Daisy Leigh-Phippard: Creative Media Production at BHASVIC: 2016

My two 30 second television adverts for the Paperchase 'Write as Rain' stationary collection

I had initially planned to incorporate humour as a persuasive technique in my adverts, as in my research I found that it was highly engaging for 16-24 year olds, however when storyboarding and eventually filming and editing, it didn't feel like it had a place in the advert I was trying to make. This meant that my adverts relied on two main techniques to sell it: the product and its individuality, demonstration by audience, and a series connection.
The reason I chose the Paperchase brand to advertise was due to its strong identity and individuality; the brand had a clear target audience that were automatically more interested in the product and its features. Consequently a strength of using the product itself as a persuasive technique meant that I could focus on creatively showing how the individual viewers could use the stationary (demonstration), instead of having to focus more on showing the products themselves. However, a limitation of this meant that I had to get across quickly and clearly the brand identity at the start so that my target audience would be engaged enough to watch on. I feel I was able to do this well, since my music appeals to my target audience and the first thing the audience see is a distinguishable Paperchase patterned product being placed amongst girly and quirky mise-en-scene (as appeals to my target audience).
By connecting my two adverts as 'episodes' in a series I have the strength of showing the products to sightly different sections of my audience: 'The Creative' clearly targets the creative individuals in my 16-24 year old female target audience who like to use stationary both as a student and in recreational instances; whereas 'The Studious' appeals more to the academic viewers who like to focus on using interesting and individual products as they work. Unfortunately, I did receive some feedback in my questionnaire saying that the two adverts felt 'a bit samey' which I take on board, though I feel like there is enough diversity in the products, activities and individual shots between the two that this is not an overwhelming issue - it was also not something that came up in my focus group.
Demonstration was the most effective persuasive technique in hindsight, with both my questionnaire and focus group responding that seeing the products being used not only made the product and activities feel relatable less intimidating, but also a lot more appealing as it clearly shows the huge range of things you can do with the stationary. One person in my focus group noted the limitation that it hides some of the attractive patterns on the stationary itself, but that my inclusion of extreme close up cutaways compensated for this as it gave another opportunity to show off the strong Paperchase brand identity.

The responses from my questionnaire on its persuasive techniques

My idea developed a great deal from the initial concept that I pitched, in both tone and technique. For example compared to my first storyboards, where I had planned only to use a montage edit of birds-eye medium shots with close up cutaways of the students interacting with the product, there is a lot more visual diversity in my final adverts: during editing I noticed a slow pace and the fact that the viewer didn't get to see the product itself in detail - only the students using them. I therefore filmed extra footage of the products themselves, both in single extreme close ups, and close ups of the collection all together. This was important to get across the brand identity of Paperchase itself on top of what students can do with the products, and also for avoiding a slow pace in the adverts.
Furthermore, the arrangement of mise-en-scene within the frame became less symmetrical and rigid (my storyboards show a Wes Anderson-esque style of framing the product, with it positioned straight in the center of the frame). When it came to filming, my actors instinctively tilted the stationary as they started working and chose the props themselves, giving a much more natural feel: my actors were my niche target audience so I was able to let them influence my creative decisions on set.
Finally, my choice of sound developed a lot throughout the production of the adverts. During storyboarding, I expected to use a 'light, energetic' soundtrack that differed slightly between each of my adverts. I found a piece of music that fitted the idea in my head, however due to licensing issues I had to look for alternatives in a short amount of time, resulting in a clear change in style to my final music: a relaxed, jazzy piano piece edited together in a modern style. While I would have preferred to stick with my initial choice of music, I feel that this 'youtube-esque' soundtrack (which is seen regularly on contemporary vlogger videos) still appeals to my target audience of 16-24 year olds, and gives a classy atmosphere that I had not previously thought about applying to my products.
Overall, my idea developed into a much more balanced advert: I was able to create diversity on the visual side, and overcome issues with sound and still resulted in an engaging advert that appeals to the target audience.

Extracts from my initial storyboards on 'The Creative' Paperchase advert

When researching the Paperchase brand and thinking about what I was going to create, I did some research into existing adverts. During this I discovered that Paperchase themselves don't actually have any television or online adverts for their collection (bar a 'How To...' series on their YouTube channel that gives tutorials for creative activities). Likewise, when I was looking at other existing stationary adverts they were all targeted at a young demographic ranging from 8-16. For this reason I didn't use either of these as focus adverts, however I feel the Paperchase brand identity still comes through in a similar fashion to how they present it.

