Parsley Productions 12 – Summary & Evaluation

I think the start of Parsley Productions has been super successful. I am really pleased with how much I have done and the quality of the work that I have completed. Below are the aims that I set out in the first blog post I created for this project:

I think I completed all these aims and more successfully and professionally. I am probably most happy with the new logo, this is because I the last logo was really boring and the new once that was created during this project is still super simple but is really eye catching and modern and attracts attention on everything that I put it on.

I am also really pleased with my website. I can’t wait to pay for the domain name and send the website to potential clients and employers. Although the website probably isn’t perfect I think it is really good and does everything I needed from a company website while still being stylish, modern and easy to use. The portfolio page of the website is by far the best and most functional page on the website and I am really pleased with how this turned out. It displays my audio work in a visually pleasing way while still being functional and easy to use.

Another thing I am really pleased with is my business plan. It took me a long time to create but came out really well. I like how detailed it is and makes me feel a lot better about the future of Parsley Productions. Its proven really useful to have my plans for the company all written down so this part of the project, although time consuming, was worth it.

All my branded item mock ups also turned out great, especially my business cards which I cannot wait to get printed and hand them out to potential clients. If I were to make more items I would probably branch out and create branded pens which would be great for employees and are also a great thing to hand out while meeting people and networking. These might have even been more functional than business cards.

Something that I didn’t create was letter headers. This was because after doing research I found that many modern companies don’t use letters and instead just place the company logo at the sign off of their emails. This seemed like a much better idea as my company would mainly talk to clients and work online.

All in all I am really pleased with the progress I have made on Parsley Productions and can’t wait to expand on it more and officially set up the website by buying the domain name and starting to network and gain clients.

Parsley Productions 11 – Business Plan

Something that I wanted to make sure was perfect was Parsley Productions Business plan. This was important as businesses grow and so its important to know how to ensure this and what will happen while the company grows. I spent a lot of time on the business plan and found it quite challenging as I had never created one before but I found it really helpful to write down all my plans and aims for the future of the business. Its also nice to have a clear set of goals that the company can work towards.

Because of this project I have created a good base for Parsley Productions but have a lot to do before I have profitable business. To make the company profitable it needs to expand and grow until it is profitable enough that I can invest more and more into the company and allow it to grow even more.

Social Media Reflexive video

Its the end of term 2!! Almost the end of uni too! So here is my last ever Social Media Video! I have had great fun on this module and this year. Hope this video explains what I have enjoyed and learnt from this term!

 

Reviewing – Social Media 4

I’ve worked really hard on this project and have done a lot of thinking about what makes a good social media campaign.

Things I think went well:
The idea behind the campaign was a really important one. A lot of products can’t be recycled and many people don’t even know what can or cannot be recycled. This is why I think its super important for big companies like Timberland, Body Shop and H&M to help consumers out and recycle old products as much as they can. I really hope many other companies take after H&M and start introducing recycling campaigns throughout their stores. Many people think that big companies are the the only people that can change the negative effects we are having on our environment but thats not true. Its the consumers that have the biggest say in my eyes, If we change what we buy and how we shop then stores will have to follow suit. So basing my campaign on such an important topic that I am passionate about was a great idea!

Branding the posts. Each post had the Highcross logo, the store logo and then if it was tweeted or put on Instagram it also had the brands name there too. This is important as a strong brand identity is what makes most campaigns and posts on social media stand out. This also made it clear to customers where these ideas were coming from. The branding also lead the way for more posts and expanding the campaign. I think this is an important topic so as more and more shops join the campaign even more posts could be made.

Using the correct platforms. I used Instagram for both of  my example stores posts. This is because both stores have a really strong presence on Instagram so it was important to use this to my advantage. If you posted on platforms such as Facebook which aren’t followed as much the potential audience for that post would be drastically lower. The usual audience for Twitter and Instagram are usually a bit younger and the younger generations are definitely more open to recycling and helping out the planet in different ways. This is another reason why choosing the right platforms was important.

 

Things I think could have been improved:
The posts could have linked more. If I was to redo this project I would have made all the posts much more similar. For example all the posts would look like they were for one store as they all looked the same but they would actually all be for different stores in the shopping centre.

The posters themselves could have looked more professional. Unfortunately my photoshop skills are not as good as they used to be so this meant the posters did not look exactly as I had planned. If this campaign was to become reality I would make sure the posters were professionally done as the more people take note of the posters the more likely they are to get involved in the campaign.

