Copy

I keep my Irn-Bru under Loch and Key

Ideas for my Copy - Slogans

Irn-Bru, it’s a Ness-essity

Be Bru-tally honest

£1 for an Irn-Bru, that’s a Dundee-l

Pipe down… it’s only Irn- Bru

Why have an English brew? When you can have a Scottish Bru?

They can take our freedom, but they can never take our Irn Bru… (Braveheart reference)

I’ve always been a fan of outsider art (referring to a child's painting of a person drinking Irn-Bru, the child is English, relating to the term ‘outsider’).

Reasoning for using my Copy

I utilised a pun-based theme for my copy, as it is related to the witty content that has been featured by ‘Irn-Bru’ in existing products. It is clear that this theme is effective, as it has made an impact in the past due to the ‘off-colour’ nature of the content, however, it has been published in a light-hearted manner and is not meant to offend. Although, the comical text has been established in order to initiate a reaction from the public, both positive and negative, but either way, the company will become a talking point and the awareness of ‘Irn-Bru’ will rise. I wanted to keep the pun theme for my copy, but I decided not to create any text that may be deemed or classed as ‘offensive’, as I would not want to provoke any form of negative feedback. I think that by using this specific linguistic device, my media products would be popular with the primary target audience, who will respond to an informal form of language that has humour embedded within it. A pun will catch the attention of the audience, which is why I have used several, so that my content will appeal to the teenage market in which I am trying to pander to.

Fonts

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‘Impact’ Font:

I chose this particular font because I thought that it would be suitable for the ‘Irn-Bru’ can packaging in which I will create, as it is bold and significantly eye-catching, therefore, it is sure to hold the attention of the primary target audience of this beverage which are teenagers, who will respond greatly to this blatant use of colour and bold lettering, as opposed to text that is small and not composed utilising a standard san-serif font, but a font that is slim and does not draw in the attention of the consumer. I wanted to incorporate the traditional orange and blue colour scheme into this font as I wanted the consumer to be able to identify that this specific can packaging was that of ‘Irn-Bru’, as they are iconic of the energy drink giant and are therefore appropriate to use. The brightness and vibrancy posed by the deep orange and blue colour scheme means that it will become more visually appealing to the audience as it stands out which means that the attention of the viewer will be held when they are viewing the final outlook of the can packaging.

Irn-Bru

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‘Tall Dark and Handsome’ Font:

I wanted to source a font from ‘Dafont’ under the sans-serif category as I believe that this particular typeface is bold and easy to comprehend, therefore , the teenage audience would be able to relate to it as it has been deliberately displayed as bold and outlined so that it is clear. Also, much like the first font idea, I have used the signature orange and blue colour scheme that has been is used ‘Irn-Bru’ on a frequent basis, however, sometimes the intensity of the colours have been altered which is the reason why on this specific font style, I have used a weaker colour scheme, with the orange and blue colour being not as vibrant, which may prove effective, as the scheme utilised upon the first font style could be deemed as too ‘loud’ and vibrant, which detract from the overall look of the package. I want to make the font size fairly large for this particular media product, as I had discovered from my previous research that existing can packaging from other energy drinks such as Lucozade, included a piece of text on a large scale, which is appropriate as it will attract the attention of the primary consumer. I think that using large font is a prime example of a clever marketing technique, as the company have purposely initiated this piece of text in order to hold the attention of the consumer so that they will feel obliged to read it and possibly even purchase it.

This particular font panders to a female audience, as they are stereotypical colours that are related to this specific group in society and therefore, it is likely to pander to them. However, I do not approve of the font that I have chosen on this section as it is not comprehendible and almost looks as though it is a completely different logo phrase. I first chose this font as it differed from the other two previous fonts and I wanted to experiment with several forms of typeface. I found my lettering on my first slide to be the most effective in appealing to the traditional audience (teenagers), as it was easy to read, as opposed to this piece of text which also looks rather informal. If the audience does not approve of the font, then the media product will initially fail, which is one of the reasons why I will not be utilising this typeface. The font is also very bold and chunky, which distorts the copy that is trying to be presented to the consumer, which makes the text irrelevant.

‘Forte’ Font:

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‘Cooper Black’ Font:

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This font style is effective in drawing in the attention of the primary consumer (teenagers) as it is a solid typeface that is appropriate to use as it is likely to appeal to the audience, who will not be fazed by a font that is not bold. They will want to view something that has definition to it, which has been provided by the black outline on the text. It is also apparent that the bright orange and stark blue colour are both effective as they make the font stand out so that the viewer will notice it. Also, if this is going to be presented on an advertising poster, it has to make a sudden impact, otherwise the point of the media product will be diminished.

