FMP Proposal
Context
My task for the FMP is to produce a piece of work for a specific purpose and target audience. I can engage with any genre of short film/magazine/print/advertising etc, however the final piece should be planned in detail, paying consideration to the target audience and conventions of the genre. I should apply practical skills and theoretical knowledge developed throughout the course to complete this project within the agreed time frame. Finally I have to produce a detailed evaluation of your product in the form of a director’s commentary or a written evaluation.
Fanta and the carbonated soft drink market
Fanta is a brand of fruit-flavoured carbonated drinks marketed globally by The Coca-Cola Company. There are more than 100 flavours worldwide.
Which is the top fizzy drink in the world? – Coca Cola is the most popular soft drink in the world and the most decorated of all the Coca-Cola company products. Commonly known as Coke, the beverage is produced and/or marketed in at least 200 countries. Together with at least 500 other different drinks producers and marketed by the Coca-Cola Company, there is neither a soft drink nor a soft drink company that rivals coca-cola as a whole.
The carbonated soft drink market in the UK
Soft drinks sales are worth £1.5 billion in Britain, according to market researcher IRI. But they are going to get a big shake-up from the introduction of the soft drinks levy in April 2018.
Amy Price, a leading analyst in the Food & Drink sector had this to say. “Driven by a growing focus on healthiness, consumers are increasingly looking to limit their sugar intake, the Soft Drinks Industry Levy is exacerbating this issue. This focus has led to many people switching to diet or no-sugar variants of CSDs, pushed by heavyweight players such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi through their Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Pepsi Max brands and supported by substantial advertising budgets.”
What is the question I want answered for my FMP –
Why did Fanta America import their flavours into the UK?
In my opinion, it was probably a situation where these new flavours were already popular in America. So as Fanta is a global company, why wouldn’t they want to try how these flavours do in the UK, because Fanta is more popular in Europe than in the United States.
Development – Planning and Ideas
These are my initial concepts for my FMP; ideas that I can potentially use for my FMP. I came up with 4 ideas; Music video, Magazine, Set Design and Advert. At first I was set with making a music video for my FMP but I struggled with knowing where to start and what the purpose of the music video is, so I changed to making an advert for my FMP. I felt more confident and comfortable with making a print advert and I am interested in digital advertising.
These are my 2 ideas in form of detailed mind-maps, this gave me opinions of picking my official FMP idea. The most practical and accessible idea that I can do is the beverage one.
Questionnaire for my FMP
This is an example of primary data I collected so I can obtain information from a non-biased audience from my Instagram followers.
The information I found out was that Fanta was the brand that most people preferred, videos are the types of ads people liked with Billboards being in second place. I needed 3 flavours for my FMP, fruit punch, mango and I have choice between apple and berry, The majority of people didn’t all the flavours that Fanta have. The majority of people knew that Coca Cola was the best selling brand in 2018.
My Official Idea
My idea consists of making print advertisements (At least 4) for the more unknown Fanta flavours to the UK because they are American and have recently been imported in.
It will be a campaign advertisement that will highlight the feelings of all the different flavours through images. I was thinking of making the images very literal; meaning for example for the fruit punch flavour, there will a nice picture of the can with a fruit bowl next to it. But then there will someone’s fist in motion of putting a hole through the fruit bowl. The image shown above doesn’t show all of the flavours that I’m planning to use. I will search for more literal flavours that will connect to the atmosphere of my campaign ads. The basis of my idea in conclusion is to create literal ads.
Fanta Commercials
The product is very clear because it is even in the name of the spokesmodels ‘Fanta’. The general mood of the commercial is that it has a summer vibe to it, hence the dancers wearing summery type clothing such as bikinis. The soundtrack is very upbeat to relate to how the dancers feelings towards the product; it makes them happy. The commercial is mostly likely aimed at males because it was sexual through the dancing and clothing.
