Don't Do It!

Just so I knew how the rest of my poster ads would look, I quickly mocked up, basically what my "Target: Nike" poster would look like. I had the idea at first to form an "X" from the two Nike ticks by flipping one horizontally & crossing them over each other, but this looked more like a coat of arms or a pair of swords as opposed to a cross, so I went with the idea of turning the Nike logo upside down, as turning things upside down is often interpreted as negative (i.e turning a countries flag upside down). Combined with the slogan "Don't Do It", I think I've created a pretty effective poster here, although it still needs a bit of neatening up. I'm fairly happy with underlying theme, highlighted in the copy below the main slogan. "Don't look a fool in your 1350 minutes off pitch. Choose Umbro A-Frame." I think this ties in well with the 1350 concept, not just because it mentions it by name, but also because the main theme of these ads focus on social standing, which is somewhat of a big deal amongst people off pitch. This theme also applies to the 18-24 year old demographic, as the target audience can not only associate with the brands being spoofed, but also with the perception of people themselves based on what they wear.

Rethinking...

Just in case the whole "Reebok-Ret*ard" slogan doesn't really work (which it probably wouldn't in the real world of advertising) I've come up with an alternate slogan; Rethink. Once again though before finally deciding on a slogan for this one, I'll need a bit of tutor input to steer me in the right direction... Get ready for a flurry of blog posts on Monday once I have a clear idea in mind.

Getting back into shape...

After having a couple of brainstorms overnight as to how I can successfully pull off this ad campaign, I've decided what I'm going to do (with a back-up plan if necessary). Using the logos of other brands as my imagery, my main theme will be completely typographical, using witty puns & slogans. I'm fairly confident about the ideas I've had, but I'll need to clear them up with my tutors on Monday just to make sure they will work, otherwise, back-up plan it is. The three brands I've decided to "target" in my ads are Adidas, Nike & Reebok. I think I can cleverly devise some sort of pun-driven slogan to put my campaign across, but the Reebok one in particular is the one that concerns me, mainly because of how controversial it is, as you'll see from the image. I'm positive this is the direction I want to take, but I think a bit of tutor input would be nice at the final stage, just so I can clean my designs up & prepare a final outcome. I'd also like a bit of advice on whether or not this theme still ties in with the whole "1350" concept.

Pete Tong.

As the title reads, it seems this whole concept has gone completely t*ts up! I've really been struggling to find the right way to pull off this advertising campaign & I think this project has seen me come up with the most ideas for one outcome. I'm really going back to basics with this one as I've been totally unable to execute my past couple of ideas properly. I'm going to work my backside off this week & next in hopes of really pulling the whole "Three Stripes & You're Out" concept off & getting back on track with that, as I think it's definitley been my strongest concept so far. On the other hand, I've had a couple of issues with how to pull this campaign off design-wise, so if push comes to shove (which at this late stage, it probably will, I'm going to have to really go back to basics & just do a simple campaign that really hammers home the whole idea of "1350 minutes." Not what I'd hoped for, but I really don't see any other option. Based on the problems I had with the "Brand War" campaign before, I think I'm going to have to make this one completely typographical if it is to work, with some witty copy below the main type, just to get my messages across. Totally ballsed this one up, and I am NOT happy about it. This is what happens when I think too much.

Conversational Typography

Going back to a post I made a month or so ago, I've decided to look at kinetic type again. I don't intend to produce a kinetic outcome, but what I am going to do is create typographic slogans using "banter" about the Umbro A-Frame. Although I was really behind the idea of "Three stripes & you're out" etc, I was really struggling to make the imagery & type interact, so instead, my aim is to make my campaign entirely typographical. The reason I have looked up kinetic type in this instance, is because there are a lot of typography videos on the net, based on conversations & lines from films etc, and even though the type is moving, there are some interesting layouts to be seen & that could serve as inspiration.

Changing (potentially) Ideas

Looking back at the slogans & design outcomes I had intended to come up with, I don't think they will look visually effective if I do them the way I have discussed previously. I am at a stage now where I prefer the idea of my designs more than I like how I am going to nail them. I've had a brainstorm of a few other ideas & am confident with the one I have now come up with. More on that later.

Creating Links

Elaborating on my previous concept, I have opted to feature the crowd visual encased inside the Adidas logo, in order to make the pun more relevant. I think this works better as a connective between visual & typographic message, however I am not convinced that the link is still there between the pun & the 1350 concept. What I think would work more successfully is some sort of visual showing someone standing on their lonesome outside a club or bar, clearly looking as though they have been rejected from said place, in hopes to make the pun more relevant to the image. This is something that is going to need a lot of work if I am to get absolutely bang on.

