Saturday, November 22, 2014

Reflective post 10: Most eye-opening regarding ethical approaches to copywriting

In my opinion ethical approaches in copy writing can be very important to the society. It can relates to few aspects.For example from the headlines to the body text and appealing ads must be not misleading. There are many people fall for false advertising and trick easily. Most of the company only cares about their profit and how they want to pull customers not the quality and the ethical approach of the advert itself.First the headline should be something bold and straight forward attractive yet interesting , body text should be an ethical copywriting factual , detail and something consumer would want to try or want to do.Not a text that putting someone down.A certain product or campaign or promotional purposes should have the right content of a word to pull their audience to make them believe that whatever they're a re selling is good. not just a product that is good in their eyes and not a good product to consume. Ethical approaches are few of the most important steps in advertising.


I can name a lot of products that not what is seem it is. They talk about how good they are and bringing other product down to make theirs look good. Thats not how it works. The ad must contain all the right purposes even if its a ' health campaign ' ad showing how you have to stay clean and hygienic. It must have the right words and approach even appealing to make audience feel the awareness of the campaign.





AMALINA JAMIL
1007K10685

Blog Swipe 10.2 Deemed Ethical in Its Approach



Headline: Can you treat yourself better than your doctor?
The ad headline is very clever, using the questioning method to catch the audiences' attention. A lot of people has developed many health obstacles due to not consulting to a doctor or physician before consuming medicines for minor infirmities. The question is shaped and gets people to the answer the advertiser is trying to tell the audiences. 

Body Text: Self-medication can put your life in danger. Always consume medicines only after consulting your doctor.
The body text of the ad is short and straight forward. It supports and reinforce the message that the ad is trying to tell the audiences also, pretty much answers the headline question. The word " self-medication" has successfully catches the audiences' eyes and generates awareness among them on the importance of consulting a doctor before consuming any medications.   

Visuals:
The visual of this ad is very simple and creative yet it creates a huge impact in the audiences' mind by using the bullets in the medicine packet. It is trying to tell people that every time you swallow a medicine without consulting a doctor, it's like swallowing a bullet. 




Written by:
Carena Lim Yun Xian
0302442


Blog Swipe 10.1 Deemed Ethical in Its Approach




Headline: THINK OF BOTH SIDES.
This headline is pretty simple, straightforward and understandable. The ad is explaining that when you are driving to concentrate on the road. When doing so think of both sides like the child or person you might hit in front of you or your own child sitting at the back seat who you can harm if you get into an accident although she or he is all buckled-up behind.

Body text: The number of car accidents involving children increases during school holidays. Please be extremely careful!
The body text is basically giving a warning to the viewers that usually during school holidays, there are many children on the streets playing and running around without any parent supervision or whatsoever. Also during school holidays, many families go outstation for holidays where sometimes you would not be paying attention to the road because you need to see the navigation or so on. I think that the body text used for this ad is very basic and easy for viewers to understand.

Visuals: I love the way the advertisers set the visuals of this ad where they show how many things going on in the front seat that may cause an accident, the child they are about to hit in front of their car and also their own child at the backseat buckled-up all in one ad. The creativity of using the mirror in the ad is amazingly inserted to explain the ad thoroughly.




Written by
Evelyn Wong Yen Ni
0302224

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Reflective Post 9: Tips for writing a good press release

Press release is not an advertisement. They may share the same purpose, to create awareness and to gain publicity. Yet, it is important to note that press release is publish by the 3rd party - mostly newspaper. Therefore, press release is more credible than a paid-advertisement and it should be written like a news, otherwise it will simply be discarded. Here are some tips for writing an effective press release:

1. Newsworthiness
Before you write your press release, ask yourself "What's the news value in your story?". Think from the perspective of a journalist, your story will only get coverage if journalist thinks it is newsworthy and their readers have to know about it. What makes a story newsworthy?

  • timely
  • proximate 
  • prominent
  • human interest
  • significant 
2. Follow a standard press release format
It is important to follow standard press release formating and include 5W1H questions in your press release. Press release should written in inverted pyramid approach which the most important information comes first followed by less important information. 

