges the gap, identified in the research stage, between Facebook and Drinkaware.

To aware users about the chatbot, I also considered the introduction of cover photo regulations. Rather than requiring brands to just put 'Drinkaware.co.uk for the facts', brand pages would also be required to include text stating 'To Learn about drinking responsibly, visit the Drinkaware tab' and 'Alternatively, press the 'Send Message' button below and click 'Get Started''. This would allow users to learn about alcohol within Facebook. 

To take a look at the tools in action, you can visit facebook.com/stellaartoisexample. For explanation purposes however, use of these digital tools were recorded and edited in After Effects. 

OUGD601 - Dissertation Draft & Feedback

Today I completed my first draft and emailed it over to Simon for some feedback. He said it's looking really strong and that I should now focus more on the practical side of things, which is perfect as I am currently working on producing the outcomes. After the Christmas break I am planning on discussing the dissertation further and gaining some feedback on the practical outcomes.

OUGD601 - Practical - Idea Generation & Feedback

A variety of initial ideas were sketched out, informed by the previous research stage and further research. The ideas presented to a crit group of students were as follows:

1. Blank Alcohol Packaging - Before constructing the brief, I researched into the debate on blank alcohol packaging, inspired by the new blank tobacco packaging regulations introduced in 2017. Whilst this does not relate to social media, I wanted to use the research made to propose an idea of implementing a plain, removable sleeve on all sold alcohol bottles and cans. Drinkaware facts and figures, promoting responsibility and health effects associated with alcohol use, would be the large focus on sleeves, accompanied by the product name and legal information.

2. Drinkaware Regulations on Social Media - Informed by the research made into marketing tools that aren't being used by alcohol brands, this idea simply highlights how alcohol responsibility and awareness could be improved and promoted consistently across Facebook by implementing regulations on alcohol brand pages. These would be enforced by the ASA and Drinkaware.

3. Drinkaware Ad Campaign - Informed by the research made into alcohol adverts and how there is a lack in factual, infographic campaigns on Facebook that focus on alcohol responsibility and awareness, this idea proposes a Drinkaware advert that can be distributed across all alcohol brand pages. A combination of type and illustrations could be used, explaining basic, yet key, information, such as the max weekly drinking limit and alcohol health effects.

4. Drinkaware Poster Campaign - Similar to idea 3, this proposal would aim to aware people about key alcohol information. Instead of a video, posters could be produced and uploaded to alcohol brand pages. They could also be physically distributed to schools and institutions.

The crit was extremely beneficial in receiving constructive feedback. I asked people to judge the ideas based on the potential effect and ease of implementation. The feedback received was organised into a chart, seen below.

The idea with the lowest regarded effect was the poster, as people said it would be less effective than idea 3 in terms of distribution as videos are more engaging and current on Facebook. People suggested that I could produce a poster to accompany idea 3 and distribute it in bars and club toilets, where young people would be more likely to pay attention than in school/institutions etc. For this reason, idea 3 was later developed.

In terms of ease of implementation and overall popularity, idea 1 was voted lowest. Feedback suggested that it would be too difficult to introduce sleeve regulations - it would take too long to implement and people identified that it does not directly respond to the brief. For this reason, idea 1 was not developed further.

Ideas 2 and 3 were voted as having the highest effect and ease of implementation. The group thought that they had potential to effectively increase awareness of alcohol responsibility at no cost to Drinkaware or alcohol brands. For this reason, they were developed forward.