User Test (Questionnaire) Result: Tom N Toms Coffee & Artease

Tom N Toms & Artease User test Q by Valenisha Shroom

As compared to the other two user test surveys, this test received better responses and therefore it can be used as a stable guide/reference.

User Test (Online Questionnaire) Results: Teenage & Mentos

Teenage & Mentos User Test Q by Valenisha Shroom

Sadly, although I sent the email to over 50 people, only 9 people responded. )":

Therefore I decided to conduct another user test for the two integrated campaign through Interview which will be included in another separate post.

User Test (Online Questionnaire) Result: X-MINI and Ritter Sport

Xmini Questionnaire by Valenisha Shroom

Chosen D&AD brief for Design workshop

After reading the briefs again and again, I have decided to choose the brief for Dazed & Confused.

Visual Research.

Mindmap.

Sketches of Idea.

Chosen Idea.

Planning.

Studio: Integrated Campaign - Choosing Brand (1): Teenage

Teenage  magazine is published by Key Editions Pte Ltd. It has been around since 1988 until present time. It is pretty popular among the teens, especially with its counseling section titled 'Dear Kelly'. The issues basically cover all the hypes and happenings that interest teenagers, such as latest kpop events, various fashion and counseling advices that concern teenagers, and the magazine also encourage youths to share their thoughts and stories. 

Possible competitors will be Seventeen and Teens.

DRM: Design Issue 2 Proposal

Proposal Issue2

DRM: Design Issue 1 Proposal

Proposal Issue1

Studio: TOM N TOMS Coffee Creative Brief

Design Issue 1

TOM N TOMS Coffee

Val TNT CreativeBrief

 

Studio: Ritter Sport Creative Brief

Design issue 2

Ritter Sport

Val RitterSpot CreativeBrief

Studio: Artease Creative Brief

Design Issue 1

Artease

Val Artease CreativeBrief

Studio: X-MINI Creative Brief

Design Issue 2

X-MINI

Val Xmini CreativeBrief

Studio: Brand Research (Artease)

(Source)

Ivan Wang, Ang Chin Leng and Leslie Ang founded Artease in 2011. The idea of Artease is to have a bubble tea store that is uniquely Singapore. They collaborate and work with creative people, as their target audience revolves around young and trendy youths, as well as working adults. To them, the business is not only about selling bubble tea, but also about the food, culture and lifestyle.

Their stores are located at:

Tanjong Pagar

1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #01-35T

Opening hours: 10am-10pm everyday

Orchard Cineleisure

Opening hours:

Sunday to Thursday: 11am-11pm

Friday & Saturday: 11am-2am 

Advertising problems:

Although they have a large fan base, the brand is still not yet well advertised. There is a need for a push in promoting the brand, so that it can increase their daily sales without moving away from their brand image (uniquely Singapore). There is also a need to seek a way to reach out to target audience in the midst of ads clutter, in order not to lose out to the other exported brands.

Possible Competitors:

(1) Gong Cha

(Source)

Gong Cha is a brand that aims to provide best quality tea and beverages to their customers. Their goal is to give customers satisfaction by offering refreshing beverages and great customer service.

Their concept will be a premium tea fit for Royals; "so Tasteful, You'll Want More".

Gongcha has around 50 outlets in Singapore so far.

-------------------------------

(2) KOI

(Source)

KOI offers bubble teas and other refreshing beverages as well. There are currently 8 stores of KOI cafe, with an extremely long queue during 12pm-4pm daily.