3. Use double spacing
Double spacing and wide margin allow journalist to make note in your press release.

4. Good grammar 
Journalists are busy. Make sure your press release is well written or else it will simply be discarded.

For further reading:

A complete guide to writing an effective press release
http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/pr/writing-a-press-release/a-complete-guide-to-writing-an-effective-press-release

Written by,
Ng Jas Min
0312182

Blog Swipe 9.2: Best Advocacy Advertising Ad



Since the first time I came across this ad a couple of years back, I have always been very inspired by it. This was done by Grey Spain and I was inspired by the creativity, the message it sends, and also how it is just completely genius.

They took the advantage of the average adult height and shows them an awareness message of the ad, and a 10 year old child's average height, showing them a different message telling them that if they ever need help, they can call a helpline along with a number. They used the lenticular lenses to make this ad successful.

The ad is simplistic with just a photo of a young boy. As for the lower angle photo, they used the same picture of the boy, but with a busted lip instead. The message they put out there is also very short and straight forward. To the adults, it says "Sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it.", and to the children a message that says "If somebody hurts you, phone us and we'll help you."

So intelligently, this ad targets both adults and children as well.

Written by:
Bernadette Alexandra Koh Pei Yi
0302106

Blog Swipe 9.1 : Best Advocacy Advertising Ad


I personally think this is one of the best advocacy advertising ads that I have encountered so far. Nowadays, the society is very aware of the need to protect women, especially in the sexual harassment and violence department. People will participate and support campaigns as such if it is advertised properly. 

First off, I find it interesting how they play with words to catch the attention of the audiences. The words with the biggest font size is completely misleading and it may seem as though the man is going to sexually assault someone. However, the impact of the main message comes in at the second half of the ad, spreading an awareness to the society to take control of the situation because they are as equally responsible for another's safety. 

Next, the visuals are well used. Putting a picture of a man directs the message to men. Most of the time, women are victims of sexual violence. If men were not told to support this movement as well, how will this situation turn around? Thus, this ad is smart in choosing their target audience.

Also, the design of this ad is very simple, clean and strong. It is very comfortable to look at and easy to digest the information. 


Written by,
Natalia Melissa Singa
0304567

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Reflective Post 8 : How to create an engaging and successful fundraising letter?



      First of all, to have an engaging and successful fundraising letter, start off by bearing in mind your audience and the particular plans set. List down things that will appeal to your audiences such as things that will surprise them, upset them or even intimidate them to feel that your fundraising letter is really important.

      Second, state and stress on the benefits of your cause clearly so that the audiences will be able to judge if the cause is sensitive enough to touch their hearts. Let the audiences know that with their helping hand, the cause will be known or also it will be able to improve life or other components. It is always good to remind your audiences that no matter how small of the amount they donate, they can help someone or the service needed. The benefits should state that when they help they will feel happy about it and not depressed instead.

      Lastly, add pictures or visuals of the organization or campaign in the fundraising letter so audiences can see how important it is. For example, if there was a campaign done before, put up visuals of that previous campaign to gain trustworthiness of the audiences.




Written by
Evelyn Wong Yen Ni
0302224

Blog Swipe 8.2 : The most interesting flyer / brochure / catalog




Although this flyer only uses 3 colors-white, red and different shades of grey but it does not look dull or uninteresting. The clever use of shapes and shadows make the flyer look 3D. It's very simple yet interesting and grab people's attention very easily.

This is a general-purpose leaflet, which looks very broadly at what the organizer is trying to promote their event. It does not provide a lot of details about the organizer but mainly and sufficient event information. It is very straightforward and simple to let the audience understand what is the leaflet about through the tittle and details on the leaflet. It also provide a website for the audience to look for more information about the event or organizer.

