Presentation Feedback

Following our submission of our Gorgeous Couture presentation we received some feedback advising us how to improve our project prior to our own final submission. We were pleased that there is little to change and that our feedback was very positive. Both the tutors and the Gorgeous Couture representatives were really impressed with our presentation and overall idea. In addition, they were pleased that our campaign used their existing dresses plus that we had gathered information about the colour and style of dresses through primary research not from generic trends. The changes that need to be made to the actual presentation are the following:

• To be more concise on the 'Objectives' and include costings of the promotions we've chosen
• Tidy up the layout 
• Showcase the key statements in larger text, maybe even different colours
• Create a shorter hashtag. 'MyGorgeousCoutureProm' is a bit of a mouthful
• Look at post production promotions, how will the hashtag and general prom wear be encouraged more
• Create a customer profile board for our core consumer.

Rebecca, Francesca & Robyn

Complete Presentation

Finally, our Gorgeous Couture presentation can be viewed here.
Within our presentation we outlined our campaign idea, survey findings, smart objectives, a selection of our favourite images from the shoot, our social media, website and video campaigns, ending on our overall conclusion. Designed in the form of a magazine, we chose this format as it's more visually exciting than a simple power-point presentation.
Rebecca, Francesca & Robyn

Video Campaign

We had never used iMovie Maker before so were apprehensive about creating our video, however we were undeterred and actually found the concept very simple. After playing around with different shots of the film, we decided on the sequence above whereby the model begins getting ready for prom and then plays around in different prom dresses. As this is a taster video, we didn't want to give too much away in terms of the dresses available for prom, moreover, we kept the video in black and white to ensure continuity with the video already on their website.  

Above is the final edit of our video campaign. We are really pleased with the final outcome of it, as it showcases exactly what we wanted to show from our idea- that Gorgeous Couture will be involved in the whole prom package, not just pushing for a dress sale.

Website Campaign

The following are our final mock-ups of the Gorgeous Couture website with our campaign involved. The homepage is the same as it currently is except it is our promotional video that plays opposed to the current one. Bar this and the prom tab at the top, that is the only reference to their prom collection. This is because we don't want to put off other customers plus, we want to keep continuity within the brand. 

The prom tab will open up the prom page which again features the video, but also promotional photos and a lookbook. In addition there are tabs beneath the main image that link to the dress collection page, the social media pages and the prom checklist pages. 

Our dress pages are exactly the same as the original Gorgeous Couture ones, however with more prominent social media icons so users can directly share the dresses with friends. Moreover, the prices are all to be fixed- slightly cheaper than the normal prices, but still within the main bracket that our survey revealed people would pay. 

Our checklist page is based on the current Made-to-Measure page as that reflected what needed to be communicated perfectly. Each part of the checklist is linked to social media so when clicked will direct users to Facebook and Twitter so that can tweet 'Sarah has just bought her Gorgeous Couture prom dress' etc. The checklist page also is linked up their Pinterest and by clicking on certain words will direct users to this page for more visual inspiration.

Rebecca, Francesca & Robyn 

Social Media Campaign

The following are our final outcomes for the social media aspect of our campaign. We want to integrate the prom collection within the rest of the Gorgeous Couture brand, thus haven't created a separate web-page or account for each element. In terms of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, posts will be regular starting with behind the scenes shots to create a buzz and mystery, then followed with our campaign images over our selected time period. We have decided to integrate this within the rest of the Gorgeous Couture brand because not only are we extending the brand reach to a new audience, but also this may extend brand reach and their social media impact as well.

With our Pinterest account, there will be numerous boards varying of Prom content, and similarly to Topshop's previous competition, we intend to invite audience to create their own prom mood boards and use our hashtag of #MyGorgeousCoutureProm to be in with the chance of winning prom experiences like make-overs, dresses, transport etc. 

Rebecca & Francesca

Social Media Campaign- Editing Process

Creating the Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest's pages for the social media campaign was fairly straightforward. For Instagram, I used a screenshot of their existing account and simply used our own images and integrated them within their's. The 'behind-the-scenes' shots are going first to begin creating a buzz about the new range, then follows the campaign images and other promotional shots. All these created were done in the style of Gorgeous Couture's existing Instagram style e.g. the blurred image with the text 'Coming Soon' over the top.

The Twitter page was drawn out on Illustrator. In terms of their cover photo and background, these have been kept the same simply because our images couldn't fit in correctly without being stretched or having part of the image covered. It would be good if Gorgeous Couture considered changing their cover photo to a prom one during the time of the campaign to keep as another way to promote the collection. Again, like the Instagram page, the prom tweets will be integrated and put alongside all the tweets.