Source:

(1) http://www.artease.sg

(2) (For the artease picture) http://danielfooddiary.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/artease71.jpg

(3) http://www.facebook.com/ArteaseCafe

(4) http://www.gong-cha.com

(5) http://www.facebook.com/GongCha.Singapore

(6) (For the Gong Cha picture + review) http://www.ladyironchef.com/2010/08/gong-cha-bubble-tea-singapore/
(7) (For KOI picture + review) http://www.ladyironchef.com/2010/06/koi-cafe-singapore-bubble-tea/
(8) http://www.koicafe.com.tw
(9) http://alvinology.com/2010/10/22/koi-cafe-50嵐-vs-gong-cha-贡茶-singapore/

Studio: Brand Research (X-Mini)

Here is the online research I did for my Design Issue 2 brands:

X-MINI

Background research:

X- Mini is a company founded in Singapore with the intention of bringing the latest wave of multimedia products to the global market. Its main objective is to create multimedia devices that will lead as major trends in lifestyle technology. X-Mini pushes the boundaries of technologies in order to become a global brand synonymous with future innovations.

X-Mini products consist of: X-Mini II Capsule Speaker, X-Mini v1.1 Capsule Speaker, X-Mini MAX II Capsule Speaker, X-Mini MAX v1.1 Capsule Speaker, X-Mini Happy Capsule Speaker, X-Mini RAVE Capsule Speaker, X-Mini Hello Kitty Capsule Speaker, and X-Mini KAI Capsule Speaker.

Advertising problems:

(1) People tend to trust exported brands more than local brand (X-Mini is a local brand).
(2) Not many people know about X-Mini, as there is no solid ads or campaigns existing so far yet.

Possible competitors:

(1) Audio-Technica

(Source)

Audio-Technica was established in 1962. It is a company that deals with anything related to design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of problem-solving audio equipment. It is famous for its phonograph cartridges, and nowadays it creates high-performance microphones, headphones, wireless systems, mixers and other home and professional electronic products. 

Audio-Technica has worn many awards, and their products were also selected for major broadcast music events such as "the GRAMMY Awards and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies and sport events like World Cup Soccer, the Super Bowl, the Commonwealth Games, Summer Games in Athens (2004), Sydney(2000), Atlanta (1996) and Winter Games in Torino (2006) and Salt Lake City (2002)". 

The brand is well spread through out the world, its operating companies are also available in Europe, Singapore and Hongkong.  The timeline of the company can be found in their official website.

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(2) Creative


(Source)

Creative was founded in Singapore 1981, and it started with a vision that believes that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs. It is famous because of its Sound Blaster sound cards. Right now Creative are working on marketing cutting-edge audio solutions, premium wireless speakers, high performance earphone products and portable media devices. Its global corporate headquarters is located in Singapore, and regional headquarters at US (Milpitas, California), Europe (Dublin, Ireland) and Asia (Singapore). 

Since the success of Sound Blaster sound cards and setting the de-facto standard for PC audio in 1989, Creative has been the leading brand expanding in exciting lifestyle PDE market, especially in audio technology with a user base of 400 million. 

Creative was awarded the Consumer Electronics Show "Best of CES" for four consecutive years from 2003-2006, for a variety of their products. They also won the prestigious German-based reddot awards for outstanding and innovative product industrial designs. With the launch of Xtreme Fidelity (X-Fi) audio platform, they gained the "Best of What's New in Home Entertainment" award by Popular Science in 2006 for bringing outstanding audio quality for MP3 music. 

Creative's mission is "to expand its leadership role in the lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment market, using groundbreaking technology and leading-edge designs for not just the technically-savvy consumers, but for everyone who enjoys entertainment." It is listed on the main board of Singapore Exchange (SGX) since June 1994.

The company's timeline is available in their official website.

Sources:

(1) http://www.x-mini.com

(2) http://www.audio-technica.com.sg

(3) http://sg.creative.com

Studio: Brand Research (Ritter Sport)

(Source)

Ritter Sport started as a small family confectionary in 1912, by Alfred Ritter and his wife Clara. It is now sold in 80 countries and is now passed down through the Ritter family. Alfred Theodor Ritter, the grandchild of the founder, now leads it and the company has 800 employees in Waldenbuch. 

Ritter Sport is the “chocolate with a difference”. The company aims to make and keep their products a deal; attractive to both consumers and market. They stressed in the duty of acting in an environmentally responsible manner.