By
Carena Lim
0302442

Blog Swipe 8.1 : The most interesting flyer / motivational poster




Its a flyer / poter to promote the motivational book ' Manage your day to day' .Its a book about how the way we work has to change , Matias Corea , Raewyn Brandon and Jocelyn K. The flyer created by Glei from Behance. Its a fold out flyer/poster. Well the idea of this flyer was to create a print piece that would give people a succinct overview of the book, while also giving them something with lasting value.Every flyer that is given out when its full unfolded there is a piece of motivational quote that the audience can tack up over their desk or fridge.It makes it interesting because even though its to promote a book its also a piece of the book. Which is the quotes that was pick out from the book to let people read and keep it. This is a good promotional way to give the audience aware of the campaign that they're doing. 


The writing on the flyer clearly shows the emphasise on the quote which is in the middle of the fold. Theres the brief explanation of the title infant and details about the book. I think its a good approach on the book because it promotes both book and for people to be aware of their daily manage day to day life.



amalina jamil 
1007k10685

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Reflection Post 7 : How to create an engaging and successful new media ad?

New Media Ads

New media ads are a little more harder to grab attention as people who usually go online are mostly not very interested in having ads disrupting their online surfing. However, by creating a good one, it would eventually lead to exposure of the brand or service.

Take a YouTube ad for instance, most videos have ads automatically playing before the actual video itself. With a good introduction, viewers will not have the urge to click that "skip ad" button.

In order for that, the introduction has to be relatable to the viewer. Start with either something that directly tells them about what the ad is, or make them wonder and stay tuned longer. With a good music playing along with the ad, it will make a difference too. Most ads have really annoying music which just makes people want to skip it even more. However, with a more soft sounding tune, it will work just fine.

Although ads may not necessarily get customers to eventually become consumers, for a new brand, exposure is just the thing needed. As long as people out there know that the product or service exists, it has already succeeded in its task of exposing the brand.

Bernadette Alexandra Koh Pei Yi
0302106

Blog Swipe 7.2 : Most interesting new media ads


TrueView in-stream ads are very popular in YouTube today. They are placed before, during or after the main YouTube video. They are also skippable if the viewers do not wish to watch it. It is interesting because it is one of the smartest and effective way of advertising as YouTube is the second most popular social media ranked in the states. 

Also, the market segmentation  on YouTube is very specified, hence advertising becomes very accurate as well. Advertisers are allowed to choose what genre of videos their ads play on. Hence, advertising on YouTube allows clients to reach their audiences very easily and widely. 

Other than that, TrueView in-stream ads are very straightforward and flexible, when it comes to interactivity between the ad and the viewer. The skip button allows those who are not interested to immediately turn it off, but those who are interested can choose to keep on watching, unlike television and radio ads, whereby audiences are forced to watch and listen to ads. 

The TrueView in-stream ads are very convenient as well. Links can be placed all around the ad as an annotation form when it is playing, or the video itself can appear as a link. When these links are clicked on, it can take the viewers to the desired websites. Thus, if the audiences are interested in the ad, they will click on these links to get to the service. 



Written by,
Natalia Melissa Singa
0304567

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Blog Swipe 7.1: The most interesting new media ads

Jasper's Market News Feed Ads on Facebook

There are two forms of ad you will see on Facebook - right-hand column and news feed advertisements.  Right-hand column only appears on the side of the page and news feed advertisements are comparatively more visible to the readers. 

Facebook, a social media that allows sharing and communicating widely and instantly becomes one of the most popular new media. The above sample of new media advertisement includes the essential elements of a print ad: company logo, company name, benefit, description, call for action and image. This advertisement manages to deliver information effectively within the limited word counts. The copywriting are both simpler and conversationally written.

Facebook ad is more cost effective and timely compare to traditional media. However, readers would constantly refresh the page and this makes it relatively short lifespan. It is important to avoid text-heavy and image-deficient wall post, above is an example of image-based wall post that will deliver better result. Attractive image helps to grab your readers' attention and encourage your readers to like your company page, so they will get update from your organization. 

Each wall post only focuses on singular message. This allows readers to understand what you're offering and what action should they take with only one glance. Sentences for example "Like our page" invite readers to subscribe, comment, like and share your post make new media advertisement more interactive. 