'The Creative' Paperchase advert and The Paperchase 2015 Christmas Collection

Feedback from my questionnaire praised the placement of the stationary in my advert in the individual close ups ('the way [the products] are lined up really appeals to the target audience'): one product is placed in the center of the frame, with other items from the collection surrounding it but partially cut out by the camera. This same care with aesthetic and presentation is obvious in the Paperchase video, with each collection organised like a display table. The use of a 3D space to display the products in the Paperchase advert is very interesting, and I would have liked to explore this more in different circumstances, however I chose to stick to shots directly above the products to keep up consistent cinematography between the students using the stationary and individual close ups.

The soundtrack used in the Paperchase video is closer to what I was hoping to use in my adverts, as the light, upbeat feel fits nicely with the brand identity and its audience, however I also feel that my focus on students and their work as opposed to just the branded products allowed me more flexibility in the style I adopted. As a result, I now feel the slightly more classy and gentle music I incorporated into my adverts still aligns with the Paperchase brand.
A weakness of the Paperchase advert is the lack of human interaction with the products: the 2015 Christmas Collection is very static and delicately arranged to the point where it feels intimidating and aesthetically pleasing, but not necessarily useful and with purpose. My research and feedback has shown me that the demonstration of products like these which are used in everyday life is incredibly effective at engaging the audience, and potentially would have improved the Paperchase video, as it did for my advert.

'The Studious' Paperchase advert, Samsung's 'It's Not a Phone it's a Galaxy' advert

and Apple's 'The Only Thing That's Changed' advert

Instead of using stationary adverts as the the basis of my inspiration, I used phone adverts. My reasoning was that a 16-24 year old audience are very interested in these products and therefore companies will make an advert that appeals to them - as well as the fact that they looked at advertising with a modern perspective, and the Apple and Samsung brands are both creative in their advertisements and brand identity, which fits with the Paperchase brand and its audience.
In my initial research, my focus group responded positively to both adverts, pointing out the way they both 'concisely demonstrated the product' was effective. This key persuasive technique of demonstration led on to be the most important technique in my adverts and their success, meaning that this piece of primary research was invaluable to my project. By seeing each element of the product being used clearly in these phone adverts, I made sure to be diverse and clear in what I was demonstrating in my stationary advert: the use of notebooks and sketchbooks, as well as pencils and pens, for both school work and recreation shown just through cinematography.
Furthermore, my early research also drew attention to the successful aesthetic qualities such as a 'sparse background and changing product' was appealing in these phone adverts, as well as elements such as colour, 'easy viewing without any text' and 'a range of people shown through hands' in the Samsung advertisement. All of these influenced the way I presented my products visually, primarily through focusing the viewer's attention on the main product in the middle of the frame, but making sure there was colour and props around them to make the surrounding area interesting too. I would have liked to have been more diverse with the hands using the products in order to clearly show appeal to a range of ethnicities which is successful achieved in both the phone adverts.
On the other hand, some negative feedback towards the adverts about the 'bare and boring' background and the ambiguous nature of exactly what the Samsung advert was selling, to the 'predictable features' of the Apple one led me to exaggerate creative and distinguished features of the Paperchase brand. I used a range of mise-en-scene to ensure there wasn't too much empty space in the frame, and ensured a range of specific uses for the products were used in the footage.