Timeline:

In 1998, for the first time in its history, RITTER SPORT exceeds the half-billion mark with a turnover of 507m DM. The 100g chocolate bars hold a 22% market share in the food trade.

In 2001, the “RITTER SPORT Chocolate Shop” Visitors’ Center opens. It vividly and interactively showcases the production of chocolate as well as RITTER SPORT’S history.

In 2002, RITTER SPORT opens their very own power plant. The RITTER SPORT combined heating-and-power station comes to life, allowing the company to produce approx. 30% of its own electricity and approx. 70% of its own heating needs. It is especially environmentally–friendly: Heat is a deliberate “waste product” of electricity generation that can now be used for heating purposes. Through this system of cogeneration, RITTER SPORT saves approx. 12m kWh of primary energy per year (this corresponds to approx. 1m liters of heating oil) and reduces its CO2 emissions by approx. 6,800 tons in the same period. 

Advertising problem: 

(1) There has not been a solid advertisements or campaign done (in Singapore) by the company to reach out to the target audience. 

(2) There are a lot of other brands which are more known in Singapore; but due to ads clutter, Ritter Sport has to find another method in order to get their message across without being lost in the sea of ads.

Possible competitors: 

(1) Toblerone

(Source)

Toblerone is a Swiss chocolate, made from cocoa beans from different parts of the world, Californian almonds and Mexican honey. 'Toblerone' originates from the chocolatier's family name 'Tobler' combined with 'torrone' which means nougat in Italian. The shape of Toblerone is triangular, like the mountainous homeland of Theodor Tobler. 

Toblerone is under Kraft foods and it was founded in 1908.

(2) Hersheys

(Source)

Hersheys is the largest producer of quality chocolate in North America that has been established since over 100 years ago. HERSHEY’S brands include Hershey’s, Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s, Kit Kat, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, and Hershey’s Bliss chocolates.

Hershey's is a leader in the dark and premium chocolate segment (Hershey's Special Dark and Hershey's Extra Dark)

They particularly displayed a video of how chocolate is made in their page. It helps allure consumers as it is pretty mouthwatering. Video: http://www.hersheys.com/ads-and-videos/how-we-make-chocolate.aspx

Available commercials: http://www.hersheys.com/ads-and-videos/commercials.aspx

Sources:

(1) http://www.facebook.com/RitterSportChocolate

(2) http://www.ritter-sport.us/#/en_US/home/

(3) http://www.thecocoatrees.com/products.php?brand=Ritter+Sport

(4) http://www.museum-ritter.de/sprache2/n437378/n.html

(5) http://www.youtube.com/RitterSportChocolate
(6) http://www.toblerone.com
(7) http://www.facebook.com/Toblerone
(8) http://www.hersheys.com
(9) http://www.facebook.com/HERSHEYS
(10) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hersheys-Singapore/147222661970666
(11) For Toblerone pic: http://www.unotrade.nl/image/logos/logo_4fce0130ed9b9.jpg
(12) For Hersheys pic: http://www.candybarlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/hersheyscc_wr4.jpg

Studio: Brand Research (TOM N TOMS Coffee)

Tom N Toms takes the lead in creativity in an ever-evolving coffee culture, currently running 160 stores in Korea and about 20 stores in other countries. (7 in Los Angeles, 3 in Australia, 10 in Thailand and 1 in Singapore). It aims to open 600 stores all over the world by 2012.  Tom N Toms is well known for its freshly baked pretzels and thick toast. 

Tom N Toms menu revolves around Espresso coffee, gourmet teas, various lattes, iced beverages, tomncinno (ice-blended), yoghurt smoothies, thick toast, tortilla, pretzels, sandwiches, cakes, and muffins.

As of 2012, Australia had opened 2 new branches, and 5-7 branches in Thailand. 

