Freelance/self employment within the design industry

People in the Digital design industry working as a freelancer has increased five – fold in a year (dec 2010), which means the self employe now account for more than a quarter of the workforce.

This article reveals the pro’s and cons of freelance, basically outlining the amount of staff working in agencies is decreasing, freelancing is more likely to pay more, and as a creative  you can choose what you create. There is also the warning that a freelancer going into an agency to work can create or break agency reputations through word of mouth. Less loyalty than an agency staff member. So as you can see there are good points and bad points, but is working as a team in a creative agency environment deteriorating? This could be a very interesting topic to research further into.

http://www.freelanceuk.com/news/3697.shtml

When you work in an agency you have the comfort of opinions working as a team, obviously as a freelancer its all about self discipline and relying on your own intuition. Here are some examples of freelance work Roy Barber Doncaster. http://www.roy-barber.co.uk

Dissertation preperation

Dissertation preparation-Amy Wood

I have chosen two questions for my dissertation; two questions that interest me greatly as they are subjects that I have learnt a great deal about in order to prepare for my dissertation.

They are: Has the advertising industry begun to ignore the older generation as a target audience?

And

Where does advertising end and propaganda begin?

 

In order to compile information for my essay, I have researched both subjects thoroughly, using both the massive amount of information on the internet at my disposal and speaking to people in order to gain a general opinion on the subjects. My essay will relay these findings in an unbiased manner; my feeling on each subject has swayed throughout the research process, as each question has brought much scope of opinion into my research. For example; a journalist writing an article on Politics and advertising will already have an allegiance in place due to the newspaper they write for. As politics is such a vast and serious issue in this country, it would seem that the opinions of the articles authors I read are laid out across the page, clearly and concisely for the reader to digest. With regards to the older generation question, it is a subject that has engaged many discussions on internet forums and has also prompted articles to be written in its matter. Again, it is an issue heavily ensconced in opinion; a divided opinion is what I most found when discussing this subject with people, and also within the articles I read regarding the issue. Such is the nature of being the subject of a debate, the older generation obviously feel that they are somewhat ignored.

 

My essay will explore my chosen question in depth, using the research and opinions/figures I have correlated. I believe that both subjects require opinion in order to properly assemble my dissertation, as they both equally concern the population of this country. They are subjects that the majority of people will, to some level, offer some their feelings and beliefs on the matter. There is so much scope in both questions that there is no “ceiling” to the research process; 60 million people in Britain could offer an answer to either question which could quite easily be taken into account.

My second choice question: Has the advertising industry begun to ignore the older generation as a target audience?

I was very curious when I chose to research this question. There were a great amount of questions I had in mind when compiling research. The older generation are mostly retired, do advertisers simply ignore that they have more free time? In some cases, more disposable income (The over 50’s have more than £200 billion of disposable income and account for approximately 80% of private wealth)? Are they aware that they are the fastest growing demographic using social networking sites and currently account for a third of the online community?

A report published in the economist magazine in 2002, wrote that companies still spend over 95% of their marketing and advertising budgets on the under 50′s age groups. Paul Treguer; founder of Senior Agency, an advertising company aimed at seniors believes that the reason for this is that companies focus on building brand loyalty; catching the younger generation in order to maintain their loyalty further on into their lives: “We are in a society where there is a strong preference for young people. Large worldwide corporations like Coca Cola, Walt Disney, Sony and Nike were born in the 20th century; they contributed to define the core target for advertising as 15 – 35 year olds. Today, executives in marketing, advertising and television still address the youngest consumer possible to build up brand loyalty.  Whilst continuing, following this formula , the marketing executives, agencies and television channels try and capture who they view as the easily manipulated target and ignore the rapidly aging population.” I think it obvious that companies would spend heavily on advertising for younger generations; they will of course bring brand loyalty, e.g. football players both amateur and professional will usually stick with the same brand of boots throughout the years that they play. However, as I have already illustrated, the older generation are ‘those with the money’ and surely are a cash source waiting to be tapped. M&S had their very public breakdown, many believing that this was due to their strict policy of catering for the older generation. Their resurgence into a powerful company is one of the great successes in British business; however, this correlates with them turning their attentions to the younger generation as the target audience. Although their television adverts feature iconic model Twiggy (currently in her 60’s) they have presented their adverts with a modern twist accompanying her with younger models, almost leaving her rendered an after-thought to satiate the older generation; have them believe they are ‘part of the process’. Surely, they will begin to alienate their loyal older generation that they fought so hard to capture in the first place, or do they believe that the younger generation is the target audience now as they too look to capture a new brand loyalty?