The product is an adaptation of a continually running campaign ad called the Fantanas. So people after 10 years would now connect the Fantanas to the Fanta brand. The general mood of the commercial is that it is involving and fun. It is less sexual and more child friendly but there is still a summer vibe to it with the summery clothing. The soundtrack is a remix of the 2007 Fantanas soundtrack, which was more of a current sound to it. The commercial is likely to be aimed at the youth because even the spokespeople are young YouTubers and actors/musicians; types of people that are impressionable to the youth of today.
My FMP Presentation
Ethos, Pathos and Logos
These are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences. They are also referred to as the three artistic proofs (Aristotle coined the terms), and are all represented by Greek words.
Ethos – A Greek word meaning “character”, means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or character. Ethos can be developed by choosing language that is appropriate for the audience and topic.
– Kobe Bryant being a part of the marketing brings the credibility factor to the advert, because Bryant was an accomplished basketball player.
– “Try it… it works for Kobe”. This sentence alone goes back to the theory of if Kobe drinks it then I should too.
– Since Vitaminwater is a sports drink, having a famous athlete adds to the credibility of the product, it persuades the audience they should buy it.
Pathos – A Greek word meaning “suffering” or “experience”, means to appeal to the emotions of the audience and evokes feelings that already reside in them. It can be developed by using meaningful language, emotional tone, emotion evoking examples, stories of emotional events, and implied meanings.
– The image of the cracked mirror reflection of the white almost dead looking baby which connoted pathos that grabbed my attention.
– “The bruises will heal but the scars will last a lifetime”. This one sentence is packed with pathos. The first emotion felt was sympathy towards the suffering children.
Logos – A Greek word meaning “word” or “reason”, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason. It can be developed by using advanced, theoretical or abstract language, citing facts (very important), using historical and literal analogies, and by constructing logical arguments.
– The ad questions the common belief that donating aid to Africa for food and water is too expensive. It uses the logic that the price of one beer is three times the price of 50 liters of water. The text reads: Pint of Beer: € 4.50, 50 liters of Fresh Water: € 1.50.
What are literal ads?
In my opinion literal ads are advertisements that represent their products in an altered way; where the product is abnormally represented in a different. They also bring their products to life and become ambiguous; They start to mean and represent more than one thing and therefore entail a hidden message within the ad.
In the context of advertising, an unclear or ambiguous statement generally means what you say about your company or solution could just as easily apply to competing brands. Some ads try to be so divergent that they become controversial.
Here some examples of controversial ads:
This ad campaign’s problem was the fact that it promoted “body shaming”. Many feminist groups noted that the wording of the ad insinuates that the body in the picture is the only “acceptable” beach body. This means that any other body type not like the one in the picture is “unready”.
Controversy for this ad campaign arose in many different ways. The first was the use of the world leaders without their consent. In fact, one of the ads features Pope Benedict XVI kissing a top Egyptian imam which was quickly removed after being condemned by the Vatican.
After Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem, many viewers became angry at him and viewed him as anti-American. The fact that Nike was using him in their ads made many people believe Nike was also anti-American. This sparked a lot of controversies online with many social media users destroying their Nike products while posting the hashtag #JustBurnIt.
The choice of words for this campaign were very poorly chosen. To make things worse, they specifically aimed the campaign at people in the Middle East which caused many people to call the advert racist. In addition to this, many right-wing groups started to promote the advert with some going as far as saying Nivea was the official alt-right antiperspirant. Eventually, Nivea released a statement about the ad and immediately withdrew it after realising the wording and context caused offence to many viewers.
This campaign’s problem is that it came across as very anti-police to most of the general public. In fact, there were reports of people complaining and becoming very aggressive in the stores, resulting in LUSH having to call the police. Due to the negative reception of the ads, LUSH ended up pulling them and releasing an official statement on their website.
The controversy caused by the advert is as clear as day. Not only is the advert racist, but it’s also insulting to viewers. The campaign was instantly removed from Facebook while the owners of the brand Unilever, released a statement apologising for the advert. The scary thing about this advert is that is must have been approved at some point during the marketing process, which makes it worrying that nobody thought it would cause offence.
