Week 22 (Reflective Social Media Plan Analysis)

A social media plan has been implemented by Blaize Tomato Ketchup with an objective to develop its use of social media and enhance the exponential growth of the product. Blaize Tomato Ketchup has Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts currently running actively. The social media plan was a success, there have been likes, comments and shares on Facebook, Re-tweets on Twitter, and Views on YouTube, in the end the general awareness of the product Blaize Tomato Ketchup, has increased massively. However plans still exist for the future in the form of a website for the brand. The links to the pages are listed below:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blaizeketchup
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/tcblaize
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blaizeketchup

Images were created and uploaded to these social networks, and a video to YouTube specifically, in the form of advertisements. Although the social media plan was successful, it would have been a plus for the brand, had a website been made before the deadline.

Week 21 (Final Video)

This week saw the production of the final version of the promotional video for Blaize Tomato Ketchup, After shooting was completed, all clips were imported into Adobe Première Pro and renamed to match their respective scenes. As these clips were raw, the razor tool was used to cut off all unnecessary parts of each clip. According to the storyboard design for this video, a couple of text-only scenes were to be provided. Initially this was done in Adobe Premiere Pro using ‘Default Still Title’ but the quality was out of sync with the rest of the video. These scenes were then designed in Adobe Fireworks using a rectangle shape tool filled with gradient colour and simple text, this looked better but still felt too simple. Therefore finally, short clips were designed in Adobe After Effects, using the “Typewriter Effect”, the product label and a note-book like background designed in Adobe Photoshop, to display the desired text.

These images were then imported into Adobe Premiere Pro and used as intended. A sound clip which was downloaded from the internet was used throughout the video to achieve a happy feel, and a few jingles for specific moments.

At the end of the video, one of the pictures taking during the shoot was edited in Adobe Fireworks to give it a better look and to add some specific information.

Week 20 (Promotional Video)

The promotional video turned out to be the most demanding part of this project as many requirements had to be fulfilled. The first of which was the need to take into account the best practices relating to video shooting techniques. Furthermore, the next requirement was to find a proper setting for the shooting of the promotional video. Finally after much reflection, it was carried out at Accommod8 Student Residence, the same venue that had been chosen earlier for the same obvious reasons. Next, the actors that where to be cast in the video where contacted and a date was fixed for the shooting.

With 12.6 MegaPixel picture quality, the NIKON D5000 gives a clear cut video output. It has an easily accessible ‘preview’ button that enables quick previews of taken clips, this helps to make needed changes(re-recordings) in time. Furthermore, the sound obtained from a video recorded with the NIKON D5000 is usually of high quality provided there is little or no background noise.

For these reasons, a NIKON D5000 was used to record the footage for the promotional video, and a tripod was used with this camera to obtain a stable footage.

Week 19 (Social Media Plan)

This week was used to draft a Social Media Plan for the fictitious product. The social media plan is an analysis of the social media tools that will be used for the commercialization of the product – Blaize Tomato Ketchup. The objective of the social media plan is to meditate upon the plan elaborated for the strategy that will be used to promote the product. Furthermore, metrics will differ as per social media tool and these metrics will be highly decisive to evaluate whether the commercial product has raised public awareness and achieved a certain image. This, in the end, could help to create entirely new spin-offs that would help reinforce the product’s message over the long term.

Facebook, Twitter -Which was recommended to Heinz Tomato Ketchup- and YouTube would be used to promote this product. Therefore different social network accounts have been created on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube so as to aid the publicity of the product.

A copy of this document would be posted at a later date.

Week 18 (Final Brand Label)

With no specific deliverable set for this week, plan work for the shooting of the promotional video for Blaize Tomato Ketchup was started. Various similar YouTube videos were consulted for ideas

In addition work begun on drafting a Social Media Plan for the marketing of Blaize Tomato Ketchup.

Finally in this week, after various observations on the initial logo design, changes were made and a final label was designed for the product in Adobe Illustrator.

Firstly researched was carried out on the shapes of ketchup logos and labels, as well colours used, then a mood board (a compilation of a number of images for the purpose of inspiration) was used to gather up all these ideas. It was realized that ketchup labels are usually focused on red and green colour theme, red for the actual tomato and green for the tomato plant. Major inspiration would however come from the Heinz ketchup bottle label, because it had what was ecstatically needed on Blaize Tomato Ketchup Bottle.

A badge was created with a red border around it. But then the badge looked too simple, so a banner was added just above the badge also with a red border around it, this was done to keep the appearance in sync, while providing a prestigious overall layout.

For the banner text, a San-Serif upper-case typeface was used, as it gives a good mixture of a modern and classic look. The description of the product and it’s established year were written in a modern script font, this was done with the intention of appealing to the target audience of youths and young mothers. Finally the centre of attraction of the label is the tomato illustration at the back of the banner. All these elements are combined by a black outline.

There is a strong belief that this label would be a huge success with the intended target market, as it is attractive simple, and made for the modern day while keeping in touch with the classic age.