All in all I think this campaign would be super successful because of the great cause that it promotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parsley Productions 10 – Carry on the brand

As soon as I created the website I needed to fill my portfolio page with work that Parsley Productions had created and was good enough that it would encourage potential clients to contact the company about creating content for their business.

I decided to host most of my content on the platform Castbox. I decided on Castbox as it is a free platform that hosts many famous and professional podcasts and other audio content. Castbox is also a platform that I personally use so I know people who are similar and listen to as much audio as I do will be aware of the platform. Other advantages of this platform are that it doesn’t play adverts and you don’t have to have an account to listen to the content on the site. Another great advantage of Castbox is the unlimited amount of audio you can upload, this is obviously great for Parsley Productions as I can upload as much as I want and not have to worry about running out of space for my audio. As well as this another advantage for users of the site is just how easy it is to use and navigate. The mobile version of the site is also easy to use meaning that those looking at my website on their mobile will not be at a disadvantage if they want to listen to previous work.

One of the linked work that wasn’t hosted on Castbox was the music I helped to record with the band ‘DYSTOPIA’ which was uploaded onto Soundcloud. This was because this platform is used a lot more by music lovers whereas Castbox is for more podcast or radio style audio. The band also already had a Soundcloud account so they preferred to upload the finished songs onto this account. This was also better for the music as they already had follows of their music on this account.

Although I used Castbox the most which only shows the certain podcast channels visual content I still made sure I used the Parsley Productions logo wherever I could.

Although I didn’t currently have any plans to upload onto the Instagram page I made sure to change the logo to ensure that if anyone looked up the account they would know that It was our account.

Once Parsley Productions gains more momentum I plan on posting photos with audio over them so that Parsley Productions has another way to show potential clients their previous work. Social Media is a great way to do this as well as many more companies are using this platform to reach employees and collaborators as well as customers.

 

Parsley Productions 9 – Creating ‘Jess Jabbers’

After creating an informative podcast in the form of ‘A chat with..’ I decided to create a smaller, more light hearted podcast to add more content to my website. I decided to create a podcast where I would chat about whatever was on my mind and record it in my room using my Zoom H5 Audio recorder. After I did this, I again used Adobe Audition to edit it. I edited a backing track onto this podcast to give it more depth and make it more interesting for those listening.

I really liked the three episodes I did for this series and they were short and sweet which is what I wanted. This is because they weren’t too serious or too long. This made them really easy to listen to but they still included topics that were interesting and engaging for an audience. On the third episode I took the recorder somewhere else to record to make the series a bit different and interesting.

For the visual element of this series I also spent some time making the photos for the Castbox channel engaging. I used photoshop and a picture of me to create these.

I used a film photo a friend took of me as the main picture for the series. I chose this photo as it wasn’t to edited or staged which I liked as It linked to the style of the series. In the background of the picture is greenery and nature which links to the raw and real feel of the podcast series. I wrote over the top of the photo in a simple, modern white text which added to the style of the podcast. I also placed the Parsley Productions logo to the bottom of the photo to start to create a brand identity across all the work that Parsley Productions has helped to make. Much like many of my other Castbox channels I decided to make the episode pictures different to the main photo. For Jess Jabbers I decided to just replace the Parsley Productions logo with an episode number. This made the series look really professional and put together. I’m really happy with the way this podcast and everything that went with it turned out and I’m proud to link it on the portfolio page of the Parsley Productions website and hopefully send it over to employers and clients.

 

Creating something new – Social Media 3

Because of the wide range of shops in The Highcross I had a lot to choose from to focus my project on. I decided to pick two shops out and then focus on designing for them. I chose two with slightly different customers to show how diverse this campaign could be. If every single shop in The Highcross took after these two shops it would make the amount of recycling in Leicester go through the roof.

The first shop I chose was The Timberland Store. I chose this as we had spoken with Timberland before deciding what I wanted to do for this project meaning I already had some knowledge of the stores Social Media presence. Before Starting I looked into some of the adverts that Timberland had already produced as it was important to stay on brand when creating my campaign.

I found that Timberland keep to a very similar style in all of there advertisements. They are all quite dark in colours with white writing. They also always have the logo in the bottom right corner. I liked how simple and effective these were and decided to recreate this into my own design. I also picked a poster for a jacket that advertises reusing old timberland clothes. When I looked this up it said the campaign was not a success as many people didn’t know about it and people were unable to donate any other clothing, just rain jackets. This made it easier for me as I could see the kind of thing that Timberland would want if they were to create another similar recycling campaign.

