Designed an Advertising Campaigns class, while earning my MBA at Pittsburg State University.

This was a semester-long individual project that was designed to provide us with hands-on experience creating an advertising brief for a campaign that spanned multiple mediums including: publications, radio, TV, outdoor advertising, billboards, and new media. At the beginning of the course, each student in the class randomly given a brand or product that we would develop a variety of advertisements for throughout the semester. I was given GoPro.

The Process

This project was divided into 3 parts based on the medium: print & publication; TV & Radio; and out-of-home, guerrilla, & new media. At the end of the project, I put it all together in a plan that included a client (GoPro) analysis, media objectives, strategy, media schedule, and budget.

Before starting on the creative, I first had to complete an analysis of the client. I researched the product line, advertising history, competitive environment, and target markets. I decided I would focus on the brand, rather than an individual product, for my campaign. I also chose to target young (18-40), athletic, highly active individuals with a income of $35,000 or higher. I kept in mind two secondary audiences, as well, which I labled: innovative professional videographers, and amateur documenters. Throughout the campaign, I wanted to emphasize the high quality and versatility of the GoPro product line.

Part One: Print & Publication

For the print and publication part of the campaign, I decided to capitalize on the image quality of GoPro by creating a serious of 4 full-spread magazine ads with a large photo and the tagline, “Heroes Never Stop.” In addition, I created a smaller half-page greyscale ad and another half-page (color) ad with longer-copy and a call to action for readers to visit gopro.com/channel to view consumer created content.

For the most part, I tried to royalty free images taken from actual GoPro cameras. When this was not an option, I used proof examples from Corbis. Because of this, some examples are not actually high-res. It was not a requirement of the assignment, nor was it encouraged to purchase artwork for this project. Here are the examples I created for this part of the project:

Part Two: TV & Radio

The next phase of the project involved the development of TV and radio ads. When I think of TV and radio, I think of entertainment, and I believe all content in those mediums should strive to be as entertaining as possible. So, I wanted both of these ads to tell an entertaining story that kept the attention of the audience. I also wanted them to be fast paced and exciting, while maintaining a similar strategy as the print ads.

For the TV spot, titled “The Heroes”, I chose to tell 3 stories (a dirt bike racer, a skydiver, and a surfer) as told through the lens of a GoPro. As with the publication ads, there will be a large focus on video quality. The stories alternate between each other, switching characters approximately every 2-3 seconds. We see 3 adventures unfold from beginning to end from the unique and personal perspective captured by the GoPro camera. The audio from the camera along with an appropriate background track will allow the audience to experience the emotion of the scenes. I chose to limit this TV spot to 30 seconds, but it could easily be expanded to a minute or more. It could also include a call-to-action at the end to send people to GoPro website to see all three individual stories in full length. Here’s the storyboard for my 30 second TV spot:

The radio ad brought with it a different challenge. I couldn’t show off the video/image quality with radio. I decided, however, that I would use this to my advantage. I was going to tell another story. This time, just one, and without the video. You see, a memory came to mind, an experience we’ve all probably had at one point or another. You’re telling a story, but no matter how many or which words you use, you just can’t explain the experience accurately. So that’s what I did, I wrote a script that would make my audience live that experience again. Have a look for yourself:

“I wish I could show you. Words just cannot do it justice.” We’ve all said something like that before. We can all relate. Next time, bring a GoPro. When the product solves an actual problem, it practically sells itself.

Part 3: Out-of-Home, Guerrilla, & New Media

For the out-of-home advertisement, I wanted to focus on a quick call-to-action with a QR-Code to bring people to the website. I used a screen capture from the Felix Baumgartner Space Jump video and transformed it into a QR-code. Then I placed the QR-Code in the middle of a large white poster with a small GoPro logo in the bottom-right corner. Ideally this would be placed in high-traffic areas where people are likely to linger, such as a bus-stop or a subway station. Here’s what it looked like:

For the guerrilla advertisement, I decided to stick to GoPro’s number one strength: User generated content. So I used the “#BeAHero” hashtag and placed in a billboard and a large outdoor sign featuring high-res images of GoPro users in the middle of an extreme sport activity. There would be no GoPro logo, but the camera might be visible in the shot. This would be designed to encourage user participation in generating content and sharing it with the hashtag, “#BeAHero.” Here are two examples I came up with, but there could easily be more:

The Out-of-Home QR-code posters could also be used for guerrilla marketing if the GoPro logo was removed and it was turned into a series.

In my final plan, I did not utilize a campaign using new media, but I did consider the possibility of GoPro sponsoring a few very active thrill-seekers and extreme sports athletes. These athletes would have blogs or a consistently scheduled show featuring their latest adventures. They would post photos and videos and mention their GoPro equipment regularly. Here’s an example of a sponsored blog:

As I mentioned before, the final product of the assignment was an advertising campaign plan, which can be seen here.