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Valenisha (13660)

A study of how brand can improve brand positioning by getting more involved with target audience through the help of online demonstrative advertising strategy and social networking platforms.

12/11/2012 Advisor: Joselyn Sim BA (Hons) Design Communication Specialism: Advertising Communication Faculty of Design LASALLE College of the Arts

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ABSTRACT Background

In todays context, there are various advertising strategies that we can embed into an advertisement. In the midst of ads clutter, Social Networking has been expanding. An article from Corrections Today indicated, Online networking can be an effective way to develop solutions to common challenges. (Bayliss B, 2008).

Many advertisers are unaware that people pay less attention to traditional media nowadays due to advertisements clutter. Rather than spending the extra cash on physical ads that will not get noticed, advertisers should rely on the more practical platforms. As compared to the traditional media, online and social media are easier to maintain and more cost-efficient, in addition to the fact that it can be easily spread.

By making use of interactive demonstrative advertisement, brands can display a products Single-Minded Proposition in a unique, engaging way. Advertisers can keep consumers updated without having to worry about time and money, and the information posted can be edited at any point of time.

Brands target audiences are now able to find out more about brands through the Internet (as mentioned in previous paragraph), using the platforms available. This also means that they no longer have to interact with brands physically (going to the store) in order to find out about products or upcoming events. As long as consumers are within brands network, they will still be informed.

As communities formed between brands and consumers, brands become more approachable and friendlier, making consumers feel more comfortable and trusting. This will help brands in achieving better brand positioning while a brand consumer relationship is formed. Branding is now no longer a one-way thing, as consumers are looking for more interactive and engaging relationship. In this case, consumers become reliable brand ambassadors, as they will not hesitate to share the brands messages around to their friends or family.

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From the points above, the design issue statement is concluded as follow.

Design Issue Statement

In the midst of ads clutter, it is more practical to save up on advertising costs while still reaching out to target audience. Traditional media is no longer effective while online advertisements, which rely on Social Networking Platforms, have been expanding lately. Hence, there is a need for advertisers to look into applying these pointers into a better marketing strategy.

Design Hypothesis Statement

In order to reach out to larger target audience without wasting unnecessary amount of time and money, brands have to come up with a strategy that creates impact at the start of the campaign, and then use of interactive online advertisements to retain target audiences attention despite the competition with other existing brands. By making use of the combination of the surprise element from guerilla advertising and the easy use of social networking platforms, an emotional trigger can exist to impress each individual, creating a powerful demonstration strategy that can be applied for better brand positioning and profits while creating a special relationship between brands and the consumers.

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight to advertisers out there about how to make the campaign more effective through the usage of social networking platforms and online advertising methods, along with an interactive demonstration strategy in order to engage target audience and evoke their emotions.

The Key issues of this research paper are:

Traditional media is no longer effective in advertising campaigns

In which research is conducted in order to understand further about traditional media and why it becomes ineffective through the examples of the existing traditional advertisements and how people react to them

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Online advertising methods and Social networking are ever expanding in comparison to traditional media
In which research is conducted to gain knowledge about online marketing and social networking. Existing online campaigns will be studied in order to gather the information needed to compare online marketing and traditional media marketing, especially in terms of interactivity and effectiveness of campaigns. Also, consumers behavior in terms of networks and communities will be studied further to aid the research process.

Online advertising and its role in todays advertising context

In which online advertisings advantages are studied. Consumers behavior towards social networking will be analyzed. Restrictions, rules and regulations of online advertising will be further elaborated as well.

From the above listed key issues, the key research questions are: 1. What is Online Marketing and how does Social networking play a part in making a campaign or advertisement more effective? 2. How does online advertising differ from the traditional advertising platforms that have been used so far? 3. What are the restrictions of online advertising, in terms of consumer behavior and the legal traits?

This paper will aid advertisers (be it students, teachers, or working adults out there) to have better understanding and gain insights about the importance of online advertising and social networking in a campaign and how to apply the correct strategy into it in order to make a powerful campaign that allows a brand to have stronger brand positioning.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to my lecturer, Joselyn Sim, who has patiently guided me with useful pointers throughout the process of creating this research paper. Also, to Shannon Sim, my advertising lecturer who has always been really friendly and approachable whenever I need someone to talk to; Stanley Lim, who always manages to brighten all the stressful students with his awesome jokes and personality; Lim Guo Wen, who guided me in the earlier year I entered Lasalle; Huang Weiming, who gave us awesome lectures despite his claims about how boring and dry they were, and last but not least, Jessica Chua, my dearest lecturer from the previous year who gave me a strong foundation and knowledge of this course, as well as the one who inspired me to continue working hard as an advertising student. Not forgetting my course mate Yohana, the one I stayed back in school with whenever I have to finish up my work; my supportive classmates: Shafik Basir, who is always willing to help me whenever I have designers block with his witty ideas and feedback; Summer, my best buddy throughout this journey as we struggled together to venture through the course; Xiang Yun, one whom I discussed a lot of my ideas with (along with Summer); Lim De Neng, the class representative who is always more than willing to help the others; Pang Xuecong, the one who constantly worries about and encourages me whenever submissions are near; Christina Tan, whom unfortunately could not go on to graduate with me, but was always there for me whenever I need her; Jenny Feng and Ashikin, both great friends who I always turn to whenever I need to talk about anything and everything else in my life about, and the ones who always manage to make me feel better in my down days. There are many more I wish to express my gratitude to, but overall I am really blessed to have such good bunch of people in the same class as me; they are a motivation and I wish everyone luck in their future endeavors, may we get to work with each other again in the future as professionals. Last but not least, I am most thankful to my parents and older sister, who always stuck by my side throughout the two years I study in Lasalle despite all the hardships, and my friends outside Lasalle, namely my dance crew, Beyond Infinity. Thank you for everyones kindness and support, without all of you the journey I took will not be smooth sailing at all.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page Abstract Acknowledgements Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Research Problem Design Hypothesis Aims of Research Research Questions Significance of Research Research Methods Structure of Research Paper Outline Traditional media is no longer effective in advertising campaigns: o o o Understanding of traditional media Why is traditional media becoming dull? Examples of traditional media and how consumers behave towards them Understanding of Online marketing and Social networking Example of successful existing online campaigns Comparison of online marketing and traditional media in terms of interactivity The advantages of online advertising Consumer behavior towards Social networking Networks and Communities ii v vi 1-6 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7-18 7 7-9 7 7 9 9-13 9 12 13 14-17 14 15 17 18

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Online advertising methods and Social networking are ever-expanding: o o o

Online advertising and its role in todays advertising context: o o o

Gaps in the literature

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH PROCESS Research Development Ethics Part 1: Analysis of Surveys o Process of Analysis o Stage One: Participants Stage Two: Data Collection Stage Three: Data Analysis 19-33 19 20 20-25 20 21 21 25 26-28 27 27 27 28 29-32 29 29 30 32 34-39 34-35 34 34 35 36-37 36 36 37 38-39 38 39 39

Part 2: Analysis of Focus Group Process of Analysis Stage One: Participants Stage Two: Data Collection Stage Three: Data Analysis

Part 3: Analysis of Online Interview o Process of Analysis Stage One: Participants Stage Two: Data Collection Stage Three: Data Analysis

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS Online advertising and its association with social media advertising o o o o o o o o o The pros and cons of online advertising The nature of social media Factors to be considered when doing online advertising The difference between traditional media and social media advertising Interactivity in social media advertisements Factors to be considered when doing social media campaigns Consumers habits in regards to social media Preferred social networking platforms Showing that brand cares for consumers

Social media advertisings impact lasts longer

Consumer behavior towards social media advertising

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION Limitations of the Research Concluding Statement Recommendations For Future Research 40-41 40 40 40 42-45 46-77 46-48 49-52 53-54 55-70 71-74 74-76 76-77

CHAPTER 6: REFERENCES CHAPTER 7: APPENDICES Appendix A (Visual Research) Appendix B (Case Studies) Appendix C (Online Research) Appendix D (User test: Survey) Appendix E (User test: Focus Group) Appendix F (User test: Online Interview) Appendix G (Studio Campaigns: Teenage and Mentos)

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Research Problem In todays local advertising context, people are reliant on traditional media in order to reach out to their target audience. Walking along Orchard Road, there are plenty of posters, and media around that expose you to a large number of brands at a go. (Refer to Appendix A, Fig 1a and Fig 1b). Often, people are not aware that they are exposed to around 80 brands in less than one hour (Owen Gibson, The Guardian, 2005). There are several cases in which brands like H&M (Refer to Appendix A, Fig 1a) has a big screen outside the building to showcase their product, but as it is so common and it is planted in the midst of other brands having their own advertisements, people walk past by without paying attention to the things that they screened. Unfortunately, due to the large exposure to many things at a go, consumers are easily distracted and have very short attention span. Nowadays, people are heavily reliant on the Internet and these gadgets as a mean to find out more about the brand due to the more advanced gadgets. They can easily access Google in order to find out about a places operating hours, or a brands products, etc. People can now access their social media through mobile applications at any point of time or location. According to the Facebook Statistics website (Socialbakers), the total number of users are 2,802,349 as of August 2012. (Socialbakers, 2012). However, as of 9 November 2012, there are 2.935,400 users. In just less than 3 months, 133,051 people have joined. (Socialbakers, 2012). This shows that a large and gradually increasing still number of people are exposed to the advertisements or any means of campaigns on Facebook, and they are all potential brand ambassadors. The design issue statement is: In the midst of ads clutter, it is more practical to save up on advertising costs while still reaching out to target audience. Traditional media is no longer effective while online advertisements, which rely on Social Networking Platforms, have been expanding lately. Hence, there is a need for advertisers to look into applying these pointers into a better marketing strategy.

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Design Hypothesis To address the Design Issue identified previously, the Design Hypothesis is: In order to reach out to larger target audience without wasting unnecessary amount of time and money, brands can make use of interactive online advertisements to stand out and capture target audiences attention despite the online ads clutter. By making use of Social Networking Platforms and emotional trigger to create impact on each individual, a powerful demonstration strategy can be applied for better brand positioning and profits while creating a special relationship between brands and the consumers. As people trust word-of-mouth easily especially when it comes to their friends or colleagues or family, the idea of making use of social networking platforms in order to make one as a brand ambassador can be accomplished. Without having to pay a model to endorse a brand, brand can get promoted unintentionally every time a consumer share about the brand itself through posting in their social networking platforms (e.g. Twitter or Facebook). This way, advertisers or clients can save budget and time, yet at the same time still able to reach out to a wide range of audience without having to worry that the message will be lost in ads clutter. Interactive demonstration that sparks emotion will help make the campaign or advertisement more memorable for the audiences, giving them a long-lasting impact or overall feelings of the brand / product through personal experience The design hypothesis statement is: In order to reach out to larger target audience without wasting unnecessary amount of time and money, brands have to come up with a strategy that creates impact at the start of the campaign, and then use of interactive online advertisements to retain target audiences attention despite the competition with other existing brands. By making use of the combination of the surprise element from guerilla advertising and the easy use of social networking platforms, an emotional trigger can exist to impress each individual, creating a powerful demonstration strategy that can be applied for better brand positioning and profits while creating a special relationship between brands and the consumers.

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Aims Of The Research The main aim of this research is to provide an insight to advertisers out there about how to make the campaign more effective through the usage of social networking platforms and online advertising methods, along with an interactive demonstration strategy in order to engage target audience and evoke their emotions. The more specific aim will be to obtain insights on how interactive online advertisements make a difference in target audiences view towards a brand, and how the understanding of online and social networking platforms can support the campaign to make it more powerful.

Research Questions The structure of this essay is heavily supported by three research questions, which are: 1. What is Online Marketing and how does Social networking play a part in making a

campaign or advertisement more effective?