Pre-Production
Practise of creating print ads
I decided when creating the ads, it will be advertising everyday products so my creativity can expand and be unique.
To create this concept ad, I used a black background so the focus is on the product, the fire effect and the text/logo. The product had its background removed so it can blend into the black background. The fire effect had its background removed too so it can over the product. The font of the text was inspired by the heat theme of the whole ad.
To create this concept ad, I used a space background so it relates to the motto of the ad being about how playing this console will transport you out of this world. I used the format of how existing Playstation ads put their logos and imprinted it into mine. I warped the surrounding area of the PS4 console so it looks like there is a black hole forming/ comes from it.
To create this concept ad, I used an ‘above the clouds’ type background to connote to the product having air in its name and on the product itself. I added 3 variations of the same product so there is variety and opinions for the audience. I added individual clouds holding up the shoes so it doesn’t out of place floating by themselves. I looked at existing Nike Ads and saw how they like to add the Nike logo at the bottom, with either a sentence/mini paragraph further promoting the product.
To create this concept ad, I used an existing image of Megan Good and made it black and white. The reflective aspect of the image was not done from me because its not really an effect, she was laying on a ‘mirror like’ object. I looked up different types of perfume ads and saw how the Roberto Cavalli perfume brand fitted what I wanted. The black and gold relates to the black and white scheme; giving that vintage look.
As I really didn’t know how to actually create that mirror effect manually, I went on YouTube to find a video that will explain and show how to do it. This will be good for future reference.
Planning the production of my project:
Budget – The budget has mostly been used on buying the Fanta cans, so I have spent £9.54 (£1.59 each). I’m planning to use 4 of them specifically because this is the amount of print ads I’m creating.
Target Audience – Gender: Both Genders (The ads will consist of both genders)
Age: 16-21 (Fanta in general is targeted towards the youth)
Class: C2DE (Students are in this class group)
Ethnic: Multi-cultural (White, Black and Asian – those are the major ethnic groups in the UK)
Interests: Out-going, Students
The official Idea – Fruit Punch = Idea 1: There will be fruit bowl next to the Fanta can, there will be a fist of a hand going down towards the fruit bowl; symbolising the literal meaning of a fruit punch.
Idea 2: Someone is punching the fruits that will be flying towards them.
Berry = Idea 1: Someone is drinking the can and their skin starts turning blue, relating the the Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory scene where one of the characters chews gum that turns her into a grape.
Idea 2: A treasure hunt is happening where the characters find a Fanta Berry can in the wild.
Apple = Idea 1: There will be 2 characters holding either the Fanta Apple can or a iPhone.
Idea 2: The Fanta Apple can will be placed next to a stationary iPhone in the Apple store in Birmingham city centre.
*Change of plans: The amount of adverts that I’m going to make went from 4 to 3 because one of the flavour’s ideas in terms of what the print ad will look like and making of its short video ad, it became impossible to do it because the specific flavour in stores was sold out
Locations – The Black studio room in college, The Apple store, My back garden, my home
The different types of advertising mediums – The types of print ads I’m creating would be fitting to be involved in outdoor advertising. The outdoors advertising will consist of being on billboards because all of the print ads I’m making are landscape anyway. The feature of the QR codes connotes well with it being outdoors, because any person that would walk past my ad on a billboard would just have to take out their phone and scan it. I’m too also create short video ads for each of the flavours so that would relate to television advertising, but YouTube ads would be appropriate for the modern times. The short ads are 30-40 seconds long each so those are long enough to be as YouTube ads that can be skipped if prompted. 
Direct Mail Advertising – Contacting carefully targeted prospects with custom tailored offers or promotional material (such as brochures, circulars, letters, newsletters) on one-to-one basis via ordinary mail or email.
Newspaper and Magazine Advertising – Print advertising is relatively cheap. Local newspapers will appeal to regional businesses, while multinationals will look for the ‘wow factor’ that a national newspaper or magazine can offer.
Radio Advertising – Commercial radio stations make most of their revenue by selling airtime to be used for running radio advertisements.