I started on photoshop with a black background as thats what all the other posters used. This made the writing that was used later on stand out a lot more. I also thought the white writing was very effective and eye catching so decided to follow this idea through to my own designs. I used a simple picture too and edited it so it fit with the background and then placed the Timberland logo at the bottom of the page like the other posters I had looked at. As these posters were aimed at The Highcross store in particular I also put the Highcross logo onto the other corner. I couldn’t decide which slogan I liked more but thought it was good to have some variety.

I made the writing linked to waste bigger than the rest of the text to make sure that it stood out and would make potential customers realise what the poster was promoting. This particular poster could be used in store windows or behind tills but also would work really well online.

Timberland have a large Instagram following so posting there would probably best as it would reach the most people. Reaching the most people possible was important as this campaign relied on customers contributing.

Looking through their Instagram I found that many people interacted with the company through this social media site which reinforced my idea that this was the best place to post content for my campaign. Below is an example of what this may look like.

The use of hashtags would make it easier for customers to join in the discussion and talk about this campaign as well as share their own thoughts and allow discussion between customers and the company. Timberland has 2.4 million followers on twitter so this just proves how many people could potentially see the post and get involved in the campaign. Using a hashtag would also help promote the campaign as the Instagram story feature allows people to use hashtags and tag companies so customers could potentially document themselves donating to the store.  

Another shop in The Highcross shopping centre that would probably join in on this campaign is The Body Shop. All of their products are cruelty free and much better for the planet than a lot of other cosmetic brands. This would make them a great company to get on board with the Highcross’s recycling campaign. 

I approached this store slightly differently than the Timberland store for a variety of reasons. The customers for each store are wildly different and they also use social media a lot differently. The Body Shops twitter is a lot more active than Timberlands twitter but the store is also very present on Instagram as well, much like Timberland. For this store I decided to take a different approach to both Instagram and twitter as this is what the Body Shop currently do.

As said before, they are much more active on twitter and they use is as more of a place for information or tips for customers. They also share customers tips and interact with customers a lot through this platform.

Because of this I decided to make my Tweet with them full of information. I took a picture of a friend with old mascara wands and decided that the Body Shop would encourage people to donate their old mascara wands to help animals in need. 
Although this kind of donation was different to recycling old packaging it was something that a lot of people have been made aware of recently. Also donating to a cause like this would encourage people not to throw their old wands away as it is such a great (and cute) charity.

For the tweet I edited the photo in an informational poster style.

Once again I used white writing on a darker background to make the information stand out. I also used the Highcross logo in the corner to create synergy and show that all the posters and promotional content for the campaign was all linked.

I made the background plain to focus on the picture in the centre.

 

 

 

For Instagram I took a different approach. The Body Shop use Instagram more as a platform to spread their ideals of body positivity, girl power and against animal cruelty. They also use Instagram to post pictures of inspirational women so I decided to continue with this theme.

 

I used the same picture as I used for the twitter campaign but edited it differently. Their Instagram page also was all square images so I followed this trend too.

 

 

I used a similar style to their other posts. I also tagged the charity in the caption so that customers could have a look at the charity themselves and see what good they would be doing. I decided to not use text on this post as the caption has all the information people need.

 

Parsley Productions 8 – Creating ‘A chat with..’

I had several ideas for new podcast style shows that I wanted to create to fill up my portfolio. I decided to create a laid back one and a slightly more educational one to again, show how diverse the work that Parsley Productions could create would be.

The first idea I had started a few months ago. Because of another project I was lucky enough to talk to many experts in different topic such as Comedy, Photography and Environmental issues. When I was recording other projects with them I asked if I could ask them a few questions in their field of expertise to use as a short podcast for this particular project.  I called this podcast ‘A chat with..’ as each episode was a chat with a different person. I liked this name as it was clear and informative. After I recorded the audio with the guests I uploaded them to my computer and edited them on Adobe Audition. I edited them in a way that ensure they were interesting and packed with information for the audience as the guests on each episodes were all very interesting people in all different fields. I edited out ums and silences and sometimes stutters if they interrupted the flow of the interview. This process took a lot of time to get right as some of the interviews were quite long and there are 7 episodes all together. I also wanted them to be perfect so took extra time and care on them.

To go along with the podcast series I also made some visual media for the Castbox channel that they were being uploaded to.
I originally made the picture associated with this podcast all the same. This made it look boring and unprofessional so I used photoshop to add all the individual episode images to include the name of the guest of the podcast. This made them individual and made the series look more polished and put together. I used a picture recently taken of myself as it looks like I am in deep conversation which links with the topic of the podcast. I am also In a professional radio studio so audiences will know these are proffesional style interviews before they even listen to the series.

