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PWR 2 Assn #1: Ekphrasis on Advertising Lee Rhetoric of Visual Design in Print Advertising ASSIGNMENT #1 A practice of Greek rhetors, ekphrasis originally meant an exercise in which the speaker describes and explains a visual image, be that a picture or a statue. In this assignment, you will be asked not only to describe and explain the rhetorical strategies of two print ads of your choice but also reflect on how well its slogan (or product identity) has been effectively translated into a visual message. Schedule: Sept 30 Oct 5 Oct 7 Oct 12-14 Oct 14 Select ads/analyze Write transcript Presentation “draft” DUE: Assn #1 Reflection on assignment. Grade Value: Assn #1 Oral Presentation Transcript Fig. 1. “Wake Up to Aktins,” San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, December 2003. 20pts Ttl 20 Mandatory Purpose: 1) First, the purpose of the assignment is to revisit the rhetorical analysis skills you’ve learned in PWR 1 such as identifying ethos, logos, and pathos strategies, and examine how these particular strategies reveal themselves in the visual/graphic layout of advertising. 2) Second, the assignment will introduce you to particular visual design analysis discussed in this course and ask you to apply it to the two ads you’ve chosen for ekphrasis. You can analyze any of aspects of the three “Ls”: layout, language, and lexis (culture context that defines its style) 3) Third, the assignment will help you get a jumpstart on your final ad campaign by identifying some trends in a given industry. You should view this assignment as the FIRST step in a three (assignment) step process toward your final goal—performing a presentation on a well-researched ad campaign. The ads you choose might not reflect the ultimate product that you will be using in a final campaign, but it should be within an similar industry category (for instance, technology industry might include cell phones, MP3s, computers, Operating System programs, web browsers, etc.) 4) Fourth, you will learn to organize and orchestrate your oral presentation by writing out pre-emptive transcripts of your rhetorical strategy, language, and your presentation cues. You will be using PowerPoint only to display your ads. The focus here is only your oral delivery and your analysis. Goals: Best student ekphrasis on advertising display a) careful analysis of these two visuals, b) aptitude in applying the information on visual design analysis discussed in class, c) creativity by telling us more than the obvious, and d) ability to provide an organized, sustained, and convincing argument in 10 minutes. It explains concisely the “standard” advertising strategy and proves it with evidence. It clearly points out the advertising trends in a particular product market and demonstrates how new advertising techniques are being applied in the advertising examples. Directions: There are four steps to this assignment: Step One: Product analysis: Select & analyze two primary ads. The ads must be one of the five categories of industries listed. Step Two: Construct oral strategies; outline oral argument, which takes into consideration time limitation. (For instance, you might begin to outline your argument based upon how much time you’ll allow for your intro, body and conclusion: 2 min for intro; 3 min for ad #1; 3 min for ad #2; 2 min for conclusion) Step Three: 1) Write transcript with synopsis. 2) Embed your ads onto PowerPoint. Re: PowerPoint use with Assn #1. You can have a title page and you can include your supporting ads (as long as you don't spend too much time talking about them). The focus should be on your two primary ads, but clearly the supporting ads could be useful in the argument. What I don't want you to do is include animation or other "bells and whistles" of PowerPoint. I have several reasons for this: 1) I want you guys to focus on your delivery and argument; 2) I want you all to be on a level-playing field when using PowerPoint (so you don't feel the "competition" on making a fantastic PowerPoint, etc.); 3) I want you to learn that PowerPoint, in this academic context, should be used as a supporting visual aid. Step Four: Give presentation and turn in transcript and synopsis. To help you through these four steps, I have provided detailed directions below. 1. Choose two primary advertisements of products in one of the five industries/categories: technology, food, personal care, transportation, and public information . (if I have left anything out that you’re interested in, please let me know!) ADDED CHALLENGE (OPTIONAL): compare two ads (selling similar products), identifying the trends in marketing strategies. * One advertisement should reflect the “standard” advertising strategy for products in a particular industry. To do this, you will need to find at least two other products in the same market which have similar layout techniques, pitch to the same or similar audience. You will not necessarily analyze these ads in great detail, but it will help to introduce these other products, because they will prove why your “standard” is a standard at all. It will also help you analyze the “standard” by comparison. * The other advertisement should reflect an “alternate trend” in advertising strategy: something about it must stand out as critically different—this might be a shift in target audience, a shift in what makes the product “sticky” to potential customers, such as a dramatic shift in strategy of interaction or engagement. In asking you to analyzing one “standard” and one “trend-setter,” I do not mean to imply that the “standard” ad might be less persuasive or effective than the new techniques or advertising strategies. One might find that the common strategies used in these standard ads might be quite persuasive (hence, the reason for being commonplace). 