Graded Project
© PENN FOSTER, INC. 2017 ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES PAGE 1
Graded Project
CONTENTS
OVERVIEW 2
INSTRUCTIONS 2
PROCESS 3
EVALUATION CRITERIA 5
SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT 6
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Graded Project
GRADED PROJECT
OVERVIEW
You’re the account manager for an advertising agency that has just acquired a new
account named American RVs. American RVs was established in 2013 and has been
struggling to gain market share. You’ve been assigned the task of creating a new ad campaign
for one of the three models of recreational vehicles that American RV produces.
The three models are:
n Econoline (lowest cost)
n Midline (mid-cost)
n Highline (most expensive)
INSTRUCTIONS
Your assignment is to choose one of the three models and develop an ad that will be
placed on a social media site of your choosing (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or another)
that will lead to increased market share for American RVs.
To begin, consider how your choice of model will affect the rest of your project. First,
you’ll have to research the target market for your model choice. Your choice of model will
influence which age group and income level you’ll try to reach, what your major selling
points will be, and on which social media site you will place your ad. You’ll also need
to do some research on the RV industry and determine who American RVs’ two major
competitors would be. Through your research, determine the following about the top two
competitors:
n What are their strengths and weaknesses?
n How effective is their advertising?
Use your research and the advertising principles you’ve learned to create an effective
social media ad. You’re limited to creating one ad and including it on only one social
media site of your choice.
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Graded Project
PROCESS
Writing a Plan
Using this worksheet as a guide, develop a plan for your project, and then create a social
media ad for American RVs.
Follow the sequence indicated here. Your plan and design should address the following
questions:
- Where are you coming from? List the advertising objectives you’ve decided on.
Then, summarize the copy platform in a few words and make notes on the reasons
for your decisions.
- What kind of visual technique would help this style most? Sketch an ad layout,
and write a rough draft for the text. Look critically at your visual device. Do you
get attention right away with your graphic? Try to make it as effective as a cymbal
crash or a cannon shot—you have to break through a lot of social media clutter!
Consider how you might use color, space, and print style to increase its impact.
- Is there a single “big idea” around which the ad is based? Try to develop
one—a big phrase or a shout, a really big visual explosion, or a unique trick or
device.
- Is your ad in good taste? Keep your target audience in mind, and make sure your
ad appeals to its values and reflects its cultural dynamics.
- Is the idea clear and expressed in simple words? If not, redo your copy to make
it simple and direct. As a test, ask yourself if readers would understand what you
were trying to say if they just glimpsed the ad from the corner of their eye.
Creating a Social Media Ad
Having chosen your American RV model and considered your target market and the
competition, you’re ready to begin designing a social media advertisement that will
increase the company’s market share.
Using what you’ve learned and referring to the text, create an ad suitable for the social
media site you’ve chosen. Include text, graphics and links to a company website that
effectively convey your message. You may use photographs, clip art, or your own
sketches to illustrate your concept. However, your finished ad must look professional and
polished. When you’ve finished your design, you may want to do what many copywriters
do—start over and choose a completely different style or approach. Keep producing new
ways to do the layout until you’ve run out of ideas. Then go back and look critically at
what you’ve created. Decide which one is best or combine the best parts of two or three.
Then submit a single ad that represents your best effort.
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Graded Project
Self-Critique
Before you make the final adjustments to your project, try to imagine an outsider examining
your material and asking critical questions.
n Does your design hold up under this kind of examination?
n Does the main idea have power?
n Does the ad personalize or draw the prospect in?
n Is it involving or convincing as it unfolds?
n Does the ad have impact?
n Can this ad command attention, stop readers/viewers, and make them pay attention?
n Does it draw them in so they want to learn more?
n Does the ad have originality, or have we seen something like it before?
n Could we substitute a competitor’s name for ours and have a similar ad, or have we
found something unique to our product that separates us from the others?
n Does the ad nudge readers/viewers to act, and have we included a way for our
prospects to act on the product offer now?
n Is the style appealing and appropriate to the product?
n Does the ad inform and communicate, delivering the important product benefits and
factual information?
n What part gets the most attention?
n What part stirs interest?
n What lends credibility?
n What fixes desire?
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Graded Project
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Your instructor will use the following criteria to evaluate your project:
Project Objective Requirements Point Value
Describe your model choice and
target market
• What age group are you
trying to reach?
• What income levels are you
appealing to?
• Provide evidence to back
your decisions.
• Explain what determined
your model choice.
15 Points
Identify your two main competitors
• What are their strengths?
Weaknesses?
• How effective is their
advertising?
15 Points
Create your own social media ad
• What’s the main selling
point?
• Does your ad appeal to your
target audience?
• What social media site did
you choose? Why?
• How will the ad accomplish
your market share gain
objective?
• What kind of image are you
projecting?
70 Points
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Graded Project
SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT
Each project is individually graded by your instructor and therefore takes up to a few
weeks to grade.
To submit your project, make sure you include the following:
- A two to four page paper that explains the development of your project. Using
the instructions given in the Process section as a guide to preparing your paper,
explain how your ad meets the criteria. Include background and planning information.
Make sure it meets all the evaluation criteria.
The paper should be typed in a standard, 12-point, Times New Roman font,
double-spaced.
- Your finished social media ad. You may produce your ad using a computer
program or manual pasteup, If you must use manual pasteup, the finished product
must look professional and polished, appear just as it would on your chosen social
media site, and be scanned for submission.
Be sure that each of your files contains the following information:
n Your name
n Your student ID number
n The lesson number (08052300)
n Your e-mail address
Note: If you have more than 10 attachments, you’ll need to WinZip all of the project’s
associated files along with all documentation using the WinZip software program.
To submit your graded project, follow these steps:
- Go to http://www.pennfoster.edu.
- Log in to your student portal.
- Click on Take Exam next to the lesson you’re working on.
- Follow the instructions provided to complete your exam.
Be sure to keep a backup copy of any files you submit to the school!