Television Advertising – A television advertisement is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organisation. It conveys a message, aimed to market a product or service.
Film Advertising – Cinemas will add the length of the trailers/adverts onto the films running time. The start time of the program means when the adverts start, not the film itself. They generally last around 15-20 minutes.
Outdoor Advertising – Any advertising done outdoors that publicises your business’s products and services. Types of outdoor advertising include billboards, bus benches, interiors and exteriors of buses, taxis and business vehicles etc.
Window Display Advertising – A window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store.
Fairs and Exhibition Advertising – An exhibition organised so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of rivals, and examine recent market trends and opportunities.
Online Advertising – A form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers.
2D Plans and Sketches:
My Risk Assessment:
Filling out the hazard section of the risk assessment made me realise that the making of my project was going to be fairly safe because its mostly indoors and private. But even though I felt my project was fairly safe there were still risks, they were small but I still needed to keep them in mind. When I wrote the details of the activities I mentioned even the small things.
My Shot List:
I made sure to mention both what I was planning to take pictures of and how I’m going to film the individual short video ads.
Storyboard for my short video ads:
These are the storyboards for my QR code short videos, I tried my best with drawing because I’m not very good at it so I made sure to make the description of the shots short but clear.
Editing the Short Video Ads:
Fanta Apple –
I had a clear idea of how I wanted to edit the Fanta Apple ad but I didn’t really keep in mind what the soundtrack will sound like. The overall idea was that the Fanta Apple has essentially turned into a phone (An iPhone). So I began to reminisce on what songs that I know that relate to my idea. The first song that popped in my mind was Drake’s Hotline Bling. I used only the instrumental so it doesn’t get copyrighted hopefully. I also used sound effects such as phone typing clicks and a remixed version of the default iPhone ringtone. I found most of the sound effects from a website called Freesound. The motto/slogan for the specific flavour was also put in with transition effects.
Fanta Fruit Punch –
I continued with starting with the still image of the Fanta can with the lighting effect. The soundtrack wasn’t established so I had to go to the my bank of songs/music I personally know. I have an instrumental playlist on my Youtube Channel for moments like this and for when I just hear a good beat. The idea for the Fruit Punch ad was martial arts related with the actions and accessories. So I remembered a video game that I had a soundtrack that would fit well with my idea. The video game is Sleeping Dogs and the track is called Sleeping Dogs Theme B. To make the video have a more fun feel to it, I added the cartoon action words. There were also sound effects such as the Wilhelm scream and the punches w/grunts. All these things gave the ad a more comedic feel. I also added the motto/slogan at the end but with a more direct visual (No transition effects).
Fanta Berry –
When I started to edit for the Fanta Berry Ad, I continued the tradition of starting with the still image of the Fanta Berry can with a lighting effect. I had to think about the soundtrack would be and then a classmate suggested of using an anime’s opening theme song as my soundtrack. The anime is called one piece and the soundtrack is called ‘We Are’. There no sound effects in this one, it is more focused on the video effects and transitions. I made sure that some of the clips will be correlating with the soundtrack’s beat. The idea was to show this specific Fanta flavour to be seen as something unique found in the wild by people that were longing for it. I added the motto/slogan of the flavour at the end that showcased the individual words coming onto the screen one after the other than fading out together. I didn’t know how to change the frame size so I found out:
Release Forms:
I made sure that all the people I used to be characters for my images and videos had signed a release form so it showed proof of asking and getting permission to use them for my project.
Equipment Release Sheet:
I signed out camera equipment multiple times but this is one example of what I had to do when those moments came.
Fonts that I used for my project:
These are some of the fonts that I used for my print ads and short video ads. I used two websites for the fonts, 1001fonts and DaFonts.
