Above: a photo from my family archives. Me, Faye and our two eldest boys Jacob and Joel. This was taken around 6 Years ago before we had our youngest Son, Charlie.

23rd January 2016

As mentioned in a previous blog, I am a married father of three young boys and so I was keen to get my wife Faye’s opinions on advertising, some of the research I have found and our initial ideas. Here is what she had to say….

Me: Have you ever heard of A1 and A2 Milk?

• Faye: No

Me: (explains)

Me: How do you feel about advertising in general, and do you really take note?

• Faye: In general I find most advertising to be really irritating, stereotypical and completely money driven.

Me: What is it that you look for in an advertisement?

• Faye: Something straight forward, simple and effective that explains the product clearly. Also something that’s real i.e. Cowgate have a really nice advert that works well because they show motherhood as it really is and don’t try to sugarcoat it. Motherhood is wonderful but its also at time stressful and chaotic especially with three kids or more! I will point the advert out to you.

Me: There have been many adverts over the years directed at mothers of all ages, many of them have been accused of stereotyping mothers, with statistics often showing that this leads to mum’s feeling pressured into being the perfect, glamorous and all knowing mother. Have you ever felt like this as a result of an advertisement?

• Faye: Yes I have, too often companies use too much glamour, great looking women, chiseled men. I particularly hate holiday company advertisements that show this stereotypical four person family…. gorgeous slim model mum all made up, ridiculously handsome dad, one super-cute little boy and one slightly older super-cute little girl all on a ridiculously expensive holiday!! This drives me mad – it’s so unrealistic and unattainable and it makes you feel inadequate and like a failure.  How many parents these days can actually give their children that? Also I can imagine many parents get into debt trying to achieve this.

Me: From some of the research that me and Jamie have done its noted that woman often dislike adverts that portray fathers as a lesser parent, i.e. Mum doing absolutely everything whilst the incapable dad sits with the kids and watches on. How do you feel about this?

• Faye: Yes you do see this it’s true, although it’s noticeably better than it used to be. Fathers are just as important as mothers and should always be considered when advertising to parents.

Me: Me and Jamie have a few ideas for this project. The one we are leaning towards is an animation that involves a young boy in his own adventure world fighting wild beasts and being a hero. His adventure time is rudely interrupted by stomach ache that’s brought on by drinking the wrong kind of milk (A1 Milk) which he has an intolerance to, all of a sudden he is back in the real world (garden) and the beast turns out to be the family pet cat!!! Cue our advertisement for A2 milk. What do you think of our idea so far?

• Faye: (Laugh’s) Sounds cool. As long as it doesn’t go off theme and it clearly explains the product.

Me: We want to tap into motherly love/parental love does the idea work?

• Faye: Yes the idea does, providing you can  pull it off (laughs) also no parent wants to see their child in any pain or discomfort, I just want mine/ours to be happy and healthy.

Me: We are looking to try and emulate Pixar’s style for this animation, what are your thoughts on this please?

• Faye: Yeah that would be nice, it would be memorable, polished and if done correctly would indicate that the company has invested good money on the advertisement, clearly showing marketing is important to them.

Me: Thank you very much

• Faye: No problem !

 

 

23rd January 2016

Finally the idea we had been looking for started to take shape. We thought about an animation that involves a young boy in his own Jungle adventure world fighting wild beasts and being a hero. His adventure time is rudely interrupted by stomach ache that’s brought on by drinking the wrong kind of milk (A1 Milk) which he has an intolerance to, all of a sudden he is back in the real world (garden) and the beast turns out to be the family pet cat which lets out a dry almost sarcastic “Meoooww!!” Cue our advertisement for A2 milk. Maybe at the end he is seen drinking the A2 milk and all of a sudden he is back in his adventure world enjoying life again. We haven’t concluded the ending of the animation as of yet and we still haven’t scripted the part where the product is explained.

This idea is a work in progress but we are extremely excited about it. However this project just became massive so we need to look at ways to ensure we can achieve it. Last project we fell slightly short on achieving the goals we set ourselves, Jamie and I have agreed we do not want this to happen again.

Below: The initial storyboards I sketched out with Jamie, as mentioned above, they are unfinished but this is the premise of our idea.

