Week 3: Endless Research and Planning

I have decided that this blog is where I throw in all my stuffs. Ideas, plans and all that. Because my brain can't take it anymore. Anyhow, after the second learning plan discussion, I've written down some notes about what I should refine in my learning plan. Then I proceeded to look at tutorials and watched more videos on how to make an AR app to sort out the brief structure of my work flow which looks like this now:

1. Design catalog / packaging for the target image.
2. Create 3D objects (flowers/fruits) in C4D.
3. Import objects and required items into Unity.
4. Generate target images on Vuforia.
5. Develop AR app on Unity: place objects, create buttons, write C# script etc..


(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOLdX1JMo4)

So that was on the technical stuffs. Other than that, I researched about fragrance brands and marketing strategies to refresh my memories, this time I found more articles and examples that I've never seen last week.


(https://digiday.com/marketing/sephora-yves-saint-laurent-others-using-user-generated-content-sell-perfumes/)

This part of the article happened to summed up my idea of "social media sharing" strategy for the fragrance brand. In the very same article, I also learned about something called "user-generating content" (UGC) which is something like Sephora's Beauty Board, where users upload pictures of the products they have purchased on to the designated section on the website. Apparently UGC can foster more brand loyalty by giving consumer the chance to feel more connected to the brand.



(https://www.glossy.co/beauty/fragrance-brands-accelerate-digital-to-address-customer-behavior-changes)

This article on Glossy by Emma Sander really widened my eyesight on how fragrance brands are changing their marketing strategies in order to match the shift in customer behaviours. It is mentioned that Atelier Cologne has an AR product information section, the website also allows customers to customize tags and notes for gifts.

I am beyond glad that throughout the research and planning process, I've partially achieved the goal of gaining knowledge about technical software and marketing studies. Not only I am going to learn how to use a new software, which is Unity, I am also learning a lot about marketing at the same time. These are some very useful knowledge I can make use of anytime.

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While reading the articles, I kept having ideas popping up here and there that I had to stop reading from time to time. Now, I'm going into strategy planning on how to promote the collection effectively while meeting all the criteria. Only when the marketing plan is confirmed, then I can proceed to catalog design because it is a very important part of the entire project.

Initial plan:
The fragrance brand I have picked is Jo Malone, and this AR app is part of the marketing plan of their new collection: Lavenderland. Customers will purchase any cologne from the said collection, then customize the "Fragrance Card" with their names printed on the card (but there will be a consistent image on the card for targeting). The customers can scan the card using the AR app (while also decorate the background with the packaging and bottle of perfume they purchased) then capture the image of augmented reality flowers. They can upload this photo with a designated hashtag on social media platform, then they can verify the said posts on their next trip to the retail store in order to redeem a sample kit.

I planned it this way because 1) customers nowadays are into "personalisation", 2) effective promotion on social media from the use of hashtags (partially UGC as well). BUT I know there are probably still flaws to this strategy so I plan to do more research and consult some professionals (maybe... Dr Vincent? [sweats profusely]) on how to improve or refine the plan.

(Honestly I would have picked Serge Lutens which is way less commercialized but I haven't had the chance to try their products... so... Jo Malone it is.)

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(Links for referencing)
https://belowthesurface.resn.co.nz/

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its 2am and my eyeballs are about to fall off. my limbs are... idk i can't feel them.

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