Monday 20 February 2012

OUGD203 - YCN Briefs I like.


Get fruity, make people smile and kick start your career



Howdy

If you’re looking for an easy peasy pull-things-together-the-night-before type brief, then move along now. If however, you’re up for having some fun and producing creative work that’s so good your granny will weep, then this is for you. Why all the effort? Well apart from the chance of getting a commendation for your work, why not have a look back through our previous national campaigns? You’ll see that if a student’s idea knocks our socks off, we’ll go ahead and work with them to make it happen. Yep, we’re talking actual, nationwide campaigns. We should probably point out, we’re a small company and don’t have bags of spare cash, so if your work gets picked you won’t end up with your own private yacht. But you would end up with a stand-out CV and something interesting to tweet about for a change. And if you think we’re telling porkies? – just ask Debbie Hulme, a previous YCN entrant who saw her Feel Good Drinks idea on E4.

Background

In 2002 three guys who worked together at Coke decided to leave the rat race and form their own soft drinks company. They wanted to make healthy drinks that actually tasted good, create a brand that people liked and a business that made coming to work fun, even on Mondays.

Feel Good Drinks make 3 different ranges of delicious drinks in lots of fruity flavours including: Orange + Mango, Apple + Blueberry and Cranberry + Lime – we like to leave the boring flavours to everyone else. Every Feel Good Drink is packed full of 100% natural ingredients and absolutely no nasty stuff like artificial chemicals or spoonfuls of added sugar. (We wouldn’t want to drink that stuff, so we don’t expect you to either.)
The company now sells one Feel Good Drink every 2 seconds, but we’d like to sell more, and that’s where you come in.

The challenge

One word. Awareness.
We know that when someone tries one of our drinks, they’ll give it a big thumbs up. The trouble is, not enough people know who we are. So we’re looking for creative ideas that will dramatically raise awareness of our drinks, and just how darn tasty they are. We need you to think big - we want to see ideas that stop people in their tracks and make them feel instantaneously good, so good that they will grin from ear to ear. Below are two briefs. Let your creative taste buds be tickled and take your pick (of course if you’re feeling very industrious, we won’t stop you doing both...)

Brief 1

Make us famous.
Create a campaign that communicates 3 simple things: our brand name, what our drinks look like and that our drinks are choc-full of natural, tasty, fruitiness. And do all this in a way that is unique, memorable and makes people laugh.

Brief 2

Fruit not sugar.
We asked some people if they like their soft drinks to have lots of added sugar in them and they said no. No surprises there, then. Of course, we don’t add any sugar to our drinks – nada de nada, niente
di niente, absolutely zilch.
You might be surprised to hear though, that some of our competitors do add sugar to their ‘healthy’ drinks - and lots of it too. The ASA has banned both Vitamin Water and This Water from using misleading ads, which was in part due to the amount of sugar they heap in their drinks. They found that one bottle of This Water could contain up to 42g, that’s 8.5 teaspoons. A bottle of Vitamin Water was found to contain 23g, so just the 5 teaspoons then. 
We know you can make great tasting natural juice drinks without adding sugar – we do it everyday. We think that when someone chooses a healthy drink they don’t want or expect it to have heaps of sugar in it. We want you to come up with an idea that tells people the facts, so they can make an informed choice next time they’re at the chiller. Can you communicate this in a fun and feel good way?

Creative Requirements

Often the best ideas have the potential to work across all manner of channels. Do consider all types of new and traditional media, including on-pack and even point of sale if you want to. You may also have noticed that we’re big fans of digital, spending time with our Facebook and Twitter families and spreading our message virally. The idea is to spread the word, so talking to consumers directly can’t be a bad idea. Feel free to incorporate the Feel Good Drinks logo and images of our bottles into your work where appropriate. For this work, we’d like you to focus on our small bottle still and sparkling juice drinks. Images of these can be found in the brief’s project pack.

Target Audience

16-34 year old adults who are happy to pay a little bit more for a healthy, tasty soft drink that isn’t full of junk. They are an up-beat, look-on-the-brightside, sociable bunch, who like to work hard but always find time for some feel good fun and games.

Tone of voice

PMA people - you can’t call yourself Feel Good Drinks and be miserable! The message should always be friendly, fun, and just a little bit cheeky. Please don’t get all serious on us now. It’s about talking to people on their level, making a connection and making them smile.