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We feel that our idea will tap into motherly/parental love as no parent wants to see their child in discomfort, all they want is their child to be healthy and happy. As a parent myself I hate to see my kids have even the mildest of illness.  I am already relating this idea to when my son Joel goes out into our back garden with his lightsabre battling Darth Vader on board the Death Star. Just watching him from the kitchen window I can see he truly is in a world of his own, as a parent it’s truly magical to witness this!!

Monica Garrett stated “One of the worst parts of parenting is seeing your child sick and not being able to do anything about it. As a mother, it breaks my heart to see my son sick. I thought that before he was talking, but now that he is talking, it has gotten worse. My son now says, “I’m good,” as if he thinks being sick is punishment.”

 

 

(Fig.1.) Libertimagazine.com, Not noted. A Lightbulb Moment [online]. Available at:http://www.libertimagazine.com/2014/06/a-lightbulb-moment.html. [Accessed 23 January 2016].

Monica Garrett, Not noted. When Your Toddler Is Sick [online] Families.com. Available at:https://www.families.com/blog/when-your-toddler-is-sick. [Accessed 23 January 2016].

23rd January 2016

After Jamie and I had been to see Andy Love, we went back to our base room at the University and we sat and mulled over what he had said. We immediately started coming up with some really funny and engaging ideas. One of which was a couple of butch looking cows in a bar along with a Bulltender who was serving drinks. One of the cows offers to buy the other a drink. We thought about scripting a really funny and witty conversation that went on between them about A1 and A2 milk. We also wanted one of them to be referred to as Dave despite being female so that she could correct her friend with her real name (Matilda/Daisy) which would create a sort of punchline for the end of the commercial.

Below: A quick sketch of the opening stages of the above idea. This is as far as it got as we quickly thought of an idea we preferred.

 

 

 

21st January 2016

When Jamie and I agreed to team up I already had a few ideas as to which direction the project could go in. Jamie already had a solid idea and had even done a few sketches.

We debated on whether or not to animate two children or two cows, in the style of Pixar, drinking and discussing the differences between A1 and A2 milk. We then agreed to combine the two ideas and have the children at home in a kitchen environment. Whilst discussing the product the animation would transition into a field with the two cows grazing and the children would continue to narrate explaining the difference between the two cows and the A1/A2 protein genes.

Feedback from Andy Love – Gulp!

Our tutor, Andy Love, specialises in animation and has a vast knowledge of the subject, so last week we decided to take our idea to him. As we expected Andy was quick to constructively criticise our idea and called it generic and and lazy to an extent. He explained to us that from his perspective it appeared that we were jumping into our first idea without any thought about the animation itself and that the idea was purely about the product. He then went on to explain that when creating an animation first and foremost it must be fun and engaging otherwise there just isn’t any point.  At first the criticism was hard to take but we listened and Andy was kind enough show us a good example that would get me and Jamie really thinking. The example he showed us was a coastguard commercial from 1968 which was extremely humorous whilst still managing to convey its message across clearly and was extremely well balanced. Thanks to Andy, Jamie and I quickly realised that we needed to go back to the drawing board.

Below: The coastguard commercial that Andy used as an example.

Joe and Petunia, Coastguard.

Eggnogonthebog Productions, 2013. Joe and Petunia, Coastguard [online]. YouTube. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXoGLOlnWT0. [Accessed 20 January 2016].

 

Fig.1.

20 January 2016

So now that we have decided on an idea, why are we so adamant to base the animation for this project on Pixar’s style and what makes Pixar themselves so popular?:-

Firstly one of the main reasons we want to animate in the style of Pixar is because it is very attractive and will allow us to produce something extremely polished and to industry standard. Secondly both myself and Jamie are 3D modellers primarily but we can animate in Maya, even if its not our strongest asset. It’s a big test that will push us hopefully to a great piece of work and enable us to become better animators at the same time.

Pixar’s success over the years is undeniable. They have created, in my opinion, some of the best and most influential animated movies since the nineties. They changed the mold back in 1995 when they released Toy Story (1995) which received universal acclaim. The studio continued to create huge hits over the years with films like Monsters Inc (2001), The Incredibles (2004) and more recently Inside Out (2015). The films are generally technological marvels and continue to set a benchmark for combining both great stories and dazzling CGI.