2. The two ads must be the same type of product in the same industry, aimed toward similar audiences (but products by different company/producer). For example, if you choose the market field of cars (and more specific Asian cars that are marketed in the United States), then you might look at an ad for Toyota versus Hyundai. The reason why you might make this close comparison is that both brands are in a similar situation: they must convince the American public (in the throes of patriotism) to buy their Asian product. The “Asianness” may or may not matter—if not, what do they do so that potential buyers aren’t reminded and that they think about the quality, reliability, fun factor, etc.? Which one is the trend setter and the trend follower? The narrower you make the comparison in rival products, the better and focused your analysis in broad trends and new trends in that niche market. Some industries to consider: food products (chip industry, soda industry, diet industry); transportation products (cars, boats, planes—although this seems to be a rather rarified field of consumers); technology products (computers, computer-related services/products, television, cell phones, radio, mp3 gadgets, etc.); personal products (makeup, hygiene care, hair care products, clothing, etc.). I’m sure there are more that you can think of. 3. Choose an industry that you will use and later research for your advertising campaign Consider Assn #1 as part of your research for your final assignment project. If you have a particular product that you wish to revamp in an advertising campaign, you will need to know a) the major competitors, b) the history of the advertising campaigns in that industry, c) the target consumer market (audience), and d) current advertising strategies and trends. For instance, you may be interested in the mp3 player market and you might have noticed that “Rio” isn’t as popular as Apple’s I-pod. While there may be many factors that contribute to this (including the design of the product), your job in this class is not to change the product itself. Your job as an advertising is to re-package (re-sell) the product so that it will be more appealing to the audience. This means that you will need to study the advertising campaign of the “Rio” against other competitors including I-pod. As I noted in the previous page, Assignment #1, then, is an opportunity for you to scrutinize the marketing strategy of mp3 players in print advertising. Assignment #1 will lay the strategic groundwork that will be the foundation for your advertising proposal (Assignment #2) and then your campaign (Assignment #3). When analyzing the ads for its effectiveness, it is important that you reflect on our earlier discussion on visual design strategies and rhetoric: layout, language, and lexis. Please refer back to the handout and lecture presentation on “visual design” and “logos of advertising.” 3. Write a transcript of your oral presentation. A transcript provides the reader with detail of the presentation or discussion that had taken place. Usually, it’s taken after an event has taken place so that the words transcribed are exact. In this class, however, you will be turning in the transcripts on the day of your presentation. It will be a pre-emptive transcript of what you anticipate/plan to say during the presentation, your speech. We do this for two crucial reasons. First, it will force you to orchestrate your slideshows carefully with your argument. Second, it will help you to think about how you will articulate your points (what language you’ll choose for instance). *Orators often have two approaches to writing speeches. One will write it out, practice it, and repeat it exactly. Another will write it out, practice it, and then adlib when giving it. Either way works, but the latter speech allows for impromptu adding of lines and deletion of lines (depending on the situation); it allows the speaker to appear to talk naturally as if speaking on the issue for the first time (as if he or she had not rehearsed it). Remember, I do not expect you to follow your transcript word for word—nor do I encourage it. Best talks appear “natural”—but they are also well-composed, articulate, and clear. * You will not be permitted to read the transcript straight (use flashcards/cue cards). You should try to maintain at least 70% of your eye contact with your audience. * In your printed transcript, I should be able to read the words you’ve spoken in the presentation (or plan to speak) alongside your presentation cues (when you changed slides in the slideshow, when you presented an object for viewing, directed questions to audience, etc.). There is no formal structure for the transcript, but you should include the following in the beginning: “Title of presentation” (in quotation marks) Presentation by (your name), Course, Instructor, Room and date. Change Slide (print out this cue and other presentation cues if needed for clarification). Below is a sample introduction of a research paper in transcript format: “The Rhetoric of Paranoia” Presentation by Josephine Cardinal PWR 2-05, Professor Lee, Wallenberg Hall, room 123, May 15, 2004 [Opening slide: image of the two WTC towers burning.] We all remember where we were the morning of September 11th We remember the image of the planes crashing into the WTC towers We remember watching the towers fall We remember seeing the faces of the terrorists for the first time We know the anger we felt then, the anger we feel now, and the anger we ill always feel toward those who committed such atrocious acts of hatred and murder. [Change slide: a picture of aid workers helping survivors.] In one sense this anger is constructive. As this picture shows, it allowed people to work