Tom N Toms is also mentioned at various food blog such as:

(1) Nommynomnom (http://nommynomnom.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/tom-n-toms-singapore/)

(2) Hungry-go-where (http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/tom_n_toms_coffee_icon_village/)

*It is 80% recommended for chill-out place.

(3) Lovlife (http://lovelivfe.com/2011/09/12/korean-ish/).

Advertising problems: 

(1) People do not know of its existence as it is overshadowed by competitors.

(2) Even though they have attempted to market via Social Networking Platform such as Twitter and Facebook, it does not reach out to more people. 

(3) There has not been any proper marketing campaign attempted to promote this brand.

Possible Competitors:

(1) Starbucks

(Source)

Starbucks was first opened in Seattle's Pike Place Market. Its name was inspired by Moby Dick, and it offered fresh-roasted while bean coffees that are world's finest standard. It had always been a brand that creates connection to its consumers, more than just celebrating coffee and its own rich tradition.

Starbucks' mission is 'to inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time'. 

By 2012, Starbucks is well spread throughout 50 countries, having 15,000 stores in total. Starbucks started its corporation in Singapore on 14 December 1996. It was located at Liat Towers, as of today there are more than 60 stores available in Singapore.

(2) Coffee Bean

(Source)

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's heritage started its legacy in 1963, founded by Herbert B. Hyman. it has now grown into one of the largest private companies around, and today it offers 22 varieties of coffee and 20 kinds of tea. The coffee beans are roasted in manual European roast style.

As of today, there are 50 local stores in Singapore, but there are already plans for many more outlets to come.

Sources:

(1) http://www.facebook.com/TNTSINGAPORE
(2) http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/tom_n_toms_coffee_icon_village/
(3) http://twitter.com/tntsingapore
(4) http://blog.omy.sg/danielang/archives/1297
(5) http://tomntoms.com
(6) http://lovelivfe.com/2011/09/12/korean-ish/
(7) http://nommynomnom.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/tom-n-toms-singapore/
(8) For Starbucks image: http://www.graziadaily.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Starbucks-Coffee1.jpg
(9) http://www.starbucks.com.sg
(10) http://www.mystore411.com/store/listing/15/Singapore/Starbucks-store-locations
(11) http://www.facebook.com/StarbucksSingapore
(12) For Coffee Beans image: http://greenskymorning.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ice-blended.jpg
(13) http://www.coffeebean.com.sg/coffeebean/
(14) http://www.facebook.com/coffeebean.sg

Studio: Research (Design Issue & Hypothesis) - BRANDS

After much consideration, I have decided on four brands pertaining to my design issues:

Design Issue 1:

TOM N TOMS Coffee & Artease

Design Issue 2:

X-MINI & Ritter Sport

DRM & Studio: Research (Design Issue & Hypothesis)

For the first week of school, I was down with food poisoning and therefore missed the classes (for both DRM and Studio). However, I did a bit of thinking and mind-map while I was resting at home.

My writing of my 'thoughts'.

A random mind-map I drew while trying to see what I have done in the whole day, just for the sake of gambling for some inspiration.

From consultation with Joselyn and Shanon, I began to narrow down the issues I thought of before. Due to my love for KPOP, I had wanted to do something related to Korea. And then my lecturer Shanon suggested doing a topic that requires me to do Korea's advertising method as a strategy.

I considered about it and thought that perhaps I could try to see how celebrity endorsement affects Korea's market very much. I still have to do further research into the topic.

A little mind-map I did because my mind was going mad.

I thought of what to do for the other topic but couldn't come up any. While I was reading a small article the other time from here, and I realize that the problem I want to tackle of can be the ads clutter that has been existing in Singapore.

I started with drawing a mind-map of how Singapore's existing ads will be. I will do further literature review and research about the existing ads, along with visual research and survey. Meanwhile, I decided to tackle only one strategy out of the many ads strategies out there for my design issue.

As of now, nothing is confirmed yet, so I guess I should do more research and consult Shannon and/or Joselyn again the next lesson.