   
Written by,
Ng Jas Min
0312182

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Reflection Post 6 : Considerations to making a good broadcast ad (tv and radio)

Discuss the considerations of making a good broadcast ad. (tv or radio)

Radio

To make a good radio ad, there are many steps and guidelines to follow. 
Step 1 is to open with an attention-getting device. The first part of a radio ad always counts to get listeners to stay tune. For instance, to get their attention at the beginning of an ad is to use humor in a good way to catch their attention and get them wanting to listen to more. 
Step 2 is identify your product or advertiser after the opening. Without doing so, people will have no interest and not show any interest at all. 
Step 3 is to repeat important benefits and names. Mentioning the brand or product a few times in the ad can be a plus side for the ad as people will tend to remember easily. For instance, for a 60 second commercial, at least mention the brand or product's name 3 times.

TV

To make a good tv ad, there are different steps and guidelines to follow.
Step 1 is to make sure there is a major benefit for the product and highlight it more than once during the tv ad. 
Step 2 is to take the chance of the tv ad and promote the product by showing it and having many close-ups of the product itself during the ad. 
Step 3 is to make sure the visuals, background music and the sound effects are on point and are suitable for the tv ad. For instance, if the tv ad is on baby products and the background music is a rock song, it will definitely get the viewers thinking. 





Written by
Evelyn Wong Yen Ni
0302224



Blog Swipe 6.2 : Best tv commercials







Media : Tv commecial

Tv add title : David Bechkam Sofia Vegara Diet Pepsi Beach Twitter

Sponsor : Pepsi

Pepsi is one of the famous brand that most people know will have interesting tv commercials.Pepsi 

will use the famous celebrities for example beyonce , britney spears , Pink and others. Their

 marketing for the product brilliant, not only increases a lot of sale it definitely showed audience the 

tasty freshness of the drink. This tv commercial that features Sofia Vegara and David Beckham boost

 up the sale of Diet pepsi in less in a month. the commercial shows how Sofia feels so fresh drinking 

the diet pepsi that what she said in her tweet was right about David Beckham.

Written By:
Amalina 
1007k10685

Blog Swipe 6.1 : Best tv commercials




Media: TV commercials
TV Ad Title : Snickers Mr. Bean
Sponsor : Snickers
Snickers has created a series of TV commercial campaign and this is one of it. The Snickers campaign  shows how a person's character pertains to real life situations. Snickers uses character as part of their slogan saying " you're not you when you're hungry." This saying refers to the audience and makes you think how one's character changes under the urge of hunger.  Snickers wants the audience to realize that their product will satisfy that feeling that overcomes you when you are hungry. They also play with character traits of various celebrities such as Betty White, Mr. Bean, Joe Pesci and many more which make the ads more memorable to the audience. To form irony and humor, they throw in older celebrities or iconic characters that are known to act with attitude. Snickers makes references to real life situations so the audience can relate. When the audience relates to a situation, the public is more prone to feel as if they should be doing the same thing. 
By:
Carena Lim Yun Xian
0302442

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Reflection Post 5 : writing with style

I’ve learnt that writing with style may not be that simple, as you need to organize and reorganize your thinking, write and re-write many times in order to open the floor to creativity in writing, analyze suitable words, such as active verbs and adjectives, and finding combination of words that are complementary to the advertised product or service.

Here are some writing stylistics I learned in class:
1.       Testimonials – Good stories from users abut a product or service.
2.       Humorous – Funny content that attracts audiences.
3.       Endorsement – such as featuring a celebrity for a product.
4.       Brand comparison – comparing the advertised product with another product.

However, writing with style is important in advertising because it makes it unique, thus brand recognition will be gained easier. People tend to remember creative and unique ads the most. Also, good creative ads reduce competition between brands in the market as it allows differentiation to take place.

Furthermore, I’ve learnt some writing stylistics online that are really interesting, such as informational, anthropomorphism, cartoon, call for action, value branding, buzz, surrealistic, realistic, historical, etc.