This picture was then placed on the portfolio page of my website as people may be familiar with the podcast and so will likely link the photo to the podcast. When clicked on the, the photo on the portfolio page also links to the Castbox page allowing website users to listen to it in full. I decided to link the audio content and host it on another website rather than host it all on my page as to not over fill the website and make it look cluttered. Having it linked to a photo on the portfolio page also made the website simple and easy to use. It made the portfolio more visual which was something I was worried about not achieving when first designing my website so I am very happy with this outcome and how the audio element of my website has been developed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parsley Productions 7 – Existing Content

Parsley Productions specialises in Audio and radio content, this is because its what the owner of the company is passionate and has most knowledge about. Because of this the company already has some content that can be shown on the portfolio page of the website. This already created content also shows how diverse the company can be in what it can create.

The owner is part of the Demon FM team so the radio shows that they have produced this year have already been made into podcasts ready to be listened to. This made linking to and listening easier and ensured a lot of quality content was quickly and easily added to the website while I created and uploaded more. The shows that were produced last year are also great to have on the website to bulk it out and show just how much the company have already done. There is also not a lot of other radio content so filling the website with shows from Demon FM is a great way to show the range of skills on live and pre recorded radio as well as podcasts, music and live events. Demon FM also already have a lot of pre made visual work that they recommend you use when posting content from the station. This is to ensure their brand is carried on wherever their content may end up. This also made it easier for me to upload the previous shows I have worked on as I did not have to worry about creating visual content to go along with this particular audio.

Because there are several different shows that I have presented and produced for DemonFM I decided I needed different visual content for each to make it clear they are separate shows. The visuals were different for each show and each fitted with the specific theme and vibe of the show. I also tried to make the episode photos different where I could. Unfortunately this was not always possible. Below are some of the visual materials created for my radio content podcasts.

 

Another already created and produced piece of audio content that shows how diverse Parsley Productions can be is the recordings for the metal band ‘DYSTOPIA’. The EP for the band was recorded a year ago and although was recorded in a band members house due to the help of Parsley Productions the recording, editing and mixing are up to a professional quality. This shows how diverse work from Parsley Productions can be.  A good part

 of having already recorded and produced content was that the linked media such as artwork had already been made. This meant the portfolio page was diverse due to the variety of artwork as well as varying audio work.  A year ago I also helped out at a local radio station where I created and produced some shows and pre recorded content for the station. I like the way the different visual content looks on my portfolio page as it shows the range of content produced by the company in a visually appealing way which is sometimes hare for an audio based company such as Parsley Productions. 

 

Parsley Productions 6 – Branded items

After I had completed the business cards I decided to branch out and think about the items the company may find useful once it expands. Before deciding what to create I did some research into other media brands and found that many just have lanyards when in the office and on set. They also have plain T-shirts with the logo on when on location as well as hoodies. The Tshirts were simple and just had the company logo on the front. This was good as they had to be simple but still clear to anyone who may also be on set with those working with the company.

When Parsley Productions has enough clients that it is renting its own office space and has more employees it would be time to think about things such as lanyards for those working for the company. These would be useful for a number of reasons, firstly if Parsley Productions is renting a small office space that is part of a bigger office block lanyards would be useful so others are aware who people are working for. They would also be useful in an office environment as they make the company look more professional and also when entering the office block it would be clear that the people with lanyards were employees and that they belonged there.

Another place were employee lanyards would be useful would be outside of the office. If Parsley Productions were asked to cover a live event or be on location with a company a lanyard to show that they are crew members would be useful. This would show people were they work and also if anyone needed help, who to talk to.

Below is a mock up or a few different designs for lanyards. On the left is what an office lanyard may look like and on the right is what the on location lanyards may look like.

The lanyards follow the colour scheme of the company and also look professional and modern.

Another item which may be useful on location would be branded Tshirts, hoodies and high visibility vests. These would only be useful on location rather than in the office. These would allow others to clearly spot staff members and also give the company a sort of uniform that, when out of the office, would show that Parsley Productions are a team.

These clothes would not also be helpful but they are also simple. This is important as many different people could potentially be wearing them.

I was originally going to create letter headers for the company. However after researching this I found that many modern companies that are based online tend to not bother with this and just place the logo of the company at the bottom of their emails which is what Parsley Productions intends to do.