Creativity - Taiwan's
university(ies)
NanHua University, NCCU,
NTU, SHU, etc as examples ....
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NanHua
university style or personality ...
HomePage |
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comments NanHua U. in <United Daily> |
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comments NanHua Univ in <the China Times> |
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<the
China Times>
Criticizing school top
position, most likely, is main reason NanHua university fired professor Ms
Hur.
This professor's comments include:
(1) Urged Taiwanese to see dark side of some private
universities, and their rotten bureaucracy ...
(2) School sends "Observer" in classroom
so that everything and everyone are in their eye-line ...
(3) No qualified cafe-restaurant, no enough school bus
to far-from-city campus, too many students motorcycles traffic accidents
( some caused death cases ) ..
(4) Don't treat students as money-earning tool !!
<the
United Daily News>
(1) Caption : Professor sent suggestions to univ. top
ranking person, so NanHua univ.
fired her.
(2) NanHua university positions/declares it as a
"Research University", however, it has only 21 professors.
(3) One department, hires only 2 assistant professors.
(4) Very expensive dorm, fries in restaurant, snakes
inside classroom- building
(5) Students group/organization face "pressures" when
they tried to help themselves
(6) Education suppose non-profit, with good conscience
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Taiwan's
university ads : |
Why NanHua Univ as example ? (1) it has Communication
and Design Dept (2) largest Buddhism founded university (3) known for its
Aesthetics
Why National ChengChi University as example ? It's
best university in Advertising field !
Why SHU ? It's best university
in creativity field, which's evaluated by Taiwan's enterprises !
Why ChungCheng University ? A
top university in Communication field !
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Where 's the Beef ?
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To see an university by its advertisement :
displaying some girls,
instead of important info. and
creative idea
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NanHua copywriting: "youthfulness, free, vitality",
quite same as high-school slogans |
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Nanhua university may impress teenagers as a
happy land - easy to get a diploma ...
perhaps, It's a good way to attract more students,
however, it's not a good way to attract good students.
Low percentage ( only 17.8%) of NHU students can get a
full-time job within 3 months after their graduation.
NHU is not included in most ranking-lists in well-known "University Guide" of <Common Wealth> & <Global
Views> ,
2 best magazines in Taiwan.
NHU is not included in
Taiwan's top colleges list in Taiwan's <2009 University Guide - gvm.com.tw>,
which extracted info. from Spain's <Webometrics World Universities Ranking on the Web>
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Where 's Creativity - Original ?
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NanHua University, applied cliche
to the ads .
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Confucius : NHU is
Perfect ! |
Einstein : I prefer NHU |
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1 |
★
Creativity
NanHua University is proud of its creativity
(or innovation) in its newspaper ads.
However, its ad. creativity seemed not
bright and original enough.
Compare a red China ad. , a small clothing shop dressed
Confucius with a new suit. (
refer
http://news.163.com/07/1207/10/3V3RM1MC00011229.html
)
It's a better idea in getting attentions and impression.
一 、
unexpected, for attention
!
Using remote elements to convey core brand message better
attracts audience's attention, these
inconsistent or unusual things, through viewers' mental involvement, still need to
associate and match the brand
properties the ad. wants to emphasize.
NHU ads :
Confucius, Einstein and NHU are about in the same circle
(education), this affects audience brain's dictionary search and getting attentions.
Clothing store ads :
Confucius wearing suits,
comparatively remote elements seem bit inconsistent and unexpected at 1st sight, but
they about associate brand core image - Chinese
spirits and culture.
二 、Unique
is not good enough !
In Chen Hsui-Bian's ad. , "Father of China"
Sun Wen being dressed with Chen's flat hat, resulted in a protest
reported by widely-known news in Taiwan already.
NanHua University again using old formula with new
variables, certainly is not creative.
NCCU paper found majority (Taiwanese) thought
Chen's ad. is CREATIVE because they 've
NEVER SEEN this kind stuffs before.
Hence, most people suppose won't agree NanHua University ad. is creative.
Moreover...
College art-works suppose to be smart-minded and sharp witty to reflect high-class
image.
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A witty-idea ad
"A bad hair-cut can make
anyone look dumb"
(ad. Minnesota hair salon) |
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pic : clothing ad made in red China - Chinese sages, Confucius
wear suits
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Refer : SHU professor
paper in National Cheng Chi University <The Journal of
Advertising>
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Image ads for Taiwan's former President Chen Hsui-Bian
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pic 1
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Pic. 2
another Chen's election ad - just replace MonaLisa's Xmas hat with
a flat hat.
PS:
Chen is Taipei mayor at that time |
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ad
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☉
Picture
1 - right : "Father
of China" Sun Wen was dressed with former president Chen's sign, a
flat hat, and said : "I feel Chen did a good (not bad) job"
☉
Picture 2 :
The
ads series also include Mona Lisa, Statue of liberty, and
Charlie Chaplin wore Chen's
flat hat.