Written by,
Natalia Melissa Singa
0304567

Blog Swipe 5.2 : print ads or product packaging with interesting writing styles and layout




Media : Online- Print Ad

Product: Absa Bank

The ad uses a very philosophical approach by speaking about the forefathers who although wore torn up shoes, but they took one step in the right direction and that was how they succeeded to reach their goals. It clearly states that it is not the type of shoe you wear but in the steps you take to reach it.

Interesting idea
It talks about taking the right steps in the right direction and it does not work if you look good but keep taking the wrong steps. It's interesting because they incorporated that into banking, stating that for this Pesach, which was a Jewish festival, Absa will be by your side all the way. Indicating that if you want to reach your goals but also have problems, they are willing to help.

Layout Design - Create Flow
The shoe and the writings in it obviously stands out really well, grabbing the attention of a lot of people would not be too hard. The worn out shoe idea is then explained in the body copy, as mentioned that it is very philosophical. Talking about ancient times and how we end up where we are because of our ancestors. I think it is a very interesting and different approach of a bank advertisement.

Written by:
Bernadette Alexandra Koh Pei Yi
0302106

Blog Swipe 5.1: Print ads or product packaging with interesting writing styles and layout

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Media : Online- Print Ad

Product: Garage Lemonade

The print advertisement displays a sarcastic “idea” of how to execute an advertisement that could draw the more shallow audience to the favour of its product. By reading the copywriting, audiences would be intrigued enough to find out what brand would pull such a “trick” on them. 

Interesting idea
The ad displays its culture "Kind of Genius. Kind of" instead of advertising it’s product. In short, the message conveyed is appealing more towards our humorous or cynical side instead of our more rational side looking for information on the product itself. 

Short and Simple Sentences 
People are easily attracted to simple, unique and easy to understand bodycopy. This also helps to keep your readers' interest. The simple layout includes product packaging, typography and product description (Lemon, Ice and Alcohol) which is straight to the point yet comprehensive. 

Layout Design - Create Flow
The brilliant copywriting attracted people's attention. By reading the sentence "to look at the bottom" readers' eye movement would be guide to move from the copywriting to the more important part - product packaging and tagline. In this ad, the copywriting is more dominant than the product packaging. The marketer chose handwriting style typography surrounded with large white space to make the copywriting outstanding.   


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Reflection Post 4 : Five points about bad/uneffective body copy and layout for a print ad.


An uneffective print ad would be a lengthy body copy with long-winded sentences. The body copy should only contain minimal details and words just to carry the message across and highlight the important points for the print ad. 

Next, if the headline of the body copy has no relation to the print ad, the image of the product would drop because it will make customers think that the brand can't come up with a good headline to project a good image for the product.

Another uneffective print ad would be the language used. If the body copy has bad grammar or words that don't really belong together in a sentence, it would be irritating and it will lose the customer's interest while reading it. 

Another uneffective body copy for a print ad would be if it failed to mention their USP for their product. It is important to let the customers know what makes this product interesting or beneficial to them. 

Lastly, a bad layout would be if it has too many words and no visuals. A creative print ad would be one that has visuals and a little bit of words that support the image on the print ad.





Written by
Evelyn Wong Yen Ni
0302224



Friday, October 3, 2014

Blog Swipe 4.2 : concept of AIDCA



Media : Online- Print Ad (https://www.behance.net/gallery/923746/Miscellaneous-Concept-Ideas)

Title : Been missing out on the taste of real ice cream?

Sponsor: Breyers 

Prospect : To remind people that their ice cream is the real ice ream and how it should be tasted like and it's made with natural ingredients. 

Product: Ice cream

Problem: Reminding people how should a real ice cream taste like and ice cream can be healthy too with natural ingredients.

Objectives: The objective of this ad is to let people realized and think again what and how a real ice cream taste like. 

StrategyThe ad sustained people's interest by clarifying what brand makes real ice cream, then, the brand name and product are mentioned in the body copy. 