Additional Information

No cutting corners! Read all about us at our site and stay up to date with what we’re doing by becoming aFacebook fan or a Twitter follower.
And remember, Drink Good...Feel Good!

Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.


Second brief.

Make the graze brand more distinctive and desirable


Background

In short, www.graze.com sends healthy snacks by post, hence our tagline nature delivered... We started graze in 2008 as a way of offering office workers a tasty (and nutritious) alternative to those 3pm temptations like crisps and biscuits. Think of us as providing ‘pleasurable health’; we create really tasty, exciting recipes using natural, wholesome ingredients. It’s a win win situation.

How graze works

Grazers choose their favourite food from our range of 100 nutritious snacks, we handpick them a box and pop it in the post, first class, straight to their door. Bam. Better snacking is as simple as that. To really get graze you need to try a box so, if you’re not already a grazer, go to graze.com/YCN and use the code YCNFREE to tryone free graze box and another half price. We’re seriously proud of our graze box but 3 years on we think it could be even better. That’s where you come in.

The creative challenge

Part A:
The graze box is the embodiment of the graze brand; it’s charming, natural, honest, and premium, but we think it can work even harder and bring more excitement to the food inside and to the brand as a whole. So part A of your challenge is to refresh our graze box. All the surfaces can be changed but the structure (size, shape and the way it’s put together) can’t.
Part B:
We like our logo, it says friendly and has charm but we’d love it to be more distinctive and unique. So, part B is to redesign our logo. Make graze stand out from the crowd and better communicate what we are all about.
Part C:
Part C is a bit different... We want to see how these new elements would work in a direct mail marketing campaign. We see it as a really interesting medium and we’re looking for a creative solution that will stand out from ‘junk mail’ and make people leap onto the internet to sign up.

Target audience

The average grazer is female, 25-45 and works in an office, but we have grazers both male and female and of all ages, so be careful not to exclude anyone. Also remember that boxes get sent to people’s homes as well as places of work.

Creative considerations

Part A:
Grazers appreciate the subtleness of the graze box, especially in the work environment where personal mail may be frowned upon. So a musical, neon, sequined box might not be the best solution. The textured brown board has been a key part of the graze brand from the start. We love the natural rough texture and the effect of printing on the surface. If you think you have a better solution however, and brilliant reasons to back it up, go for it. We care for the environment just as much as we care for our grazers, so please bare this in mind. Every graze box goes on a journey through the post so when it arrives it shouldn’t look dirty or unappealing. We want people to jump for joy and shout ‘huzzah!’ (and other such exclamations) when their box turns up in their post. Use the box as a way of highlighting the tastiness and healthiness of the food contained; the box and food should work together in delicious harmony.
Remember to allow space for the address and postage paid stamp. A paper serviette is included in every box. Consider this another canvas to work on.
Part B:
The word graze often causes confusion – people spell it greys and grays. Could the logo help with this in any way? Our tagline ‘nature delivered’ plays a key role in explaining what we do, so we’d prefer it if this was included in some way. graze is a modern digital business: Our boxes are ordered from our website but all our products are sourced from nature. How can you portray the two elements ‘online’ and ‘nature’ within the logo?
The logo should be versatile; it appears on almost everything we produce. Don’t forget the .com (dot com).
Part C:
Visually there are no limitations. Be innovative, explore materials, experiment with layout. Do everything you can to make sure that whoever’s doormat this lands on, it screams ‘Read me!’ (Though perhaps not literally, that might be a bit scary). In terms of content, you must make sure you explain what graze is, what graze does and what graze has to offer. How you do this is up to you. We currently run a promotion alongside the majority of our marketing, which allows new customers to try a box for free. Consider how a promotion may work within this particular media.

Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.



Third Brief.


Produce a fully integrated campaign to launch and promote Fedrigoni’s ‘Imaginative Colours’ paper selection tool in the UK


Background

The Fedrigoni family has been part of the paper world since 1717, when the San Colombano paper mill was set up in Vallarsa-Rovereto, Italy. Over the years, Fedrigoni have consistently been at the forefront of the paper industry, pioneering the techniques and processes that make paper the beautiful, versatile medium it is. Fedrigoni has been refining the art and science of making fine-quality special papers, producing striking surfaces, tactile textures and vivid colours - paper that can be pressed, bent, cut and folded into almost any form you can imagine. Fedrigoni papers are ultra functional and, at the same time, wonderfully expressive. They can shock and surprise, or soothe and reassure. They can demand your attention or retire gracefully into the background.