I found many reasoned (but heavily biased) arguments and opinions for both the necessary resurgence of advertising for the older generation, and the fact that companies need to change and adapt with the times as the world is constantly changing. The one question that remains on my mind is; despite the necessity to capture brand loyalty in order for a company to compete, do they not need to maintain the advertising to the 100% of their customers in order to survive?

 

My first choice question: Where does advertising end and propaganda begin?

I chose this question because it is an area I knew very little about; it benefited me as I have learnt much about the subject matter and gained valuable knowledge regarding an issue that I didn’t realise was so in depth. When I chose this subject, as with my previous question, it brought many questions to mind. What methods do advertisers use in such a specific advertising genre? How do some advertising methods work better than others? Can a political advertising campaign really affect and change British voters’ minds? Does politics dictate advertising, or does advertising dictate politics? Where does advertising end…and propaganda begin?

Claire Beale, of the Independent writes: “The advertising agencies involved in these campaigns will admit that their role is to provide material, images, sound to generate debate, and not to come up with a killer ad that changes the cause of election, this election has not been an election of iconic advertising, but an election of stunts, online parodies and fast turn-around, knee jerk ads that have made the most of speed and flexibility of digital posters and the internet.”

Political advertising was a necessary tool during the first and second World Wars. Iconic posters displaying bloody soldiers that told the viewer to “Fight for their country” were commonplace as the dissemination of political material was obviously more difficult at that time, and the government required support during that time as the country went to war on their say so. This was known as propaganda, and this caught my interest as I wondered whether today’s political ‘advertising’ could actually be ‘cloaked’ propaganda, which in turn will have an influence on British voters’ minds.

Propaganda is defined as: Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. The dissemination of such information as a political strategy

Advertising is defined as:  The activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services.

In recent years, there have been many stand out examples of ‘Political Advertising’. “Dave the Chameleon”, “Labour isn’t working” and “Don’t let him take Britain back to the 80’s”. All of which are witty, well presented and also feature one common feature; a humorous and clever attack on the opposition.  In certain areas of the country, political allegiances are sworn in from birth-Labour or Conservative being the dominant pair. However, do the adverts produced by renowned advertising companies such as Saatchi and Saatchi cause those non-voters and those ‘on the fence’ to change their vote? One obvious method is to play on recent events surrounding the country, such as the recession and unemployment figures. Each advert will blame the opposition for occurrences within the Political climate; Labour infamously attacked the Conservatives for their actions surrounding the closure of mines up and down the country. Arthur Scargill took to the televisions attacking Maggie Thatcher; this became a renowned and often used part of historical advertising; the Conservatives maintaining they were doing it for the countries benefit; Labour believing they forgot about the working classes as they carry a heavy middle/upper class label.

As mankind has furthered its ability to exchange information, generated social networking sites and television can offer over nine hundred channels, Politics has moved with the times. Politicians often use Twitter to offer their views on matters. With these changes has come a change in advertising tactics. Billboard advertising is still commonplace; no more so than in London. David Jones, global chief executive of Euro RSCG insists that “the transparency, authenticity and speed of new media has transformed this election, it has cascaded word of mouth”. One advertisement that causes controversy is bound to have an effect. The media will of course discuss it, which causes the public to discuss it offering their opinions and beliefs on the matter, whether that be word of mouth or use of Twitter and Facebook.