Objective: To investigate the reason why online advertising is effective and social networking platforms role in todays advertising context. 2. How does online advertising differ from the traditional advertising platforms that have

been used so far?

Objective: To gain a better understanding of online advertisings advantages and disadvantages through examples of memorable (be it successful or not) online advertisements and campaigns, as well as existing traditional advertisements and campaigns. 3. How does consumer react towards online advertising and is there any certain consumer

behavior pattern towards different platforms?

Objective: To gain insights of consumers behavior in regards to what they like or dislike, as well as their wants, needs, and demands. Through further research, possible few platforms that are preferred by the consumers can be applied into campaigns in order to make it successful and viral.

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Significance Of The Research (Design Agenda) The primary target audience of this study paper will be advertising students, graphic designers, professional advertisers, and basically people who are related or involved in creative advertising industries, aged 18-35 years old. They are people who have the knowledge about the existing advertising methods and how most campaigns work, having the experience of witnessing successful and unsuccessful campaigns. This group of people have to gain insights of better campaign strategy all the time as it is related to their profession. On the other hand, the secondary target audience are aged between 25-45 years old, mainly professionals who are not directly related to creative industries, but at the same time they need to know a little bit of the information as it is related to their profession to a small extent. Examples of this group of people will be the account or marketing managers, media planners, and brand strategist. Overall, the two groups of audiences need to have a solution towards the existing problem of ad clutter, and therefore the objective of this study will be to use existing research materials in order to come up with a powerful, interactive demonstration advertising strategy that make use of online and social networking platforms. In order to come up with a solution, it is necessary to study the information researched thoroughly through literature review and surveys. It is also important to study consumers behavior towards the proposed hypothesis, and thus user testing and evaluation is conducted. As the economic situation globally become more serious and competitive, there is a need to come up with powerful campaigns that save money and time while still preserving the fact that the brand has the ability to stand out amongst the sea of ad clutters. This is essential as brands have to make the connection to their target audience or the message will be lost. Moreover, as each different brands promises different things to offer, consumers tend to take advertisements for granted and not pay attention to them, thus proving the point that traditional media is no longer as effective; which also means that advertisers have to find a new, innovative strategy to promote the brand. This paper will aid advertisers (be it students, teachers, or working adults out there) to have better understanding and gain insights about the importance of online advertising and social networking in a campaign and how to apply the correct strategy into it in order to make a powerful campaign that allows a brand to have stronger brand positioning.

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Research Methods The following research methods were chosen in order to provide strong back up and support of the design issue and hypothesis, answering to the key research questions and fulfilling the aims of the study. Primary research User survey will be conducted in order to get information directly from target audience. Information about consumers wants, needs and demands will be analyzed in order to apply useful pointers in campaigns / advertisements. Existing online platforms will be studied, as well as consumers views on online advertisements and social networking. To further support the study, an Interview will be carried out in order to find out more about consumers thoughts and impression towards the campaigns, especially through user testing. This will then provide information about whether the interactivity level in the campaign is enough to attract target audiences attention and keep it there. The interview will also involve advertising and design related individuals, in which a clearer view of current situation can be obtained from. Secondary research

Literature Review will be done to gain understanding of the basics of online advertising, social networking platforms and its usage, as well as the rules and regulations for it. The key areas covered will be the study of online advertising and social networking platform usage, the rules and regulations of online advertisements and consumers behavior towards Social Networking.

It will then be further supported by Case Studies, in which existing campaigns or advertisements will be analyzed (be it successful or not) in order to have a better understanding in consumers demands and the to-do or to-not-do.

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Structure Of The Research Paper This research paper consists of 7 chapters in total. The information is divided into Introduction, Literature Review, Research Process, Research Findings, Conclusions, References and Appendices. In the first chapter, Introduction, the purpose, background and outline of the identified design issue will be elaborated, which will then be linked to the finalized Design Hypothesis. Aims of the Research, Research Questions, Significance of the Research (Design Agenda) and Research Methods will also be included in the chapter, to provide a clearer overview about the research process and understanding about the objective of this research. The second chapter will be explaining in details about the understanding of chosen design issue and hypothesis through the analysis of theoretical information. This Literature Review will be based on three key design issues, which are: In the third chapter, the Research Process will be elaborated to show various stages of research. This also includes the results gathered from interviews and case studies, which will be further analyzed into first hand information that could help to fill the gaps in the literature review. In the forth chapter, analysis of all the information gathered from Literature Review, Interviews and Case Studies will be included in the Research Findings, in order to give support to the answers to top key research questions. This Research Findings would help this study to come into a solid conclusion. The fifth chapter will include all the challenges and obstacles encountered throughout the research process and how it is relevant to claim the study as objective and transparent. A Conclusion statement of the study will be provided, along with tips for possible future research. Last but not least, Chapter 6 and 7 will list down the References and Appendices, in which credits to all the authors, websites and visual examples are stated in order to ensure credibility of this research essay.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Outline At all points in this paper, the term designers refers to Advertising designers. Terms like consumers and audience would also be used interchangeably. There are three sections of this chapter, which are all based on the identified three key issues. The three key issues are Traditional media is no longer effective in advertising campaigns, Online advertising methods and Social networking are ever-expanding, and Online advertising and its role in todays advertising context. These three key issues will help in strengthening and supporting the design analysis about the design problem.

Traditional media is no longer effective With many rooms for people to paste their advertisements on (such as on the floor, door, wall, bus, bus stop, etc.), the message that a brand wishes to convey to its target audience is lost as there are too many distractions. Often, a company pays a large amount of money in order to reserve a 15-seconds slot on TV to air their TVC. The question is: how many people actually watch that short amount of advertisement on purpose?

Understanding of traditional media Traditional media is basically the old traditional mean of advertising before people moved on to world wide wed. It takes forms of Print advertisements (posters, brochure, etc), TV Commercial, Radio spot, etc. TV Commercial and Radio spot are easier to get more entertaining. (Refer to Appendix C, Fig 3c).

Why is traditional media becoming dull? Consumers can now stay home and still get connected to a brand through the social networking platforms. Since consumers no longer have to take a step out of their house, the

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traditional media platforms they are seeing are limited to things they can see indoor, such as TVC and radio spots. While TVC can be a convincing medium, the attention span audience spent on one advertisement is very short and they will get distracted before fully absorbing and memorizing the advertisement. Consumers no longer have to be present physically inside the store in order to see what the product can do or offer, and they do not have to consult a promoter in order to find out about the products specs. The information they need is mostly available online, making things convenient for them. People Primarily shop and gather information through search engines, such as Google. The average information seeker conducts dozens of searches per day - and, rather than listen to a sales rep, read a spam message, watch a TV ad, or fly to a trade show, most people find it easier to sit at their desks and find the information online through Google. (Brian Halligan, 2010) Google is easy to use, straightforward, and it simplifies peoples tasks. Consumers can simply Google any questions they have in mind about the product, and results will show various links with either the best answers, or the reviews and opinions from others about the brands or products. The most attractive point about Google is that, the information displayed are reliable; the answers come people who have encountered the product or have experienced using the brands before, if else it would be from the other reliable blogs or official websites.

Your target audience is no longer reading the trade publication, and instead is searching Google and subscribing to blogs written by the folks who used to write for the trade rag. (Visiongain, 2010) Unlike how people used to deeply trust the promoters with their convincing words, most people nowadays believe more on words of famous people, such as celebrities or well-known blog authors. Xiaxue, a blog author who was known for her witty, sarcastic but blunt remarks, has approximately 40,000 viewers on her blog daily. After she wrote a blog entry about wearing a contact lenses brand, Honey Color (Refer to Appendix B, Figure 2b), many people write reviews online about it and considered getting contact lenses from the brand. (Refer to

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Appendix B, Figure 2c). Other examples of famous blogger will be Lady Iron Chef, Bong Qiu Qiu and Perez Hilton. Besides famous bloggers, there are also famous vloggers (video bloggers) such as Ryan Higa (nigahiga) and Kevin (kevjumba).

Examples of traditional media and how consumers behave towards them Depending on the medium used for traditional media, it can still be very effective to a certain group of people. Baby-Gs advertisement along the MRT stations around Singapore and the walkway stretch at ION Orchard (Refer to Appendix A, Fig 1d) is deemed successful as its target audience revolves around teenagers and young adults. However, this strategy works as it was combined with celebrity endorsement. Through an observational research, in 30 minutes there are 47 people staring at the large print while the majority of other passersby simply continues in their pace to wherever they are heading to. In comparison to Baby Gs advertisement, which is rather successful, advertisements placed along Orchard Road such as Abercrombie & Fitch (Refer to Appendix A, Fig 1a), is less effective. Through an observational research, in 30 minutes only 15 people actually stayed and stared at it. Although it uses the power of sex in advertisement and is rather big in size compared to other advertisements placed in Orchard road, it is rather dull as it is in black and white and generally it is lost in the middle of other advertisements, which are more vibrant (colorful) and interesting (moving images).

Online advertising methods and Social networking are ever expanding:

Understanding of Online marketing and Social networking "Social networking is quickly becoming an important outlet for sharing new and interesting content online" (Kim Malone, Googles Director of online sales and operations, 2007) Social Media is expanding again lately. (Refer to Appendix C, Fig 3a, 3b and 3c). As the number of people owning smart phones increase ever since 2005, (M2 Presswire, 2005) there is

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a desire to be able to access everything easily through consumers fingertips. This includes researching, networking, and many more other activities. As technology grew more advanced, more mobile applications are created in order to allow users to access their social networking platforms at any place and time.

Since people are able to connect to social networking platforms via their mobile phones, they can check updates of their statuses, their friends posts, and other form of notifications at any time and place. As the number of social media users increase, the figures of people who can be possible brand ambassadors automatically improve too.

To illustrate the scale of mobile social networking, the number of unique visitors to the Facebook mobile site increased fivefold from 5 million per month in January 2008 to 25 million in February 2009. The latter figure represents 18 percent of Facebook's 120million-strong user community in February 2009, a proportion that has gradually increased over time () (Visiongain, May 2009)

According to the Facebook Statistics website (Socialbakers), in the past 6 months, the number of Facebook Users from Singapore grew by more than 199,860, making the total number of users as 2,802,349 people as of August 2012. (Socialbakers, 2012) From the figures, we can safely conclude that Facebook is one of the platforms we can definitely consider when it comes to brewing an advertisement or a campaign.

