#adv120

PREZI LINK:

Altered Object

For my altered object I chose to create a mannequin out of cardboard and Sellotape.  It has a high practical use as we now use it when training in Tang Soo Do!

The inspiration came to me when I was working in a student cafe and we'd just received a large order from Starbucks.  I was told to take the cardboard out to recycle but then I had a better idea.

The mannequin is designed specifically to incorporate all major 'hit points' into the design, red circles mark these out on the model.   It also bears the revered insignia of Tang Soo Do on its left shoulder.

Lateral Thinking - The art of looking at things differently

Brief:    Express your views on what you've learned about lateral thinking.  Be objective and consider different angles.  What is it's relevance to the advertising business?  Your opinion matters.

What do we think when we consider thinking?

(Rodin's 'The Thinker')

Before we go any further let's take a look at what Google thinks...

Vertical Thinking:    the solving of problems using conventional logical processes

Lateral Thinking:    the solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light.

We are all born with the ability to think laterally, somehow while growing up, while 'learning' we seem to lose that valued gift.  Most of us think vertically - thinking under the assumption that there is a logical solution to everything!  You think just like this:

Question -> Logical Thinking Steps = Solution

  (Vertical Thinking)

BUT, there are two ways of thinking - two sides of the brain to use.  There's right side thinking & left side thinking.  Is there a right side to use?  No, not really... There is definitely a right side - and it's left!

(Left brain vs. right brain)

  For me lateral thinking means seeing a common problem in an uncommon way.  Innovating and moving forward into a more pleasant situation.  Lateral thinking is different thinking, thoughts produce actions therefore lateral thinkers are different from the rest.  George Bernard Shaw accredited all progress to lateral thinkers or the 'unreasonable man'.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."    -  George Bernard Shaw

Tony Schwartz, president of The Energy Project (theenergyproject.com), theorizes that there are four keys to creative or lateral thinking.

Schwartz:  Saturation, Incubation, Illumination, Verification.

This means you absorb as much information about a subject as you can - absolutely everything!  Then you go down the pub or to the cinema.  And, just like that ideas start popping into your head where they weren't before.  Now it's test time - your ideas will usually be gold.

In 'The Use of Lateral Thinking' Edward de Bono theorizes that lateral thinking is an aquired or re-aquired skill that we must learn in order to evolve our thinking capacity.  We think but to be different - to be a mover and push progression forward we need to learn to think!

Lateral thinking is of the utmost relevance in the advertising world as businesses are constantly searching for a way of advertising that hasn't yet been done.  This can prove taxing but with the use of lateral thinking creative teams have managed to come up with some extraordinary ideas.

          Brief:    Write a short critique of Compare the Market/Meerkat Advertising campaign. Write it in the first person and as if you were a 50-year old person of the opposite sex.

Name:    Camilla Dentree

Age:    53

My husband recently left me and and among other things I’ve had to learn a thing or two about bills. I use my car everyday to get to work, it’s always been rather pricy but I didn’t know how to go about getting a better insurance package.  However, recently I’ve been seeing that ‘compare the meerkat’ AD on TV and I know it’s rather silly but they do make me laugh, so I went on the website. You know what?! I’ve been paying more than I should! I knew it!     I don’t think I understand all the adverts but the meerkats remind me of the film ‘Madagascar’ that my grandchildren are always watching. It’s one of the only adverts I remember these days, in fact sometimes I can’t get it out of my head. So there are moments when it does get slightly annoying but that wouldn’t ever stop me from using ‘compare the market’ I don’t think. Christmas is coming up and I actually asked my son to get a me a meerkat toy, it was meant as a joke but secretly I'm hoping he gets me one. I went on comparethemeerkat.com yesterday to cheer myself up, I'd been feeling slightly down again. I followed on to the comparethemarket.com website and I saw that they do all sorts of insurance, not just cars but house insurance and life insurance. My daughter is taking me on holiday soon and I do need to sort out insurance for that so I'll be visiting Compare the Market again soon.  It's so straightforward and simple to use!

Brief:  Take a current advertising campaign you are very familiar with, describe in detail the person you think it's aimed at: where they live, where they work, what they do in their spare time, etc. Then, in one short sentence, write what you think the strategy might be for that campaign.

Campaign:  Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon – EE 4G and Fibre optic Commercial Campaign.

Strategy:  By persuading the Target Market that the ease of connection they always dreamed of is now available, there is no thought of missing out!

