Creative Brand Strategy: Task 01
WEEK 01 - WEEK 04 (04/04/2023 - 25/04/2023)
Adena Tan Sue Lynn (0345769) / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Creative Brand Strategy
Task 01: Case Study & Campaign Proposal
DIRECTORY
LECTURES
Week 01: Class Lecture
Today, for our first class, Ms Lilian provided us a brief introduction to the class. Below are the notes I took:
In this class, you will learn how to strategize for a brand. Involves creativity in a more conceptual way. This module is half conceptualising a brand and the other half is executing that concept. Using in depth visual strategy using graphics that will establish in the mind of the consumer.
In this module, the target audience this time has to be more researched & mapped out. Estimate what they would experience with the brand. Learn to justify problems to find the best solution for brands. You are meant to solve a problem.
Submission may have to be presented, to learn from each other.
Task 01 is built of two components:
1A. Case Study
Examples are Shopee's 11.11 Sales, Nike's Just Do It, Diversity. Just pick one campaign, and identify its' brand strategy. Understand the brand exp. Review the key visuals & application.
Example:
Can talk abt Nike being a fitness brand and the brand's concept behind JUST DO IT. Then, find the purpose/strategy and find the message it sends. Discover the vision & mission. Break it down based on the campaign you have chosen. Talk about the ways the brand has been experienced or reacted to by the target audience. Next, find the key visuals (typo, graphics, photography, visual style, etc).
Both are to be submitted on Week 04. Should be presentation.
Task 02.
Build a Brand story, develop a design brief.
The design brief should have the campaign name, communication goals, & key message.
2A. Touch Points can be apps, posters, social media, websites, etc. Research for application of the thing. Select only the most relevant.
2B: Develop moodboards, colour, typo, visual style, look & feel. Consider everything.
Task 03
Final Execution: Develop a presentation deck for the campaign. Start by developing key visuals. Has to be website, social media, introduction video and one more. Doing more than 4 is possible.
Lecture 01: Introduction to Module
Lecture 01's slides were pretty much a summary of the above notes, but I did enjoy the first few slides which introduced Brand Strategy & Brand Experience. It allowed me to somewhat get a basic intro before jumping into the first task.
Lecture 02: The Branding Process
- A brand impacts a company's behaviour, reputation & customer experience.
- To be successful, a brand has to be able to adapt as the market grows.
- The different stages & roles that fit within the brand development.
- Brand Development Process: Formulating a brand strategy > Creative execution > Creative implementation > Communicating the brand
- Campaign: A continuous attempt to communicate a message to the audience that usually stays a longer period of time
- Concept Campaign: A hook or an idea that convinces audiences to take action. (Example: Nike's "Just Do It" & the Red Ribbon campaign)
- Cause Campaign: Is able to better society as well as increase profits using activist messages. It markets a specific idea, goal, or cause instead of a product or service.
- Event Campaign: Also known as experiential marketing that uses virtual or in-person experiences to teach consumers about the products, services & business.
- Launch Campaign: Completes a specific marketing goal to gain interest and build reputation.
- Personality Campaign: Takes a person's reputation & career from relative obscurity to high visibility.
- SWOT= Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
- Helps decision making to start new initiatives, improve policies, and consider opportunities.
- Customer Journey Map: Identifies the consumer's experiences with the brand from start to finish.
- Requirements: Customer perspectives, Touch points, Customer Segments
Lecture 03: The Creative Brief
- The competitive frame of reference:
- Big Idea: Overarching message that underpins all elements of a campaign in order to resonate w/ the large audience
Lecture 04: Touch Points
- Touch points: Interactions & exposures that consumers have with every brand.
- Three Steps Process:
- Step 01: Make a complete list of the Brand Marketing Activities & Touchpoints along the steps in the Customer Journey Map.
- Step 02: Prioritise touchpoints for the potential of impact & the degree of ease for the implementation.
- Step 03: Map the prioritised Brand Marketing activities & touchpoint along the Customer journey map.
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 01(A): Case Study
After Ms Lilian briefed us about Task 01(A), I had a few ideas in mind for my case study. Below were some of them:
- Milo Malaysia's recent "Jom Minum Milo" campaign with Park Seojoon
- Innisfree's Play Green Campaign
- Kahi Beauty's Multi-Balm Promotion Campaign
In the end, I decided to go for Innisfree's Play Green Campaign as I resonated with it the most.
To start, I went ahead with looking at the Innisfree website, trying to scour their social media and find articles relating to the campaign itself. Below is the working document I used:
Please note that the above document is my working document. Thus, all work inside can't be considered the same as the Final Submission's.
After I had compiled most of my data, I decided to look for a slide template that would go with the campaign.
I proceeded to import my information into the slides. During this process, I also edited and added information as I felt fit to enhance the slides.
Please find the final slides in the Final Submission section.