Such sites are immensely popular, with Facebook, MySpace and YouTube amongst the top ten most popular websites globally. (Visiongain, May 2009) Within the past years, people have started selling things online (via blogs or online shopping portal such as Gmarket) and relying on social networking platforms to find or contact their customers. Facebook shops are especially popular and their products tend to sell really well. Lnm Stylehouse (refer to Appendix A, Fig 1e), a Facebook shop that sells hip hop dance shoes, have created its second account called Lnm Stylehousetwo in November 2012 as they have an

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overwhelming friend requests that can be potential customers, and yet their friends list is already full. "The third place people learn/shop is in the social mediasphere - the name for the collection of social "media" sites such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, YouTube and others. These sites started as niche techie sites, but are becoming mainstream." (Dharmesh Shah, 2010) Social media allows targeted audiences to be able to keep up-to-date with the latest promotions or events. This is due to the fact that posting updates through the media is fast and takes little efforts, yet at the same time it can become viral within a short period of time. As there is a connection between brands and consumers through the community, sharing of news becomes automatically more convenient and the information can be well spread through the online networks. Consumers with strong sense of brand loyalty also acts as an ambassador (as mentioned previously), by sharing the news through their own timeline, exposing the article to their community of friends. By using social networks, the decision-making power of whether the consumers would like to purchase a product or subscribes to an event is placed in the hands of consumers, thereby making them feel sense of belonging to the brand community, while having the freedom to choose at the same time. It is less forceful and demanding than direct approach in street, and at the same time more engaging than a static advertisement placed at public area. Most importantly, the message is broadcasted across efficiently through social platforms. Twitter redefinition of friendship online is based on its capacity to support both strong and weak ties. Unlike social networking applications such as Facebook, which define friendship as strong, bidirectional ties, Twitter defines friendship ties via a follower/followee model. Users can elect to become followees without the potential follower sanctioning the connection. This model can increase the potential for social serendipity through allowing followers to benefit from heterogeneous informational streams of information generated from weakly tied followee connections. (Barnett, 2011, p. 886)

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With the use of combination of two or three different social networking platforms, brands can reach out to wider range of audiences in a different kind of approach. It can be on a general basis (with the case of Twitter, Instagram, etc.) whereby users can choose whether they want to follow whoever follows them back, or on a personal level (such as with Facebook or MySpace) where they hear the news from their closer range of friends or coworkers. By combining the two types of approaches, there will be more opportunities to get attention from different kind of consumers. For instance, various applications (such as Instagram and Foursquare) allow users to share through their Twitter and Facebook the experience they gained from using the product, giving their networking circles a chance to know the use of the applications and users experiences using them. Social networking platforms also act as a good source of research for brands about their target audiences. Facebook is a good example: we can extract data regarding the consumers general particulars such as age, location, and gender, but there are also data regarding their friendship with another person, relationships, etc. (Barnett, 2011) At the moment, there are various visual map tools on Facebook (e.g. Friendwheel), and this is useful for in depth marketing research when we need to know consumers background and psychological details that cannot be analyzed through surveys. Social media also maximizes electronic exposures, thus allowing brands to have it as a legal proof when an unfortunate occurrence appears. Along with good, old-fashioned email messages and attachments, the content employees post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, and other social networking and web 2.0 sites creates a treasure trove of potential evidence that could be used for or against an employer in the event of a civil lawsuit or criminal proceeding. (Barnett, 2011, p. 10)

Example of successful existing online campaigns One of the successful online campaigns will be the Virgin Blue Tweets. (Refer to Appendix B, Figure 2a). The campaign went viral and was listed as one of the best viral

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campaign available till today. This campaign is a significant proof that campaign through the use of social networking platform can be very successful even with very little budget. Cadbury campaign was also viral as they posted the video to thank their fans for a million likes on Facebook. The platform they use (Facebook page) hosts various activities that involve their fans in an interactive manner, therefore retaining their attention towards the brand. (Refer to Appendix B, Figure 2c and 2d.) From the example, it is evident that consumers tend to look for something more engaging and lasting, and greatly enjoy the appreciation brand shows towards them as brands fans.

Comparison of online marketing and traditional media in terms of interactivity

There are so many things that online advertisements can take form of: pop-up advertisements, electronic mailers, viral video, interactive web banner, microsite, webisode, Facebook advertisements, games, etc. Interactive demonstrations can be shown through this media, and the person receiving the interaction (consumers) will be able to experience the product or brand in a way. Traditional media, as mentioned previously, take form of posters, print advertisements, TV commercials, radio spots, etc. They act as a one-way messenger, and therefore no audience response is received. People nowadays are keen to participate in an engaging demonstration, either through physical interactivity or online. They are pretty much expecting brands to communicate with them through a two-way interaction, in a closer basis. This is where online advertisement and social networking platforms come in.

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Online advertising and its role in todays advertising context:

The advantages of online advertising

One of the beauties of Internet marketing is that you control the entire process from start to finish. You do not have to rely on printers, manufacturers, media people or anyone else. Marketing on the Internet is fast and it is effective. With some products you can bring your manufacturing and distribution costs to practically "zero". (Computimes Malaysia - Feb 25, 1999)

With online advertising, one advertiser can be the producer, director, as well as the scriptwriter. An online advertisement can be formed with very low budget, but it takes time to build it. However, once the online advertisement is ready for launch, maintaining the platform is easy and can be quite organized. An online advertisement also gets around as easily as sugar dissolving in the water; but at the same time people who missed it at the first time can still look for it on the internet, unlike TV Commercial or Radio spot. As the information are pretty much available online, there is no need for brands to invest in printing things to give out containing the information consumers need to know, such as flyers or name cards.

YouTube, a closely held company in San Mateo, Calif., says its users watch videos more than 100 million times each day, making the site a leader in the fast-growing online-video arena. The year-and-a-half-old company has to date carried display and text advertisements it sold itself or brokered by third parties. (Delaney, Kevin J, 2006)

Advertisements or viral videos uploaded on YouTube can be viewed again and again as and when we want to view it, unlike the passing advertisements on TV or radio. This gives chances for targeted audiences to be able to absorb the advertisement and refer back to it as and when they like, which means no information will be lost in the end. Youtube videos can be

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shared at various social networking platforms and websites, and this can be used to brands advantage. Not only that it is easily accessible and searchable from search tools on Internet, Youtube videos have high potential getting viral due to the fact that millions of users watch a large amount of videos daily. People go to Youtube to find tutorial videos, funny videos, and basically almost any kind of videos. By uploading a video into Youtube, brands actually allow consumers (audience) to watch a part or glimpse of what is it, its function or its brand culture, exposing the brand to even more possible audience than intended. As Youtubes networks are strongly based on friendship, subscription, relatedness and favoring (Barnett, 2011, p. 973), people refer to it as a very reliable platform to communicate and share their opinions freely too.

YouTube and video exchange became part of the overall communication strategy during the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in 2008. (Barnett, 2011, p. 974)

Another example of online video platform that allows user to exchange videos and communicate will be Dailymotion. However, as there is less interactivity between users in comparison to Youtube (users can only like but not favorite the video, and there is less features available), it has yet to achieve the same standing as the latter. With online videos, it is easy to showcase a products demonstration through interesting storylines and high interactivity level. Sharing online videos via social networking platforms is easier to do than to distribute physical flyers around to people. As mentioned previously, people find direct approach more demanding and forceful, therefore they do not react positively to it all the time. With online advertisement and social media advertisement, it is more laid back and yet as equally personal and direct at the same time.

Consumer behavior towards Social networking

Social networking is quickly becoming an important outlet for sharing new and interesting content online.

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(Kim Malone, Googles Director of online sales and operations, 2007)

As people are more trusting and reliant towards the word-of-mouth from their friends, colleagues and family, they tend to believe in what their circle of network shared. For instance, the Virgin Blue tweets that were labeled as one of the best viral marketing strategy (Refer to Appendix B, Fig 2a) as mentioned previously uses the insight of people using Twitter and following one another to spread the campaign. The campaign was very successful as there are a lot of people re-tweeting from their friends, or replying to Virgin Blue as they see twitter users replying to them. Psychologically, the point that an infographic on mediabistro.com stated, 92% of people rely on recommendations from their peers to inform their purchases (Shea Bennet, 2012), is proving that people involved in the networks play a huge part in the whole campaign as brands ambassadors.

Individual mailing list presents a wide variation in interactivity, cohesion, and commitment levels, ranging from debate-intensive lists to announcement lists. (Barnett, 2011, p. 515) When consumers liked a Facebook page or decided to subscribe, follow, or sign-up for an account at any networking platforms, they are automatically included inside mailing list of the brand or product. In order to make audiences feel special, the interactivity level that a brand has to give out has to be on a personal level to show that the brand understands the needs of the consumers. Mailing lists as social networks gives off the feeling that the brand is addressing the consumer alone, that the brand care about their individual consumer as each and everyone of the consumers are important and special in their own way. People do not react positively if a brand were to send a direct e-mailer all the time, but when the e-mail comes from a reliable platform such as Facebook or Youtube (more known and trustworthy media), they show interest and certain commitment level to open the e-mail and read the content. This alone shows how much people are open and more trusting when it comes to social networking platform, as they do not deem the e-mails sent to them as spam.

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Networks and Communities

Network elements within clusters and communities often have background characteristics in common. For example, communities in networks of persons often tend to include people who are visibly similar in such features as age, race, ethnic origin, gender or appearance. (Barnett, 2011, p. 599) The charm about online communities will be that the bond that community members possess are strong to a certain extent due to the fact that they get together and networked with one another based on an interest or a cause they support. Since the people who belong in the same community have something in common, they are more willing to listen to one another as they feel the sense of comfort knowing that someone is similar to them.

Social networking is the grouping of individuals into "communities," () This allows people with a common connection to share insights, opinions, experiences and perspectives. Although social networking is possible in person (consider the receptions at conferences), the Internet has launched networking to new heights, providing opportunities to communicate rapidly and create complex social networks. (Bayliss B, 2008)

Social networking platforms extracted the idea of building a relationship with not only old friends but also acquaintances, brand-customer relations, family, and even strangers to form a community on its own. They encourage people to join in as part of the community in order to assure that everyone forms an interesting yet trustworthy party. YouTube's strategy revolves around the idea of having brand advertisers participate and become part of our community." (Chief Executive Chad Hurley, 2006) There are also things like Fan Networks in which a group of people are connected through their interest source via a community. Facebook Fan Page provides a platform for the fans of a brand (or basically any potential customer) to bond among themselves, as well as with the brand itself.

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Gaps In The Literature

The literature review explains about how social networking and online marketing can be the solution that advertisers need towards the ads clutter that cause traditional media to be ineffective. However, despite all the studies that were conducted, there are still gaps in the literature. The three gaps found in literature are: 1. The unconfirmed figure of consumers as people who like or follow the social networking platforms, as some may be doing it only in accord to their personal ties with their community or circle of friends. This may affect and cause unpredictability for the campaigns results. 2. Restrictions, rules and regulations of online marketing differences for each country. What is legal in U.S.A might not be appropriate in Singapore, but since it is the Internet and the cyber world itself is pretty huge, it is difficult to predict what will happen. There are too many countries that have different set of instructions regarding their online advertisements, but if a thorough comparison can be made then a thorough and careful campaign can be done successfully in the country and then be spread globally. 3. Consumers paying a small portion of their attention towards social networking advertisements, in which they would see them and go; not paying attention to the details. They either remember only the rough idea of the advertisements because they are different and interactive, or remember them only because they were annoying.

The gaps can be filled with further research through reliable prints or online sources (reviews) as well as doing observational research or surveys to public.

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH PROCESS

Research Development The research problem addressed is an affecting issue in todays context, be it to consumers, brands, or even advertising industry itself. It is important to find a solution to tackle it, and therefore research was conducted in order to obtain data to be analyzed, in order to gain clear understanding and non-biased perspective on the problem aroused. As mentioned previously in the gaps in literature, the fact that people actually fake their likes or shares show an unstable basis of the response we get from target audience. This causes advertisers to be unsure of where they stand, or how successful their campaign is. Hence, it is essential to gain enough opinion from everyone to be able to make a stable analysis. Facebook messages were sent out to 50 people, with a link directing them to complete a survey. From this, the result would be examined, but in order to ensure that the research process is not subjective, another research method was called for. To emphasize the importance of filling up the gap in literature, first-hand opinion from focus groups was obtained directly rather than through the Internet audiences. For that reason, a face-to-face interview with a group of people of target audiences age range was chosen. This is to attain more constructive feedbacks on the matter, as well as to gain further understanding of the way target audience think (what they want or expect). To achieve an even clearer knowledge about the response people have towards the issue, a set of interview question was uploaded to an online platform (surveymonkey.com), this time sent out to 10 advertising and design related individuals, consisting both students and graduates. This is done in order to gain a more stable amount of data to be analyzed. 9 out of 10 people contributed their answers to the overall result, filling up the gaps in literature (see Appendix F). Their responses provided a better view of current situation, as they are more aware about the current design, advertising and media situation in Singapore, as well as the practices applied in the country.