Progress of the Fanta Fruit Punch Print Ad – It started off with a simple picture of going off course of my primary idea and changing it a little bit. The original picture looked dull and inactive so I brightened the image a little bit, so it gave life to the fruits and gave a brighter colour to the Fanta can. I wanted to give a more quirky feel to the ad so I copied and pasted multiple fists so they all are in motion of punching down onto the fruit. Some of my classmates saw this and thought I should change the idea, I agreed so I went back to the boxing gloves idea. I continued with using the original edited picture but now but then realised it would be better to use the image where the Fanta can is situated within the fruits. I edited it to be in a bowl and added extra fruit so it looks packed. I made the font more colourful and fun relating the slogan of the ad, and added the multiple spring boxing gloves. Then I added the features I will add on all the ads, the company logos, the ‘contact us’ factor and the distinct QR Code.
Progress of Fanta Berry Print Ad – The original idea was to go the the Apple store and take a picture that consists of the Fanta can being next to an Apple product with the store’s atmosphere in the background. That idea would have delayed me with the schedule I had for completing my project so I went with the idea of there being 2 characters; one holding an iPhone, the other holding the Fanta Apple can. I removed the background because it shows the atmosphere of a classroom and that’s not what I needed. I added the features of all the ads which is the specific QR Code, the company logos and the ‘contact us’ factor. The background void became the colour way of the Fanta Apple can (Maybe could be the outside of the Apple store?) and I added in the slogan of this print ad. ‘Think different? Drink different.” relates to the motto of the Apple company being ‘Think Different”.
Progress of Fanta Berry Print Ad – While shooting the short video ad for Fanta Berry, I decided it would be a good picture for the Fanta can to be in nature with real berries surrounding it. I made the image a little brighter so it gives more life to the colours. The slogan for this specific ad was “Very, berry wild” which relates to the wildlife scenery background and the represented fruit. The colours of the slogan was inspired by the green surroundings and the berries, all of the words had a two colour way so it can stand out from the background. The features of all the ads was added such as the logos, the QR Code and the ‘contact us’ factor.
The QR Codes:
I decided that within my print adverts that I created, I will have individual videos for each of them that relate to the drink’s flavour. I didn’t know how to really do that yet so I search the internet and found this video:
This video suited what I wanted for my FMP because the QR codes will be linked to a video. Within the video I found out the best website to use for my QR codes; qrstuff.com.
I also found out the difference between a static and dynamic QR code. A dynamic QR code is a type of QR code that is editable, as opposed to a static QR code which isn’t editable. Dynamic QR codes also allow for additional features like scan analytics, password protection, device-based redirection, and access management.
Evaluation
The task for the FMP project wasn’t specific because I could pick whatever media medium I wanted for a specific purpose and target audience, plus it had to be a original idea. On the brief it said that “There are few solid rules defining what makes an effective FMP. As with features, adverts, magazines and music videos, different audiences love different things, and an award-winner in one viewer’s eyes will be a dull cliche in another’s.”
As soon as the brief was given to me the FMP project began and it was Week 1 as said in the action plan I made. I made sure to make it a tradition to have progress journal for every week. This was the early stages of my FMP project so you keep in mind all of the types of ideas that could be the official FMP idea. This ranged from making mind-maps about a magazine idea to a set design idea. I highlighted 2 ideas that could be the official idea for my FMP; the games console advertisement and the beverages advertisement. To narrow it down I started to think about if I would be able to create the idea with the frame of time I have until the deadline. The beverages advertisement was more attainable and possible to create especially with the time frame. Week 1 overall was about putting all my ideas on the table than picking one which I liked to do, then going into detail with that one idea.
