Monday 30 November 2009

POSTER (ADVERTISEMENT)

After analysing the methods that other newspapers use in order to advertise their product, I have considered the following ideas for The Harrogate Times poster I am creating:


- Landscape A3 poster to attract buyer + many of the posters analysed use a landscape format
- A colourful poster for visual purposes + colours must not be gender based
- The poster could contain one or more images, again for visual purposes
- The image(s) must link in with a slogan and the purpose of the poster
- The poster must be kept simple in terms of layout so the overall message is not too complicated
- The poster must be clear and coherent for the buyer to understand


I also have to think about the purpose and aim for the poster. Do I aim to sell the poster using a scheme that compares prices to other newspapers? Or do I aim to sell the newspaper through its news contents and attract the audience to what it contains?

Here are a list of themes I could base my poster on:


- Money: I could compare the price of The Harrogate Times newspaper with another ultralocal or national newspaper. This could be a successful approach to take, as the audience may feel that The Harrogate Times newspaper is good value for money in comparison with other newspapers. The only disadvantage to this approach may be that the buyer may not be interested in price, and more interesed in what the newspaper has to offer.
- Community: I could include information on the poster about events and community based experiences. For example, I could include information about the Car Free Day and the Bed Race in Knaresborough. Images from the event could also be included, or a group of people at the event. This sounds like an exciting concept, as the poster will show Harrogate as a community.
- News: The poster could include snippets of news and main headlines including images to support the stories. This would inform the audience exactly what the newspaper includes, and what type of news the newspaper advertises. The only disadvantage in doing this is the fact that headlines are forever changing. This concept is less strong in comparison to the other themes expressed.
- Events: Events in the Harrogate area could be included on the poster, as The Harrogate Advertiser contains all the latest events and information. This is similar to the Community concept. In my opinion, this would be suitable for every audience, and a community based concept would attract the younger as well as older audience.
- Sport: The poster could advertise The Harrogate Times' sport section. However, the downside to this would be that a limited number of the target audience would be attracted to this concept as the sport section is only read by a section of the target audience. This is the weakest concepts of all expressed.
- Harrogate; The poster could include a bit about Harrogate. For example, information about Betty Tea Rooms or Harrogate's flower shows. The Harrogate Times could therefore sponsor events such as The Harrogate Flower show on the poster.


I now need to consider a possible slogan to put onto my poster. Slogans are a method of marketing used to make the buyer remember the product.

Here is a list of possible slogans which refer back to the earlier themes:


- Slogans for the Money concept:
ALL THE NEWS YOU COULD EVER WANT FOR THE SAME PRICE AS A HALF EATEN SARNIE
WHATS GOING ON IN YOUR AREA? FIND OUT FOR A FEW PENNIES
NOW CHEAPER THAN THE GUARDIAN
- Slogans for the Community concept:
NOT JUST REPORTING FOR THE COMMUNITY, PART OF THE COMMUNITY
TOGETHER AS A WORLD. TOGETHER AS A NATION. TOGETHER AS HARROGATE
- Slogans for the News concept:
NEWS BROUGHT RIGHT TO YOUR DOORSTEP
HARROGATE'S NUMBER ONE SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS
ITS NEWS TIME. ITS THE HARROGATE TIMES
- Slogans for the Events concept:
NOT JUST REPORTING AN EVENT. WE'RE PART OF AN EVENT
GET INVOLVED. THE HARROGATE TIMES
- Slogans for the Sport concept:
THE HARROGATE TIMES' BRILLAINT NEW SPORT SECTION
-Slogans for the Harrogate concept:
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF HARROGATE'S FINEST GREENERY AND FLOWER SHOWS
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF BETTY'S TEA ROOMS


In terms of images, there needs to be a clear, cohesive link between both text and image in order for the poster to make sense. For example, if I chose my poster to be based on the Community concept, I could have an image of a group of people at a certain event, as opposed to something random like a medium shot of Harrogate.

I will begin drafting a few posters, experimenting with a few different themes...

For this drafted poster, I have chosen the Harrogate concept; this is based on Harrogate's greenery and it's well known flower shows. It contains three images of Harrogate's finest greenery with the title of the newspaper underneath in a large font in order for the buyer to identify the poster immediately. These three images will be replaced with more colourful images containing Harrogate's finest flowers, as I think these current images are a little too similar. In the bottom right hand corner, there is an advertisement for The Harrogate Flower shows, sponsored by The Harrogate Times. These two images are also temporary as I do not yet have any images of the flower show; this is a drafted piece. I have included reference to the flower show so that the reader is aware of the event. It also shows that the newspaper sponsors events such as this. There is a slogan in the bottom left hand corner taken from the slogans I earlier created, in order to support the images of Harrogate's greenery. The word "celebrating" also sounds as if the people of Harrogate should celebrate Harrogate's achievements. I really like this basic layout, but I am also going add in more features such as a link to The Harrogate Times' newspaper. I also plan to play around with the images and what effects I can add to them to make them more visually pleasing.

This screen shot shows that I have playeda around with the images a little. I used the Toolbar in Microsoft Word in order to achieve the slanted format and shadow features on each image. I really like this.

This screen shot is more of a finalised product although I still need a collection of my own images. Here, I have added in a link to the website as well as mini images of flowers in the flower for an added feature.

My final poster shows the newspaper's knowledge of Harrogate throughout every season. It also advertises Harrogate's well known greenery; I have done this by editing the same photo on Photoshop and editing it to suit every season.

Here is a screen shot of my final poster:



My reasons for deciding on this concept can be seen in the evaluation.

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