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Ethics This research aimed to get 30 responses from the survey conducted towards selected participants of the target group age range as mentioned on this research paper. This is to ensure of the credibility of the research, as well as the objectiveness of the study. Furthermore, a focus group interview was conducted twice with people within target audiences specified age, first group being 4 young adults, and second being two teenagers. After that, due to time constraint, an online interview was conducted with 9 advertising and design individuals. Through the three methods, different perspectives were obtained as the user tests involved both target audience (consumers) and advertising designers, hence assuring the non-biasness of this research paper.

Part 1: Analysis of Surveys with Target Audience It is very important to know how the current situation is with the target audience before deciding what are the roles that advertising and design people play in the picture. In order for this study to be further developed, knowledge of the behavior of consumers and advertising individuals has to be obtained. This also includes the way consumers behave towards advertisements, be it in a good or bad way. A survey is done to gain a broader view and general understanding about target audiences perspective in the matter. In order to fill up the gaps in literature review, opinions from the people involved in the study (target audience and advertising figures) have to be able to aid in proving the design hypothesis right.

Process of Analysis In Stage One, Facebook users are filtered according to their age range on Facebook search. As the targeted audience range between 13-19 years old, the ones who were younger or older are not suitable for the survey. This is because their perspectives might be different, and since we are in need of the most accurate perception possible, it is crucial to include only those within the age range in doing the survey.

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In Stage Two, the surveys results differ according to the brands that the user test was about. There were three different surveys in total, the compiled answer displayed through the figure below. The objective of this test would be to find out the target audience reaction to the problem addressed in this paper. The analyzing of the data collected in Stage Two will be done afterwards in Stage Three. The analysis would give a rough gauge about target audiences reaction towards proposed solution and their current behavior / opinion towards the problem addressed. The data analysis would then help to fill up the gaps in literature mentioned, and both would help provide a contextual understanding of the research.

Stage One: Participants 44 participants, aged between 13 to 19 years old, were selected to answer the survey. They were chosen due to the fact that they were part of the new generation society, being able to access the Internet and uses it easily, especially social media platforms, as well as knowing how to use mobile gadgets.

Stage Two: Data Collection The results of the survey were retrieved online where the survey was hosted from (surveymonkey.com), and then compiled with the user test files (Refer to Appendix D). They were then summarized into the information graphics below.

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(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

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(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

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(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

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(Refer to Appendix D for full survey)

Stage Three: Data Analysis In the first survey, two campaigns were compared, both done in a different strategy to approach target audience. (Refer to Appendix D, Fig 4a) Tom N Toms Coffee campaign uses the direct approach method (guerilla stunt) while Artease uses a digital, online method (electronic mailer). To prove the point that traditional media will not be effective (as mentioned in literature review), a question asked if the advertisement would have a better effect if it were done through posters instead of the conventional way. 86.7% of survey takers answered "no", showing solid evidence to the point noted previously. However, at the later part of the survey, electronic mailer is shown to be not very effective as the survey takers' answered that they would "delete" the e-mail, "flag it as spam", or just "look at it briefly" upon receiving the electronic mailer in their e-mail. With the case of survey regarding X-MINI and Ritter Sport campaigns (Refer to Appendix D, Fig 4b), 20 people answered for questions regarding using Facebook games and web-banners as possible platforms. 90% of the survey-taker felt that Facebook is an effective platform for

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brand to reach out to customers as it "reaches out to many people from all over the world as well" (Appendix D, Fig 4c). To further support the point, 94.4% of the survey takers responded that Social Networking Platform advertisements are more effective and preferred in comparison to Internet advertisement such as web banners and pop-up advertisements. The reason they gave include that some Internet advertisements tend to "disrupt me of my personal space" and that "normally people will just close a pop-up before it even loads as it gets in the way". On the contrary, social networking platforms "reaches to a larger number of people faster" and is "less invasive". According to the survey of Teenage and Mentos campaigns, everyone who took part of the survey watches at least 2 Youtube videos in a day. (Refer to Appendix D, Fig 4c) The majority of people watch more than 7 videos in a day forms 44.4% of the survey taker. However, from the survey itself we can see that majority of the crowd does not really pay attention to Youtube advertisements that are played. 55.6% actually answered 'depends' and then 33.3% of the people said 'no'. This shows that even though they watch Youtube videos all the time, they do not always appreciate the intrusion of the advertisements that plays before their own video, but for starter Youtube is one of the potential platforms to use. In conclusion, social networking platforms such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter works better in comparison to internet advertisement platforms as they give off the friendlier feeling in approach to the targeted audience and is not intrusive to audiences personal space. Implementation of other methods can be done in an interactive manner as a starter to support the social networking platforms advertisements. This is done to spark audiences interest before retaining it, such as through the use of guerilla (direct approach in public) or web banner to direct the audience to the social networking platforms (e.g. Facebook page, blogs, etc).

Part 2: Analysis of Focus Group with Target Audience In order to gain further knowledge regarding the current situation and provide meaningful support to the study, a focus group interview is conducted face-to-face. This analysis would supply more constructive and in-depth perspective from target audience, giving us a deeper understanding of consumers behavior towards the issue and hypothesis addressed.

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Process of Analysis In Stage One, participants requirements for the focus group interview would be discussed, as it was essential to have input from the correct age group. This would allow us to achieve more accurate perceptions of the study. In Stage Two, the face-to-face interview would be represented into information graphics to get an easier insight of the contents. Using project examples of Teenage magazine and Mentos chewy dragee (Refer to Appendix G), a set of questions were asked along with questions concerning Social Networking Advertising. This would give clearer grasp to the literature gap mentioned previously, regarding the consumers positive yet negative behavior towards online advertisements, in which they see and go without paying to the advertisements in detail. In Stage Three, the data collected would be further studied and analyzed. The analysis would give a gist of the participants point of view and interpretation about social networking advertisements, which again would support to tighten the literature gap mentioned previously.

Stage One: Participants Two groups of teenagers, aged between 13-19 years old, were called to attend the face-to-face interview. They were gathered through connection and randomly on Facebook, and were contacted both via phone and Facebook messages to arrange the meet-up. 20 people were contacted but only 6 agreed to meet up in the end. The first group consists of four people; three aged 19 and one 18 years old. The second group consists of two girls aged 13. Their responses to the questions can help determine and in-depth encouragement to the hypothesis as they are the ones who encounter and use social networking platforms the most in daily basis.

Stage Two: Data Collection

The interview sessions were both recorded separately before the raw files were edited into one video to compile the answers from participants (refer to Appendix E for the typed-out

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elaborated answers. Raw videos can be found in CD). The compiled video is uploaded on YouTube for easier access (http://youtu.be/2KHeWnmsUqo) and is also included in the CD (Appendix E). The full answers from the interview are attached in Appendix E.

Stage Three: Data Analysis As the group interview was conducted, the data collected was pretty much supportive of the result gained from online survey and questionnaire. The 6 youthful participants were very familiar with the use of Facebook and Youtube, and they have encountered the advertisements platforms mentioned (Youtube advertisements, web banners, etc). Through the interview, an insight of audience's reaction to the call to actions of an advertisement is gained. The question asked was if they would attempt to download a mobile application in order to participate in a campaign, such as the advertisements we sometimes see in MRT station. (Refer to Appendix A, Fig 1f) While the four of them seemed really hesitant to answer yes, the other two (Jerry, 19 years old and Sophina, 18 years old) expressed that they did not mind trying if they have the time. This actually shows a characteristic of consumers that can be taken into consideration; the younger batches are more open-minded to try if they have a reason to motivate them to do it. The six interviewees also expressed their thoughts that the campaigns that were shown to them would have worked better on Facebook as "more people will look at it and then more people will know about it" (Princesley, Refer to Appendix E). Jerry also mentioned about Facebook's ability to share the campaign. Overall, it can be concluded that youths (target audience's age) is more comfortable using platforms like Facebook, as they dislike intrusive advertisements such as a Youtube advertisements that cannot be skipped or pop-up web-banners. In order to be able to attract them into participating in the campaign, an impressive impact has to be created to spark their interest first so they will be willing to take part into it, or else the campaign will not work strongly at all.

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Part 3: Analysis of Online Interview with Advertising and Design-related individuals

To guarantee that the study is unbiased, an online interview was organized with a number of advertising and design-related individuals, both students and graduates. This would help in giving us another point of view in regards to the study, and also in determining the roles that advertising and design figures can take in solving the problem and also substantiating the hypothesis.

Process of Analysis In Stage One, a straightforward set of requirements will be elaborated along with an explanation of why they were selected. In Stage Two, the answers coming from the advertising and design figures would be compiled and represented into another series of information graphics for easier comprehension, which focus on three parts mainly: the factor of why they remember online advertisement, how they find certain online platforms, and the reason why they bother checking a website or Facebook page link. In Stage Three, the gathered information will be further analyzed and studied. Analysis would give a different structure of the interpretations, which would work hand-in-hand with other data analysis to fill up the gaps in literature and give a solid research understanding.

Stage One: Participants 10 participants were selected to participate in this online interview, and 9 responded: 5 advertising students, 3 interactive design graduates and 1 design-related diploma holder. They were chosen due to the fact that they were people involved in the creation of interactive advertisements, therefore having the insight of the situation from a different point of view than the target audience (consumers). These people are also the ones who are capable of changing how advertising works in future, both digitally and in physical shape.

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Stage Two: Data Collection The online interview answers were retrieved from the platform used to host it (surveymonkey.com). They were then compiled into a single file (see Appendix G) and further examined before being represented into information graphics below.

(Refer to Appendix F for full interview)

Note: TVC refers to those commercials that is uploaded onto Youtube but was originally a TVC.

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(Refer to Appendix F for full interview)

(Refer to Appendix F for full interview)

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Stage Three: Data Analysis As the online interview was conducted with people who are familiar with design and advertising industry, deeper insights were gained from it. The opinions and feedbacks that were given were pretty fruitful and it helped to further support the results gained for the online questionnaire / survey and focus group interview. As revised in literature review, the problem with traditional media is that it communicates only one-way (brand to audience), unlike social media (brand to audience, and audience to brand). This also means that audiences prefer more interactive campaigns, as mentioned in the previous data analysis. Online advertisements that work hand in hand with social networking platforms tend to bloom into a better campaign, as it "brings very good outreach to a wide variety of consumers" (Refer to Appendix F). Nicholas, a level 2 advertising communication student at Lasalle, also mentioned that social networking platform is "a vital way of how people communicate in daily lives - therefore being able to be part of what they choose to see online will help get brand outreach". This relates to the point that was elaborated in literature review about Networks and Communities, in which Youtube has applied in order to gain more participants into the community (audiences signing up to be users). (Chief Executive Chad Hurley, 2006) Similar to what was concluded in the previous two data analysis, the participants of this data collection also indicated that web banners and pop up advertisements are "very annoying", "like obstacles appearing", "intrusive" and "requires additional effort" to close them. On the contrary, 7 participants expressed that they remember Youtube advertisements the best, as they have "longer impression". However, the impressions are not necessarily always positive, as Tian Seng, a graduate in Diploma of Interactive Media, stated that he remembers the Youtube advertisements because "they are in the way" when he wants to watch his videos. Similarly, Yufei, a level 1 design communication student in Lasalle, claimed that Youtube advertisements are memorable to him "because they are annoying, e.g. KFC advertisement on Youtube". However, in comparison to web banners (which are also deemed annoying), Youtube advertisements lasts longer and creates more impact as they "leave a longer impression" through "emotive advertising" and "there is image and sound" along with storyline that can be sometimes quite cleverly written.

