Over the past few days I have had the pleasure of working at CRMZ in Widnes with an inspirational bunch of young people. I've been impressed by the way that they have supported each other and looked out for one another. They have also been really polite, made me feel welcome and have created some great art. Tomorrow we are creating a giant from willow and T-Bag cloth and then onwards and upwards to film making. Also found a few great little photographers. All the photos included here were taken by young people in the group.

Deer

A series of marketing phrases and ideas and how they can influence what the deers get up to. Text taken from a book called "The Brand Glossary". A great book for getting to know your enemy and understand what marketing folks are up to.

Added Value- a benefit provided by a product and commands a higher price or customer loyalty. (Intangible-"Uniquely ownable and difficult to replicate")  A collect them all scheme, a display cabinet (maybe could be a make your own cabinet with instructions) for them to go in, an e mail when a new one comes out.

Addictive Consumption-dependence on specific products or services. "It must be noted however, that the vast majority of consumerism is not addictive but habitual, and based on individual choice." A short film depicting a character addicted to the purchase of deer. 

 Advertising Wear Out-This is the point when consumers become indifferent to an advertising message because of overexposure. 

An image which is duplicated over and over itself to the point where it becomes unbearable. 

Affinity Marketing-This is a form of loyalty developement or customer relationship management designed to cement the emotional bond between consumer and brands. It centres on an exchange of information that enables consumers to learn about brands, while companies gain insights into consumers. Unlike loyalty marketing, affinity efforts do not represent an economic exchange...Affinity marketing may also take the form of helplines, membership clubs, newsletters, chat rooms and so on. 
Develop an online virtual environment where the Deer can hang out, exchange gifts etc. This could be based on the Beanie Babies affinity site.  This looks into questions of brands translating from the physical to the virtual in order to create more affinity and a lot more eye ball time to the product. The internet offeres massive potential for increased eyeball time on a brand.

AIDA Model- awareness, interest, desire and action, the four successive stages a buyer passes through before making a decision.  
 A series of photos showing a person going through the phases of the AIDA model with regards to purchasing a deer. 

Ambassadors-Every employee is expected to live the values of the brand.  
What could the values of the deer brand be. Tacky, over the top, unnatural, passe. How could the employees live this brand? Could there be a spoof office poster? Slogan "Are you Living the deer brand?"  and two people, one over blinged one tasteful.  

 A wee test of the Ambassador idea which I am going to enter into the "Branded" poster exhibition we are curating at Handles Court Gallery.

 

Test Video using Camtasia

Knit a year goes to another level

Am looking at exhibiting the strands at the mo so just trying to pool folks who are interested. Hard as people are as far flung as From Canada to Australia.

Update
We are now running Knit a Year in Halton thanks to an ACE grant for the arts. You can find out more about it at www.knitayear.ning.com or www.facebook.com/knitayear

Bed Spread

Both myself and my boyfriend are artists and I have recently initiated him into the world of knitting. I have a stash of allsorted wool lots of it impractical for making anything of substance. So we are en-devouring to knit squares, sow them together and make a blanket for our bed. It will take time and is a kind of indication of commitment to each other. Its one of those projects set off on with no real idea of what will be discovered.

Update February 2014 - We made about 5 squares and sewed them together. Or more specifically I made 4 squares and Simon made 1. They are now residing in a bag somewhere. I still knit, Simon is not knitting. We are still together. 

Field of view

The idea that you can only see what is in your field of view at any given time and in any given place. The rest is Gestalt effect, filling in using our imagination. Was musing on this after seeing a work by David Theobald called Trill at Cube's Open Art Exhibition. The work showed a Budgies Cage from a birds eye view. The bird looked out onto a modern kitchen with no life in it. As you watched you saw the light come up from the window to the left and bathe the room. We think of a caged animal as restricted in its vision but as you sat there in the space you looked beyond the bars into the room, not in longing but in inquisitiveness.

This led us on to talking about people who have been in captivity and specifically Terry Wait. I seem to recall Terry Wait saying that when he was locked up in his cell with nothing to look at he realised that his vision was only really as limited as his imagination.

We can only be in one time and one place at any given moment but our minds can propel us beyond our vision to all sorts of places. This can be done in romantic ways such as day dreaming about another place or in practical terms like when we give directions. It is for the sake of our sanity that we presume that the world outside our vision did not change since we last visited it. The Streets beyond the view from the window is still the same and the bookshelf still stands against the wall behind us. I Am interested in exploring this idea of limited physical vision informed by imagination and memory in some kind of art piece.