As the title suggests, I just had my first spring exhibition! I presented an ad that I made from our Oregon coast field study. I’m here to tell y’all about it and how I prepared for it.
So, this all started back near the start of May. We PLP 8’s started a project called “The Medium is the Message”. We started by learning about media, and defining a bunch of fancy words that involve advertising, like consumer (a person that buys items for themselves or others, sometimes influenced by media), target audience (a specific group of people that businesses direct their advertisements to), mass media (the spread of communication, pictures, words, thoughts and ideas), and more.
Then, I did a survey about advertising, and collected answers from my parents. The purpose of the survey was to see if ads work, and what types of ads are more effective.
Do you collect any ads or advertising products? (e.g. Coca-Cola, Starbucks mugs)
Do you have any clothing with a visible designer name? (e.g. Old Navy) Give examples.
Do you have any clothing with a visible designer logo? (e.g. Nike) Give examples.
Have you ever bought any products based solely on advertising? Which and why?
Have you ever not bought products specifically based on advertising? Which and why?
List the places where you think you see advertising on a daily basis:
After that, I filled out a table about how advertisers persuade their audiences. I picked some ads, and looked at how they tried to persuade their target audiences. While I didn’t like the worksheet format, it was interesting to think about whether I was more interested in buying these products, as a result of the ads.
The ad I found most persuasive was the Orion telescopes one. I liked it because it was funny, and I’m quite interested in space. Here it is.
My next challenge was to make an ad for a business in Oregon. So, off to Oregon we go! Learn more about my trip here!
I was assigned to make an ad for Clark’s Restaurant in Cosmopolis WA. I did some research on Clark’s and then, it was Oregon time! Or not…? Well, you see, the trip is usually early in the year, but because of Covid 19, it had to be moved back to the end of the year. And unfortunately, that led to conflicts. On the first day of the trip, I also had a band cabaret that I had worked very hard to be ready for. So, a deal was arranged for me and the other 5 kids in band to go 1 day later. But unfortunately for me, the plan was to go to Clark’s on the first day, so I didn’t get to go, and I missed out on interviewing the owner.
After getting home from Oregon, I asked my group about what they learnt from their interview, but I didn’t get as much information as I wanted. For example, I didn’t know that Clark’s used to be a general store, or that, even after multiple owner changes, they never changed the original decor. I also didn’t get to taste the food, or see what the place looked like. This made it way harder to make my ad.
I made my first draft for my ad. As you can see below,I ended up doing 8 more drafts before finally making it to one I was happy with. I think my ad improved a lot from my first draft to my last one. The final one looks better and doesn’t have as much empty space. Aren’t you hungry, just looking at this!?!
The last step was to present it at the exhibition. Me and my team prepared a table to match out theme with snacks (coke bottle gummies, and marshmallow ice cream cones to represent Clark’s famous milkshakes), and a game (putting a cheeseburger together as fast as possible).
So, how did the exhibition go? I think the spring exhibition went very well. I was way more confident than I was during the winter exhibitions. I was able to talk about the process of making my ad and my trip to Oregon.
But the exhibition wasn’t perfect. My biggest problem with it was the break times. Or, should I say the lack thereof. During the winter exhibition, we were given designated break times, and we mostly stuck to it. For this exhibition however, we didn’t get designated break times, and since it was shorter than the winter exhibition, I assumed I should just stay at my station for the entire time. Other people had a different idea, and were on non-stop long breaks. Also, there were too many students eating the food that each station provided because they were meant for the guests.
My favourite part, by far, was doing the grade 12’s tour. It really inspired me, and it really makes me want to stay in PLP, just to do something like that!
See you next year!