I visited a website emandp.com and found an article; the article iterates that when it comes to political advertising, the higher the cost of the advertisement  and the more knowledge voters have, the more negative the advertising according to a recent study co-authored by Mitchell J Lovett; Assistant Professor of Marketing. The Co-authors studied more than 600 political campaigns and found that the more media coverage and advertisement spending on a campaign the more negativity in advertising responses. “When you account for knowledge about the candidates and campaign spending, the relationship goes away” says Mitchell J Lovett.

The main opinion I found during my research into the subject, was the overwhelming negativity surrounding ALL political advertising. It is of course completely based on bias and opinion, one person’s idea of controversial and negative is different if the advert was spawned from the ideas of their party! In the 1070’s and 1980’s, where poster and newspaper campaigning was an absolute necessity to political parties, it was possible to change a voters mind. The use of strong language and emotive imagery would resonate with the recipient, on the basis that political allegiances were being tested. However, politics has become less important in today’s culture; the people whose opinions I have collated have led me to believe that the public see our politicians as “all the same” and “no better than the others”. Could there be an advertisement campaign in the future that would sway their opinion? I am going to detail my case studies in my dissertation, they show clearly that the public are feeling disenfranchised with politics and political advertising. I will however, present these findings in an unbiased fashion, as they are a discussion of bias in their subject matter.

In conclusion, I opted for my first choice question as I felt there was more room to explore the issue, it resonates with the public on a firmer basis, and causes debate whenever it is approached. There is plenty of scope for a dissertation in my second choice question; however, I feel that the Political question will present a more interesting essay as the country is currently experiencing political shifts on an almost daily basis. Such is the nature of Politics, as is the same in the world of advertising, it is always changing and it is a clash as to whether the public or the politicians have to change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has the advertising industry forgotten the older generation as a target audience? research

The over 50’s have more than £200billion of disposable income and account for 80 percent of private wealth. They make up a third of people online and are the fastest growing demographic using social networking sites. A survey of a million 50 year olds found they believe 86percent of advertising is of little or no relevance to them. Companies have turned a blind eye to the older market, while the ‘seniors’ are more active and spend driven than ever before. A report published in the economist magazine in 2002, companies still spend over 95percent of their marketing and advertising budget on the under 50’s age groups.

‘We are in a society where there is strong preference for young people’ writes Jean Paul Treguer, founder of senior agency, for advertising consultancy for seniors, on his website..

‘ Large worldwide corporations like Coca Cola, Walt Disney, Sony and Nike were born in the 20th century, and they contributed to define the core target for advertising as 15 – 35 year olds. Today people in marketing, advertising and television still address the youngest consumer possible to build up loyalty, while continuing following this formula , the marketing people, agencies & tv channels go to who they see as the easiest target & ignore the rapidly aging population.’

So the statistics show they may have been forgotten, but why? Jean Treguer made a valid point of targeting early to gain loyalty through out the years. This brings me to M&S, more of the older generation are now loyal customers and have been for years, but M&S have changed the way they advertise, and it looks to be like they are targeting more and more to a younger generation, is M&S in danger of alienating core customers by forgetting those of the older generation?

 As you can see above here are a couple that are targeting at a younger generation, but M&S also do have a go at aiming at the older generation too, Twiggy the iconic model from the 60’s features in M&S adverts…

M&S seems to want to target a new younger market but also keep the loyal older generation of customers too, but could it be too much of a risk?

Below is a lynx advert purely focused for the younger male market, lynx do only target that audience, but are lynx big enough as a brand to try a campaign for the older generation, they are successful maybe they could afford to take the risk?

Here is a advert for M&S, a fathers day poster cleverly targeted for both older and younger generation.And then of course we have the obvious adverts made for the older generation, life insurance etc, but surely theres more of a market out there than the obvious?