Development stages

Now I am confident about my idea & know roughly where I want to take it, I've begun to look at how I can develop both the "1350" concept, as well as my own ideas. In this rough poster concept, I have combined elements of both of these. The main visual shows 3 stripes, followed by the slogan "Three Stripes & you're out," continuing my pursuit of a sort of "brand war" between Umbro & other leading sports brands, the target of this design of course being Adidas. I have accompanied this visual & slogan with a sub-line of "Umbro A-Frame. For life off the pitch." And the main visual focuses on some sort of concert or performance, highlighting the past times & activities explored during the 1350 minutes spent off-pitch. I am not entirely convinced that these elements connect though, as there is no real connection between the "Three Stripes & you're out" slogan & the main visual. The idea behind the slogan was to get across that these particular shoes were THE shoes to get you "in" & the "three stripes & you're out..." tagline was supposed to reinforce this, subtly hinting that Adidas was inferior. I think the two elements I have combined in this design can, and more than likely will work, just not together.

Umbro.com/1350

While looking further into the existing 1350 ad campaign for Umbro, I stumbled across an official site for the campaign (www.umbro.com/1350). The site heavily focuses on Peru captain Juan Varga & Aston Villa/England player, Darren Bent, both who have a strong passion for tattoos, which appears to be the theme running through the 1350 campaign. While this is definitley one way of approaching the concept of 1350, I don't think (in my opinion anyway) that this campaign is particularly successful. In my opinion, this is because the campaign is centered around two players & one particular off-pitch past time, which I don't think reaches as many audiences as it probably could or should. I think this campaign should have been approached with a more diverse outcome, aiming & looking more at other off-pitch activities & if not the general public, at least more than two players, as to show more diverse aspects of the 1350 concept.

1350

So, one of the main driving forces behind the ad campaign I'm working on at the minute is the concept of "1350." These are the minutes left in a day, minus the 90 minutes spent on pitch playing football. This what I aim to explore in my designs, highlighting popular past times & activities carried out during the 1350. Umbro's pre-existing ad campaign, using the 1350 slogan, does something similar, showing how Peru team captain Juan Vargas spends his time off pitch, getting tattoos. Other posters in this campaign also look at other players getting tattoos, so I am assuming this was a running theme throughout the initial run of the 1350 campaign. This particular ad campaign is far more in your face & to the point than the ad campaign I intend to conceive. I hope to bring a much more heavily focused typographic approach to my campaign, with a more subtle approach towards imagery. My design will also be more public-based, looking at popular past times of the general public, in an attempt to reach a wider audience.

First attempt...

Here is my first attempt at presenting one of my slogans typographically. Although I've tried to stay away from direct links to Football, the typeface I have used looks particularly sporty, like the type of American, high-school type you see on Jock jackets. I've done this to try & reach out to the 18-24 demographic, keeping it looking neutral though, so it doesn't just appeal to the 18's. Whether or not this will work or not I don't know, but I have also made it blatantly obvious which brand the slogan is taking aim at, by placing more subtle type beneath the main slogan, almost as though Adidas are being talked about on the quiet. The use of "smileys" using punctuation also appeals to the younger audience, as this is something commonly used amongst youngsters via text & social networking sites, which once again will empower the audience as they will feel they can relate to the ad itself.

Tagline Suggestions

The infamous Audi-BMW ad campaign war.

Now I'm going to be taking an almost "pun" approach to my designs, it would be wise to come up with a few suggestions for a slogan or two. In an attempt to form some sort of witty banter amidst my campaign, I thought it would be visually interesting to take aim at opposing brands, similar to how BMW, Audi etc ran similar ad campaigns. My aim is to "slag off" for lack of a better term, other sports brands such as Adidas & Nike, with taglines making a play on words towards other brands' popular slogans, i.e "Don't Do It" as opposed to "Just Do It" for Nike, "Three Stripes & you're Out!", aimed at the Adidas logo etc, etc. Using taglines such as this will appeal the 18-24 year old target audience in my opinion, as they will feel empowered as they "get it" in terms of the joke. They can relate to brand wars, as they themselves are constantly feeling it necessary to keep on top of the latest trends in an attempt to be "in", hence the "Three Stripes & you're out" tagline in particular, making the demographic that these particular Umbro shoes will get them where they want to be in terms of trend.