The
political
ad has enjoyed top creativity reputation, reported by <The
Journalist>, a major political magazine in Taiwan.
A paper written by Ad. professor in SHU
(evaluated as the best creativity university in Taiwan) and printed in <The
Journal of Advertising>, the very best Taiwanese Ad. periodical by National
ChengChi University, had a case examination & found :
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1 |
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<The Journal of
Advertising> Paper |
This web-site's
viewpoints |
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Most college students in the opinion survey were positive of this ad. creativity |
A 'person' ( "China
Father" Sun wen, Mona Lisa, or Liberty Statue, etc) was dressed with a
brand hat (cloth) is not a very original idea (or corny stuff) in design field.
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| (2)
More than half people in the survey feel the ad. is graphically (very)
humorous. |
Sun Wen being
dressed with Chen's Bian-hat is not VERY humorous, cliche won't produces
humor effect, unless toward entry-level (in humor field)
audiences.
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| (3)
Improper to use Sun Wen as a spokesperson (endorser) of former President
Chen. |
Sun Wen in the ad. is not a guarantor of Chen.
It's just sort of a role of visual humorous parody instead of a serious endorser.
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(4)
There's no "relationship" between Sun Wen and Chen.
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Unusual
relationship usually is better than usual one for attention and
impression, etc. |
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Different ideology between Sun and Chen |
Chen and DPP may
focus on something else in common, i.e., ambition to establish a nation,
etc.
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Humour 's nothing to do with "Product" (Chen or DPP) |
This ad humor is connected to the brand (Chen & DPP) after political
protests and lots of news reports.
World famous expert professor in
Ad. thinks people assume anyone makes ads good must also make a good
product. So, it's proper to use Sun Wen as long as the ad
convinces Taiwanese that Chen's political party (DPP) is witty, youthful
(contrast his major rival KMT, an "old" political party) & excellent. These
may transfer to DPP.
Besides, overthrow authority (or
rebelliousness) style appeals to young voters too
(major target segment of DPP ).
Ideology relationship is not only factor needed to
be concerned.
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| PS:
according to the paper (Chinese version), spokesperson equals endorser,
or a recommendation letter. |
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Humor
vs Kuso,
heavy-slapstick |
★
Humour Effect
As stated above, NanHua univ. advertisement is
not quite flashing, at most, it's a slapstick or
corny idea comedy for kids or teenagers.
<Adcult USA> published by Columbia University Press,
takes Mona Lisa as an example, to assert audiences will neglect cliche images.
Zola Zu
(this site) thinks cartooning sharp-wits can "save" stale images, i.e.,
world best ads use Hitler's mustache (Robert Lambert & Assoc.), or Einstein's
mess-up hairs (Minneapolis hair salon).
★
Ads. Effect
(1) College's target segment is different from
a small clothing store's target segment.
"Real beef" probably is
essential
for good high schools youngsters.
(2) Some ads are not aimed for
target market, i.e., TAGheuer or Rolex owners like to enjoy people's envies (or
jealousy), so ordinary people also need to learn TAGheuer or Rolex ranking status from ads.
Good colleges need
to persuade kids' parents and to win related people/elites confidences - NHU ads.
don't work well on that.
Besides, the ads. try to invite people to visit their web-site, but those web-pages show
poor design (aesthetics, inconsistent image with ads, etc), far behind from leading universities and liberal arts
colleges in Euro and US.
(till end 2008)
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Serbia ad uses Lincoln USA |
廣告 |
1 |
★
Ad Personality
Ad. transmits both messages and
brand personality.
Below are some
examples. |
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Mao Zedong (Red China leader) was dressed with women clothes |
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<New York
Times> reported Serbia had used some famous sayings by A. Lincoln、J.
Kennedy、W.
Churchill、Washington, to
contradict western countries' viewpoints and strategy against Serbia,
so as to change their political grounds (regarding Serbia territory).
A Polish female political party
advertised
"Poland is a Woman", "Nothing needs to be hidden" by exposing their own
nude bodies.
Quite
straight-forward personality !?
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"Poland Is a Woman"
nothing needs to hide
(Polish political ad)
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New Zealand's
university dressed Mao Zedong ( red
Chinese leader) with woman clothes as their
school advertisement, this school surely comprises many
interesting persons !?
Consider again Einstein's hair-salon
ad. and Hitler's
mustache
ad. stated as above. World best advertising
textbook loves to
take
them as examples.
In contrast, NHU's ad. is
trying to show youthful
personality, but seems not a smart youth
personality.
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celebrity
just working as attention-drawing metaphor |
★
Spokespeople / endorser
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pic : ancient Chinese politics
advisor in NHU ads. |
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One major topic that NCCU paper studied
is "improper or proper for Chen Hsui-Bian to
use the portrait of Sun Wen as spokesperson for Taipei Mayor election campaign"
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World best ads. did use lots of celebrity
portraits. (legal details need to consult attorney)
The ads
series also used the image of Mona Lisa, Statue of liberty, and Charlie Chaplin.