Description:  Kath is 35 years old, a football-mum, not the main bread-bringer of the house but she does keep her family and their house running smoothly. She loves her kids, Molly (age 9) and Tim (age 11), who both love their sports. These days she finds herself constantly running them around to team trainings and after school events, needless to say dinner's haven't been that great this week. Every Tuesday after seeing the girls for coffee she does the weekly shop, attempting each week to get the family to try something different. Her husband James is great, and usually up for helping out when his job doesn't get in the way. She tries to keep up-to-date on the current politics as it's always nice to have something intelligent to say when she meets the girls every week. She has always dreamed of a perfectly functioning 'American family', and she would admit that they're not too far away from that. Their house is a lovely spread on Fiona Close, in the suburbs of Winchester. She loves dancing in her spare time and is trying to get James to go to Salsa classes with her every Friday night. She's is happy but has always felt like she settled slightly too soon and wonders how her life would be different with a more vibrant man. She likes new things, better things, and appreciates people liking her house. She's the type of woman who loves to show off that new gadget before her neighbours have it.  

Brief:  Compare and analyse two different print ads from the same magazine or newspaper.

Overview:  For my ad project I chose the widely read magazine ‘Empire’.  I picked out the ‘Jaguar F-Type’ advert for my example of a good ad and the ‘Paco Rabanne Invictus’ advert as an example of a bad ad. 

  Target Market:  Men aged 25-50, with a bit of money to spend

Analysis:  So let’s start off simple, exactly how the Jaguar ad is.  The advert is an invitation, it’s ‘Your Turn’, an open car door, drive off into the distance.  The important thing – you’re driving.  So with this ad we have a simple layout.  We have a marvellous background image.  Nothing strikes us up close but in the distance lays the beauty.  A bullet headline ‘Your Turn’ and a brief sentence describing the product all too cleverly with the words ‘...step into the product’, again the invitation.  This advert empowers us.  At the bottom of the double spread we find all the technical details for us car lovers that understand them.  This is then enhanced by the Jaguar logo in the corner and the words ‘How Alive Are You’ splashed across the bottom section.  I am left feeling alive, feeling good!

Target Market:  Men aged 20-40, with Napoleon complex

Analysis:  This moves us on to Paco Rabanne’s ‘Invictus’.  It’s complicated; you’re not quite sure what’s what.  Who is the guy?  Should we recognize him?  What do his tattoos say?  So many questions, it leaves us feeling anxious or annoyed.  Then we search for what product is being sold, this is only clear because it says ‘The new fragrance…’ in small print.  Nick Youngquest (the guy in the ad), model/rugby player, is smug in the advert.  Almost saying “Yes, I have in fact achieved fame, while you have not.”  It does not sell the perfume, we are not even thinking about the perfume anymore.

Creative Approaches to Problem Solving Assignment Six/Presentation

Lateral Thinking

Lateral Thinking was a term coined by Edward De Bono upon the release of his book under this title in 1970. The term is now widely known and is considered vital to the process of creativity, particularly pivotal to modern advertising. De Bono states that: “The purpose of thinking is to collect information and to make the best possible use of it” (De Bono, 1970: 13). A simplistic explanation then, of Lateral Thinking is that it is a probabilistic process of the mind. It is a way of using the mind in a different attitude, in order to produce an idea.

It is believed that Lateral Thinking leads to a positive and creative frame of mind through its difference in attitude to its binary Vertical Thinking. Vertical Thinking is concerned with an analytical and sequential process whereas Lateral Thinking is as De Bono puts it ‘concerned with the generation of new ideas’ (De Bono, 1970: 11). By this we can begin to understand why Lateral Thinking is so important to creativity, in particular creative advertising.

In order for a creative to come to an idea they must begin thinking laterally- to break out of their rigid paradigms. We each have a specific way of viewing reality and we have stopped questioning this which is a barrier to lateral thinking: “…the purpose of lateral thinking [is] to challenge any assumption” (De Bono, 1970: 91). Perhaps a prominent example of overcoming a set paradigm is the art movement of the early 1920s, Surrealism. Through visuals, artists created imaginary worlds, an illusory view which challenged the viewer’s perception of the world around them.

Moreover, within advertising it is important to challenge assumptions as by doing so you are able to continually reinvent products or services. For example, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar has been around since 1905. In order to persuade people to buy the same product over and over again, advertisers must be able to create a fresh image of the product for the audience.  By using Lateral Thinking to challenge the assumption the audience has of the product you can begin to process this information, turning it on its head, and create new ideas. As well as this, Lateral Thinking is highly useful when faced with a difficult advertising brief that appears dull and static.

In conclusion, from what I understand Lateral Thinking is like a vast crater that takes time to fully comprehend. As a creative, I find that Lateral Thinking is a highly useful tool in order to reach an idea. It has become almost automatic in my mind to begin to think about information I’m given with a lateral attitude. I believe that having an understanding of Lateral Thinking is very important as you become aware of the processes that happen in your mind, meaning you are able to repeat the process.

References

De Bono, Edward. 1970. Lateral Thinking Creativity Step By Step (1st edn). New York: Harper & Row.