Digital Campaigns (POP 527)

Winter 2011

Think

Week 1: Reverse Engineering

  • Defining “digital”
  • Defining “campaign”
  • Introductions
  • Teams
  • Review syllabus
  • Textbook
  • Vocabulary
  • Reverse engineering

Download Week 1 Lecture Notes

Homework Assignments

  1. Get webspace if you don’t already have it. Put up blogging software of your choice (Wordpress, Tumblr, Posterous, etc).
  2. Find a bad campaign, and explain why it failed. Explain what you would do to fix it.Write up an explanation on your blog, and send me a link to your explanation no later than 11:59:59 PM on Tuesday, January 11, 2011. Come to the next class, prepared with a presentation of your explanation. This presentation must explain to your classmates:
    • What the problem was
    • The client
    • The agency responsible for the solution
    • Where the solution failed
    • What you would do to fix it
  3. Brand your team. Choose a name and design a logo. Create a slide deck for your team that contains title slides and image slides, and be prepared to use it next class.
  4. Research the campaign assigned to you in class from the One Club Best of the Digital Decade, and come prepared to explain to the class how the agency arrived at the campaign idea.
    • Rare Meat: Subservient Chicken
    • Choosy Moms: Whopper Sacrifice
    • Sãn Jose: HBO Voyeur
    • Digisaurus: Nike+
  5. Read the foreword and chapter 1 (Campaigns) of The Internet Case Study Book by Rob Ford.

Talk

Week 2: Pitching

  • Review homework
  • Pink Ponies
  • Value exchange
  • “The Ask”
  • Questions to ask:
    • What if no one uses this?
    • What if everyone uses this?
  • Traditional vs. digital: high-level analysis
  • Concepts vs execution. Strategy vs tactics.
  • Brainstorming
    • Quantity over quality
    • No criticism, no editing
    • Encourage unusual ideas and follow tangents
    • Combine and improve ideas
  • Writing and rewriting briefs
  • Popcorn Indiana

Download Week 2 Lecture Notes

Homework Assignments

  1. Finish a proper pitch with your team for Popcorn Indiana. Consider “the ask” and the value exchange. Include both strategy and tactics. Come to class next week with a deck and pitch your ideas to the class. Send Dan a PDF of your presentation no later than 11:59:59 PM on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.
  2. Read:
  3. “Read” chapter 4 (Social Media) of The Internet Case Study Book by Rob Ford.

Thud

Week 3: Strategy & Design

  • Present pitches
  • Digital Strategy
  • Designing for Screens

Special Guest

Chris Matthews, strategist at Big Spaceship

Download Week 3 Lecture Notes

Homework Assignments

  1. Option 1: Create a rough version of a digital idea you pitched for the Popcorn Indiana brief. Send Dan evidence of your prototype (a PDF, a video, mockups, etc.) no later than 11:59:59 PM on Tuesday, January 25, 2011. Bring your prototype to class to show your classmates. The higher the fidelity, the better you’ll score.
  2. Option 2: Choose your own brief and create a rough version of a digital idea for that brief. If you go this route, you must receive email approval from Dan before pursuing this idea. Send Dan evidence of your prototype (a PDF, a video, mockups, etc.) no later than 11:59:59 PM on Tuesday, January 25, 2011. Bring your prototype to class to show your classmates. The higher the fidelity, the better you’ll score.
  3. Read:

Tweak

Week 4: Prototyping

Details, details.

Special Guests

Homework Assignments

  1. Comp every detail of your execution for Popcorn Indiana that you can muster (minimum of 12 screens). Send Dan a PDF of your project no later than 11:59:59 PM on Tuesday, February 1, 2011. Bring your physical project to class to show your classmates. This ends our Popcorn Indiana exercise.
  2. Starting now until the end of the term, this class is a workshop. Requirements:
    • Your brief must be digital, which means your execution must be created for consumption on a screen.
    • You must work with at least one other person in the class and can form groups of up to 4 people. You may choose who you’d like to work with.
  3. Briefs to consider:

Rinse & Repeat

Week 5

Workshop.

Week 6

  • We’ll have the first part of class at the Big Spaceship office. Show up to 45 Main Street, Suite 716, at 7:00 PM. We’ll all head back to the classroom afterwards.
  • Workshop

Week 7

Workshop.

Week 8

No class. Enjoy!

Week 9

Workshop.

Week 10

Final project due.