malin bengtsson

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Postcard campaign

What: Assignment in GRAP2311 Creative Advertising at RMIT University

When: 2022

Client: Spirit of Tasmania

Target group: Retired and semi-retired holiday makers in Victoria and Tasmania

Objective: To develop a postcard campaign, more information in the included design brief

Challenges: Coming up with a creative campaign concept. Attacked this challenge by focusing on the service's main competition, and dramatized the proposition in order to draw attention. See the included rationale to learn more about the design process for this project and what influenced it.

Brief
brief
Scamp
Scamp
Scamp
Scamp
Scamp
Scamp
Finalized postcard
Final ad
Finalized postcard
Final ad
Finalized postcard
Final ad
Finalized postcard
Back of final ads
Mock-up
Mockup

Rationale

Spirit of Tasmania doesn’t have any direct competitors in the sense that there are no other ferries that traffic the Bass Strait. Instead, their main competitors are the airlines flying between Tasmania and Victoria -- airlines that can transport travellers way quicker than a ferry. This campaign shows how that doesn’t necessarily mean that flying is superior to taking the sea route.

The single-minded proposition for the campaign is that SoT makes travelling across the Bass Strait easy, convenient and flexible. Taking the ferry is in many ways more convenient than flying: there are no baggage weight limits, no need to hang around an airport for hours, more room to move around … And, of course, there are plenty of things you can do on a boat that don’t make any sense on a plane. This campaign focuses on those things, silly little humorous things that while being -grabbing, also aim to make the viewer think about all the advantages of taking the boat.

The postcards of this campaign show a man wearing snorkelling gear, a woman tanning and another woman doing Kate Winslet’s famous Titanic pose -- all on a plane. And it looks odd, it looks out of place. The headline reads “Some things work better on boats”, with the subheading saying “Cross the Bass Strait with Spirit of Tasmania next time”. The headline makes for a direct comparison between flying and taking the boat, while the subheading is a concise call to action. On the back of the card, the copy reads “No baggage weight limits, room to move around and a comfy bed to sleep in are only a few of the reasons why” -- a direct continuation of the copy on the front, as well as some actual benefits of taking the boat.

At the end of the day, taking the ferry is just another mode of transportation. Typically, the destination is what’s interesting about travelling, not the way of getting there. The aim of this campaign is to shift the focus from the destination to the journey, by showing that it can be fun, convenient, easy and flexible. This campaign is aiming to make the consumers think of the brand as both the fun and the convenient option.

The postcards in this campaign were inspired by retro holiday cards. The colours carry a feeling of vacation and leisure, the contents are minimalistic, and it’s not obvious at first glance that it is, in fact, a piece of advertising. This holiday feeling ties together well with what’s being advertised, seeing as the target audience consists of retired and semi-retired holidaymakers. In addition to this, the postcards have different background colours but otherwise use the same colour palette. Thanks to this, they work on their own but together they create a bigger whole than their separate parts added together. The goal is for the postcards to feel more like art, something you can keep in your home, rather than advertising, in order to encourage the consumers to actually keep them.

Something that should be noted is that while the cards are not obviously branded, the dark blue text and the red line underneath are the brand colours of SoT. Furthermore, in the background the brand’s figure mark is hidden, giving the viewer something to discover.

Spirit of Tasmania doesn’t have any direct competitors in the sense that there are no other ferries that traffic the Bass Strait. Instead, their main competitors are the airlines flying between Tasmania and Victoria -- airlines that can transport travellers way quicker than a ferry. This campaign shows how that doesn’t necessarily mean that flying is superior to taking the sea route.

The single-minded proposition for the campaign is that SoT makes travelling across the Bass Strait easy, convenient and flexible. Taking the ferry is in many ways more convenient than flying: there are no baggage weight limits, no need to hang around an airport for hours, more room to move around … And, of course, there are plenty of things you can do on a boat that don’t make any sense on a plane. This campaign focuses on those things, silly little humorous things that while being -grabbing, also aim to make the viewer think about all the advantages of taking the boat.

The postcards of this campaign show a man wearing snorkelling gear, a woman tanning and another woman doing Kate Winslet’s famous Titanic pose -- all on a plane. And it looks odd, it looks out of place. The headline reads “Some things work better on boats”, with the subheading saying “Cross the Bass Strait with Spirit of Tasmania next time”. The headline makes for a direct comparison between flying and taking the boat, while the subheading is a concise call to action. On the back of the card, the copy reads “No baggage weight limits, room to move around and a comfy bed to sleep in are only a few of the reasons why” -- a direct continuation of the copy on the front, as well as some actual benefits of taking the boat. ´´´´

At the end of the day, taking the ferry is just another mode of transportation. Typically, the destination is what’s interesting about travelling, not the way of getting there. The aim of this campaign is to shift the focus from the destination to the journey, by showing that it can be fun, convenient, easy and flexible. This campaign is aiming to make the consumers think of the brand as both the fun and the convenient option.

The postcards in this campaign were inspired by retro holiday cards. The colours carry a feeling of vacation and leisure, the contents are minimalistic, and it’s not obvious at first glance that it is, in fact, a piece of advertising. This holiday feeling ties together well with what’s being advertised, seeing as the target audience consists of retired and semi-retired holidaymakers. In addition to this, the postcards have different background colours but otherwise use the same colour palette. Thanks to this, they work on their own but together they create a bigger whole than their separate parts added together. The goal is for the postcards to feel more like art, something you can keep in your home, rather than advertising, in order to encourage the consumers to actually keep them.

Something that should be noted is that while the cards are not obviously branded, the dark blue text and the red line underneath are the brand colours of SoT. Furthermore, in the background the brand’s figure mark is hidden, giving the viewer something to discover.