Week 12

This week’s lecture was led by Alec Dudson. He took us through some case studies and examples of how you can market your product.

“The creative idea itself needs to be really clearly communicated.”

Case Studies

Zetteler

London based and funded in 2012.

an international communications agency specialising in innovation, design, architecture, art, technology and the creative sector.

‘driven by ideas and focused on objectives, we provide bespoke PR, marketing and strategic support to creative brands, individuals, institutions and events all around the world’.

–              Interesting and different stories

–              Put in a lot of different directions

–              Range of stories around a project

–              Press releases – examples

–              Title, image, body, links, brevity, not too much

–              Doesn’t have to be work that you are creating – can just be work that is related to what you are doing

Michael Lester – The world’s smallest portfolio

Personal communications –

  1. The Idea
  2. The Documentation of the idea
  3. The Strategy

What is it about the work that I want people to talk about?

On Behance (plus others)

362 – comments

Keywords – Consider

The most interesting aspect of Michael’s design is how elegantly and professionally it is displayed. This ensures interest from both professionals and the wider public. Have a look at the below. Beautiful:

The right platform for the right product

NYPL – Insta Novels – New York Public Libraries

Organic yet designed

Bring people to you

Mother – Agency

(idea, documentation and strategy)

Stories – stories

90% craftwork

What a lovely simple idea. Using Instagram Stories for Stories. Sounds so simple and yet had a huge impact on the media, followers and many others.

Mother, the agency who devised the campaign, play down its significance and the real impact it had. They decide instead, to highlight the publications that wrote about it. It’s all very good and all, but I would have liked to see some compelling metrics.

After going hunting for these metrics, this was what I could find:

“But how useful was the campaign? Creativity and media attention aside the campaign produced some very impressive metrics. Generating 13000 new followers within the first 24 hours of the campaign, Insta Novels was a success out of the gate. However the main metric to measure is how many times one of NYPL’s Insta Novels was read; which according to a video on Mother’s website they had been over 300,000 Insta Novels read. The campaign which launched in August 2018 had acquired these reads by March 2019 (when the video was uploaded to YouTube) and more up to date numbers are likely significantly higher.

If the aim of the campaign was to bring classic literature into the digital world in the campaign was definitely a success. But as a feat of innovation the campaign is a fascinating case study not only because it came from a seemingly boring or outdated organisation in a library but because the campaign was centred around Instagram stories a commonly overlooked element of the platform.”

Insta Novels: How New York Public Library Brought Classic Literature To Instagram

Nothing you create is rubbish

A monthly digital zine of unused, unrealised, unfinished, forgotten or killed ideas from their studio.

 “Once it’s in Fin? the life of that piece is over, time to think of something new. You could say Fin? is the graveyard of DR.ME, but at the same time, it gives the work a new lease of life and still exists for people to enjoy. And it smells great.”

DR.ME

I suppose the biggest learning outcome of this venture, is that nothing that is created needs to go to waste. There is always a place for it somewhere. Alec talks about pieces being bought directly from the magazine and and how Mick Jagger actually prefered some of the work that made it to the magazine compare with what was actually used.

I guess this also reinforces the idea that while you may think an idea is not great, another may love it……Of course the opposite of that can be true too!

Quick Wins

Getting the most out of social media.

Build a network of journalists

Writing your own press release

Dropbox explanation video

What a simple way to explain quite a complex solution. I love the low tech, and I assume, low cost mock up. Dropbox is now worth $8.82 billion

Workshop Challenge

How do you build, promote and tell the story of your new product?

The Artefact

During the crit in week 12 when I was explaining the idea – how it would look and where it came from – Ingrid raised that the stories were just as important as the phrases that were said. For that reason I decided to include a small gallery style placard in the design, acknowledging the originator and the circumstances that led to it being said.

Please see my example below:

The Logo

The green and yellow seen in the previous week were not ‘energetic’ enough to be associated with designs referencing children. I went back and made some alterations to the colour so it fits better with the brand values and the tone of voice I want to portray.

Costs, Risks and Next Steps

As previously stated, my first step would be to develop a community of people who enjoy reading ‘kidisms’. They will also be asked to supply their own and the stories surrounding them.

Once this community has developed to an adequate level I will begin the process of posing questions through surveys and polls. This will give a great understanding of my potential market before I have sold or spent anything.

With little to no overlay, I will not need to look for investors and as I work as a Print and Design Manager, I already have access to good quality and cheaper printing. This may not even be an issue as I plan to offer the prints cheaper with download options.

Once I have a selection of quotes and stories I will then begin to create the prints and the website in which people can purchase them. I have experience creating websites but also have friends who are web developers who would be happy to help.

I would really like to see the prints made in letterpress. Initially for my own gratification. But also, to see if people prefer them to the digital methods and if they would pay more for something which was more craft-based and took longer to produce.

Sadly, https://www.printtothepeople.com/ , who I spoke about in an earlier module are no longer operating. They had set up a print room which they allowed the community to use. I believe they had letterpress and risograph printers. What a shame.

After some research, I found https://www.norwichprintingmuseum.co.uk/ who now houses the Jarrold collection. They have access to letterpress and I am sure they would let me test a print. They are a charity and are run by volunteers.

So, with that ready…..We launch.

Ideas Wall

Made with Padlet

References

Bourton, L., 2018. DR.ME release the latest issue of Fin? filled with killed projects and ideas that never made it. [online] Itsnicethat.com. Available at: <https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/dr-me-fin-publication-190418> [Accessed 19 August 2021].

Tarver, E., 2020. This is Dropbox’s Current Valuation. [online] Investopedia. Available at: <https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/082015/startup-analysis-how-much-dropbox-worth.asp> [Accessed 19 August 2021].

Yates, D. and Price, J., (2015), Communication design: Insights from the creative industries (Links to an external site.), London: Fairchild Books

Norwichprintingmuseum.co.uk. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.norwichprintingmuseum.co.uk/> [Accessed 19 August 2021].

Printtothepeople.com. n.d. Home. [online] Available at: <https://www.printtothepeople.com/> [Accessed 19 August 2021].

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