Written work

Unit 3 Written Incite

I had initially decided to in investigate graphic communication through different media centralised around and about publicity campaigns. What came to mind was existing health safety campaigns and identity fraud campaigns as they persistently from research, provided strong visuals which communicate strong messages effectively. Investigating this area is rather basic, through observing existing Road safety campaigns and info graphics I’d be able to translate basic conventions within professional campaigns to produce gripping visuals. Through this investigation it will be essential and paramount to be able to draw inspiration from results found and be able to apply knowledge such  as how just the type of my campaign slogan on my visual must relate and push my message forward. Furthermore to find out possible mediums  available for my visuals and are best suited to boot. In order to effectively answer the unit question and produce  successful final visuals for my practical work I must identify that I must produce a ‘set of visuals’ and that these visuals to convey and highlight my use of type, image, colour and layout.

Through all my investigations on publicity campaigns I focused most of my idea development and transcripts from ‘THINK!’ campaign which is a government based campaign in order to reduce casualties on the road via boosting awareness of road driving drinking limits, awareness and safety precautions and because the possible fatal outcome of not abiding to this is possible death I found the visuals very hard hitting and subtlety effective driving powerful messages.

Litteraly the play on words and use on monochrome scenery applied to the incident adds to the overall effect of the road saftey add. The open rhetoric within the text provokes the viewer to inject colour into this black and white scenery and apply a foregone hindsight .

The elements of a Campaign.

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Simple messages which use realistic scenarios have been found to be the most effective. However account must be taken of the local context. For example, the use of explicit images of injured persons, whilst hard hitting and attention-grabbing visuals in some societies, can offend and cause people to switch off in other places. Direct use of gore can be misleading and deduct from the campaigns effectiveness.

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The following can be considered as the elements of a publicity campaign which need to be considered in the planning stage...

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* Target behaviour.

* Target audience.

* Appeals to motivate the audience.

* Message content.

* Audience activation.

* Media selection.

* Campaign timing.

Evaluate the impact. All major campaigns should be evaluated. This is often done through a pre- and post-campaign survey. Measure behavioural changes, such as improved seat belt or helmet wearing, or reduced speeds. However, sustainable behavioural changes take time to achieve. Short-term changes should be treated cautiously and surveys should also be done long after the campaign launch. These inform decisions about the time intervals between campaigns, for example how frequently to run adverts on TV.

Road safety campaign

A road safety publicity campaign is part of a set of activities that aim to promote safe road use through visuals. Purpose of road safety campaigns would normally aim :

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• To raise awareness of an issue... or to inform: [i.e. new restrictions]

• To change attitudes: [i.e. to improve public awareness of potential hazards in and around our roads.]

• To change behaviour, as part of a package of measures: [i.e. insuring attitudes towards roads safety are there on applied in awareness and driving styles.]

This type of campaign can be quite effective in these circumstances... where there is already a lot of support for the basic concept... i.e. drivers should not Drink and Drive... and where something is easy to identify... i.e. someone not wearing their seat belt,.

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A campaign is important to lift the profile of a road safety problem, say speeding, as a legal/criminal issue, and to make drivers aware of the risk of prosecution. For example, publicity about the number of deaths and injuries caused by speeding, combined with information about how lower speeds reduce the number of deaths and injuries, may change attitudes to speeding, or make lower speed limits and higher penalties for infringements more acceptable. But the link with law enforcement is essential. The fear of being caught and penalized for traffic offences appears to be a more powerful motive for reducing speed than the fear of being involved in a crash.

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It may be necessary to run a campaign to inform the public about a new law [for example, blood alcohol levels] before it is enforced, in order both to explain the reasons for the new law, and to give legitimacy to police activity in its enforcement. In this case the direct impact of the campaign [on drink-driving] may be small, but informing the public about the reasons for a law, and how it will be implemented, is a prerequisite to its enforcement in most societies.

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Emerging good practice.

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This successful approach can be considered a blueprint in countries where hard-hitting images are socially acceptable, with the following features...

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• Hard-hitting publicity, based on emotional and physical consequences of being penalized for breaking the law, or being injured in a crash.

• Stress enforcement activities.

• An advertising approach which is...

* Realistic.

* Non-judgemental.

* Convincing and not apologetic... and

* Contains as much emotion as possible.

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• Testing of concepts on target groups before proceeding with the full campaign.

• Tracking how the target group(s) is responding by monitoring...

* changes in attitudes,

* changes in behaviour,

* recall and relevance of the messages... and

* changes in crash patterns.

IA controversial, but effective Advertisement which has been showing in NSW Australia since June 2007. The "Little Pinky" campaign is aimed at the egos of 'boy-racers' types... [a demographic which can clearly be identified as 'high-risk.] The implication is, that those who 'speed to impress', do so because they are 'appendagely challenged'.