The creative challenge

Fedrigoni’s ‘Imaginative Colours’ launched in October 2011. The challenge is to create a campaign which will ensure the entire UK design industry hears about the paper selection tool, and is inspired to use the papers for their very next project! You must create a fully integrated marketing campaign. This may include direct mail, PR, advertising, newsletters or events/promo launch. However, it must showcase paper and its tactile usage so digital is not preferred. Your idea should show how you would promote the ‘Imaginative Colours’ paper selection using various channels to reach our target audience.

Target audience

Our UK market: top fashion labels, boutique publishing houses, businesses with global reputations to protect and enhance. The people who use our paper are some of the most demanding customers you’ll meet anywhere so it’s no surprise that they expect our paper to perform to some very demanding tasks.

‘Imaginative Colours’ tool

The tool consists of four fan style paper booklets, divided into sections of: warm, cool and neutral colours. The tool contains a total of 262 samples of paper which enable graphic designers to choose the best shade and or most suitable surface for their next publication, packaging design, brochure, label, etc...

Creative requirements

We’re after a fully integrated campaign, full of originality. You are free to respond and create communication or content in any combination of mediums you wish. We are open to new ideas, as long as you can fully demonstrate how your work will promote the ‘Imaginative Colours’ range across numerous channels, you’re well on your way!

Mandatories

Our only stipulation is that you promote and showcase our ‘Imaginative Colours’ range of papers. Remember that while we appreciate we are in a digital age; we are a paper manufacturer and wish to keep this medium alive!

Samples

We will offer standard packs relating to the ‘Imaginative Colours’ tool. These packs will contain 6 varied sheets of paper.
Email: samples@fedrigoni.co.uk with your address details.

Range information

For information about our product ranges visit www.fedrigoni.co.uk or visit our London showroom...
36-38 Diamond House
Hatton Garden
London
EC1N 8EB.

Note to Students and Tutors

While Fedrigoni UK has and will continue to support emerging talent, we ask that you do not send additional requests for samples to our extremely busy sample department for anything other than the standard packs. Fedrigoni UK do not require students to use strictly our paper to illustrate ideas. You will not be penalised for using other papers. If your idea is selected, we will of course provide the paper required to produce the promotion.

Brand guidelines

None really, our logo can be blue, black or white. Our UK strap line is ‘A place for Paper’, but you don’t have to use it. In addition, any outer packaging design ideas should be in black to match our current materials.

Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.

OUGD203 - YCN Briefs that I'm on the fence about.

First Brief.




http://awards.ycnonline.com/briefs/view/triumph/



Create a piece of communication that promotes Triumph’s bra fitting service


Background

Our future has a history...
The company that began in 1886 as a small-scale venture, manufacturing corsets in a barn, is today the world’s most international lingerie business and a global iconic leader in alluring lingerie and shapewear. From the birth of the original bras to today’s cutting-edge microfibers and organic cotton, Triumph has led the way in pioneering new designs, materials and technologies including the moulded cup, elasticated straps, laser cut briefs and body-heat ‘memory foam’ shaping. There’s no question that women’s demands have changed a lot over the years, but one thing has remained the same: the ongoing demand for perfect fit, be it for optimal support or ultimate seduction. Research indicates that as many as 70% of women are wearing the wrong size bra. Consumers often don’t realise they are wearing the wrong size bra as they don’t know what to look for, and think that one size fits all across all brands. Triumph has fitting consultants in-store to help educate consumers on finding their perfect fit and reveal a shape to love. During the fitting consultation consumers are made aware of the benefits of a good fitting bra, and are encouraged to have regular fittings.
The benefits of having a fitting are:
  • Improves your overall body shape
  • Confidence boost – improves your outerwear look
  • Comfort factor – all day comfort...
  • Great support for your bust
The Triumph brand has a presence in a number of different distribution outlets. These include:
  • Major department stores nationwide: Debenhams, John Lewis,   House of Fraser etc…
  • Specialist lingerie independent stores nationwide
  • Online e-tailers who stock the Triumph collections online: Figleaves, ASOS, Flowerbags etc…
  • Triumph retail stores; 5 locations – Basingstoke, Cambridge, Walton on Thames, Exeter, Cheltenham and 2 clearance stores – Swindon designer outlet village and Clarks outlet village, Somerset.