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Successful online campaigns (such as the Cadbury campaign) often rely on Facebook page to retain audiences' attention on the brand. (Refer to Appendix B, Fig 2c and 2d) In order to understand consumer's behavior behind the logic of maintaining their attention by using this platform, a question was asked to the interviewees about the reason they actually liked a Facebook page or visit a website. From the responses attained, it was a straightforward cause that they all do it for a benefit. Nicholas claimed that it is due to "incentives (discount coupons, etc)", while Yufei mentioned "friend recommending" the page and him wanting to "check how to find the brand (location)". Jingle, a graduate in Diploma of Interactive Media and currently a student in Marketing Management, mentioned that she usually visits a Facebook page when she is "interested in the things they are selling". Tian Seng also mentioned that he does it for "research purposes" about the brand. Majority of the answers (besides mentioned) revolves friends' recommendation, which actually shows how people behave in their community or circle of friends: they are affected and influenced by the words of their friends, which is the charm of social networks and media.

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CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS

Online advertising and its association with social media advertising

The pros and cons of online advertising Online advertising is an easy marketing strategy to build a campaign without much budget or manpower. Yet, it is still pretty powerful when it is implemented with the correct medium and strategies. As mentioned in Computimes Malaysia, one of the beauties of Internet marketing is that you control the entire process from start to finish. (Computimes Malaysia, 1999) The good thing about using online advertising will be that it can be easily updated all the time, and posts that are instantly posted can get viral within hours or even minutes. Message can be delivered without a doubt, and as online advertising touches social networking platforms, they can get viral even faster as people within various communities start sharing the message on their own timelines. It is not very hard to maintain as one person (the administrator from the brand) can edit any of the content of the advertisement without having to uninstall or reinstall the physical platform, unlike the case with traditional print media. However, online advertising is not a 100% guarantee that a products post will get viral. There are brands that have attempted to achieve better positioning by using the online methods, and have yet to reach the stand they wish to be at. This is due to the fact that they lack in interactive points in their advertisements, and that they do not implement social media into the execution. In order to make a powerful campaign, there is a need for a study to be conducted to understand further about the nature of social media and its networking platforms.

The nature of social media Social media relies heavily on social community and networks, which gives people sense of belonging and involvement with others, as revised in literature review previously. There is a

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certain level of trusts in people that are more known online, and therefore many actually rely on reviews available online before they decide to try or buy a product. The ability to show people consumers individual thoughts also make consumers brand ambassadors, as they directly let people know how they feel which is not very practical to be done in real life. Online, they simply rate the product and post their comments, and it will stay there until people read it at their own time. However, if they were to do it in real life, the range of target audience is smaller and the impact lasts only minutes after the speech. As stated in literature review, the charm about online communities will be that the bond

that community members possess are strong to a certain extent due to the fact that they get together and networked with one another based on an interest or a cause they support. Since
the people who are within the same community holds the same interest, they have a strong bond that allows them to trust each others words strongly, therefore making them possible target audiences. In time, as the nature of social media bases on sharing, the consumers who shared their ratings and opinions actually helped brand to get more audiences from different background. This is why online advertising and social networks have to work hand-in-hand; to make the campaign more well spread and preserved. In order for a campaign to get known, it has to first create an impact to the audience before we can maintain the element of hype in place. To be able to do that, there are some factors that have to be considered while planning for the campaign.

Factors to be considered when doing online advertising Besides the platforms to be chosen for the campaign, one has to plan for the execution of the campaign first. For instance, if they have a prelaunch, launch and post-launch of the event, then a time frame between each launch has to be clear and the things cannot be released together at the same time. Rather than focusing on which platform to use, it is better for advertisers to actually listen to what the consumers want. Content of the campaign is very important, but as much as it has to be executed, consumers love it when we improve to adjust the product to their comfort zone. Not only the content of the campaign has to be good and flexible for adjustment, it has to be posted regularly in order to keep audiences attention there. It has to have some values

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for people not to steal your things from you. Other brands will copy your advertising method but that does not mean they will be better. The implementation of knowledge in the product will make consumers feel like we know the brands very well and we are selling it, giving out a better brand positioning.

Social media advertisings impact lasts longer

The difference between traditional media and social media advertising As mentioned in literature review, traditional media only communicates in a one-way nature. Brand expresses their message through a medium, which is actually efficient to a certain extent. However, people nowadays prefer to be able to have their say in things, which is why they expect brands to be able to communicate with them in two-ways conversation. Consumers love to be able to participate in the campaign in a way that they can give feedbacks or share their comments about the brand, and to feel a sense of community involvement with the brand itself. This is the reason why Facebook page and platforms like blogs gain many subscribers: because brands can channel their posts there and audiences are able to reply, like, and share their opinions. This can be advocated from Nicholas from Advertising Communication in Lasalle who indicated that social media is a vital way of how people communicate in daily lives - therefore being able to be part of what they choose to see online will help get brand outreach. Social media advertising also encourages the consumers to participate in the campaigns, making them more memorable. For example, Virgin Blue tweets would not have been successful if it were not for people participating and re-tweeting the tweets. (Refer to Appendix B, Fig 2a and 2b) It becomes a successful campaign as their audiences turn to brand ambassadors and everyone remembered the campaign as it has an insight to it. This result would not have been possible if Virgin Blue decided to do it by using traditional media (which is one-way).

Interactivity in social media advertisements For an advertisement or campaign to get noticed, it has to look attractive and also

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believable for the audiences. Interactivity in a campaign is very important as it helps to catch the audiences attention before retaining it , shows the demonstration of product or brand and what they can do to you, and also it gives audiences things to think about. As mentioned previously, brand has to interact with consumers. For instance, if the strategy were to post a viral video, the audience has to be able to relate to the storyline in order to participate in sharing the video and making it viral. As mentioned previously, in order for the campaign to be successful, it has to have the insight to it, and the good content has to have value in them. This applies for any other platforms beside viral video too. Since humans by nature remember things from the five senses, if we can stimulate the use of at least two senses *or more) in order to show an interactive demonstration of the brand with audiences participation, the brands can be better positioned and earn more profits.

Factors to be considered when doing social media campaigns There are three important factors to be considered during the planning stage, first being the target audiences age group and background. People from different age range react to the campaign differently, and therefore the approach used has to differ as well. A study of consumer behavior can be attained when doing user testing and adjustments can be made to cater to everyone, therefore user testing is very important before the launch of any social media campaigns. Second factor to be considered will be the content of the campaign. The content itself, as revised in the previous part, has to be of something valuable, or triggering emotions in order to make people really react to it. This can be advocated by Yufei, who claims that he remembers Thai commercials (TVC that was uploaded to Youtube) very well due to its touching, emotive plot. Therefore, in order for the campaign to be remembered, it is important to think of how the advertisement will affect ones life, or at least emotion (happy, sad, shocked, angry, etc). Third factor is consistency. Whether it is the language, or sentence structure or the frequency of posts, it is better to keep the campaign updated regularly. If it were to be Facebook page, it can even be updated just by posting a fun fact relating the audience to the brand. By keeping the campaign regularly updated, audiences attention to the brand will remain

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on the brand rather than flying off somewhere. The regular updates also show consumers how organized the brand is, and how it is able to keep everything under control in order to serve you.

Consumer behavior towards social media advertising

Consumers habits in regards to social media As mentioned in previous chapters, consumers tend to want a participatory experience involving the brand. Consumers are now brand ambassadors (as mentioned previously) and are responsible to tag and share the messages to everyone else they have in their networks. Consumers often use Twitter for a less lengthy updates and Facebook to share with their friends, therefore when a campaign is launched it usually connects these two platforms together. Consumers also like to do something that makes themselves look good (therefore Instagram is really famous, due to the fact that it is a simple yet good camera mobile application that helps you look better with ready made filters). Audiences do not have to know the others who are inside the community on a personal level. In social media circle, friendships and connections are made even when two or three people have never met before. Yet, as much as the consumers do not know each other well, due to the fact that they belong in the same community and have common interest, they tend to believe in what the other community person / member said. This can be advocated by the literature review that touches on Networks and Communities, and by a quote from George Barnett on his book Encyclopedia of Social Networks (vol 2): Twitter redefinition of friendship online is based on its capacity to support both strong and weak ties. Unlike social networking applications such as Facebook, which define friendship as strong, bidirectional ties, Twitter defines friendship ties via a follower/followee model. () This model can increase the potential for social serendipity through allowing followers to benefit from heterogeneous informational streams of information generated from weakly tied followee connections. (Barnett, 2011, p. 886)

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Preferred social networking platforms Through the data analysis done in Chapter 3, there are very obvious evidence that two platforms that definitely can be considered will be Facebook and Youtube. As Youtubes community grew wider, the number of video views (and video uploads) becomes rather overwhelming, and therefore it is essential to add interactive element to it. Social networking is quickly becoming an important outlet for sharing new and interesting content online. (Kim Malone, Googles Director of online sales and operations, 2007) The reason why people chose Facebook and Youtube most of the time as the platforms they think most effective will be because these two platforms have the strongest community in comparison to others. The circle of community is a very large, and so there is an expansive amount of targeted audience that can be reached. As both Facebook and Youtube encourage exchanges (video exchanges, comments, likes, etc), people love it for its interactivity with other users and they used these platforms all the time from their smart phones.

Showing that brand cares for consumers Getting targeted audience to give feedbacks and comments on product online actually get them to feel like brand cares for them. Consumers have a tendency to want brand to be able to understand and hear them out. If handled correctly, what may come off as a complaint from a consumer can turn out to be praises in the end. Consumers love to be informed up-to-date, which is why brands often send out e-mailers for them to view and know what is the latest news. Updating the consumers regularly (be it individually through mailers or online through posts on Facebook or Youtube) will make them feel the brands care and consideration to have them as part of the brands community.

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS

Limitations of the Research There are 3 limitations to this research. The first limitation faced was the attempt to gather ample amount of survey responses. A Facebook message was sent with the message as well as link to the survey, but only 20 people out of 50 responded. A change of plan was made, and 30 e-mails were sent out to the people of the target audience age range, but less than 10 replied again. The second limitation was calling for people to come down for interview sessions. As the interviewees candidate have different commitments and schedules, out of 20 people approached, only 6 made it for the interview. The last limitation was when the interview was filmed: due to lack of equipment and the interviewees being uncomfortable to talk in front of real camera, a mobile phone was used to film the interviews.

Concluding Statement In order to reach out to larger target audience without wasting unnecessary amount of time and money, brands have to come up with a strategy that creates impact at the start of the campaign, and then use of interactive online advertisements to retain target audiences attention despite the competition with other existing brands. By making use of the combination of the surprise element from guerilla advertising and the easy use of social networking platforms, an emotional trigger can exist to impress each individual, creating a powerful demonstration strategy that can be applied for better brand positioning and profits while creating a special relationship between brands and the consumers.

Recommendations For Future Research With the current existing brands using the online marketing approach to promote their products, the Internet is also filled with clutter of advertisements. In order to reach to targeted audience in a warm yet convincing manner, it is important to make the advertisements as

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emotionally and physically interactive as possible, thus ensuring that the viewers would get the message and remember them in their hearts and minds. It is recommended to conduct another research on the application of guerilla advertising along with the available Social Networking Platforms, as there might be possible factors that can be applied along the proposed marketing strategy. It is also advised to focus more on consumers behavior towards Social Networking advertisements, and towards the chosen platforms. Social Networking Platform is ever expanding yet always changing; the focus of study can also be broader. For future research, it is recommended that one put in more focus on researching of other possible platforms (other than the already popular Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) that can be used into a brand new marketing strategy, which will both break through the market and get viral. With these recommendations, a powerful online marketing strategy in which one uses an online campaign to get their message stand out and across can hopefully be achieved through the same basis and yet different execution.

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CHAPTER 6: REFERENCES

10 of the best social media campaigns from 2012 | Econsultancy. 2013. 10 of the best social media campaigns from 2012 | Econsultancy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://econsultancy.com/sg/blog/11244-10-of-the-best-social-media-campaigns-from2012. [Accessed 03 December 2012].

