visual component proposal

1. After researching and writing a paper on the increasingly popular "homegrown" advertisements, I will create a logo for this new type of advertising. The ad will be promoting the new idea of creating an advertisement from home.

2. For this project, I will primarily be using the text and shape tools in Adobe Illustrator. I may use Photoshop when I begin the project to edit an image of a house.

3. My completed digital illustration will be a logo of a house, the roof being the letter "A" of the word ADS. Underneath, will be the words "homegrown advertising." This will represent a person's ability to create his or her very own ads at home, using simple modern technology and social media tools.

Midterm Paper

Homegrown Advertisements: They Can Only Get Better From Here

Social Media and Web 2.0 consume a large part of an average person’s everyday life. Most social media users in America can hardly go a day without checking their Facebook, updating their twitter, or viewing the latest and most popular YouTube video. Since this new type of media has become so popular and spread so rapidly, advertising companies have begun to reconsider their traditional advertising techniques. If social media is so popular on the internet, wouldn’t it make sense that it could be just as popular in advertising on television? The desire to see how effective this type of persuasion could be has lead to the increase in “homegrown” advertisements on television. The increasing popularity of this type of media makes people wonder whether or not the quality of advertisements will continue to decrease. With time, practice, and the use of new software, ordinary people will have the ability to create professional work from their very own home.

The switch from production companies to amateur producers of advertisements has lead to the new name, "produsers". The meaning of this nickname is exactly how it is spelled. The users of social media and Web 2.0 have now become the producers of such media. Users can create nearly anything to enhance the social media tool they are using. Whether it is a new YouTube video or a new application on Facebook, users can channel their creativity in a variety of ways.

This switch from old to new media has been compared to the Industrial Revolution, as possibly the biggest switch in technology since that time. Although most people feel that this type of media cannot be considered “revolutionary,” they simply do not realize the impact that social media and Web 2.0 is having on our everyday lives. Popular sources of information have switched from renowned news broadcasting stations to social networking sites such as Twitter, and Facebook. When ranking the top search engines in the year 2009, right after Google at the number one spot, was YouTube, a user-generated website. This is just one of many ways to see how much of an impact social media is having on our lives.

Homegrown advertisements have been common for the past few years, due to the increasing popularity of Web 2.0 and social media. One major benefit of social media advertisements is the cost. Rather than spending millions of dollars hiring celebrities, cameramen, and renting out studios, “producers” of commercials can simply turn on their family video camera and create a cost-effective advertisement. In addition to the cost-effective creation, these advertisements can be cheaply distributed through the internet, rather than having to pay networks to air the commercials. The fact that people are willing to contribute their work without looking for monetary gains also encourages the desire for increased use of social media for advertising.

Homegrown advertisements have already come a long way in improving their quality since they first began. Seeing this transformation in just a short amount of time helps answer the question of whether or not the quality of this type of advertisement will improve. Just as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. Of course the first film shot with the new family video camera will not be “quality” film. However, the more a person gets used to using it, the better quality the end product will be.

In addition, new computer software, such as Adobe Premiere, enables a person to create and edit his or her own video. Adobe created this software and presented it to the customer as a way to “tell your own story,” which is the main theme behind social media and Web 2.0. This new software, and others like it, is able to make an “amateur” video look like a professional one. With help tools and some practice on such programs, it is only expected that the value of the advertisement will remain the same.

If some companies disagree with these new advertising methods, there are other options they can consider. Product placement is an effective alternative for those who feel that homegrown advertising techniques are cheapening their products. Dating back to decades ago, product placement has been a crucial aspect of the advertising field. With the increase in online television viewing and fast forwarding capabilities, the number of advertisements seen by the viewer has significantly decreased. The only way to ensure that the viewer sees the product during the span of the television show is to increase the use of product placement.

Although consumption still dominates when it comes to advertising and social media, production is on the rise. The more people see the success of social media in America, the more they want to take advantage of it as an advertising opportunity. Without advertisement, it is very difficult, often times impossible, to make the name or product known. Because of its importance in today’s society, people will continue to advertise in the most popular, and cost effective ways. It has become clear that if a person is able to create his or her own video on YouTube, the person can also create memorable advertisements that can be more successful than anyone could’ve imagined.

illustrator

adobe illustrator picture




original picture

proposal

Project 3

Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional production values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY??