I found on The Campaign website, there is a website called High50 which is a devoted website for over 50’s who believe old is good, an online community of 20000 online active members which was founded over 4 years ago. It has articles, links to culture, shopping, money, news etc. So maybe the market is beginning to pick up?

Has advertising had a profound effect on Britains political climate? research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found an article on http://www.independent .co.uk written by Claire Beale in May 2010 titled ‘Did the elections ads really influence the outcome?’

From David Camerons baby smooth face on the Tory poster campaign back in January, mercilessly spoofed by Labours supporters on the internet who accused the Tory leader of air brushing his policies as well as his picture , to Gordon Browns disturbing grin alongside lines like ‘I took billions from pensions vote for me’ and the Lib Dems mock party, the Labservatives will any of it had made a difference?

The advertising agencies involved in these campaigns will admit that their role is to provide material, images, sound to generate debate, and not to come up with a killer ad that changes the cause of election, Claire Beale found that this election has not been an election of iconic advertising, but an election of stunts, online parodies and fast turn around, knee jerk ads that have made the most of speed and flexability of digital posters and the internet.

The election ad campaigns have not been high spending. Labour and Lib Dems spent in the very low millions of pounds, but the conservatives had spent as much as 25million on ads. Could the high spending of ads had anything to do with conservatives winning?

Its not just traditional poster ads, but social media has had an important role to play. David Jones the global chief executive of Euro RSCG insists that ‘ the transparancy, authenticity and spped of new media has transformed this election it has cascaded word of mouth’ I personally think that more people have been reached to vote through the social media such as facebook, especially the younger generation.

The power of television still exists, all the money and time is overshadowed by the impact of television debates. Ad agencies were put on alert after each programme shown, working through the night to rewrite ads and tweak messaging in line with the tener of debate.

One advertising executive working on the campaign admitted that the experience had left him ‘A broken man’. From this maybe politics do dictate advertising?

I visited a website emandp.com and found an article, that believes that when it comes to political advertising the more campaigns spent and the more knowledge voters have, the more negative the advertising according to a recent study coauthorised by Mitchell J Lovett assistant professer of marketing. The Coauthors studied more than 600 political campaigns and found that the more media coverage and ad spending on a campaign the more negativity in advertising. When you account for knowledge about the candidates and campaign spending, the relationship goes away says Mitchell J Lovett.

Below is another source of information I have found that can give me some more information on this issue. What I found interesting in this particular write up is the indepth research of the physcology of people whilst the elections are happening, which could give me more of an idea of the extent advertising has on this political climate and how it can effect us as a whole.

Attack Advertising as an Agent of British Youth Political Disempowerment? A Review of Evidence.

Dr Janine Dermody, Dr Stuart Hanmer-Lloyd, Dr Nicole Koenig-Lewis and Dr Anita L. Zhao

 

Overview of the Chapter

In this chapter we examine how advertising was used in the 2010 British general election, the extent to which British youth trusted or distrusted the advertising employed, and thus whether advertising is a tool of engagement or disengagement. In order to begin to disentangle the complexity of this question, we begin by presenting an overview and critical appraisal of the 2010 British general election advertising campaigns for the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. We then consider the evidence on youth electoral (dis)engagement. Having established the core arguments that underpin this chapter we then introduce the findings from our survey of British youth attitudes towards the 2010 election advertising. In evaluating our findings we focus on the ethical tensions that arise from persistently using attack advertising to communicate to cynical, distrusting youth – predominantly evaluating whether attack advertising acts as an agent of empowerment or disempowerment in undermining the electoral engagement of young adults in Britain.

A few negative ads

I found during my research that negative ads within politics seems to pop up alot, I wondor if this is because these ads have more of an impact? I wanted to have a look at some for myself..

Dave the chameleon, Labour party advert

This advert has so much humour incredibly witty. The ad has no points about Labour at all, its all about David Cameron conservatives and where he goes wrong. I can see why this has such an impact on viewers, it literally is a war of advertisements. and slander.