The creative challenge

The challenge is to create a piece of communication that highlights the importance of getting properly fitted for a bra. Most importantly the communication must work in a Point of Sale context, and you must demonstrate how your idea would come to life in-store.
Typical POS elements we produce for a standard promotional kit include:
• A4/A3 tent cards – perfect for placing on tops of stands in store and on till/display counters.
• Product swing tickets/garment stickers – for display over the neck of the lingerie hanger. The stickers would stick to the actual garment.
• Floor free standing display option – typically we have used lifesize strut cards/toblerones to promote the message. This element can also provide the retailer with a window solution if they have allocated one for the promotional message (varies between different retailers).
• Promotional flyers – A5 size to hand out in departments or in store.
Your creative concept must be able to scale to contexts beyond Point of Sale and we would also like to see how you think it can come to life elsewhere. For example, you might want to consider how things scale online or how advertising local to stores would work. How you approach bringing your idea to life more broadly is entirely up to you.
We are very open to new innovative ideas, so long as the fitting message is conveyed in an approach that will appeal to the target audience.
We would like customers to instantly recognise Triumph as the first choice for fitting. We already have an active training schedule in place for new and existing staff, so can be confident that the fitting is of a high standard across the board – this should be reflected in your communication.
Historically Triumph have used model photography to convey the fitting message, however you are welcome to explore how we can move on from this, and look at other methods such as illustration.

Copy Requirements

In the project pack you will find a couple of previous examples of our fitting communication, so feel free to use the copy from this. Alternatively if as part of your concept you think of a ‘fitting’ strapline, or alternative wording which sits well within your concept then please do use this.

Creative Considerations

Triumph is a global brand and we have guidelines in place for logo usage that you will need to adhere to. Details can be found in the brief’s project pack.
The execution of the campaign in-store needs to be simple but impactful, as consumers will be shopping in a busy environment and often don’t have time to stop.
When communicating with our target audience you should: engage, show emotion and understand their lifestyle.

Target audience

Our aim is to attract ‘Style Seekers’ women aged between 25-50 years.
Style seekers have:
  • A high interest in fashion and beauty and are inspired by window shopping, in-store campaigns and advertising which highlights fashion trends etc…
  • The bra completes an outfit and is always purchased with outerwear in mind.
  • Tend to buy sets and shop in department stores, online and specialised lingerie boutiques.
  • Usually have a large lingerie wardrobe and shop on a regular basis.

Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.


Second brief.

Create an imaginary packaging range for Google’s family of products


Background

Imagine if all of Google’s products came in boxes.
What would that line of packaging look like? How would you show the different product families, the features, the benefits and bundles? What might a physical shop look like stocked with Google products? How would you design point-of-sale for Google Plus or Chrome?

At Google we make a wide range of products. Sometimes it’s hard to explain to people how many products we make for users and what they all do. You can see all our consumer products listed below and by following this link too - http://ycn.sh/viHodH.

Products

Web:
  • Web Search - Search billions of web pages
  • Google Chrome - A browser built for speed, simplicity and security
  • Toolbar - Add a search box to your browser
Home & Office:
  • Docs - Create and share your online documents, presentations   and spreadsheets
  • Gmail - Fast, searchable email with less spam
  • Calendar - Organize your schedule and share events with friends
  • Translate - Instantly translate text, web pages, and files   between over 50 languages
Media:
  • YouTube- Watch, upload & share videos
  • Books - Search the full text of books
  • News - Search thousands of news stories
  • Picasa - Find, edit and share your photos
Geo:
  • Google Offers - Get amazing offers at the best places to eat,   shop, and play
  • Latitude - See where your friends are
  • Maps - View maps and directions
  • Earth - Explore the world from your PC
  • Panoramio - Explore and share photos
Social:
  • Google+ - Real-life sharing, rethought for the web
  • Blogger - Share your life online with a blog - quick, easy and   free
  • Reader - Get all your blogs and news feeds fast
Specialized Search:
  • Scholar - Search scholarly papers
  • Trends - Explore past and present search trends
Mobile:
  • Maps for mobile - View maps, your location and get directions   on your phone
  • Search for mobile - Search Google on the move

