The Audience Apprentice

During the next two weeks you will write an essay directed at a specific audience. To get the feel for this kind of writing (the only kind there is, really), we’re going to get creative.

You will have all class time to work with your group to complete the first part of this project. For the second part, you will present your group work to the class on Monday.

Designing an ad campaign

Your group will choose a single product below, decide which magazine audiences you should pitch your product to and how, and design those ads. On Monday, you will present your ad campaign to the company CEOs (the class and me) and attempt to persuade us that your advertising firm has the best approach to selling this product.

To begin, choose a product below (or talk to me if you have an idea for a different product) and name that product. Remember that to succeed with this task, you must be able to make this product appeal to a wide variety of consumers, so choose a name that doesn’t limit your target market.

Then decide which magazines you want to market your product to. Pick three from the list below that are VERY different.

Discuss the readers of each magazine using the following questions:

• What does the readership of this magazine value?
• What do they love and what do they hate?
• What constitutes a BAD day for these readers and what constitutes a GOOD day for them?
• Who are their heroes?
• Where do they live (both geographically and domestically…apartment, home, condo, dorm, tent)?
• How do they describe success, wealth, happiness?
• Who are the most important people to them?
• What do they like to own? And what do they need to own?
• How much education do they have?
• How much money do they make?
• What kinds of jobs do they do?
• What are their hobbies?
• How do they spend a Saturday night?
• How do they spend a Sunday morning?
• Where do they vacation?

Ask these questions or ones like them for each magazine. Once your group has a working knowledge of the readers of each magazine, sketch three ads for your product. Each ad should be designed specifically for the readers of each magazine.

On Monday you should be prepared to show the class (the company’s CEOs) your ads and persuade us that you have done the best possible job pitching the product to three very different groups of consumers.

These course materials
are licensed by Lori Ostergaard under a
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