( Charlie Chaplin has notorious record for direct
copied Soviet-style montage editing - replacing cow with sheep in his film. )
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Certainly, Sun Wen
never spoke one word for Chen Hsui-Bian.
Neither Confucius nor
Einstein
appraised and applauded NanHua as "perfect" or "elitism school".
They are
sort of entertainment or funny parody props, rather than serious endorsers or
guarantor whatever
for the brand. (Many examples've already been seen in world ads.
collection)
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same legendary hero,
similar idea,
in a small co. ad |
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神機妙算
1998 ads
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Confucius willing
to be spokesman
for NHU vs. NHU's
analogous to Confucious |
★
analogy &
juxtaposition
To avoid any legal problem, cigarette companies
never made any statement
that smoking doesn't cause medical consequences, instead, they
juxtaposing products with images of vigorous outdoor activities or unpolluted
beautiful environment.
Ads
frequently display products with props, like superior sophistication, great
taste, significant/high culture, superlative skill,
supreme value and
the like, so that consumer audiences may
feel by
association or contiguity the ad.
products have those great qualities.
The
principal function of analogical juxtaposition is to act as partial substitutes
for adjectives and adverbs.
Taiwan's political party (DPP) ads. once
juxtaposed
themselves with Adolf Hitler (Germany), for a sense of humor (
it's far from humorous,
compared to Hitler's mustache ads by Robert Lambert & Assoc.) and ... for that Hitler dares to
speak up his mind, this ad led to a protest by German representative in
Taiwan.
NanHua university, a newly founded school,
used (about
juxtaposed
) some ancient Chinese legendary heroes/sages
in its ads to
serve tokens of what ?
More
precisely, we can say the ads juxtaposed
NHU with a cliche
formula, rather than some dead heroes.
Those heroes
in ads are depicted as funny cartoon-character mascot or little figures (not as
themselves). So,
they suppose don't speak very serious words.
★
Visual Humorous Parody
Confucius
spoke in English, Einstein uttered in Mandarin that they "hope to attend class in NHU".
They are
just some roles of a
funny parody drama. (not necessary a reasonable drama)
Some designs producing new
variations on well-known images from the past, function about the same as visual
distortions and violations of reality, to trap the target audiences brain's "dictionary search",
"its
self-referential quality and often ironic-tone can give viewers a flattering
sense of being hip and media conscious". (P. Messaries, U. Penn.)
According to Columbia University <Adcult USA>'s opinion, a stale image
like Mona Lisa is not easy to draw anyone's attention. A stale formula
with new simple variables won't work well either.
Education is not a business store, if a
university cannot integrate all its experts in Design, Arts,
Communications, Business Adm., Cultural Creativity, .... fields, only to make a
kids humour, a cliche ad, seems far behind int'l college level.
Is Harvard or MIT willing to present their
image by some un-fresh stuffs?
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By the way, take a look at National ChungCheng University
design work for Taiwan inter-collegiate game.
left : logo design by National
ChungCheng University, Taiwan
right: :
Korea Seoul City logo (
appeared earlier )
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National Taiwan
University web-site |
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By the way, look at homepage of National Taiwan
University, Taiwan's best university.
NTU is trying to grasp everybody's eyeball by
extra-large sized char., and garish, "flashing" color everywhere .....
best college, but in lowest taste !
Why ?
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(1) Taiwan's
government (Ministry of Education) usually focused
PhD. qualification and papers.
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For so many years,
Taiwan produced so many papers on
Communication, Design, Arts, Advertising,
Business,
Management,
Cultural Creativity, ...
fields, but has never had an advertisement really "shocks" western world.
Taiwan needs a "Picasso", not so many scholars
researching Picasso.
Lacking
sharp wits is main problem of Taiwanese creativity. (Taiwan tries
to find 4 ways out : exotic cultural flavor, obscure codes for
decoding, good-looking
appearance, modification of existed ideas )
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(2) Taiwan's universities got a long term name : using
their
own people only.
(3) Taiwanese people don't think highly of taste, cultural creativity ....
Details pls ref http://intlHumanRights.com
PS:
★
Copy-Writing
(world colleges)
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Real beef copy-writings
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colleges ads printed in <Economist> :
"Connect, and take the lead!", Ashridge
"Growing in Strength" , University of Leicester
"Shake up your thinking" , City Cass Business School
"Take Control Of Your Career" , Kingston University DBA
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NHU ad :
a
Forest university, they think forest is more important
than scholar reputation
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PS: SHU Ad. paper in <The Journal of
Ad> (NCCU), pls refer
http://www.ad.nccu.edu.tw/2_s-sorce/page2-1-12.htm