To create their Pinterest page, I simply created the board using a variety of images that have been sourced over our research, and simply changed my account name to the Gorgeous Couture one.

Rebecca

Photo Edits

When it came to editing the images some shots were easier than others as all this required was adjusting the levels, brightening up the image and using the selective colour tool to bring out the balance making some colour more dominant giving an overall stronger aesthetic to the image.
The images from the Harris Museum did not need much editing due to the use of natural lighting with the surroundings having an overall balanced approach. The tools needed to edit this included:

• cropping the image
• selective colour tool and shadow forming tool
• levels/brightness and contrast
• vibrance
• saturation.

All in all this was fairly simple to act out making this set very easy and enjoyable to edit.

It was the other set from the studio that proved to be tricky and a little complicated. This is because of the shadow that was formed at the top and the bottom of the image due to the lighting effect within the studio.

As I was unaware of how to go about getting rid of these markings on the picture I asked my tutor who then told me that you need to create a new layer and place a rectangular shaped box on that layer covering the whole page, placing this behind and then using the eraser to remove the greyer areas.With this being so I then went back and tried to get rid of this as much as possible. I chose to leave a little shadowed effect near the models feet to make this look realistic. When doing this i found that the overall aesthetics of the image came across stronger which is what we wanted.

 This is how I edited all the images selected from the studio set. This did take longer than i anticipated it too but I wanted to ensure they all looked the same so i made the style consistent which allows all the images to be aesthetically pleasing and allows all the focus to be on the Gorgeous Couture dresses. 

Here are all of the edited images together:

With all of these now being edited we are now ready to begin designing our campaign and placing this all together ready to present on Monday with our final ideas.

Robyn

Chosen Photos

After a successful shoot yesterday, we were left with over 300 photos and over 50 videos to choose from and after much deliberation, these are our final 26 images to be used in various ways across the campaign on all social media platforms and on Gorgeous Couture's website.

The first set of photos we chose to keep are 'behind the scenes' style shots for Gorgeous Couture's Instagram page and website, we chose these images because we felt they captured natural, candid style images with the model getting her hair and make up done in a studio setting, to give the consumer an exclusive insight into the photo shoot.

This was the first dress we used and we picked three final images from this outfit for the Gorgeous Couture website, showing the front of the dress, the back of the dress and a close up on the Swarovski crystal detailing.

The second dress was this blue one and due to poor fitting, this was our least favourite outfit and so the one that we struggled to pick final images for. Again we chose one shot of the front of the dress, one of the back and an additional shot that we liked for use on other platforms such as Pinterest or Instagram.

This dress was a stronger outfit overall and so we chose more images of the model wearing this one. The first two images, although very similar are both very strong in their own way, with the first one being more appropriate for the actual campaign and the second one looking like a genuine prom-style shot, perhaps for Gorgeous Couture to use on other social media sites. We then got a generic front and back shot of the dress to go on the website, making sure that the dress was shown clearly and no important detailing was cut off. The last two images are from the second part of the shoot at Harris Museum and both of which we all think are exceptionally strong for the campaign/billboard style images.

The final dress was the red 'Evita Maxi' and this was our favourite outfit and the one which we got the strongest images for and so we picked six finals from this dress. The first three images could be used on the website, to show the front, back and lace detailing of the dress. The final three images are again from Harris Museum and these three would more likely be used for promotional images online and even potentially in magazines and on social media such as Pinterest etc.

Francesca.

Website Mock Ups

In terms of the website and Facebook page, they won't be dramatically changing within our initial designs. Keeping continuity is quite important so it doesn't put off existing customers and also so that navigation doesn't confuse people. On the Facebook page the posts will be slotting in with the other non-prom ones. There will be a tab at the top of the page during the time of the campaign that directly takes users to the Prom part of the Facebook page as well to the actual website.

The website itself has been kept in according to the new design. On the homepage, there will be our video or promotional photos where  Gorgeous Couture's current promotional video is. The rest of the page will remain the same- the video will be there during the campaign. There will also be a prom tab at the top of the page which will function all year round, but obviously more content will be active during the peak prom season. 

The Prom tab will be laid out in the same manner as the rest of the website with a large promotional video/picture and then boxes underneath. The prom page will look similar to the main homepage as there is a lot of content on other pages that need to be linked and advertised on the main prom page. These boxes/tabs beneath the video will link users to the relevant pages.