15 Of the Best Viral Marketing Campaigns | ProspectMX. 2012. 15 Of the Best Viral Marketing Campaigns | ProspectMX. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.prospectmx.com/15-of-the-best-viral-marketing-campaigns/. [Accessed 06 November 2012].

A giant chocolate thumbs up from one million chunks of Cadbury Dairy Milk | HYPERNAKED. 2013. A giant chocolate thumbs up from one million chunks of Cadbury Dairy Milk | HYPERNAKED. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.hypernaked.com/blog/agiant-chocolate-thumbs-up-from-one-million-chunks-of-cadbury-dairy-milk/. [Accessed 05 December 2012].

Advantages of marketing on the net. (1999). Computimes Malaysia, 1-1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236277693?accountid=1269

Barnett, George A., 2011. Encyclopedia of Social networks. 1st ed. N/A: Los Angeles: Sage Publications, c2011.

Barnett, George A., 2011. Encyclopedia of Social networks. 2nd ed. 2011: Los Angeles: Sage Publications, c2011.

Bayliss, B. (2008). ACA reaches out to young people through social networking.

Corrections Today, 70(6), 26-26. Retrieved from

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http://search.proquest.com/docview/215717273?accountid=12691

Cadbury Thanks A Million | Behind The Scenes | Pearson Post Production. 2013. Cadbury Thanks A Million | Behind The Scenes | Pearson Post Production. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pearsonpost.com/?portfolio=cadburys-giant-thumbs-up-facebook-campaign. [Accessed 07 December 2012].

Delaney, K. J. (2006, Aug 22). YouTube to sell advertisements in video format. Wall

Street Journal, pp. 2-B.2. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/399071779?accountid=12691

Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, 2010. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs. 1st ed. New Jersey, U.S.A: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

EDGECLIFFE-JOHNSON, A. (2007, Aug 22). Google unveils YouTube advertising format.

Financial Times, pp. 20-20. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/250038646?accountid=12691

Flynn, Nancy, 2012. The Social Media handbook. 1st ed. N/A: Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, John.

Giaccardi, Elisa, 2012. Heritage And Social Media: understanding heritage in a participatory culture. 1st ed. London: Taylor & Francis Ltd.

glassandahalffull (Cadbury). (2012). Cadbury Dairy Milk: Thanks A Million - How did we do it?. [Online Video]. 18 January. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uHtDRw4ujYw. [Accessed: 03 December 2012].

Google AdSense powered social network pays members 100% advertising revenue; flixya.com launches social media networking site that promotes community ownership by paying members 100% ad revenue generated by google AdSense, sets new benchmark

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for online social responsibility. (2007, Jul 31). PR Newswire, pp. n/a-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/453376297?accountid=12691

Green, Lelia, 2010. The Internet: Introduction to New Media. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Intuwave: 2005 - the year of the smartphone, survey suggests; 47% of IT managers now set to deploy smartphones as outstanding problems are fixed. (2005, Mar 31). M2

Presswire, pp. 1-1.

Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/444071855?accountid=12691

Marketing 101 Social Media vs Traditional Media [INFOGRAPHIC] - AllTwitter. 2012. Marketing 101 Social Media vs Traditional Media [INFOGRAPHIC] - AllTwitter. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-vs-traditional-mediamarketing_b25389. [Accessed 09 November 2012].

Online advertising booming in Singapore. 2012. Online advertising booming in Singapore. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mediabuzz.com.sg/asian-emarketing/januaryfebruary-2009/257-online-advertising-booming-in-singapore. [Accessed 08 November 2012].

Shopper's eye view of ads that pass us by | Media | The Guardian. 2012. Shopper's eye view of ads that pass us by | Media | The Guardian. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/nov/19/advertising.marketingandpr. [Accessed 1 September 2012].

Singapore Facebook Statistics, Penetration, Demography - Socialbakers. 2012. Singapore Facebook Statistics, Penetration, Demography - Socialbakers. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/singapore. [Accessed 29 August 2012].

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The price of social media stardom (part 1) - Yahoo! News Singapore. 2012. The price of social media stardom (part 1) - Yahoo! News Singapore. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/the-price-of-social-media-stardom--part-1-.html. [Accessed 29 August 2012].

Top Singapore Blogs Ranking - SgBlogs.com. 2012. Top Singapore Blogs Ranking SgBlogs.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sgblogs.com/sites. [Accessed 1 September 2012].

Traditional Media. 2012. Traditional Media. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.sparkable.com/marketing/traditional-media.php. [Accessed 09 November 2012].

Virgin Blue | Marketing magazine. 2013. Virgin Blue | Marketing magazine. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marketingmag.com.au/tags/virgin-blue/. [Accessed 06 November 2012].

Virgin Blue tries $9 tweets | Plane Talking. 2012. Virgin Blue tries $9 tweets | Plane Talking. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2009/08/31/virgin-blue-tries-9-tweets/. [Accessed 06 November 2012].

Visiongain: "mobile social networking, the number of unique visitors to the Facebook mobile site increased fivefold from 5 million per month in January 2008 to 25 million in February 2009. ", says visiongain brand new telecoms report. (2009, May 22). M2

Presswire, pp. n/a.

Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/444250258?accountid=12691

Wartman, Katherine Lynk and M. Martinez Aleman, Ana, 2008. Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture. 1st ed. N/A: Routledge.

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CHAPTER 7: APPENDICES
APPENDIX A (VISUAL RESEARCH)

Fig 1a: Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement at Orchard Road, Grand Park Orchard / Crown Prince Hotel Available from: http://www.tnp.sg/sites/default/files/mkground02.jpg [Accessed 06 November, 2012]

Fig 1b: Shaw House building Available from: http://www.dsphotographic.com/g2/12829-5/Orchard+Road+-+003.jpg [Accessed 06 November, 2012]

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Fig 1c: H&M at Somerset Available from: http://chicprinceb.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/dsc01165.jpg?w=1000 [Accessed 06 November 2012]

Fig 1d: Girls Generations endorsement of Baby G along ION Orchard walkway Available from: http://snsd-life.blogspot.sg/2012/08/picture-snsds-casio-baby-g.html [Accessed 07 November 2012]

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Fig 1e: Lnm Stylehouse, an online Facebook shop that sells hiphop dance shoes Available from: http://www.facebook.com/Lnmstylehouse [Accessed 10 November 2012]

Fig 1f: Manulife campaign advertisement at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station Available from: http://www.manulife.com/public/images/places/1/MRTStation2.jpg [Accessed 2 January 2013]

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APPENDIX B (CASE STUDIES)

Virgin Blue Tweets

Fig 2a: 15 of the Best Viral Marketing Campaigns (2011) [online image]. Available from: http://www.prospectmx.com/15-of-the-best-viral-marketing-campaigns/ [Accessed 06 November, 2012]

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Fig 2b: Virgin Blue offers cheep Twitter Fares (2009). Available from: http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/virginblueofferscheeptwitterfares1591/#.UQ5p0UKBNSU [Accessed 06 November, 2012] Cadburys Giant Thumbs-up

Fig 2c: Cadbury Dairy Milk: Thanks A Million - How did we do it? [online video]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uHtDRw4ujYw [Accessed 05 December, 2012]

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Fig 2d: Hypernaked: A GIANT CHOCOLATE THUMBS UP FROM ONE MILLION CHUNKS OF CADBURY DAIRY MILK Available from: http://www.hypernaked.com/blog/a-giant-chocolate-thumbs-up-from-onemillion-chunks-of-cadbury-dairy-milk/ [Accessed 05 December, 2012]

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Fig 2e: 10 of the best social media campaign from 2012 | e-consultancy Available from: http://econsultancy.com/sg/blog/11244-10-of-the-best-social-mediacampaigns-from-2012 [Accessed 05 December, 2012]

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APPENDIX C (ONLINE RESEARCH)

Fig 3a: Online Advertising booming in Singapore Available from: http://www.mediabuzz.com.sg/asian-emarketing/january-february-2009/257online-advertising-booming-in-singapore [Accessed 08 November 2012]

Fig 3b: Singapore Facebook Statistics (Socialbakers) Available from: http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/singapore [Accessed 09 November 2012]

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Fig 3c: New Media vs. Traditional Media Available from: http://www.aibd.org.my/node/1226 [Accessed 10 November 2012]

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APPENDIX D (USER TEST: ONLINE SURVEY / QUESTIONNAIRE) FIG 4A: TOM N TOMS COFFEE AN D ARTEASE

Response: I want to have one of it too. It is definitely interesting enough for my attention (1/11/2013 1:24 AM) I would associate it as a cafe that only sells coffee but food as well. (1/11/2013 1:18 AM) A cafe that sells coffee and bakeries. Feels similar to coffee bean (1/10/2013 10:29 PM) Westernized (1/10/2013 8:39 PM) interesting! feel like trying the pretzel! (1/10/2013 7:43 PM) great concept (1/10/2013 8:50 AM) Interesting way of advertising (1/10/2013 2:16 AM) Another cafe like Starbucks but maybe cosines and smaller than Starbucks. (1/10/2013 2:10 AM) It is a cafe that sells pretzels.. The approach of the staff in the picture gives it a more homely/friendly feel :) (1/10/2013 2:07 AM) I get the impression that TNT specialises in their Pretzels (1/10/2013 2:06 AM) trying to sell their products by giving people a free one to attract them (1/10/2013 1:58 AM) Nothing special (1/10/2013 1:57 AM) AWSOME! (1/10/2013 1:53 AM) it is very interesting, and offers snacks as well as coffee (1/10/2013 1:49 AM) They sell delicious pretzels (1/10/2013 1:37 AM)

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Responses: it captures attention and leave an impression (1/11/2013 1:24 AM) The message is clearly conveyed to the public. (1/11/2013 1:18 AM) Yes, public can get a better understanding of the brand. (1/10/2013 10:29 PM) Yes, cause Singaporeans love free stuffs and in the mean time they get to try. If they love it, they will take time to visit the cafe. (1/10/2013 7:43 PM) there are too many things going on in the cyber world. people tend to ignore what may be junk mail to them. giving it out physically may just grab their attention even if its for a while. (1/10/2013 8:50 AM) If the pretzel is delicious enough, the public will consider the cafe as a possible place to go instead of the usual crowded Starbucks. In addition there is the coupon to lure in the public. (1/10/2013 2:10 AM) Encourages people to try out the product, if they like it they will come back for more, and also the discount encourages people to visit again. By reaching out to public opens new markets that may be different from the company's original costumers. (1/10/2013 2:07 AM) it's very clear that you're advertising on the pretzels that TNT is selling (1/10/2013 2:06 AM) Because direct approach can let the customer notice your product more effectively rather then putting on the board. (1/10/2013 1:53 AM) personal touch is always a better way to interact with customers (1/10/2013 1:49 AM) Getting to taste how the pretzel is like will help making people crave to eat it (1/10/2013 1:37 AM)

Responses: it is the experience that matters (1/11/2013 1:24 AM) The interactive touch will be lost if it were done through a poster advertisement, hence the brand retention will not be as strong as well. (1/11/2013 1:18 AM) It lacks of face to face interaction and people might not spend time to read it. (1/10/2013 10:29 PM) In this busy society, not many will stop by and look at things around them such as advertisement posters unless the poster is eye-catching or located at places where people stand or sit around. Eg. in the bus, trains etc. (1/10/2013 7:43 PM) it would be the same as sending it thru emails. people may tend to ignore. (1/10/2013 8:50 AM) People might miss it the poster if they're just walking by. (1/10/2013 2:16 AM)

