Evaluation of Differential Research Methods Essay

In this essay we will look at the positive and negative aspects of the group presentation of remit 1. We will also look into the different research methods we took on to gather relevant information that we needed. Then recommendations we want to include for improvement from our verbal feedback alongside with any constraining factors we, as a group encountered. The essay will then look into the use and analysis of theory that we used that assisted us in making our final campaign. Once our group was given the idea of the university application we began to group ideas together as to what will work most effectively. We chose to use the campaign idea of viral marketing. To do this we took on a semantic and semiotic approach, whereby used signified linguistics to identify what we wanted to communicate and how. Semantic is better defined as ‘the study of linguistic development by classifying and examining changes in meaning and form’ [Semantics 2, 1994] our campaign idea was developed around the concept of transferring different meanings, for example in our campaign we developed the idea from the message we wanted to transfer across, which was the ease of use of the application along with the ability to make the video viral. Taking a semantic approach can allow the user to interpret form and meaning for them, the implementation of the meaning is posed but is left entirely to the user to self-interpret. Our campaign did however briefly touch over on semantic advertising, as we aimed the campaign as an viral video aimed at the social networking side of things we implemented the thoughts of just how effective it can be to specific target audiences to advertise on particular mediums. Our campaign idea could of better utilised the semantic concepts by identifying key phrases or words and adapting those words to create alternate meanings. Many semantic campaigns today are internet based, with a high increase of internet cookie tracking data being used by companies to then forward on products to consumers with similar search data. We decided to stay away from this concept as it falls into the category of anonymity and as an academic foundation we felt it more reputable to remain known. Semiotics is better defined as ‘The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation’ [U, Eco, 1979] in our campaign we used many semiotic concepts and in fact it is arguably what our final idea was based around. In our storyboard campaign we decided to use the cartoon to real like to cartoon to real life effect which we used to indicate different scenarios, for example when the person first starts off he is a real life person standing with the application in his hand representing real life. The user then enters the University College Birmingham application whereby he is taken into another dimension and we see the use of different symbols and signs to recreate a fictional dimension. The use of this was to indicate exciting ways to being able to receive the information you need. In the cartoon storyboards the use of colours that we used were primary colours, which were used to indicate simplicity while portraying the ability to enjoy the application. It is also important to mention the signified and signifier model which we briefly used in the construction of our campaign, using key word associations it quickly gave us access to relevant wording which tied in with the possible campaign ideas. Finally to talk about the last concept that was used in the campaign we chose is rhetoric, better defined as ‘Language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience’ [G,Tom & Eves, A 1999] in our campaign we opted for the viral video, in hope that this would tap into our target market which were young students. In the campaign with the concepts we used by interacting on social networking sites we intending to create a persuasive advertising campaign that attempted to eliminate any preconceived ideas that university information was complicated and hard to get a hold of. The use of language we used in the campaign was simplistic while informative; we left no vital pieces of information out of the campaign while also making the thought of this information entertaining. The overall effect we intended to make on our target audience was to leave a lasting impressive imprint that the viral video we had created was informative, fun and appealing to our audience. In a highly competitive market it is essential for students to understand exactly what they seek and for it to be easily accessible, by creating the viral campaign with the use of social networking sites it allows the audience to access the information they need directly or through friends. To conclude, with the campaign we ran with and the concepts we took on board to get to the final decision we used a variety of different models, in particular the semiotic model whereby we used a variety of different colours, forms and meanings to portray different emotions to the user to engage them. We then took on board some semantic concepts by allowing the campaign to become a viral video and publishing this online it acted not only as a source of information but in turn an advertisement of the application and university. To recommend what could have changed with the campaign final idea or what could have been done instead to better our chances of the campaign idea being successful there would be a few recommendations. The implication further of semantic concepts could have been implemented in to the campaign idea of using social networking. The application draft idea picked up little criticism other than the presentation of the application and its data. If the project was to be undertaken again the use of rhetoric alongside semantic would be heavily prevalent to tap into the internet advertising market alongside the use of websites which creating platforms to share videos, blogs and articles.