After finishing my adverts I continued to do research into its response in my niche audience and its the wider reception in experts, peers and other 16-24 year olds.
One of the first pieces of feedback I collected after finishing my adverts was that of a 'client' Bill Smith at LatestTV - Brighton's local television station. The response from him was exceedingly positive: he found my adverts 'nice and gentle'; 'I love the way you shot from above and I liked the music and it does the job!' He did also notice a minor spelling error at the end of my advert that I had mistakenly left in and was able to alter. It was very helpful to receive a very positive response from a professional about a slow and gentle advert as a lot of the media can be loud and I potentially took a risk by deciding to create something quieter and more refined. Though he was not my in my target audience his feedback was still valuable for gaging the success of my adverts.
The early feedback on my finished adverts I received from my peers and teachers was valuable not only in getting an idea of the success of my product, but also in understanding areas I might like to focus on in wider research like my focus group and questionnaire that I had yet to do. I was given a lot of encouraging responses around my 'good technical techniques' with 'excellent camera skill' and a 'very tight edit' that 'shows the range of products creatively' with a 'clear sense of audience' and a 'use of diverse people'. On a rating scale of 1-10 looking at elements like cinematography, sound and engagement I was given no less than a 7/10 (bar narrative which wasn't an issue as my adverts did not follow this genre). Furthermore, many of my peers recognised that I was selling the brand for 'young trendy, fashionable teenagers' and 'efficient and creative students', and 'that [it] caters to multiple types of young people'. Some constructive criticism I also received through this primary research was queries on the music being a 'bit repetitive', and suggestion that maybe a voiceover would pick up the pace - this was then something I took to my focus group (while they agreed about the music, they still liked the soundtrack I had used, and disagreed about the use of a voiceover).
The final pieces of primary research I carried out for the project were my focus group and questionnaire around the strengths and weaknesses of my adverts both technically, persuasively and in terms of its link to the Paperchase brand. Again, I was happy with the reception from both of these, though my focus group was the key piece of research as it was made up purely of individuals from my target audience and was therefore the most accurate in understanding how successful my advert would be when appealing to the female 16-24 year old bracket. The general responses was similar to that which I had received from both my client and peers: the visual and editing aspects were done well, and effectively sold the product both as appealing and distinguishable but also useful for students - though the music felt out of place to some people, and the pacing could have improved. You can see the full results from my focus group and questionnaires for my initial research and concluding research.

Throughout this project the use of research has been incredibly important, both primary and secondary, from initially understanding how television advertising works to collecting the reception of my advert at the very end.

A response from my focus group of eight 16-24 year old females

Focus groups are a form of primary research which has been the most useful throughout the project, the biggest strength being that I had my niche target audience in front of me and was able to have in-depth conversations with them about the product, adverts and their engagement. This allowed me to be flexible in what I asked depending on their responses, and also gave me an opportunity to be a lot more specific on what people thought - which inevitably led to more accurate results both in how detailed the responses were, but also because I was asking the people I wanted to engage with my advert. A potential limitation of using this method in my circumstances was that my focus group all knew me personally as I did not have access to an alternative, so were potentially slightly kinder in their responses. However, I was still able to get both encouraging feedback and constructive criticism from my focus group on the various occasions I used them, and still think it was the most useful form of research I carried out.

A response from my questionnaire sent to 20 16-24 year olds

Another form of primary research I used were questionnaires, which were not as useful and specific as the focus groups, but still helpful in understanding wider trends and responses from a bigger numbers of respondents. It's strengths were definitely more around the more general questions I needed answering, for example the channels and times on which 16-24 year olds watch television and would be able to see the advert. It also provided the opportunity for me to recognise that wider audiences would also see and be engaged by my adverts (e.g. parents watching with their families who would potentially buy stationary for their children etc). In addition, in my final questionnaire I was able to get an overall free for the quality of my advert and how well it would fit onto television. The only drawback is that it is harder to know the reasoning for people's responses and ask them for detailed alternatives that they think might work better as I could in my focus group.

My initial audience profile for the Paperchase brand

Market research of both existing advertisements I might like to copy and of the Paperchase brand was again one of the most useful methods of research since it fuelled everything I went on to create. Learning about the Paperchase brand and building the audience profile was key to deciding the tone and style of my advert, as well as my primary persuasive technique of demonstration. Furthermore, the strength of looking at existing adverts meant that I was aware of what was effective in advertising to my target audience, but also what I could build on throughout the creative process to gain good reception. Though I took a slightly unconventional approach to my market research by looking in-depth at phone adverts as opposed to stationary ones, I feel this actually helpful me massively, especially when it came to understand the visual qualities my audience was engaged by. A limitation of looking at what currently exists both for the Paperchase brand and for existing advertisements is that it's potentially volatile: Paperchase definitely changes their style regularly to keep audiences interested, meaning that perhaps my advertisement will not be quite so effective in a few years time. However, it was still a very valuable piece of research to look into to start with.