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The pretzel will be an effective bait which the poster cannot compare with especially considering Singaporeans' culture. (1/10/2013 2:10 AM) Posters will only work to a small extent as most of the time people will just view and ignore its call to action; the more interactive it is, it will attract more interest, strong enough to bring people to act to the ad's call-to-action. (1/10/2013 2:07 AM) i think that poster restricts the full potential of the advertisement (1/10/2013 2:06 AM) poster is boring (1/10/2013 1:58 AM) The advertisement only promotes the particular pretzel. Not the main stuff which I believe is the drinks(coffee). (1/10/2013 1:57 AM) people tend to skim through and not really pay attention (1/10/2013 1:49 AM) Because poster is a still image and they cannot experience the enjoyment of eating the pretzel just from picture (1/10/2013 1:37 AM)

Responses: I might not notice (1/11/2013 1:25 AM) It will notify public the existence of Artease; that the store sells bubble tea. (1/10/2013 10:32 PM) Maybe only the existence of it and it's a drink store but nothing more. (1/10/2013 7:47 PM) Interactive way of engaging with the younger crowd (1/10/2013 2:18 AM) From the email content, it can be understood that artisan is a bubble tea shop. (1/10/2013 2:12 AM) I guess it is to a certain extent, depending on who the mailer is sent to - usually mailers are sent to those who subscribe, which may be Artease's usual customers, and thus it may not introduce new people to the product. But if sent to others in the public, it may generate interest. (1/10/2013 2:11 AM) it's a very simple interaction with the audience, using Pearls which is what Artease is good for and it also leads to the Monster cup which Artease is focusing on too. (1/10/2013 2:09 AM) Maybe. It's need to be advertise in more mainstream avenue (eg media print,tv etc) (1/10/2013 2:00 AM) many people use the internet, and info can very easily be shared online (1/10/2013 1:52 AM) It shows a promotion for Artease. (1/10/2013 1:38 AM)

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Responses: Delete (1/11/2013 1:25 AM) Look at it briefly (1/10/2013 10:32 PM) delete it (1/10/2013 8:39 PM) delete! (1/10/2013 7:47 PM) i will check whats new (1/10/2013 11:10 AM) Check if it's offering me a deal/discount (1/10/2013 2:18 AM) I would delete it as opening unknown email can pose as a threat. (1/10/2013 2:12 AM) interesting and cute concept. Will click to find out more. (1/10/2013 2:11 AM) Have the interest to want to follow the instructions and be curious as to what's in stall next. (1/10/2013 2:09 AM) what is this sia? (1/10/2013 2:00 AM) i will not read through (1/10/2013 1:54 AM) skim through it 1/10/2013 1:52 AM) Deleting it or flag it as spam. (1/10/2013 1:38 AM)

Responses: I am not interested in such ads (1/11/2013 1:25 AM) Usually there will be many e-mailers received which I believe many others too. For me, I tend to just delete off the whole list and sometimes only click the ones with subjects that interest me. (1/10/2013 7:47 PM) most of them will send to trush box anf been ignore (1/10/2013 11:10 AM) Some people might brush it off as spam, but the email is interesting and engaging. (1/10/2013 2:18 AM) As mentioned a hove I would delete it since it can be a threat. (1/10/2013 2:12 AM) It works for me, as it looks interesting enough for me to click, and also because I like bubble tea as well so I'd be interested But it may or may not interest others who do not enjoy bubble tea. (1/10/2013 2:11 AM) Like i said, this is a simple approach and isn't time consuming at all, it sparks curiosity in consumer as well. (1/10/2013 2:09 AM) I already knew about artease before this. (1/10/2013 2:00 AM) depends if the receiver dismisses it as spam before reading or at least goes through the email, and if the receiver looks at it I think it will be effective (1/10/2013 1:52 AM) It might receive different kind of reactions from people, as most people tend to less trusting towards emails from anonymous. (1/10/2013 1:38 AM)

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Responses: it is more direct and experiential (1/11/2013 1:26 AM) It's like indirectly forcing people to take notice of. While for digital approach, one can decide not to look at it. (1/10/2013 7:51 PM) Better interaction with the public will leave a longer impression (1/10/2013 2:19 AM) Digital approach is less safe in terms of online threats. (1/10/2013 2:13 AM) Higher chance of action/reaction to the intended message since its done in person. (1/10/2013 2:12 AM) Since social networking is more popular nowadays as it reaches out to a larger audience in an effective way. (1/10/2013 2:12 AM) More information can be found. Some people do not like to be approached. More audience (1/10/2013 2:02 AM) It is easier to interact with humans than just reading an advertisement (1/10/2013 1:53 AM) It feels as if the brand is reaching out to the consumers. (1/10/2013 1:39 AM)

Responses: because of the impression (1/11/2013 1:26 AM) It seems more fun than the Artease advertisement. (1/10/2013 7:51 PM) Packaging shows branding of Tom n Toms and will leave an impression since I have something physical that catches my attention. (1/10/2013 2:19 AM) The pretzel will leave a deeper impression as it is food as compared to a email which I wouldn't give more than a second glance. (1/10/2013 2:13 AM) depending on personal reference, Artease would be more effective because i don't really check my mailbox ^^;; (1/10/2013 2:12 AM) actually none. because both company already have an impression on me. (1/10/2013 2:02 AM) It feels more personal (1/10/2013 1:53 AM) It does not only make me see the product through the ad; i ate it and smelled the pretzels live. (1/10/2013 1:39 AM)

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FIG 4B: X-MINI AND RITTER SPORT

Responses: I still wouldn't be sure how powerful the speakers really are. (1/23/2013 5:37 AM) Speakers. (1/18/2013 11:00 AM) Cute lor (1/15/2013 1:20 PM) Nice (1/15/2013 9:40 AM) nice design layout for advertising (1/15/2013 12:15 AM) It looks like a game to entertain yourself when you're bored. (1/14/2013 10:57 PM) Yoyo? (1/14/2013 10:41 PM) (1/12/2013 12:09 AM) I think it's special and the new design is much cooler than the ones selling in the markets currently. (1/10/2013 11:24 PM) i wish i could have one~ (1/10/2013 2:30 PM) I don't really get to know much about X-MINI except about the brand name. (1/10/2013 2:12 PM) It's a small convenient device. (1/10/2013 2:03 PM) Attractive (1/10/2013 1:56 PM) Interesting gadget (1/10/2013 1:48 PM) Interesting (1/10/2013 11:02 AM) It's very interesting and looks intriguing too. (1/10/2013 8:36 AM) It's not very clear unless user completes the round and it will gives then some discount coupon for purchasing X-MINI products (1/10/2013 8:27 AM) not much idea on what the game is about.. (1/10/2013 8:02 AM) Based on the advertisement, the only information that tells me more about this product is the wide variety of colours with referrence to the Facebook game. (1/10/2013 3:37 AM) It looks like a really fun and interesting gadget to have. (1/10/2013 2:24 AM)

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Why? Responses: Target audience use Facebook on a daily basis (1/23/2013 5:37 AM) For a lower age group, this is quite useful. (1/18/2013 11:00 AM) It reaches out to many people from all over the world as well. (1/14/2013 10:57 PM) - (1/12/2013 12:09 AM) Because nowadays everyone have a facebook account, and it's much easier to reach out to the consumers. (1/10/2013 11:24 PM) cause people more or less using facebook (1/10/2013 2:30 PM) Because facebook is a very popular social media platform that can be used to reach out to people. (1/10/2013 2:12 PM) Facebook is something that much of the general public spends time on. (1/10/2013 2:03 PM) easier access to updates (1/10/2013 1:56 PM) Because people are always checking on facebook. It will be faster to reach out to consumers. (1/10/2013 1:48 PM) People nowadays use Facebook all the time. Also very accessible. (1/10/2013 8:36 AM) You should aim mobile devices too (1/10/2013 8:27 AM) Everyone is using Facebook and playing with the games fron facebook.. so it will be good idea. (1/10/2013 8:02 AM) In the world today, Facebook is considered as one of the most commonly and regularly accessed social-networking platform by all walks of life and advertising through this platform makes it easier for companies to reach out to their target audiences. (1/10/2013 3:37 AM) Facebook is widely used by alot of people around the world and it is easy to share photos and view them immediately instead of having to open a link. Some people may suspect links to be a virus and just ignore them. (1/10/2013 2:24 AM)

Why? Responses: Lack of integration on other platforms (1/23/2013 5:37 AM) Depends on how you market the thing! (1/18/2013 11:00 AM) coz i only use fb (1/15/2013 9:40 AM)

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can increase the popularity of advertising, as some of the fb users not so active in fb alone. (1/15/2013 12:15 AM) More people are active on sites such as Twitter and it is more easily spread around on Twitter. (1/14/2013 10:57 PM) Because although a lot people are using facebook now, there are more people which using twitter & tumblr therefore people can also retweet the ad. and spread even faster. (1/10/2013 11:24 PM) twitter guess twitter have more people using (1/10/2013 2:30 PM) It can be done through all social media platforms for more productivity. (1/10/2013 2:12 PM) Among all the social media, facebook is the most well known and the most used. 1/10/2013 2:03 PM not effective (1/10/2013 1:56 PM) People might miss it (1/10/2013 1:48 PM) You can implement it to other social media as well. (1/10/2013 8:36 AM) I would say Mobile, Facebook then Twitter (1/10/2013 8:27 AM) Not very sure about another social media will have as mny user as facebook. (1/10/2013 8:02 AM) The rest of the social media platforms does not disseminate information as quickly as how Facebook does. (1/10/2013 3:37 AM)

Why? Responses: Doesn't communicate the benefits of the actual product and of it being better than other chocolates in the market (1/23/2013 5:40 AM) Chocolates! (1/18/2013 11:01 AM) it looks too complicated (1/15/2013 9:41 AM) - (1/12/2013 12:11 AM) Because as we are doing the survey we might spread to more people about it. (1/10/2013 11:26 PM) people get to know more (1/10/2013 2:31 PM) Not enough details about their products (1/10/2013 2:13 PM) simple brief about Ritter Sport (1/10/2013 1:57 PM) It attracts people to find out more. (1/10/2013 1:51 PM) They get to learn about it in a fun way. (1/10/2013 8:38 AM) still not sure what rita sports is. (1/10/2013 8:03 AM)

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I would say yes to a certain extend because truthfully we know that most of the users that enter these sites would most probably see and notice the web banner but not interact with it. Probably only a minority would actually play it and find themselves reading more about the product. (1/10/2013 4:03 AM)

Why? Responses: Wonder what it is about (1/23/2013 5:40 AM) Ugh. (1/18/2013 11:01 AM) Huh what is this? (1/15/2013 1:23 PM) quite messy (1/15/2013 9:41 AM) Another random annoying ad (1/14/2013 10:42 PM) - (1/12/2013 12:11 AM) wow what's that about? (1/10/2013 11:26 PM) cute (1/10/2013 2:31 PM) Not interested. (1/10/2013 2:13 PM) I found it interesting and unique. Quite unlike other web advertisements. (1/10/2013 2:04 PM) not bad (1/10/2013 1:57 PM) Cute. (1/10/2013 1:51 PM) Find out what is it. (1/10/2013 11:03 AM) Very interesting. (1/10/2013 8:38 AM) Interesting but I wouldn't play it, maybe you can change the graphic to more attention seeking (1/10/2013 8:30 AM) Ignore (1/10/2013 8:03 AM) "woot whats this? looks cute~ (1/10/2013 4:03 AM) What is this product? (1/10/2013 2:26 AM)

Why? Responses:

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Web banners may come across as gimmicky (1/23/2013 5:40 AM) Chocolates! (1/18/2013 11:01 AM) I'm not sure. (1/15/2013 1:23 PM) - (1/12/2013 12:11 AM) Because you've spreaded out to more people , and others will spread even more. (1/10/2013 11:26 PM) Personally online advertisements do not entice me. (1/10/2013 2:13 PM) Nil (1/10/2013 1:57 PM) People may still ignore the web banner as it is quite the same as any other advertising web banner. (1/10/2013 1:51 PM) It's eye catching, sweet and simple. (1/10/2013 8:38 AM) It does not really attract the target audience to interact more with it due to the user being more focus on doing what they wanted on the respective sites. (1/10/2013 4:03 AM) People tend to ignore the ads at the side of the webpages so maybe brighter colours can be used to attract attention. (1/10/2013 2:26 AM)