together. We unite as a nation; We reconstruct; We give, we thank, and we are thankful. [Change slide: picture of hate crime] On the other hand, though, our anger remains largely impassioned and restless In this sense it is dangerous. It is easy for our anger to become misdirected. It is easy for our anger to direct itself at innocent victims. It is easy for our anger to lend itself to discrimination towards the Muslim American community. [Change slide: thesis slide with timed points (marked by dash).] Given this danger and this threat of discrimination towards the Muslim American Community, it is urgent that we step back and look critically at tolerance and prejudice in the context of the United States government. --They preach tolerance --yet there is more violence. Given this disparity, we must be skeptical. For the sake of the safety of a large constituency in our society, it is crucial that we question purported tolerance. I will do this by: --establishing the prevalence of discrimination and substantiating the urgency for this topic --looking closely at the social context within which the governemnt’s support of tolerance is heard, and how this context undermines even the most explicit rhetoric of tolerance --looking at how political rhetoric [BUSH, ASHCROFT, GUILIANI] houses subtle but very real elements of prejudice. NOTE: Remember that in this exercise, you will be using the PowerPoint only to DISPLAY your ads, not to enhance your presentation in any other way. You will not be employing animation or any other tricks of PowerPoint at this time. 4. Write a brief analytic synopsis of each ad (in narrative form) accompanied by the picture of the ad and a listing of credit. The synopsis, picture, and credit listing will end the transcript of your presentation like an appendix. It will be graded as part of the transcript. The synopsis should be approximately four to five sentences long and include: * a summary of the theme of the campaign, * a brief description of the ad (with identification of slogan if applicable), * target audience(s) as deduced from the advertisement, * your brief assessment of the advertising strategy and how WELL the ad translated the idea/slogan/words in ad into an compelling image. The picture should include a caption with source citations following MLA documentation guidelines. The listing of credit follows the synopsis and picture. It identifies the following: 1) client of the ad 2) where the ad was found RECAP: As a recap, you’ll be accomplishing the following when you work on this assignment: 1) Selecting and analyzing two ads within the same industry (which you want to work on in your final campaign) 2) Writing a transcript of your analysis argument 3) Orally presenting your analysis argument with PowerPoint as DISPLAY only 4) Submitting transcript, synopsis (w/ picture and credit) on day of presentation JUST FOR FUN: PRINTCRITIC POLL ON PRINT ADVERTISING PrintCritic presents a public online forum for those with professional and personal advertising interests. It’s a great place to read about current advertising campaigns and trends and how the rest of the advertising community thinks about them. Visit http://www.adcritic.com/printcritic/email Here’s an example of the responses to DeBeer’ ad campaign for the new “right hand” diamond ring for women (August 9, 2004). The picture is taken from PrintCritic’s web site. Last week's Rate the Ad. This multifaceted — sorry about that — diamond idea went over like a Liz Taylor pole dance, pulling a deeply flawed 33/67 Good/Bad ratio, comparing the top half of the Sweet Meter to the bottom half. And a whopping 48% of votes are in the lowest third of the meter — better known as the Grimace Zone. However, we must point out that, based on the comments, the majority of voters are more receptive to da brewskis than DeBeers. There's a substantial amount of male rage being aired at the sheer effrontery of the conspicuously consumptive concept, with many middle fingers being raised on the right hand, the left hand, and in some cases, both hands. There was also trouble with the bizarre lens flare, as well as the model herself, who was frequently deemed too masculine to support this feminine idea, even by some female pollees. Though no one pointed out that, like Maria Shriver, the model looks like she could cut a diamond with her face, which is the ultimate in strength and independence. Responses (0 – 5, 5 being best) 0 Aarrgghh. I've been blinded by the searing brilliance of an overly dramatic copywriter. 5 Strong visuals. Strong layout. Strong copy. Strong campaign. 3 I can see where they wanted to go with this ad. However, she looks more like she's holding a light saber than wearing a shiny ring. The copy bored me to death and now my right hand wants to tear up this ad. 5 I've seen other ads from this campaign, and the first one I saw made me stop to read the copy. Layout and image drew me in because the design approach is unusual for a jewelry ad, and I got the underlying message right away. 0 It's like Hallmark creating new holidays to sell more cards, but a thousand times more evil. 2 If it's about women's strength and independence, why do they have her trying so hard to look like a man? 4 Part of a great campaign. Good copy and approachable glamour. Just one point: which women can afford diamonds for their right hands? The "women of the world" or just the rich ones? 4 Wicked, rebellious, sexy and androgynous. She could hurt you with either hand, and it draws you straight to the point. Men'll hate it. 0 What are they implying? That by wearing a diamond on your right hand, you're now a member of the cause for womanhood? I find this insulting. 4 As a single female professional, I must say it makes me want to buy a ring for my right hand. Like being entitled.