‘Kozuka Gothic Pro M’ Font:

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‘Irn-Bru have used black and white photography in their advertising material beforehand, therefore, I decided that I would try out this technique on my typeface so that it could compliment the visual aspect posed by the existing print-based products that were initiated by ‘Irn-Bru’. I chose this font style to compliment the monochrome colour scheme as I thought that it looked professional and could possibly be used upon the material in which I will create during this project. The lettering is thin, but it is still legible, which makes it appropriate for the target audience, as well as the secondary market, being individuals who are not of an adolescent age. It has to be clear and concise otherwise it will not work as part of an advertisement.

Product Development

I chose to keep my first can packaging idea fairly simplistic, as I wanted it to catch the attention of the audience due to the fact that bold, outlined text has been utilised for emphasis. I would have this as a central banner around the can, as I believe it would look effective as this type of layout has not been featured before on any existing canned drinks. The final image shows the flatplan of the first can packaging idea in which I have created. I made the product out of several shapes as well as text, which adds to the minimalistic nature of the design and therefore, it panders to the target audience (teenagers) who will respond to small amounts of text so that they do not become bored of such written content. It is clear that by also utilising bright, solid colours, the audience will respond to them as they are traditional colours of the energy drink giant, ‘Irn-Bru’, so they will immediately associate these colours with the specific drink as well as being drawn to them, as they are blatant and highly noticeable due to the outlining of the text, which highlights its importance. The typeface which I have used is entitled ‘Impact’, which is ironic, as I want it to make a big impact upon the primary consumer, who are the main market for this specific drink and if their needs are not catered to, the company would not be able to compete with their energy drink rivals on the market, including ‘Monster’.

1st Design

2nd Design

IRN-BRU

For my second potential can design, I decided to incorporate one piece of text only, with a bright background, as I thought that it would appear unique and would therefore interest the primary target audience of ‘Irn-Bru’, as it differs from a regular can design, as it has been stripped back of any extravagance and uses only the title of the drink in conjunction with the can having a blue coating on, as opposed to my first design, where the regular silver-toned, standard can colour has been shown greatly. I think that this would work, as it would stand out from the existing drinks that are displayed on a stand in a typical supermarket, as the can itself has a blue, chrome packaging that is not found upon an average piece of packaging. I have used again the typical colours of ‘Irn-Bru’, as the primary audience will be able to relate to this traditional, iconic colour scheme that is unique to the company. In comparison to my first design, the same font has been utilised, as I believe that it is effective in catching the attention of the audience as it is bold and outlined, which highlights the font, therefore, making it look more protrude. It is notable that this specific font is very similar to that of the original ‘Irn-Bru’ typeface, which is one of the reasons why I chose it, as the primary audience will be able to relate this font to that of the original, where the differences are extremely slim.

3rd Design

IRN-BRUThis is my third can packaging design idea, which significantly differs to that of my previous two designs, as the colour scheme is slightly different, because the iconic blue and orange combination for ‘Irn-Bru’ has been toned down from the bright nature of the packaging of my two existing products. Arguably, this makes it less eye-catching to the audience, but I think it works well as it looks professional, as the font ‘Tall, Dark and Handsome’ is similar to the original font, much like the font which I had used in my previous designs, however, this typeface appears more soft and looks rather sophisticated, which contrasts with the harshness posed by both designs one and two that I had created. I chose to place the text with a circular, rounded background, as this technique has been used before with previous soft drink can packaging such as ‘Dr Pepper’, as well as other existing products, therefore, the audience will be able to identify with this style and will possibly choose it because they are familiar with this specific layout form.

The packaging of a ‘Dr Pepper’ can, which uses a rounded design with the logo featured directly on top of it.

4th Design

IRN-BRU

This design is different from the styles that are featured upon my previous can packaging products as the colour of the font has been swapped to blue, with the background being orange. With this, I have utilised the iconic ‘Irn-Bru’ colour scheme, but by simply changing the colour over, it has made the packaging appear noticeably different. Also, the orange background compliments the blue typeface highly as it makes the text stand out and almost look three-dimensional, which is a factor that will draw in attention from the primary consumer being teenagers, who are likely to respond to a blatant piece of marketing upon an energy drink that is specifically targeted towards them. The outlined text is the first piece that is most recognisable on this design. I decided to use a general band around the can to place the text on, as it highlights the font whilst also adding a sense of definition to the packaging itself, making it more appealing to the viewer. I used capital lettering for this design, much like my second and third product idea, as I believe that it emphasises the sheer importance of the product and also, ‘Irn-Bru’ use capital lettering too, which makes it relevant to the traditional theme posed by the energy drink company. However, I think that I could have included a slogan for this design as I had used it in my first idea and it looked rather effective, as once the audience is drawn into the design, they will view the text, and if a catchy slogan is included, it will encourage them to acknowledge every aspect of the packaging as it can add a humorous touch to the design, which makes it more appealing to the primary consumer. ‘Irn-Bru’ has used comedy on their existing media pieces in order to gain a response from their primary and secondary audience, so that the awareness of the company increases and so does their sales. It is a clever, but controversial marketing technique that transforms the product into an item that is deemed mainstream.