Week 2 came so I got a new progress journal and wrote about what I was planning to do for this week and next week. By now I know what my official idea for my FMP project because I went into detail with its own mind-map. So the secondary research process began and I started to learn more about the stats and figures relating to my FMP project; the carbonated soft drink industry. I found out information like What the specific carbonated drink’s company is all about? (Fanta), what soft drink brand is the best selling?, and the carbonated soft drink market in the UK. My FMP project is about advertising the unknown-to-the-UK Fanta flavours that have been imported in from America. The unknownness of these flavours lead me to ask a question. Why did Fanta America import their flavours into the UK? I never found the answer so I made a self made conclusion about Why Fanta did what they did. Week 2 was all about researching about my FMP idea
My research was in it’s beginning stages and so came Week 3. In my progress journal I wrote that I needed to add more things to my pre-production section as I have already finished the first half of my research. The pre-production started with making practise concept print ads so I can test out how I would advertise different types of products. The concept ads consisted of advertising Walker’s Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli crisps, Playstation’s PS4 controller, Nike’s More Uptempo shoes and Roberto Cavalli’s Nero Assoluto perfume. With one of the concept ads I choose a picture that looks like editing could have been on it or the model could have just been laying on a mirror, but it created a seeing-two effect. So I found out how to actually make that mirror effect manually on Photoshop for future reference and problem solving. Week 3 was all about practising the skills I will eventually use for my official FMP products and continuing to research.
Week 3 overlapped with Week 4 because during that period I learnt and gave proof on a theory that relates to my FMP project; Ethos Pathos and Logos. I created and did my pitch presentation that further solidified my understanding of my own FMP idea. The rest of week 4 consisted of continuing to grow my pre-production which consisted of explaining what and how I’m going to take images and film for my Fanta Adverts. My budget, target audience, the official ideas for the production and the different types of advertising mediums. I also added in research about the existing concept of my FMP project which was literal ads, and I found out what the most controversial ads were too because those are the types of ads that generate the most attention. Week 4 was all about building my research to the point where I fully understand what I will have to do to complete my FMP on time.
Week 5 was a back track because I got back my grading of my blog so far. I was reminded that I needed to have a showing of problem-solving, make it clear where the context part of my blog is, having additional mediums and products for my research, some evidence of 2D flat plans/calendar of events, and more of my practical skills. So week 5 was all about identifying what I was missing from my blog so far and putting them on there. In my journal for this week I wrote that for next week I had to carry on working on my Progression Unit, that is why the progress journal for week 6 is on the Progression Unit page.
Week 7 consisted of working finishing my progression Unit and starting the production of my FMP; planning and executing the photography for My FMP. The first images I took were the Fanta cans together with their respected flavour fruit. These images were useful in being the main images for the print adverts and the still images at the start of each short video ad. There was a moment when I had to retake the pictures because of the lighting and it didn’t capture the water droplets on the cans and the colours of the fruits. It is during this week too that I started to film the short video ads. I already had the actors in mind and all of them agreed to film with me. To show proof of their part in my FMP I made them sign release forms that I printed out. Week 7 was about starting the production of my Fanta print and video ads.
As soon as week 8 came along I was one day from having taken all the images and videos I wanted. Now I needed to start editing them so they take the form of the adverts that I planned on doing. This is when the softwares of Photoshop and Premiere Pro came into play and I had to use my skills and experience of using them from my previous units. During the making of the print and video ads I made sure to screenshot the progress of all the adverts from the start to the finished product. I made sure to explain my thought process and the changes to the evolution of the products. I also did this same method to showcase the editing of the short video ads and my thought process in that. Week 8 was about finishing the production of my products and logging what I did and how I did it.
There were 9 weeks all together (excluding the half term break) and in that final week it was about starting to write the evaluation, officially finishing the making of my products and adding more on my blog. On the cusp of when week 9 started I found how I was going to link the print ads to the short video ads, and that was through the use of QR codes. I found a website (qrstuff.com) and researched about the general aspect of QR codes. I finished the pre-production section of my blog by adding all the images of the handwritten proformas such as the story board, shot list, risk assessment and equipment loan sheet. Week 9 involved making the whole project come together from the research I collected to the process of making the products.
To conclude, this FMP project definitely tested all of the media skills that I have learnt over the 2 years I’ve been doing this course for. But it didn’t just test my arsenal of media skills I have but also my decision making, my ability to improvise when needed and my organisation skills too. My role and the purpose of this FMP advertisements were to finally advertise these Fanta flavours that never really had an ad campaign at least here in the UK.
Final Products
EKN Productions 