Conservative ad Labours Legacy

This ad is a basic attack of Labours legacy, and the conservatives seem to have got the point across, pointing out Labours faults from previous years.

Here this video shows Professer John Geer argue in favour of negative ads, he explains that to improve something means that you have to find fault which means that negativity is good. iframe>

Here is an article I found in The Drum, on political advertising, I have made the words bold on some of the key factors that will help me with my research on the impact of advertising in the political climate…

The sight of David Cameron on numerous billboards shortly after New Year signalled that the advertising campaign for the 2010 General Election campaign has unofficially begun. Politicians love getting involved in advertising and agencies seem to love getting involved in politics.

During my time working for the Labour Party in Scotland, managing its advertising campaigns, I was always amazed by the eagerness of agencies to work on our accounts. We had very little money to pay them, we demanded super human efforts in return and we always wanted results yesterday. Yet still agencies queued up to pitch.

Frustrations Working on a political campaign for an agency can be tough going. At times it seems like a never ending series of demands, frustrations and unrealistic expectations as parties search for the one poster that will change the course of the campaign and boost their electoral fortunes.

The working hours can be exhausting. If politicians are up at 2am thinking about the strategy for the next few days then they expect the agency to be as well. If they need a last minute poster to react to the events of the day then it is going to mean working through the night. You can produce a brilliant, bold piece of communication then watch politicians take cold feet and it’s soon heading straight for the pile marked ‘thanks but no thanks’.

Then there is the potential for disaster at every turn. I remember in 2003 standing in a very wet Parliament Square in Edinburgh watching in horror as our final poster of the campaign became more and more rain soaked to slowly reveal the Tories poster from the previous day underneath.

Thankfully that didn’t attract any significant press comment but you are always one mishap away from being on the front page of the Daily Record. I often wonder why any sane agency would want to get involved. The reason is that no other sector offers the potential profile and the unique experience that comes from working on a campaign. Where else would you be delivering an ad concept at 5pm, testing it in focus groups at 7pm, debriefing the client at 11pm and driving past it as a billboard a few days later? The sheer adrenaline and buzz that comes from working at that pace is fantastic. It is fast, it is vibrant and it can be addictive. Working on political advertising campaigns has given me some of the most memorable moments of my career.

I remember the thrill of testing the image of William Hague in a Margaret Thatcher wig in the 2001 election and watching the response from voters. We knew right away it was going to be a defining poster of the campaign. I recall flicking through the ad concepts from TBWA/Edinburgh in 2003 and finding the simple image of a Scotland torn from England and the words ‘Then What?’ and knowing that here was a poster that summed up the folly of independence far more than any 100 page policy document ever could.

High profile It doesn’t even need to be a high profile poster. In 2003 we produced a fairly low level leaflet on what Labour had achieved for pensioners.

The concept was simple – an illustration of a pensioner waiting at a bus stop with the line ‘You wait for ages and then three come at once’. Turn it over to discover that in the last four years Labour in the Scottish Parliament had provided free bus travel, free care for the elderly and free central heating to benefit older people.

Just getting the leaflet agreed was a battle as politicians needed persuaded that using a cartoon illustration wasn’t undermining the serious business of politics and that we didn’t need to scream Labour onwanting to talk about ‘that leaflet’. He told me that he had opened the box and thought  the front of every piece of communication. But the battle was won and it went out. Just a few days later I feared the worst as I was approached by one of our no nonsense Glasgow MSPs what the hell is this? He handed it to his activists and their reaction was the same. But they took it out on the streets and had received the best reaction they had ever experienced to a Labour leaflet.

When you get it right and the voters respond then it is quite magical. Working for a political party is perhaps the ultimate gamble for an agency. The high profile nature of the work makes it high risk and high reward. Produce a killer poster and you will forever be credited as the person who won the election single handed.

Mess up and you are blamed for the defeat or front page news. Just ask the agency who airbrushed David Cameron to look a little too perfect.