Task 02(B): Campaign ProposalTo start, I thought of the brand I'd like to base my campaign of. During my recent trip during the semester break, I fell in love with a gender neutral makeup brand called Laka. I was introduced to it during my colour analysis session, and I ended up really liking the cool toned shade and the formula of the product I was recommended!
I noticed that I haven't heard many talk of them outside of Korea, despite their achievements in the makeup industry. When I went on their website and social media, I kind of got the hint why. Their website is fully in Korean, with no ability to change the language to English (making it hard to reach them unless you go to 3rd Party Sellers like Olive Young and Shopee). As for their Instagram, they post mainly in Korean with occasional instances of the usage of English or Japanese.
Thus, I knew that I wanted to make Laka my focus for this campaign.
At first, I wanted to make a campaign that would widen Laka's audience to a global standard, especially with a gender positive USP like theirs. I made some notes for Ms Lilian to present my initial idea:
After my feedback form her, I was able to get a better grasp of what to do; focus on the gender neutral aspect. With that, I decided to make a campaign to bring awareness and make makeup more gender neutral.
Firstly, I decided to input all my thoughts & ideas and some research into a Google Doc for my easy viewing. Below is the Week 03 Version.
I also got working on my slides during this week. I used this template for the slides.
Again, once I got constructive feedback from Ms Lilian, I knew I had to try to think of better ways to propose my campaign. Thus, I continued working on my work. To be able to get a peace of mind, I worked on both the slides and my draft document at the same time to look at my thought process, but also be able to work on my slides in an efficient manner.
Please view the final slides in the Final Submission section.
FINAL SUBMISSION
Task 01(A): Case Study
Link to Google Slides.
Task 01(B): Campaign Proposal
Link to Google Slides.
FEEDBACK
Week 02 (11/04/2023)
Task 01(B): Rather than having the campaign be to globalise Laka, Ms Lilian recommended me to instead focus on making makeup more gender neutral. Remember to plan the touch points, a good reference is to look at Shu Huan's case study on Heineken.
Week 03 (18/04/2023)
Task 01(A): Slides are very focused & accurate with good understanding for the framework & case study. However, the graphic opportunities should have been studied further (Example: Logo, Types, etc).
Task 01(B): For the campaign story, reread it and either make it more focus or expand on what you would like to do. Remember to focus on the campaign, rather than just on Laka. Suggested to make it easier for men to adapt to makeup due to the issue stated about the perception of makeup for men. For the objective, it refers to the planned achievement, but the purpose should be why the campaign wants to achieve it. Currently, both of the written statements are purposes. For the target audience, the current one is a bit too wide. It was advised to tune down and focus on the main core of the campaign again. As for the SWOT Analysis, the weaknesses aren't very on point. Ms Lilian provided me one example for me to improve my weaknesses. As for brand positioning, it was good, but needs to be more focused on the gender neutral aspect. In terms of organisations, I can definitely put Laka as one of the organisers, but would need to find another organisation; perhaps one that advocates healthy men. For the Customer Journey Map, I was informed by Ms Lilian to put my focus into the touchpoints as the other factors (business goals, KPIs, etc) are all based on the touchpoints.
REFLECTION
Experience
For Task 01(A), I found the whole process to be very intriguing as I was able to discover more things about the campaign. It kind of made me want to go back to Innisfree to support their efforts, despite not using them for a few years now. In a way, I guess it can be said that the campaign worked for even someone like me who was just researching. As for Task 01(B), I found it more brain digging than I expected. Whilst planning everything, there were points I was just staring at the documents, hoping I would get a good idea or find a better way to plot my campaign. It was challenging, but I found it very insightful as this was a good exercise to ease me back into thinking the best for a brand.
Observations
I would say that observing has played a great role for this very task. Studying Innisfree's PlayGreen campaign allowed me to be able to witness an already successful campaign in order to learn how to build my own. It taught me the many things a campaign would need to succeed, and what steps it can take to ensure that everything is done well.
Findings
In terms of my findings, I was able to learn and apply many things from the lecture notes into my project. Whenever I was lost, it was so convenient to be able to go back and get my head back in the right track. Despite me being a lazy reader, I found that the notes were very helpful and allowed me to sit back and be able to think with a clearer head instead of panicking if I forgot one of the important factors. For example, the brand touchpoints were something I spent a lot of time on, and if I hadn't been able to study it beforehand, I would've been a lost sheep, waiting for the consumer wolves to devour me whole.
FURTHER READING
In order to understand the Customer Journey Map a little better, I viewed a few of the links that was provided by Ms Lilian in her lecture slides. Below is one that stuck out to me the most.
Through the above article, I was able to understand more about the Customer Journey Map.
- Benefits: High customer satisfaction, Lower customer turnover, Improved sales processes, Better advocacy
- Types of Customer Journey Maps: Current State, Future & Day in Life
- Key Elements of Personas: Persona, Timeline, Touchpoints, Device, Emotions