Young and Rubicam's Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation

I also conducted secondary research into advertising forms, regulation and audience theory. While these were helpful in developing a base understanding of how television advertising works, they essentially only led onto other primary research that I could use in my actual project. Regulation wasn't a risk for the gentle style of advert I planned to make, and after using focus groups and questionnaires that allowed me to have a more specific idea of who my audience were and what they wanted, audience theories and advertising forms became very generalised and simplistic. I would say a strength in audience theories in particular would be Young and Rubicam's 4Cs, as it classed audiences in not only in what they want, but also in the way they think (my target audience, for example, is The Explorer) - theories such as Uses and Gratifications and The Power Elite were not quite so relevant to what I was investigating and needed to apply to create an effective advert.

A response from my questionnaire sent to 16-24 year olds

A response from my questionnaire sent to 16-26 year olds

Appropriate channels and times at which to screen my adverts was also important information for me to find out. The secondary research that went into this was helpful not so much in the creative process, but for the success of the product itself, and my later research through my questionnaires definitely confirmed the channel placements of E4 and ITV between 19:00-21:00 fitted my adverts in order to reach my target audience. My placement between The 100 at 21:00 on E4 was perhaps a little inaccurate, as no one expected to see my advertisement that late in the evening, however I still feel it would reach some of my target audience, even if the style of my final advertisement ended up not matching the show as well as I had first hoped. Something else that came up in my focus group was a suggestion that my adverts would be well suited to online release, and I agree that the style of my adverts would suit online distribution well, and would definitely reach my target audience of students.

Broadcast advertisements have to meet the Advertising Codes and Standards of CAP in order to be televised. These include restrictions on the portrayal of products, to the times they can be screened, to the representation of individuals, to the audience they will be reaching. For my adverts to be successful, it must comply with these codes to ensure it is suitable for television advertising.

1.3 - Advertisements must comply with the law and broadcasters must make that a condition of acceptance.

By adhering to the codes and standards of practice in place from CAP in my advert I will be complying with the law, and will therefore be able to find acceptance from broadcasters to screen my advertisements.

3.4 - Obvious exaggerations ("puffery") and claims that the average consumer who sees the advertisement is unlikely to take literally are allowed provided they do not materially mislead.

It could be seen that the creations of individuals (e.g. drawings, formulas etc) shown in my adverts could be exaggerations of what the average consumer could achieve, however these are not over-the-top exaggerations and are unlikely to be taken as 'puffery' since the individuals using the products in my adverts are actual students.

3.12 - Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance or a product or service.

My adverts will not exaggerate the capability or performance of the product in their demonstration as I will be using the actual products themselves (and therefore showing a truthful example of their performance). Furthermore, my adverts focus more on what can be created by individuals using the products (e.g. drawings, formulas etc); consequently these aspects of my adverts may be slightly exaggerated from what the average consumer may be able to produce, however are dependant on the individual skill of the person, not the product.

3.28 - Broadcasters must be satisfied that advertisers have made a reasonable estimate of demand.

Throughout my research I have supported and justified my choice of product and broadcasters based on both primary and secondary research, and can therefore confidently produce a reasonable estimate for the demand of my product. For example, from my research I can say thats, since 75% of my questionnaire feedback stated that 16-24 year olds would buy stationary when they need to replace it, there is confirmation that the demand for stationary products exists.

3.36 - Advertisements must not create confusion between the advertiser and its competitors or between the advertiser's product or service, trade mark, trade name, or other distinguishing mark and that of a competitor.

Part of my justification for choosing Paperchase as my brand was due to its distinguishable and unique branding identity and style: I will not create confusion between my brand and other competitors in my adverts as Paperchase stands out from other stationary retailers in the industry.

3.42 - Advertisements must not discredit or denigrate another product, advertiser or advertisement of a trade mark, trade name or other distinguishing mark.

Though I have researched into other brand competitors such as Ryman or WHSmith, I will not be using my findings to strengthen claims made in my adverts, so therefore will not come into difficulty with discrediting or denigrating other stationary retailers.

4.1 - Advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical, mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18.

As my target audience is aged 16-24 this is a relevant code for my adverts, however due to the lighthearted and simple demonstration of stationary products which will take up the entirety of my adverts, I will not feature anything that could cause physical, mental, moral or social harm.

6.1 - Television only - With limited exceptions, living persons must not be featured, caricatured or referred to in advertisements with their permission.

I am not using professional actors in my advertisements, however all the students that will be featured have given their permission and enthusiasm to be filmed. Furthermore, I plan to only show the hands and lower arms of the students, and therefore will not be portraying them in inappropriate or uncomfortable ways that the students may object to.