Week 17 (Social Media Recommendations/Storyboard)

This week work continued on the Storyboard of the promotional video for Blaize Tomato Ketchup, the various scenes -which would be shot at Accomod8 Student Residence due to its quiet and conducive nature- have been decided but not finalized as they are subject to change depending on what challenges are encountered during the course of shooting the actual video.

The application of a storyboard in video production cannot be overemphasized. The use of a storyboard is of utmost importance to plan the different sequences of the promotional video. It is time effective as the plot of the video is already reckoned beforehand. In addition to that, similar videos about such storyboard were examined to encompass the various constituents of a proper advert.

As these characteristics were recognized, the final layout of the storyboard was schemed while taking into consideration the time limit of the video which should not exceed two minutes.

A Social Media Recommendations document was also prepared; this contains recommendations for Heinz Tomato Ketchup that could help them make better use of social media to publicize their product, emphasis is made on their lack on an official twitter account.

Week 16 (Company Name & Logo)

Prior to conducting further research, it would be a good idea to develop the fictitious product further to better understand its aim and objectives, as well as to develop the brand. It was decided that the name of the product would be Blaize Tomato Ketchup. Once a name was pegged down, a logo needed to be designed as this would assist in properly branding the company.

The initial design for a company logo created using Adobe Fireworks.

Also this week, a visit to the website of HEINZ Tomato Ketchup pointed out the fact that Facebook was their main medium for social marketing. Follow up continued on their Facebook page and it was noticed that they used this platform really frequently. It is their strategy to post pictures of meals pointing out how such meals would taste better with the addition of Heinz Tomato Ketchup. They also have a very strong following of over a million likes for their Facebook page and plenty of likes, shares and positive comments for almost every post on the page .

In addition, plan work begun on the storyboard for the promotion video of the fictitious product.

Week 15 (Research & Analysis)

With the idea of what to promote decided, it is necessary to begin research that needs to be undertaken in order to better understand social media marketing. The popularity of social media platforms have largely increased in a short space of time, therefore it is essential to have the knowledge of promoting products by means of social media, for anyone attempting to promote a company or a specific product.
To better understand how to promote the tomato ketchup product for this coursework, research was carried out on a company offering and promoting the same or similar product; HEINZ Tomato Ketchup. Information was gathered on how this company made use of social media marketing

In order to properly promote this product, it was decided to use three different social media platforms, each one offering something different.

Facebook: The most popular social media platforms in the world enabling companies and individuals to create pages, groups and events and share these with a wide audience both locally and worldwide. When it comes to the promotion of a tomato ketchup, the target audience would be youth and young mothers and in the present age this audience an be targeted through the sharing of pages and events between friends, friends of friends, and so on.
YouTube: In order to properly promote a a product like HEINZ tomato ketchup, it is important to showcase the benefits of this products so as to give the public an idea of what to expect and why the product is needed. With that in mind, YouTube is the largest video sharing site in the world which means that it would only be logical to upload any content related to the product and its benefits onto this video sharing site. Another useful part of YouTube is the ability to embed these videos onto pages on other social media platforms.
Twitter: Twitter is globally venerated as a micro – blogging application specialized for interacting in real – time. More than 500 million users are registered consisting of 57% males. On Twitter, a post consists of 140 – character or less and even unregistered individuals are able to read tweets. In addition to that, Twitter is known to be multi-platform that is to say the application is compatible with portable devices such as smart phones, tablets and so on. Hence, these features make Twitter a reliable environment to advertise the benefits of any product.

Week 14 (Introduction/Concept)

This week the New Media coursework 3, which is aimed at creating a promotional package for a fictitious company, promoting a product created by the company, was introduced and the ideation process began. Below are several options considered:

1. Digital camera

The camera is compact. Its target customers are people who like taking photographs but do not require very professional quality.

2. Tomato Ketchup

Taste is important and people like to enjoy their food even as they are getting full. Ketchup brings a lovely tomato taste to meals and goes with almost any meal. Target customers would be everybody ranging from little kids to teenagers, adults and even grandparents.

3. Instant cereal drink

Instant cereal drink is applicable to the general public. They should be convenient, healthy and delicious especially to young children.

More research was done to see how these three products can be advertised.In the end the preference was Tomato Ketchup mainly due to the fact that consumers of such products where come across everyday and I am also a consumer of this product.

After these considerations the fictitious company – or product in this case – was finally chosen; A Tomato Ketchup. Research started out on an existing similar product, Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

This research helped to gain insight on Heinz, it was discovered that from a design perspective, Heinz marries its definitive products with brand identities that are textbook case studies in the long-term management of iconic brands, and this was evident with Heinz tomato ketchup. It is also a little known fact that the 57 mark on a glass Heinz Ketchup bottle is placed on the ideal spot to hit the bottle so the Ketchup comes out faster. Just another design gesture in a long history of mutual respect between product, brand and a loyal consumer following.