Tone:
Fun, interesting, curious

Brand Character : Trustworthy 

Interesting Element: Headline: Been missing out on the taste of real ice cream? 
The headline grabs people's attention by making them think and wonder what and how a real ice cream really taste like.

The ad creates a desire by providing many interesting and tempting ways of examples that how the ice cream can be served and enjoyed. The ad has made a clarification on the product facts and claimed that this product is only made with all natural ingredients.


Written by
Carena Lim Yun Xian
0302442


Blog Swipe 4.1 : concept of AIDCA




Media : http://onemanadvertising.blogspot.com

Title : Smoking Kills

Prospect : Convince people that smoking kills

Product: Awareness (PSA).

Problem:  Smoking is bad for health and it can cause death.

Objectives: To raise awareness on the negative 

Strategy :  The purpose of this advertisement is to persuade people not to smoke. The intended audience is anyone who either does smoke or wants to smoke.  The style of this advertisement is midlevel. The genre is an advertisement that can be seen in magazines or possibly billboards. 

Tone: 
Shocking / Cold / Serious

Brand Character : Powerful

Interesting Element: The tagline itself shows that smoking it affects other people as well. It doesn’t just kill you; it can kill anyone, even people who haven’t smoked a day in his or her life. The strategy of argumentation used in this advertisement is analogy. People have been told numerous times that smoking causes cancer, which leads to death. But by putting it in a different perspective, as blunt as this one, makes you re-think if that cigarette is really worth it. 

Friday, September 26, 2014

Reflection Post 3: Discuss five considerations in writing an effective body copy

Five considerations in writing an effective body copy.
1. Details Draw from your research. You need to understand your target audience, so you know what they are looking for. Be specific and impactful. Make your body copy complete with information in order to convince your reader.
2. Structure 3 part approach: Headline, First line of copy, Last line of copy. Write a strong headline and start your first line of body copy with a strong benefit. These encourage your reader to read the rest of the ad. Use short and common words.
3. Clear Try to keep your body copy clear and simple. Your body copy must deliver the message/ USP of your product to the reader. Prevent your body copy to be ambiguity. People are probably in a hurry, make your points obvious.
4. Call for action Use "active voice" rather than the "passive voice" in your sentence construction. Explain why they should buy your product. Clearly state how your product benefit your consumers and convince your them to buy!
5. Make it interesting There are many ways to make your body copy interesting. Creativity is important. Tell your audiences a story. This give your product or service a sense of human component. Write your body copy conversationally.

For further reading (online)
Communicating product features and benefits 
David Ogilvy's 7 Tips for Writing Copy That Sells

Written by,
Ng Jas Min
0312182

Blog Swipe 3.2: Headline (best body copy of a print ad)



Media : Online- Print Ad (http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/ywca_work_for_free)

Title : Demand Equal Pay

Sponsor: YWCA, Auckland

Prospect : Convince the public that it's not right for women to be paid less than men.

Product: Awareness (PSA).

Problem: Until today women in New Zealand are discriminated in the workplace. Females are paid 10% lesser than males but, both genders pay for the same amount of student dept in order to have a better future. The problem is that not enough awareness is going around for people to fight this injustice. Thus, the creation of this ad is to help solve this problem.

Objectives: To raise awareness on gender inequality in the workplace, and to receive support in introducing the Pay Equality Bill to the Parliament.

Strategy : The ad strategy is by letting the audience picture the worst case scenario in order to attract the public's attention and to get the message across on how serious this issue actually is. Also, the ad strategy is extremely convincing because it is a factual ad. Hence, both men and women are perceptual to this form of advertising. 

Tone: 
Shocking / Cold / Serious

Brand Character : Powerful

Interesting Element: Headline.

"FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR, WOMEN WILL WORK FOR FREE"

It's interesting because it's such a powerful and controversial statement that it will take anyone off guard. Nobody in the right mind works for free, let alone a whole nation of females! This will stir up the curiosity of everyone. Other than that, the font design is bold and all letters are capitalized. Thus, the headline projects a very strong and serious tone that will not be taken lightly by the viewers. 



Written by:
Natalia Melissa Singa
0304567