One of the things I have noticed about Pixar over the years is their ability to tap into peoples’ emotions often reminding us of both the harsh and beautiful realities of life, for example, the terribly sad scenes in their movie Up (2009)  in which the film’s protagonist, Carl Fredrickson, says goodbye to his dying wife.

As mentioned by Chris Weller in 2015 – “ Pixar understands that the most important stories resonate with people because they appeal to some core truth about being alive — regardless of whether those stories are seen through the eyes of monsters, clownfish, robots, or cars.”

Stephanie McCall stated in 2015 that – “The truth is, most of Pixar’s films since 1995 have all been hits to some degree. Some of their appeal remains in their use of CGI – in our technologically-driven world, computerized often means better. Yet Pixar remains enormously popular for several other reasons. Although their films are targeted at children, businesspeople in and outside the film industry readily admit adults can learn plenty from these films as well. With that in mind, let’s look at a few of the key reasons why, twenty years later, adults and kids still love Pixar.”

Stephanie McCall mentioned in 2015 – “that There is no magic. No problems are solved by the wave of a fairy godmother’s wand. This is critical in that it separates Pixar films from the fairytale universe that often appeals to children, but not adults. Adults know there are no easy solutions to most problems, and so the fact that Pixar characters realistically deal with these problems is appealing.”

 

Below: A beautiful clip from Pixar’s movie Up (2009). The clip shows the main character, Carl Fredrickson, and his wife, Ellie, from getting married right up to her untimely death. This scene is both magical and tragic and really does pull at the heart strings.

 

Pixar Wiki, Not noted. Pixar Animation Studios [online]. Available at: http://pixar.wikia.com/wiki/Pixar_Animation_Studios. [Accessed 20 January 2016]

Joshua Vardanega, 2013. THE HISTORY OF PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS [online]. Weebly.com. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-pixar-movies-are-so-good-2015-7. [Accessed 20 January 2016]

Chris Weller, 2015. Why are Pixar movies so good [online]. Business Insider UK. Available at: http://pixar-animation.weebly.com/journal/the-history-of-pixar-animation-studios. [Accessed 20 January 2016]

Stephanie McCall, 2015. What Makes Pixar So Popular 20 Years Later [online]. Content equals money.com. Available at: https://contentequalsmoney.com/what-makes-pixar-so-popular-20-years-later/. [Accessed 20 January 2016]

Corner Church, 2011. “Up” Sad Scene.mov [online]. Youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keVlDaAT7MI. [Accessed 20 January 2016]

16th January 2016

Here are some interesting tips on how to market to mothers that I picked up online today whilst doing my research. (The list of tips is as it was shown on the http://www.clickz.com and has been in no way altered by myself. It is used as an example purely to help the direction of the project and is referenced at the end of this post.)

Below: In 2015 Lizzie Widhelm, Senior Vice-President of ad product strategy at Pandora and mother of three, shared her five key tips for Marketing to Moms:-

 

1. Make It Mobile

If your marketing campaign isn’t optimized for mobile, make that your first priority. Seventy percent of moms own a smartphone, compared to 60 percent of the population at large. And 83 percent of moms who own a smartphone say it is within arm’s length “always or most of the time,” according to research from Edison.

Because of this, mobile is a must-have for marketers looking to reach key mom audiences. And when doing so, it is important to consider things like time of day and activity-based ads (e.g. is she is working out, cooking at home, or at work?) in order to deliver brand messages in context within the mobile landscape.

2. Kid-Friendly Creative in a Connected World

With the explosion of connected devices, from thermostats, to speakers, to wearables, to cars, and so much more, there are more and more opportunities for brands to connect with moms throughout their day. Moms are beginning to expect a fully connected experience and it is essential for brands to find seamless ways to join them.

It’s also important for marketers to remember that many moms spend a lot of time with their kids within the vast landscape of the Internet of Things. When marketing to the connected mom – keep the creative family-friendly during times of day when moms are likely with their children.