Why? Responses: Internet ads may come across as fake and gimmicky (1/23/2013 5:41 AM) Less invasive. (1/18/2013 11:02 AM) Because the network is wider. Rapid spread of information. (1/15/2013 1:24 PM) both is equally good (1/15/2013 9:41 AM) seeing my friends play, I might play too, but if there's web banners to annoy/disrupt me of my personal space, i'll feel offended and not even bother looking at the ad (1/14/2013 10:43 PM ) (1/11/2013 4:54 PM) Because more people trust friend's more, and through social networking, you can explain it more detail to your friends. (1/10/2013 11:29 PM) now a day who dont use social networking (1/10/2013 2:32 PM) People refer to social networking platform more. (1/10/2013 2:13 PM) People generally find internet advertisements annoying and not pay attention to them. But for facebook they are more likely to notice them (1/10/2013 2:05 PM) less adverstisement pop-ups (1/10/2013 1:57 PM) Personally, I tend to ignore web banner and pop-ups (1/10/2013 1:53 PM) Social networking reaches to a larger number of people faster. (1/10/2013 8:39 AM) Currently social networking such as Facebook can be view by smart phone easily so it will have wider target audiences (1/10/2013 8:32 AM) The Social Network Platform is a more widely visited place on the internet by all walks of life these days hence the better exposure for advertisements. (1/10/2013 4:11 AM) Normally people will just close a popup before it even loads as it gets in the way. (1/10/2013 2:27 AM)

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Why? Responses: Longer interaction as a factor (1/23/2013 5:41 AM) I can see speakers! (1/18/2013 11:02 AM) Neither, I don't really get what they are selling even after seeing the ads. (1/14/2013 10:43 PM) - (1/11/2013 4:54 PM) Because X-MINI is a speaker, and people these days are buying more speakers, some for dancing purposes, and some for just playing musics. (1/10/2013 11:29 PM) cause something i want to get (1/10/2013 2:32 PM) Because I have no idea what Ritter Sport is after seeing the advertisement. (1/10/2013 2:13 PM) attractive design and colours (1/10/2013 1:57 PM) Ritter Sport has too little info for me to get interested to find out more (1/10/2013 1:53 PM) It seems to be more interactive. (1/10/2013 8:39 AM) Too many spots the diff ads (1/10/2013 8:32 AM) It is more interactive and fun when not only you but your friends are playing the game as well. Having a high score board creates competition between you and your friends thus enticing everyone to play the game more and in the process getting to know more about the product as advertised. Face it, everyone loves a game or two with friends once in awhile ;) (1/10/2013 4:11 AM) the game looks more interesting and engaging (1/10/2013 2:27 AM)

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FIG 4C: TEENAGE AND MENTOS

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Responses: I'm not very comfortable in doing so. (1/17/2013 1:19 AM) It depends on what I am going to share. (1/16/2013 4:12 PM) Its private (1/15/2013 10:05 AM) I think it's alright ^^ (1/15/2013 7:41 AM) Nil (1/15/2013 6:50 AM) Nope. (1/15/2013 6:28 AM) If you need a place to share why not? (1/15/2013 1:09 AM) Depending on the story, it can either help someone or make things worse for people (if they take it wrongly). (1/15/2013 1:07 AM) don't have any thoughts (1/15/2013 1:03 AM)

Responses:

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It's quite interesting. (1/17/2013 1:19 AM) . (1/16/2013 4:12 PM) influential (1/15/2013 10:05 AM) I believe Teenage is really a magazine and a community that truly cares about the youths' welfare. (1/15/2013 7:41 AM) Nil (1/15/2013 6:50 AM) Job well done. (1/15/2013 6:28 AM) Seems interesting (1/15/2013 1:09 AM) Interesting. (1/15/2013 1:07 AM) don't have any thoughts (1/15/2013 1:03 AM)

Responses: Mentos supposedly makes people cooler. (1/17/2013 1:21 AM) Still as good. (1/16/2013 4:12 PM)

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Influence (1/15/2013 10:06 AM) The advertisement's objective is on the friendship, and it makes me think of my friends when I watch it. The next time I see Mentos, I'll get reminded of my friends too and to me, Mentos = friendship. (1/15/2013 7:45 AM) Good (1/15/2013 6:50 AM) Interesting. (1/15/2013 6:29 AM) The slogan is awesome. (1/15/2013 1:11 AM) Fun. (1/15/2013 1:07 AM) don't have any thoughts (1/15/2013 1:04 AM)

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APPENDIX E (USER TEST: GROUP INTERVIEW) Link for interview video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KHeWnmsUqo&feature=youtu.be

Fig 4a: Focus group Interview: The Interviewees. From left to right: Jerry Ng (19), Sophina (18), Dickson Koh (19), Princesley Soh (19). From an interview conducted on 10 January 2013. Q: What do you think about advertisements that appear before a YouTube video? Dickson: Just skip. Q: What if you have to wait 30 seconds before you skip? Jerry & Sophina: Dont care, just skip. Princesley: Use another tab. Q: Do you happen to watch any YouTube advertisement? Do you remember any? Dickson: (re-enacting a random ad) Jerry: I dont watch any. Princesley: I dont know. Q: Do you pay attention to web-banners? Jerry, Princesley, Dickson & Sophina: No. Q: What about the pop-up kind? Jerry: Just close. Dickson & Princesley: Close it. Q: How about Mobile Apps? Will you try it? Sophina: If there is time?

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Jerry: Yeah, if there is nothing to do. Q: How willing are you to visit a website to find out more about a brand Dickson: Depends on whether I am interested in the stuff (product of the brand). Q: Do you think that the campaigns shown previously would work better if its on a different platform? (e.g. Facebook) Dickson & Sophina: Yeah. Jerry: Definitely. EnQi & Valerie: (nods) Q: Why do you think so? Princesley: Because more people will look at it and then more people will know about it. Jerry: And you can share on Facebook also. Q: Do you use Facebook? All: Yeah. Q: Very often? EnQi: Yes. Valerie: No. Q: What do you think about blogshops that use Facebook and YouTube to advertise themselves in comparison to them just sticking with blogs? Sophina: More successful. Q: Do you think that people who sell things on Facebook are doing better than those who rely just on their blogshop? Sophina: Yeah. More exposure (through Facebook). Q: Do you think these blogshops would have been more well-known if they rely on Facebook? EnQi & Valerie: Yeah. Q: Do you know Teenage and Mentos? ALL: Yes. Q: Do you buy them? Why do you buy them? Dickson: Yeah. (For Teenage) Depending on whos on the cover.

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Fig 4b: Focus group Interview 2: The Interviewees. From left to right: Valerie (13), Koh EnQi (13). From an interview conducted on 11 January 2013. Q: What do you think about advertisements that appear before a YouTube video? EnQi: Its annoying For those (YouTube ads) are annoying, but sometimes I just stop (whatever Im doing) to look, like the Colgate one. Q: So do you happen to watch it (till the end) then? EnQi: (nods) yeah. Q: But most of the time you tend to skip is it? EnQi: yeah. Q: Do you happen to watch any YouTube advertisement? Do you remember any? EnQi: I only remember the Colgate one mouthwash. Valerie: Air refreshener? (laughs) EnQi: Oh, the Japanese straight hair Q: So do you pay attention to them or you just see them and not care after watching? EnQi & Valerie: See and dont care. Q: Do you pay attention to web-banners? EnQi: If it is the $9999 that kind, then dont care. Q: How about Mobile Apps? Will you try it? EnQi: No. Q: So just dont care? EnQi: Yeah. Q: Do you think that the campaigns shown previously would work better if its on a different platform? (e.g. Facebook) EnQi & Valerie: (nods) Q: Do you use Facebook? All: Yeah. Q: Very often? EnQi: Yes. Valerie: No.

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Q: Do you think these blogshops would have been more well-known if they rely on Facebook? EnQi & Valerie: Yeah. Q: Do you know Teenage and Mentos? ALL: Yes. Q: Do you buy them? Why do you buy them? EnQi: The KPOP section? Valerie: And the Dear Kelly. EnQi: (Agreeing) and the Dear Kelly.

APPENDIX F (ONLINE INTERVIEW)

1. Question: What do you think about advertising your brands or products online? Answers: it's an easy way to get customers to buy the product. Brings very good outreach to a wide variety of consumers Depending on the target audience~ If it's meant for teens, then advertising online is important. It's important? A vital way of how people communicate in daily lives - therefore, being able to be part of what they choose to see online will help get brand outreach etc. Good and efficient as technology is improving everyday, every household are able to access Internet. Hit rate high, but brand retention may be little. Its effective as many people are on the social network platform now. People usually mark it as spam Cheaper than advertising in the papers 2. Question: What kind of online advertisement do you usually remember and why do you remember them? (You can state any online ad if you remember any) Answers: viral videos? dont really pay attention to things like animated banner. Emotive advertising. Especially Thai TVCs (The one on smoking and the one on Disconnecting to Reconnect) Video advertisements or eye-catching banners. Video is because there's image and sound (and if it's like Youtube it repeats a lot, very irritating yes); banners/images that have huge visual elements/colourful makes it memorable, especially if used as display picture.

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Qoo10. It appears most often? Plus it's related to shopping and good deals which is what interests me. YouTube short advertisement clip, those are the ads that we cant skip. Too many examples to name Advertisements before YouTube videos and I remember them because they are annoying e.g. KFC advertisement on YouTube youtube advertisements youtube advertising, the one before the video that i want to watch, i remember them because they are in the way Febreeze and smu ads on youtube. Youtube ads leave a longer impression than banners ads. 3. Question: Do you find web-banners or pop-up ads annoying? Why so? Answers: yes. especially pop up ones because they tend to make the whole screen freeze. Very annoying. It tends to be intrusive Yes, very,since it's always about fake prize winning, rated stuff, etc etc things I don't bother about or rather not see... and it wastes a lot of time (some has to wait for 5 secs, or those popups which you have to close 5 dialogue alerts in a row) Yes. I don't ask for them. Therefore intrusive? Pop-up ads is more annoying that web-banners as they obstruct our viewing of the site Web-banners are fine but pop-up ads are annoying because it requires additional effort to shut the additional pop-up window. very annoying because i just want to do my stuffs and they randomly pop out. YES, they are like obstacles appearing in front of me when im yes. Have to close them. 4. Question: How often do you play Facebook games? Please list a few of the games you play if any. Answers: once or twice in a week. Buddy Rush, Bejeweled Blitz.... Candy Crush. 2-3times a week? But no brainer ones Rarely... No longer. Used to play Tetris and Sims Social and Chefville. But it's a huge time sink. Candy Crush None. i dont play fb games always, candy crush Nil. 5. Question: What usually triggers you to visit a Facebook Page/website of a brand/product?

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Answers: my friend recommending them? or when i want to check how to find the brand (location). For its incentives! (Discounts coupons etc) When I want to find out more about the product, will search for pictures on their FB page, or contact information, or for any promotions as well. Or if friends recommend, will check them out online first. If I want to know more about the product / brand. Or sometimes they put up product pictures on the site, which is helpful since it all appears on my news feed. Habit? Checking the status update from Facebook and interesting shares. I only visit the product page when I'm gonna buy the product Friends' recommendation or suggested page. when my friends ask me to like the page for research purposes When im interested in the things they are selling.

APPENDIX G (STUDIO CAMPAIGNS)

Fig 5a: Mentos Campaign

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Fig 5b: Teenage Campaign