FOA Activity Reflection

During the FOA that took place, we have created a pitch for Glamping trips in Oregon.  The five main advertising appeals that we decided to use for this were: the need to satisfy curiosity, the need to feel safe, the need for intimacy, the need for guidance and the need for aesthetic sensations. The reason why these were considered the most effective was given by the subject itself. Firstly, when thinking of glamping, we can realise that people who would actually go for it are mostly the ones who would not feel safe or comfortable in a normal tent. Secondly, no matter of the audience’s preferences of safety or comfort, when talking about trips our thoughts automatically fly to adventure, discovery or why not simply relaxation. This means that the audience would either be guided by their curiosity of exploring new places and especially the nature or they will be guided by their need of getting away from stress and from the mass agglomeration of a crowded city. This last one is the result of the need for intimacy. Finally, when people decide to go camping or in our case glamping in the nature, they are most probably expecting to spend time in beautiful places where they are surrounded by a predominant green image made out of grass and trees, flowers, etc. These are contributing to the formation of the aesthetic sensations that the audience is looking for. The need of guidance was considered effective since the audience was more likely to accept an invitation to a glamping trip if they were told that they don't have to do all the work themselves and that they will be guided by others.

Next, the persuasion techniques used were rhetorical questions, the bandwagon, association, maybe, fear, the big lie, humour, new and flattery. Some of the rhetorical questions used were “do you want to relax?” or “do you want to get away from the stress of your work?” and the reason to consider them effective was that the stress and the need to relax are common for humans in general and therefore the questions did not really need to be answered since the answer was obviously ‘yes’ for any member of the audience. The bandwagon, association and maybe were all three used in the same sentence during the pitch “join the hundreds, maybe thousands of happy people that chose glamping for their vacation”. By mentioning a big number of people that chose glamping and in the same time associating the number with happiness was expected to be effective since the audience would be influenced to believe that if many are already doing it and they are happy it must be a good thing indeed and therefore they should try it as well. However, an important aspect is that an actual count hasn’t been done and therefore the sentence can be considered a big lie that is backed up by the word ‘maybe’ which signals the existence and importance of the ‘maybe’ persuasion technique. Another big lie used was telling there will be no ‘unwanted guests’ (insects) during glamping. By being confident when saying this, it was less likely that the audience would actually realize it is false and same applies to the ‘lie’ mentioned above. This also linked to fear which was supposed to be effective since there are many people who have Arachnophobia or Entomophobia and who would do anything not to come in contact with insects in their vacations. An attempt to humour was used when telling people to “Shut the door in the faces of those uninvited guests” and its effectiveness consisted in making people relax and in the need of some members of the audience to ridicule the fear (Entomophobia).  The 'new' was used by telling the audience of the "new technologies" that are offering the "ultimate comfort" and it was considered effective because comfort and technology are both aspects that are desired by many people. Lastly, the flattery was considered effective because the audience was going to hear what they like to hear, that they are “intelligent and independent and know what they want” this way making them feel good and trust the advertisement more.  

The awareness of the audience and context greatly influenced the content of the advertisement since it had to address people that are adventurous, who love family trips, enjoy nature, and the ones that wish to become closer to nature but finding it difficult to leave the comfort behind.  The advertisement was supposed to appear in Oregon which is a good place for glamping since it is known for the beauty of the forests or other possible places where people could camp. However the audience was addressed using the persuasion techniques mentioned earlier and due to the universality of the problems and aspects treated (Entomophobia, the need to relax, etc), these could impact not only people from Oregon but also people from other countries around the Globe. Some of the most important images in the pitch were the ones of a person surrounded by greenery, the one with the happy family sitting on grass, the process of packing a tent as well as the spider and the images of people enjoying the comfort of a bed or chair. The reason why these were supposed to be effective was that, they were highlighting the main benefits of glamping. The people laughing or smiling in each picture was associating glamping with happiness while the abundance of greenery was emphasizing the connection with the nature and the intimacy. The same could be applied for pictures containing the means that were improving the comfort during camping (such as chairs and the bed). The picture with the spider was supposed to shock and in the same time convince people that with glamping they won’t have to face those kinds of insects during their vacation. Lastly, the picture with the people packing a tent and the aid of telling the audience they can forget about that struggle, was considered effective because it was highlighting the 'guidance' in the trip.

Personally, I think that the activity went well despite of the fact of missing one member during the presentation. From the point of view of my confidence and knowledge of the subject I am happy with my performance and I think that the presentation was effective in sending the desired message to the audience since the prepared points were made clear both verbally and visually (with the aid of the pictures). Overall, I think that this activity’s results will inform me whether or not I am on track of making a good FOA this year by highlighting both the good aspects of the presentation and the aspects that could be improved.