3. Car Time Is Prime Time

Marketers often forget that moms spend plenty of time in their cars either stuck in traffic on their way home from work, working the carpool, or waiting while their kids are finishing up an activity. Car time is prime time for moms thinking about what to prepare for dinner, for instance. And per the IEEE, 60 percent of all cars will be connected to the Internet by 2025, giving more avenues and opportunities for marketers to reach moms in their vehicles in new ways with every passing day.

4. Rewards Encourage Social Sharing

Rewards can be a powerful marketing tool when executed thoughtfully. Rewards programs can work hand-in-hand with social media to help encourage the sharing that already comes naturally to many moms. Moms tend to be highly engaged with social media because it makes sharing easier and more efficient than ever before. Because of this, there is a large mom-to-mom multiplier effect that can spread the word about a brand quite economically, when moms are motivated to share. A few examples are below:

Tweet-for-a-Treat: Engage moms in a sweepstakes to win a relaxing spa day.

Coupons: Gift moms with a break on all that spending with a coupon download.

Consider Music: Music has the power to improve mood, decrease stress, and transform people’s lives. Give mom the gift of music with concert ticket giveaways or a customized mixtape and help your brand resonate via the passion point of music.

5. Don’t Stereotype – Keep It Real

Moms expect real, authentic connections with and from brands. They want to feel like they matter as an individual and not just as part of a stereotypical target market.

Being a mom does not completely define these women – they are professionals, wives, sisters, friends, and more. They connect with brands and products that keep it real and understand the difference between “me” mode and “we” mode.

Work to find the inner soul of your female target that goes beyond the stereotypical portrayal.

Lizzie Widhelm, 2015. 5 Key Tips for Marketing to Moms [online]. Clickz.com. Available at: https://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2407307/5-key-tips-for-marketing-to-moms. [Accessed 16 January 2016].

Above: My wife, Faye, and my second eldest son, Joel -photo taken a few years ago.

16th January 2016

As per the brief the target audience for this project is women and mums – particularly of young children. I have collated some research to help me understand what it is that woman and mothers look for in advertising, what they like and what they dislike and why.

What is interesting is that The A2 Milk Company has grabbed MY attention. I am a father of three boys aged 4, 9 and 12, and like me my boys all had a dairy intolerance whilst they were babies and toddlers. My second eldest, Joel, continues from time to have mild eczema which we believe could be a reoccurring dairy allergy. For this reason I will be looking to make an argument that maybe fathers should also be part of the target audience even if the project is only mildly pointed in their direction.

Day one of research:-

Whilst researching I found some interesting information about mothers and how they often react to advertising and marketing campaigns. In many cases statistics show that mothers find some advertising campaigns to be extremely sexist and that they build a stereotype of what a mother is and should be.

Nicola Kemp quoted in 2015 that “research carried out for Marketing by FanFinders, the owner and operator of Your Baby Club, the fastest growing mum and baby community in the UK, reveals that 46% of mothers believe that marketing presents unrealistic ideals that they should be living up to. The research, which polled more than 5000 mothers, also found that 28% find marketing aimed at them sexist. Other evidence shows that mothers hate advertising that stereotypes dads as an incompetent or lesser parent. Maryleigh Bliss stated in 2015 that when surveying a new generation of parents in 2015 “One 29-year-old female told us, “I don’t remember what brand, but it was a paper towel commercial. Dad and the kids made a mess but didn’t clean up well. Mom shakes her head lovingly and gets the paper towel to clean up. I hate commercials that make fathers look like the lesser parent.” This somewhat backs my argument at the beginning of this post as to why fathers should be considered as part of the A2 Milk company project’s target audience.

Below: a really interesting video I found on YouTube regarding branding for motherhood.

 

Graeme Newell, 2012. What is customer Marketing relationship Marketing: Building Motherhood Brands [online].YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MX9aL7LxR0. [Accessed 16 January 2016].

Nicola Kemp, 2015. Marketing to mum is broken [online]. Marketing magazine.co.uk. Available at: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1344066/why-marketing-mums-broken. [Accessed 16 January 2016].

 

 

fig.1.

16th January 2016

The A2 Milk Company specializes in producing and raising awareness about A2 milk.