User generated content and Web 2.0 are rapidly becoming more popular. With that, comes a significant change in the advertising business. Professional production values will continue to drop due to homegrown advertisements. If users are able to contribute, like they are on the web, they certainly will. Like the old saying, practice makes perfect. The more people contribute, the sooner they will become proficient at it, and it will appear better to the viewer. When looking at it from an advertising company's point of view, if they do not like the way their products are being marketed because of this switch in advertising, they may need to start focusing more on product placement than on television commercials.

Social Media/ Web2.0 Group Discussion Exercises

1. I think that professional production values will continue to drop due to "homegrown" advertisements. I believe this to be true because of the fact that the more people are able to contribute, the more people will. Many of these people will have little to no experience on the subject and create amateur TV shows and advertisements. As for high-end companies, such as Lexus or Mercedes, I do not believe they would give in to user-created advertisements, for fear that this would make their product look more "cheap."

2. Article: Lost in Translation
http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/17/tencent-gree-cyworld-technology-personal-social-networking.html">http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/17/tencent-gree-cyworld-technology-personal-social-networking.html

Tags I would use are:
Facebook
MySpace
Twitter
European Union
Tecent QQ
China
SK Telecom
Japan
United States

I found that the tags I used were similar to the ones on the article. However, I feel that the tags depend on the person doing the tagging. Some things may seem more important to one person, but less important to another. I found that the main difference between our tags was that in my article they tagged people's names, which I tagged none of.

3. Transparency is an important part of social media because it improves the world of user-generated content and social networking by making it more trustworthy. If people did not trust the websites they are putting their information into, the websites would not and could not exist. It is important in both the online and offline world because online, transparency is the key ingredient to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Offline, transparency is important because it enables us to create more personal relationships.

The Persuaders

"The Persuaders" begins by questioning the increase in the amount of advertising we typically encounter in our daily lives. How would you assess the amount of advertising you see? Too much? Too little? Just right? In your view, what difference does it make to know that people today see much more advertising in their daily lives than people 20 or 30 years ago?

In my opinion, the amount of advertising we see is excessive. Wherever you go, whether it be a baseball game, a movie, or even a park, there are advertisements everywhere. Billboards, flyers, commercials, and even ads on the internet consume so many aspects of our every day lives. One reason we see more advertising in our daily lives than people 20 or 30 years ago is because we have so many advances in technology that allow us to skip over advertisements, and companies feel they need to make up for the loss. One example presented in the video was Tivo, which gives customers the ability to fast forward through commercials. This technology completely erases the effectiveness of television advertisements.

Where are things headed in the future? What are some possible scenarios that could play out as far as the direction that future persuaders may take their marketing techniques.

In the future, I think advertising companies will be forced to come up with new, effective ways to promote their product. Future persuaders may take their marketing techniques further into product placement. This is the only sure way for the company to have its product seen, no matter what. The video shows some product placement that is being used now, in shows such as "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Sex and the City," and the movie "Castaway." Although companies have recognized that product placement is effective, they have not yet fully grasped the current ineffectiveness of commercials and therefore do not use product placement enough.

Digital Nation Part 2

The second part of Digital Nation left me unsure as to how I feel technology is affecting us. I am able to see the positive and negative aspects of technology and understand how technology helps and hinders us. It was not surprising for me to see children in Korea having technological addiction problems. With technology so prevalent in their country, it is clear that children may have a hard time staying away. It is somewhat scary to see how technology can completely consume a person's life.

I disagree with the U.S. Military using technology as a recruitment strategy. Children are very easily persuaded and providing them with games that they think are "cool" may lead to them making a decision that they could regret later on. Comparing war to video games is completely inappropriate. On the other hand, technology has been used with children in positive ways as well. The stories about schools providing the children with computers as learning tools was inspiring and it was amazing to see what a difference technology made in those particular schools.

It is hard to truly determine if technology is overall positively or negatively affecting us. With technology changing and improving every day, it could be years before we see the long-term effects of modern technology on people. Until then, people should embrace technology for what it is, while making sure to be responsible when using it.