1. Arley Hall Reflective Diary

1st November 2013

Planned Dates
Today Jordan and I started to look at the dates and deadlines for designing our advertising and marketing strategies. This pre-organisation will allow us to work efficiently and make everything perfect so it can be executed on the right date. Doing this will make sure that we reach a wide range of audience members and make sure that the event and charity campaign is in the public’s mind for long enough.

 7th November 2013

Marketing Meeting

On the 7th the marketing team had a meeting with the Marketing Manager from Arley Hall and Priestley College. Jordan and I had a few questions to ask him about what he wanted on the advertising in terms of Arley Hall publications and advertising. We did this so we could establish  substantial communication ground that would enable us to have a fully functional advertising team that was able to compromise on design and placement of the posters/flyers.

6/7th November 2013

Jordan and I sat and designed our basic concept for our design. We went with a 1920's/50's pin up poster theme with rays of light/colour in the background and a font that matched that time period. We went with this design because that theme has certain connotations of class and elegance. With it being a Classical Concert we wanted to translate to the audience/public that it was a sophisticated event.

8th November 2013

Friday Meeting

Jordan and I pitched our initial ideas to the rest of the Event Management Team. They liked the overall design however thought we should reconsider the font style as it 'presented the audience with the wrong message of what the concert was going to be.' They thought that it was 'too artistic/art deco' and we needed to establish, through the design, that it was a 'Classical Concert'. Thus evoking class and elegance. They also thought that we should include a deep red in the background as this would reflect the Lighting Designers choices which would then create a team that ran across the whole of the event with fluency.

 From this I think I am going to try and present the team with a variation of fonts on a couple of different background that included deep reds this was to emulate a Christmas feel within the design that was not too over the top and would make the poster look to 'festive'.  Jordan and I thought it also might be best to include a couple of extra similar designs for them to consider so if they did not like the changes we could then  hopefully save time by having other options available already. 

12th November

During our Friday meeting we presented 6 various themes that could be the final theme that would  extend over the entire advertising campaign. Taking into consideration the themes suggestions from previous presentations we redesigning the font and added extra colours e.g deep reds and a ochre yellow. We then presented our work to the Event Management Team again. This time they voted that they liked the background with the new deeper red tone that had a different font that was slightly similar to the last one but had a more 'spacious feel'. The team also felt that we needed to make more reference to the fact it was a charity event which would make a potential audience member have a more emotional response and create empathy which would then mean that we would be able to raise more money for the children.

So we are now setting out to spread this template over the entire advertising campaign.

Jordan and I have made a list of what we intend to design by Friday the 15th of November.
This will include:

Posters: (A3)

 •Price £7 (Adults) £5 (Children under 12)

 •Date - 16th December 2013

 •Time - 7.30pm

•Postcode

 •Directions to Venue

 •Arley Logo

 •Information about Moldova Charity Campaign

Website Background:

 •Just the light beams/colour strips

Twitter Designs:

•Panel - Just light beams/colour strips

 •Background - ''

 Facebook Designs:

 •Banner - ''

 •Alrey Logo

 •Ticket Price

 •Time

 •Date

 Flyer's:

•Same as posters but A5

Logo For Event:

•We're wanting to create this so if there is anything additional that we want to advertise on we can use this.(E.g Arley Hall Website) We also want this so we have a basic front image for our event.

As the event is still a little while away we aren't designing the tickets just yet. We will probably work on them the following week.

We also need to consider how we're going to sell the tickets, so far we think this is going to be via the cash office and a phone line in college. We we're considering doing it via the Arley Hall Website but felt it would be better for us to have control over the ticketing this will allow us to manage numbers so we can make sure that every ticket is sold which will mean more money raised.  However Arley Hall will still be able to sell tickets but we will be in constant contact through Ashleigh (Event Manager) as to how many they have sold.

15th November

Due to the finance department being unsure if we could sell the tickets via the cash office in college we were unable to present the final designs for the Posters, Tickets and Flyer's because we could not put on how the audience was able to buy the tickets. However by the 18th we had it confirmed that we were able to sell the tickets via the cash office.

18th November

Marketing Meeting

On the 18th we were able to present the first designs for the posters and tickets. They how ever wanted to change the  layout of some of the text pieces slightly e.g the font size and the placement. They also wanted to add pictures to the poster because they felt there was too much text and it would be more eye catching with pictures. Using pictures will also make the audience  have an emotional response to the situation in Moldova which will intern allow us to raise more money.

19th November

On the 19th we received the pictures we were to put on the posters. By the 21st we were finished the re designs and were able to pitch the poster designs to the team again. Re pitching the ideas allows us to gain and additional perspective on the designs which will then mean that we create the most eye catching and informative posters/flyers possible.

21st November

On the 21st of November the final designs for the Posters, Flyer's and Tickets were approved and we're able to be sent to printing via the college graphics/printing department.

On the same day we sent everything up to printing and they were printed the same day ready for collection the next day.

It has also been a great help and cut on cost to have the graphics department at college print all of our posters and flyers.
It would have cost:
We printed
Flyers : ( 500  )
Posters : (   )
Tickets : ( 100 ) 

22nd  November

On the 22nd of November we were able to collect the posters and the flyer's however we were unable to collect the tickets because their printer broke. However they said that they had to wait for a technician to come out and fix it so they wouldn't be able to print them until the middle of next week.

I also gave 100 flyer's to Ashleigh (Event Manager) so that she could send them to the relevant people at Arley Hall so they can hand them out to their customers/audience.

We also put up 20 posters around college. (A4 15 A3 5.)

We now need to find out/ confirm where we're going to place all the additional posters.