Challenge

  • We want you to create an imaginary packaging range for Google’s family of products. You are free to interpret the idea of packaging, and approach format, in any fashion you like.
  • Explore ways to bundle the products as a family (i.e Adobe Creative Suite) but ensure each product is distinct and its purpose is obvious.
  • You do not need to be exhaustive - but please include at least three of our top products: Chrome, Google Plus, YouTube, Gmail, Maps... and of course Search!
  • The packaging should inform, inspire the imagination and clearly articulate the benefits of the products.
  • In addition to your packaging ideas you are welcome to create additional material to bring your ideas to life - such as merchandise, Point of Sale or other retail concepts. This is optional.

Outputs

Feel free to demonstrate your ideas in any way you like - flat artwork, videos - it’s entirely up to you. (Although worth remembering that Google will want to share the best ideas online.)

Audience

Primary: the mainstream user (you, your friend, your mum) who uses the internet but doesn’t use all of Google’s products.
Secondary: any internet users shopping for Christmas stocking fillers.


Style

Google has a very particular style when it markets its products. It is clear, informative, white and user-focused. It is quirky, but not whacky, or ‘funny’. Do some research and you’ll find examples.

Branding

Try to use the logo in as respectful a way as possible. The logo should be small and uncluttered.
Use either the flat full colour logo on a white background or white on full colour (these can be found in the brief’s project pack along with a guidelines PDF).
The logo should not be modified or customized under any circumstances.
You may create additional colour palettes if needed within your work.

Tone

Similar to the clear style of our web content.
Try not to ‘sell’ the products, instead be useful, informative and friendly. Be ‘fast’ (to the point), ‘accurate’ (contains trustworthy information) and ‘easy to use’ (easy to understand).
Don’t use superlatives. Don’t claim special powers. Comparisons must be understandable and truthful and be backed up with real data.
Do not clutter, confuse or write too many words.

Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.


Third brief.

Package the perfect M&S picnic

Background

Marks & Spencer is famous for innovation, convenience and the quality of its food, and is often the first place you think of when shopping for a special occasion like a party or picnic. Anyone attending a summer event like Wimbledon or an open air classical concert will be familiar with a sea of M&S cool bags brimming with picnic food.

The creative challenge

Your brief is to create the ultimate picnic pack. It could be themed around a type of picnic or event, or around the type of food included eg. a romantic first date or anniversary picnic, a Spanish picnic, a picnic for an open air classical concert, a foodie’s gastro picnic etc. You should include everything needed for the perfect picnic: food (sweet and savoury), drinks, cutlery, plates, napkins etc. Think about the occasion, then devise the menu and decide on the physical packaging for all the food items and design of each item. Consider the overall carrier. It could be a picnic hamper, a cool bag or even just a cardboard box, but it will also need to be designed within the theme. Consider physical packaging; your design needs to be fit for purpose while creating minimal waste/refuse. The customer should feel like this is a fantastic treat and that M&S have thought of everything to make the occasion perfect.

Target audience

We have a wide customer base so you can aim this product at anyone from  young, affluent singles or couples, families, older people whose children have left home etc. Consider who your target audience will be and tailor the picnic to that group.

Mandatories

Your design must include the M&S logo which is available in the project pack.

Considerations

Consider print process and number of colours – all packaging should be printed from a maximum of six colours per item. Consider whether you will use four colour process (plus two specials if needed) or all specials. Bear in mind that M&S is a brand which is known for Quality, Value and Trust and we have a strong eco policy (refer to the Plan A website), so all designs should be true to the brand. Consider teaming up with other students - designers or illustrators. A physical pack designer could team up with a graphic designer - or an illustrator or photographer could be commissioned by a designer to create imagery. Teamwork is not essential but is much more representative of working in a commercial environment.

Deliverables, Artwork and Additional Information

For guidance on how to submit your work please adhere to the main deliverables information in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. Any additional supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting project pack.