D2 - Justification

Unit 20 – D2 Justification

Introduction

This will be a justification and review of what I did for my Unit 20 drink campaign and how it met the clients brief as well as stand out on its own. As presented, we were tasked with making an advertising campaign for a new healthy fizzy drink product made up of all-natural ingredient. The target audience is required by the client to be around 16-25 years old, unbiased on gender and featuring a culturally diverse range of people. In order to create an efficient marketing campaign, it’s important to consider what forms of advertising should be used, especially depending on the audience, what the theme and aesthetic is for the created brand and how it all justifies with what’s been asked by the client.

My Campaign

The drink brand I have created for my campaign is called Squack. It is an all-natural drink brand which is said to be created by the juices squeezed out of rubber ducks. The name of the brand is a play-on-words with “squash” which is an informal word for a fruity drink, and “quack” which is the noise a rubber duck commonly makes. What I believe sells Squack at its core is the absurdness of the premise. Think of it. A drink conceived by small plastic bath toys devouring the desired flavored fruit, taking a bath and then being squeezed to death. This strangeness makes it stand out from all the normal and mentally sane drink brands and creates an effective and memorable mascot suitable for all ages.

My campaign includes a vivid, saturated colour scheme which pops out on any platform, with its main colours being yellow, blue, orange and black, all of which are colours that are found on a rubber duck. These colours are also effective in bringing an energetic summer vibe to the brand which therefor makes the drink feel fresh and appealing. The logo for my drink is a rough outline of a rubber duck with an oval eye in the middle of its head. The simplicity of the logo will help it stand out no matter where it’s used and make it easy for those who see it to remember as the more complex an image is, the less memorable it is to the eye.

The imagery of rubber ducks and rubber duck eyes is constantly used in the advertising and branding of the drink as well as on the cans, to the point where it’s almost invasive. My main objective was to make the rubber duck a memorable figure and engrave it into every head that sees it. The rubber duck is already a strong, universal image that is known across the world which makes my brand in itself is extremely effective.

How it compares to the client requirement

The target audience is one major factor in which my drink varies in theme and advertising. Despite the client requirements specifying the drink to be for an older audience, I decided the best way to avoid missing that target is to appeal to all ages. The modern, minimalist look of the advertising and branding makes the drink feel mature but contrast with the quirky nature of the duck to create a comedic tone that's amusing for older groups. This simplicity also applies to how inclusive it is, as anyone of any gender, orientation and ethnicity can mutually agree that ducks are cute and weird. The advertising doesn't waver to anyone specific and tries to be neutral on all terms aside from the fact that it's themed on ducks. An older audience may also find the dark humor of the ducks being squeezed for their juices amusing in itself

The appearance is another factor that can be considered in the campaign. I felt the best way to target an older demographic would be to make my drink as generalized as can be but also with a quirky twist. The imagery I used was effective for my campaign's target audience because they will find it cute, weird and fun, which is a popular them among young adults who want to feel like a kid again. The usage of a toy rubber duck sends a psychic wave of nostalgia to a young adult's head, who probably had one when they were little. This relatability help markets the drink to an even wider range of young people of many possible cultures and origins who can all remember owning a rubber duck of their own or even liking them to this day.

The form of advertising is the main factor of the advertising campaign as it determines how the brand will spread to the target audience. A lot of older people go outside more often than younger or elderly. This can be to get to work, school or just to meet up with friends. This is why I chose billboard advertisements to be my main method of promotion. They can be placed anywhere (depending on the formatting) and can be seen by anyone in the public. There are also much more creative opportunities with advertising with a billboard than most other methods, however, I just stuck with a basic advertisement as to keep it simple and humble. This also factors in where these billboards, as it can range from a bus to a skyscraper or a town to a city. However, this also means that the advertising has to be for all ages as anyone could see these advertisements. I also uses web-advertising as an alternative because it allows anyone who can't possibly see these advertisements in real life to see them on their devices instead (a win-win).

Final Product Compared to Pre-Production Documents

Throughout the creation of my campaign, there's been a variety of ideas and documents created that have progressed the  production of my advertisements, some ideas never used and some almost identical to the finished product. 

Unused TV advert

This storyboard shows a TV advertisement for Squack that was never created in production for two reasons. The first reason is because of a lack of recourses. Although the props needed for the advert are not demanding, they still require money to be spent, as well as decent recording equipment and lighting. The set behind would be a blank colour void, which would require a home-built stage for recording, as well as one actor to be the hands that move the ducks around. I would need to buy two ducks, a glove, a sticker of a puddle, an empty can or one with the Squack design on it, some lemon or other fruit and a solid coloured sheet of paper for the set. I was already running on a tight budget of two ducks, so this wasn't possible with what I had. The second reason is because of a lack of time. Because of how long it took to create the many still image advertisements, there was not much time to progress with an even longer creation process of the TV advertisement, so it is something I skipped overall. Although I do believe that my campaign would be more effective with a TV advert, it isn't lacking in other forms of advertising which have been used and planned ahead.

Social Media Advert

This shows the concept design of my social media adverts, which I decided to convert into web advertisements for more possible formats and websites to advertise on than one. My original idea was to do something most companies do and create a social media account for Squack, which would promote the drink and share news to followers, hence the concept design being formatted as a Twitter post. Although I still support that idea and would do so if I had a social media account for it, I chose to do website banner adverts as an alternative. These adverts would lead to a website for Squack, which would help separate it from the toxicities of social media. It also allows for different styles of banners to be used for the advertising, such as the tall skyscraper advert and long banner advert., both of which could be found and fitted on a website 

Print Advert

The format of my poster has kept the same, with the idea being that it will appear on bus stop banners and other outdoor advertising, but the design and feel have had a drastic change. The concept design for the poster is much more simpler but also a little boring with too much text for the style of my advertising. It shows the can floating in a river of water with a Squack logo duck swimming behind it. Instead of this, I decided to make an advert with a more intimidating personality, with my finished one including a menacing rubber duck looming over a glowing can of Squack. I chose to make that change because it catches a viewers attention through the humor of a scary rubber duck than a plain advert with a duck in water. It also parodies off advertisements for horror films like Jaws, which has a large intimidating antagonist (the duck) and pure, heroic protagonist (the can of Squack). This is both familiar to my type of audience who enjoy horror films, but also makes them smile with the irony of the film poster being to advertise a drink can.

Conclusion

My campaign is a very effective promotion for an even more effective drink idea. Not only is the client requirement followed and understood, but is used to create something both different and familiar at the same time that can be effective for a target audience like this.