25th November

We are compiling a list of where we could put the posters up.
Key:
Confirmed
Pending
Done
Not Available
Still Need to Enquire

• Morrisons (Stockton Heath) - Community Board
• Golden Square - Declined
• Network Warrington - CBS Outdoor- Call Back    - Station - Website and on As Many Buses As Possible
• Oasis Church Warrington - Pending 0782 556 4337
• Samuel Peters - Flyers and poster
• Toni and guy - Flyers   
• Tracy Gibbons - Will send out flyers along with the tutor group info. 
• Plasma Screens - Sent and Done

27 th November

Today I have been up to the cash office and collected the printed tickets. I also perforated the edge of the tickets so they had a tare away section. I have done this so they have a professional look and the audience have a ticket to take away with them at the end as a memento.
We were also considering sending out the tickets however because of the practicality of just having a sheet on the door and then when the audience member turns up and says their name and the amount of tickets they have then they can be given their ticket and then front of house will rip off the ticket stub. This way we can keep track of numbers for health and safety reasons.

28th November 

Today I am going to email  so she can distribute flyers to all form classes in College. This will hopefully spread the news of the event in a very broad way very quickly.

Today I have received a conformation email from Trace  Gibbons that she is able to give out the flyers via the tutor groups.

Today I have sent an email to the oasis church in Warrington to see if they are able to have a poster in their church or spread the word about our current and up and coming events. By doing this I hope to create a constant contact with a charitable organisation so I can market any further events to them. I am also hoping that they will be able to sell tickets for us.

Today I have also contacted graphics in college and requested more flyers as we're sending out more than I anticipated. I needed more flyers to put out during the teacher briefing on Monday and to also sound out to more people I am contacting. For future reference It would be best to over estimate on flyers as they go very fast.
I have received an email back from Suzanne in graphics and she said she is able to print me 200 more flyers which I will be able to pick up tomorrow * the 29th of November*.

29th November

Today I have collected the additional flyers from graphics and given them to Ashleigh (Event Manager) to distribute. (I have give them to her to do this as she is free and able to in terms of where she lives).

I have emailed various people with regards to being able to advertise for us. I am still waiting for replies from some of them but I have received a reply from Network Warrington and they are able to advertise on any spare spaces they have on their buses. This is really good news as now we will be able to reach a bigger audience which will enable us to raise even more money.

Jordan and I have also decided that it is best to advertise in as many places as possible even though we're only needing to sell 100 tickets. This is because even though allot of people will see our posters/flyers in hindsight it is likely that less than 25 % will actually come to or enquire about the event. So if we advertise over a larger scale this margin will be widened.

2nd December

Today we have had a problem with the tickets. I found out over the weekend that the tickets have been taken up to the cash office by the Event Manager. It would have been good if I'd have known if this had appended or was going to happen. They have also added in a different system for collecting the tickets via the cash office or being reserved at Arley Hall. The front of house team will now need to adapt to this new system on the night and when the Event Manager goes up to check on the tickets at the beginning of every week they will now need to ask how many tickets have been collected.

Also when I collected the tickets I counted and was told that there was 100 tickets however when they we're taken up to the cash office there was only 95. To solve this I have asked the graphics department to print some more tickets. We will also have to keep even closer eye on how many tickets are collected, reserved and sold.

Today I have emailed Suzanne in graphics and asked for 10 more tickets. I have asked for 5 more than we need just encase anything like this happens again. I have received an email back from her and she has printed some more that Jordan has gone up to get. We will then send 5 of these to the cash office and keep five in our folders.

I will also talk with Ashleigh and Paul in regards to how many tickets have been sold and how many have been collected just so Jordan and I can make sure everything is running smoothly.

Today I have also designed the template for the Scrolls and have asked Mark to approve it. I also  asked Mark for the final set list to put on the Scroll, he will send me a digital copy tomorrow. (3rd of December). I am getting the design in place before I put in the set list because the set list will take some time to put into the design and I need to time manage my other work around this as it needs to be designed for Friday this week.

3rd December

Today it was made evident that there was a lot of posters left over. As a few of the  places around town that we were considering were unable to put up posters or have cancelled.  I now need to think of where/how else we can distribute the posters/flyers.   There was also a lot of flyers left over from when we handed them out at staff briefing so we need to figure out where else we can put them.

Today I have sent out the rest of the posters around college to staff, I have asked them to pass on the message and posters/flyers to their families and friends this will hopefully spread out the word further of our event and create some familiarity with our charity campaign.
I have also placed flyers on the front desks of the LRC and the Reception which will add to this.

10th December

Today I need to source the ribbon we are going to use to tie the programs in to scrolls.

We need 35 CM of ribbon per scroll.

I initially thought of sourcing online options for the ribbon we could use to tie the scrolls with
however it was easier and quicker to get ribbon from the local market.
We found you could buy 3.5 metres of ribbon for 1.40 so we bought 5 sets of 3.5 = 17.5 metres which would be £7.


11 December

Today we sent the programme to be printed on a scroll paper however once we printed the first sheet we found that because of the paper we used the ink ran on the paper.
To solve this Jordan rang his mum and asked her for some 100g silk paper that will hopefully work with out print.

If this paper works we are going to hopefully have all of the programmes printed and then the ribbon can be tied. To save time tying the ribbon we are going to ask anyone in the class who is free to do this.

We have also asked finance in college to set up a Pay Pall account. We have done this because we recently received a very generous donation through someone who was unable to attend our most recent event. By having a pay pall account we can advertise that you are still able to donate through the pay pall account. Which will in turn enable us to raise more money.

We would also like to advertise at A Classical Serenade (Arley Hall) through Mark (the lead soloist) I have sent him a small script to add to his.