Right now the battle lines for the coming campaign are being drawn. It will be interesting to see the tone of each party’s campaign and the balance between positive and negative advertising. There is a myth in political advertising that only negative campaigning really works but it only works if it is based on an existing truth.

Attacking William Hague by placing him in a Thatcher wig was only accepted by voters because it was funny and, more importantly, because voters were genuinely concerned about going back to the Tories if they were still the party of Thatcher and the Poll Tax.

Vindictive Going negative just for the sake of it will risk you ending up looking petty and vindictive like the Tories did when they portrayed Tony Blair with devil eyes in1997 or the SNP did in the run up to 2003 when they produced a New Year poster showing Jack McConnell as a cigarette being stubbed out in an ashtray. Yes it was as bad as it sounds.

The first Conservative poster sets out their initial strategy quite clearly. Focus on the need for change and emphasise the leader rather than the party. The sensible thing to do when polling shows that the Cameron brand is more popular in the country than the Conservative brand. No doubt attacks on Labour and Gordon Brown will follow. For Labour the challenge The Conservative Party’s newly launched campaign has caused a stir; while Labour’s worries of old were different to today’s problems is how to look fresh and represent the change the country needs when you are the incumbent who has been in power for the last 12 years.

The threat of Tory cuts may not be as potent given the global recession and Cameron provides a less obvious link to the Thatcher Government than William Hague or Michael Howard did.

That said I still wouldn’t rule out them producing the defining image of the campaign as they have done in recent elections. The other parties will be struggling to compete as the big two dominate the debate. No one knows exactly how the election campaign will unfold but the one thing we can be sure of is that it will be fascinating.

Steven Lawther is the founder of Red Circle Communications and former Head of Communications for the Scottish Labour Party. He has worked on political campaigns since1992. He continues to advise the Labour Party on polling, advertising and communication. He recently worked on a major public opinion survey for the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland and spent time at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research – a leading US polling agency – during the 2004 US Presidential Elections.

When I first read this article I could relate to the views, the deeper I have researched the more I found that negative ads do seem to have a greater impact on the public, especially the Labour ‘Dave the Chameleon’, incredibly humourous and witty and cleverly done. How brave was it for an ad agency to create such an ad? Political parties have carried on creating negative ads, so there must be some sort of pattern of success. Or is it that one cannot do without the other?

Labour isnt working poster campaign

1978 Saatchi advertising agency produced a poster campaign for the Conservatives, with the slogan ‘Labour isnt working’ a fake photograph of a long line of people queuing at an unemployment office. It shattered Labours image as the party of the ordinary worker, and the message that the party had failed its base. It was voted the poster campaign of the century by advertising industry magazine campaign. following the conservative victory in 1979, it was hailed as ‘ the poster that won the election’. Incredibly powerful words, could of one poster changed the views of a political party? Looking at examples like this, its hard not to sway further towards advertising having a great impact on political climate..

Dissertation preperation

I have chosen to look into two topics, one of which I will choose to research deeper to start my dissertation

1 Has advertising had a profound effect on Britains Political Climate?

2 Has the advertising industry forgotten the older generation as a target audience?

I chose the first question because its an area I know very little about, a purely chose this so I can learn and gain new knowledge, I would like to dig deep into research and find out as much information as possible on whether advertising really does make a differnce to Britains voters, methods and how some advertising works better than others, does it really change voters minds? Does politics dictate advertising? Or does advertising dictate politics? Where does advertising end…and properganda begin?

The second question I have have chosen to research is because its something that Im extremely curious about. The older generation mostly retired, have more time on their hands, some have more money, so why is there so little ad’s targeting at this generation? With more money surely they are likely to buy, with more time, theyre likely to see these ads.Is there space left in advertising? Do statistics show advertising does not work for the older generation? Or are they just forgotten? Or just too much of a risk…

 

3d manifesto mock up

My 3d manifesto model