Everyday people drink A1 milk blissfully unaware that A2 milk is even exists. The two have no difference in taste or texture and unless anybody told you you would have no idea whether you were drinking one or the other. But there is a hidden difference between the two.

As stated by Handpicked Nation.com in 2013, one contains the A1 gene, a mutated beta-casein protein found in most milks today. This has been linked to a number of health problems that are believed to be caused by a tiny protein fragment that’s created when our bodies digest A1 beta-casein, a mutated protein in the milk. Milk that does not contain this mutated protein is called A2 milk, and  people who have had an intolerance to/or dairy allergies have found that by drinking the A2 gene instead these issues have decreased and in some cases ceased all together. The A1 gene can be bred out of a herd of cows in roughly a ten to fifteen year period.

 

(fig.1.) The a2 Milk Company, Not noted. What is the a2 Milk difference? [online]. The a2 Milk Company. Available at: https://www.a2milk.co.uk/about-a2-milk/ [Accessed 16 January 2016].

Hand Picked Nation.com, 2013. What is A1 Versus A2 Milk? [online]. Hand Picked Nation.com. Available at: http://www.handpickednation.com/what-is-a1-versus-a2-milk/. [Accessed 16 January 2016].

Fig.1.

12th January 2016

The brief from the A2 Milk Company – as per the YCN Student Awards Website:- 

The Creative Challenge 

We want to inform people about how a2 Milk™ works better in our bodies, inspire them to find out more and ultimately to try the product.

Creative requirements

A short piece of film or animation that we can air online, and which delivers against our Creative Challenge. Think about how you can most effectively tell the story of a2 Milk in ways that will capture the imagination of our target audience. It should be a maximum of 90 seconds in duration.

Target audience

Women and mums, particularly of young children, who would like to drink cows’ milk because of health, nutrition, taste but feel they or their kids cannot because of real or perceived intolerance e.g. sickness, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, constipation, respiratory issues, mucus build up, skin conditions like eczema and spots.

They are aware of the food choices they make in relation to their health.  That is not to say she is an ardent healthy eater, just she believes she is aware of what she is consuming.

 

(fig.1.) The a2 Milk Company, Not noted. Milk that might change everything [online]. The a2 Milk Company. Available at: https://www.a2milk.co.uk/. [Accessed 12 January 2016].

You Can Now, 2015. Introducing our annual Student Awards
Centred on a collection of live creative briefs [online]. YCN. Available at: https://www.a2milk.co.uk/. [Accessed 12 January 2016].

 

 

 

Friday 8th January 2016

In the wake of assignment one, assignment two is already looming and has been something that has been constantly in the back of my mind over the Christmas break.

My original plans:-

Originally I had planned to contact Legendary Games (Antenna, Nottingham) in order to work on a client brief with them, but only plucked up the courage to contact them yesterday. Despite them agreeing to work with me and even offering to send me a brief on some simple assets they needed modelling, it has all happened just a little too close the the beginning of assignment two leaving little time to discuss and draw up a suitable brief that both parties would be able to work with. I am however still in contact with Legendary Games and hope to be able to use them for the the client based assignment three in March.

The back up:-

Throughout the above I have read through every client and competition brief available to us more than once in order to try and find one that suited me. I kept coming back to the first competition brief on the YCN Student Awards web page which is for the A2 Milk Company. I decided that I was going to have this brief as a back up plan initially but have since decided that I will be going ahead with it. I felt this brief was one of the only ones suited to me and would allow me to produce something to a high industry standard.

Teaming up:-

After reading the briefs I have decided that I will be creating an animation of some sort and that it will be built in Maya. This is a chance for me to create something in a similar vain to legendary animation studio, Pixars’, work. I do have concerns however that I will need characters building for this project and this is not my strong point. While I have strong art skills and am able to create great cartoon character concepts, building them is a skill I have yet to teach myself. There simply isn’t enough time to learn on this project alone, not with the standard of animation I hope to achieve. For these reasons I have decided to team up with Jamie Fox again as he is well versed in building characters in Zbrush and Maya. I will concentrate on building and animating backdrops and environments whilst Jamie creates and animates characters for the project. We have agreed that by teaming up we can achieve even greater results.