S.O.F.I.A...the secret weapon

Advertising Class is starting to get interesting. The class had a brainstorming session where we really got the creative juices flowing. We decided as a group to make a fictitious women that would represent the target market name Sofia, an acronym of the attitudes JCPenney gave us that they saw their target market having.Savvy Optimistic Fun Indulgent Authority. We would then be able to put here through the stages in life JCPenney provides, single, married, and children. The first stage would be clothes to go out when she's single and dating, then a gift registry for engaged and married, and then clothes for when she has children. If we ever had a question about the target market or a creative we would then think well what would Sofia do, what would she like? Then, if we don't know the answer, thats what we would need to find out. I love idea of being able to just have a class to brain storm, and everything we talked about seemed really interesting. Now, the campaign seems to be coming to life, and so does Sofia. I wonder what kind of clothes she likes when she wants to go out? Is she more of a dress up girl, or a casual cute jeans and a top? These are the kind of questions we need to figure out to know how Sofia ticks. What if she doesnt get married? We figured that she would, but a mutual friend of hers wouldn't and we could use her as an example of women who stays single longer. Sofia is turning into a real person, and I feel the team is excited to bring her to life.

I feel like the class needs to be more like that, with a chance to talk about creatives and other aspects of the campaign. The making of Sofia was a big step in the process. I feel this is extremely relevant to what we have to do because its helping us to work as a team and see what is good and what isnt. We can tell who are the big contributors and who needs to step it up. I feel like I need to get more involved in the process, when it comes to brianstorming and other aspects as well. I am usually apprehensive to do so, but I hope next session can help.

How can this help in the understanding of the course and what we have to do? Simple, it is helping us to become a team. It is helping us to think beyond the classroom and really about what the client wants. This is helping us to learn how to buckle down and think like real Advertisers, but still have the professor in the room to stear us in the right direction. The course is helping us to picture a campaign and the step by step ways it is built, and Sofia is the first step. Although the other steps might be an uphill battle, I'm excited to see what other ideas the team can make.

Till then
Bests,
Lisa

The Agency...almost.

The past two weeks have been busy with the advertising class. As a team, we have been trying to figure out what positions we want to have in the agency. We had to look beyond the name and research which position we wanted in the future, and in the agency as well. After some research, I read information about Media Planners and Photographers. I always wanted to be a photographer, so hopefully I will be able to take that position in the agency. I love photos and trying to capture a moment, so hopefully I can capture a great picture to use in one of the creatives. I also wanted to help out with the Media Planning portion of the agency. I like being able to research and consider which types of media would suffice for the advertising campaign that we are doing. It seems interesting to do be able to do both. I liked how we were all able to discuss who wants to be what in the agency and have the opportunity to voice our opinions on the matter. We were even able to talk about our client and conduct mini research by some people going to JC Penny and shopping. It was interesting to hear what other people said about the client and their experiences within the store. I am going to ask my mom about her experiences at JC Penny and eventually go on a trip to the store myself, if I can ever get the time! I have also been thinking about a name for the agency, but they will probably more talk of that in the near future.

We have not done a lot for the campaign yet, but the case study has been put into place and so we will be going through that soon. I am excited to start the process and really buckle down on this campaign. Next class should be interesting!!