Rebecca

Photoshoot Analysis

With today being our photo-shoot we ensured that the model knew what she was doing by printing out the inspiration boards to give her some direction in terms of poses, stances and overall postures. We also ensured that the photographer Dave Schofield knew immediately which lighting we wanted to allow this shoot to run smoothly. This was a plain, bright light with the added hint of a shadow to darken the face of the model giving her a soft glow within her face but a form of shadow around the body to draw emphasis to the garments which we had borrowed from Gorgeous Couture.

Our aims during todays shoot included:

•   Studio images - To have a clear layout with a simplistic white coloured background which allows all the emphasis to be within the garment that is being worn which would hopefully improve sales. This would also make this more formal and sophisticated which is the idea as you want to look extra special and elegant during your prom. However, on the other hand, we also wanted to portray the fun side of prom by having our model posing with a more playful manner showing how she had let her hair down and really enjoying themselves. This style of image would then be displayed on all social networking sites that the brand promotes.

•   Harris Museum image - we wanted to allow these images to sell the lifestyle as well as the dress which would give them an experience that they could not forget. This forms visual expectations of what prom would be like which can give the audience an insight as to what they have to come. These were more staged images which allowed both the location as well as the dress to be emphasized.

•   Video footage - Although are aim for this is to show the level of sophistication prom hold, this is also meant to have a laidback and fun approach which shows all the steps of the whole getting ready process that a girl would go through on the day of prom. This needs to capture each stage thoroughly which allows us to go through and analyse this developing the areas we find are stronger and working with this. This would then be posted on the social networking sites along with being the main feature on the website homepage which would mean there had to be a substantial amount of footage leaving us a lot to work with.

The shoot went according to plan and we were able to come out with some very strong images which help to promote the brands successful in the prom department. The images we gathered had a mixture of both playful yet serious associations which were taken for different reasons and would displayed within different contexts depending of the form of promotion this was supporting.

With the website we took a very clinical approach keeping it very clear stripping everything back making this basic which would draw the audiences attention to the new prom dresses that are being shown within the website. This not only had sophisticated connotations but this also was able to show the former school graduates how to wear these dresses and what style to possibly go for. Additionally, these still images come with a front view, back view and a close up on the detail. This would be able to be hovered over to identify the key piece. These also help to portray a mature style showing how the audience is not growing up. With this the campaign shows how they can then shop within Gorgeous Couture after prom trying to maintain their custom.

Whereas, with the 'behind the scenes image' and all other non serious images that  will be posted on social media sites takes a completely different approach focusing on the fun and interactive element allowing the lifestyle to be sold to the audience which will then be shared within their friendship groups acting as a main topic of conversation which will be allowing them to share posts within popular pages like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and spreading the awareness to others how Gorgeous Couture is not reaching out to other target customers hoping to gain a further following.

All in all, concluding the images we took today we found that some of the images, mainly the ones in the red trailer dress and the block multicolored paneled dress were the strongest out of the collection as not only where they more prom like but they helped to reinforce the message of how they can cater for a younger market giving them a day in which they can not forget. With the colours present within these two colour, as our model was very fair this allowed the garments to them contrast which makes these more appealing and aesthetical on the eye. Sadly, the black crystal and the blue long sleeved maxi dress were not only mum like on our model but also a little oversized which meant that we had to pin this to the model loosing some quality. However, you are able to get the message we wished to communicate from the two powerful dresses. We are most definitely pleased with the images and will now need to go through these and then pick out the most successful ones.

Here are some behind the scene images from the shoot:

Robyn

Video Inspiration/Change of Direction

Our original idea was to create a solely image-based social media campaign along with the chat bar on the website to promote Gorgeous Couture's new prom collection; however, since being shown the brand's new website we realised that a similar chat bar is already being used which took the innovation away from our idea. 

We studied the new website design and realised that video was now a leading element of the homepage, with a 30 second long video playing on repeat in the centre of the page:

From this, we had a slight change of direction and decided that it would be beneficial to include an element of video to our campaign as this is obviously such an important platform to Gorgeous Couture. We're going to create a short video clip showcasing the new prom collection which we propose to launch, to be shown on YouTube and on all of Gorgeous Couture's social media platforms and website.

We have taken some initial inspiration from a video on Topshop's YouTube channel promoting a 'Topshop style' prom, it shows all the elements of getting ready for prom which is an area we want to capture in our own short film: 

With the shoot tomorrow, we began looking at other photos and videos for inspiration and ideas; we've decided we're going to film the model getting her hair and make up done by the make up artist, and then show her posing and having fun in a range of Gorgeous Couture dresses.

During post-production we will then add effects, use slow-motion techniques and other effects if necessary such as blurring and sound, to create a montage of prom scenes which will fit our campaign suitably.

Francesca.