Samantha Ford
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Timeline
  • Projects
    • Blog
    • EMMA Project
  • Publications
  • Conferences
  • Awards
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Training
  • Contact

A reflection on a partnership journey

18/12/2020

0 Comments

 
To end a challenging 2020, Anthony Tattum, CEO of Big Cat Agency, summarises the journey we've been on since 2015 - with academics and advertisers coming together to tackle issues in theory and industry - and looks forward to 2021. We'll be going full tilt into combining linguistic academic theory, behavioural science, and marketing to measure and improve effectiveness. I'm looking forward to continuing on this journey. Read the article or find out more about the partnership here.
Picture
0 Comments

Health and Fitness Insight - White Paper #2 published with Big Cat Agency

6/10/2020

0 Comments

 
Access the full paper below; also see Publications.

Picture
"There have been some significant changes across all sectors, none more so than Health, Wellbeing and Fitness. Whilst physical gym brands have experienced considerable revenue loss and reduced capacity, other areas of the sector have seen unprecedented levels of demand. The one thing that’s common is the rapid rate in which consumers are changing their behaviour. This white paper helps to understand these behaviours and offers brands new ways to navigate the changing landscape." - Aaron Wells, Marketing Director, Big Cat Agency

The white paper built on a previous study Identifying the behavioural habits of gym-goers to inform an emotional ‘hook’ campaign for boutique gym classes that analysed the attitudes and behaviours of 68 gym-goers and the impact the gym has on their lifestyle (i.e. diet, sleep, and spending), both before and during the national lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In further research, linguistic and thematic analysis was used to examine the responses of 143 participants and five in-depth interviews (conducted by Big Cat Agency) to establish whether attitudes and behaviours had changed during lockdown and in a post-lockdown society. The white paper brings together the two primary studies and considers secondary research to contextualise these primary findings. Big Cat followed this with interviews with a number of well-known industry players about how they have adapted their businesses through the pandemic. 

The research revealed that exercise is still an important part of people’s lives. Yet, lockdown has had a considerable impact on people’s lifestyles with regards to their exercise, eating, and sleeping habits. While the experience of lockdown has encouraged some people to improve their diet and spend more time cooking healthy homemade meals, for others it has blurred and broken down the boundaries of the working-living day, resulting in increased snacking and drinking, an increase in anxiety, and a poorer quality of sleep than before lockdown. People’s motivation for returning to the gym after lockdown was more focused on helping them restore their physical health. Despite being aware of the impact of exercise on their mental health during lockdown, few participants were motivated by their need to improve their mental health to return to the gym. 

The research concludes in 6 take-aways for health and fitness brands, moving forward:
  1. Facilitate a strong digital connection with customers through online community hubs and on-demand content.
  2. Promote the positive impact exercise can have on people’s mental health, and how they can use exercise to manage their mental health in addition to their physical fitness.
  3. Have a ‘hybrid’ health and fitness experience combining bricks-and-mortar with digital will appeal to a larger customer base
  4. Expand your product and service offering to meet new consumer demand
  5. Position your brand as a reliable source of health information
  6. Subvert category norms by being distinctive – a scientifically proven way to get noticed
​
Health and Fitness White Paper (2)
File Size: 4106 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

The Cool Down Series

6/7/2020

0 Comments

 
During June 2020, Big Cat Agency has partnered with ActionPact to host a series of panel discussions featuring expert guest speakers from across the health, fitness, and wellbeing sectors. I reported on three of the first four webinars concerning training, and health and nutrition. Access them via Creative Brief or download the reports below.

Picture
The Cool Down #4 26.06.2020.pdf
File Size: 685 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Picture
The Cool Down #1 29.05.2020.pdf
File Size: 230 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Picture
The Cool Down #2 05.06.2020.pdf
File Size: 446 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

Insight paper published on Creative Brief

9/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Update: You can download the full report below. Also see Publications.

In March, I worked with Big Cat Agency on a new project investigating the reasons why people go to the gym. The report of this project is featured on Creative Brief.

The report assessed the experiences and behavioural habits and preferences of gym-goers who have or have had gym membership. Free-text responses from a survey constituting 68 gym-goers were analysed to gain an insight into how they feel about gym accessibility, their emotional and physical reactions to gym classes, 
Picture
Identifying the behavioural habits of gym-goers to inform an emotional ‘hook’ campaign for boutique gym classes
the impact the gym has on their lifestyle (i.e. diet, sleep, and spending), and their preferences for types of training formats and fitness classes.
​

I used a thematic analysis approach to identify the common concepts, thoughts, and opinions gym-goers had in response to the questions posed. From this analysis, I was able to draw key behavioural practices and emotional reactions to attending the gym and fitness classes.

Health and Fitness Insight Paper
File Size: 502 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

The Eff Test Certificate

23/3/2020

0 Comments

 
My research straddles multiple disciplines such as linguistics, cognitive science, and advertising. In order to develop my knowledge and skills when faced with measuring advertising, I know that it is important to engage in specialist training that enables me to observe and measure the effectiveness of advertising not only from an academic but also practitioner point of view. I therefore signed up to study The Eff Test Certificate.

Picture
The Eff Test is a qualification that involves specialist training to understand and measure advertising and marketing effectiveness followed by an examination to test the knowledge and skills obtained. Designed by expert advertising professionals, the certificate is granted by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) incorporated by the Royal Charter. I passed the exam, which awarded me with a completion certificate and a qualification for measuring advertising effectiveness.

Achieving the qualification is evidence that I have the knowledge and skills to:
  • Analyse the impact and effect of any campaign
  • Speak the language of advertisers and clients in the marketing business
  • Design a measurement programme that evaluates multi-platform activity, from sponsorship, digital, and promotional
  • Calculate payback and Return of Investment (ROI)
  • Write an effectiveness paper

Read more information about The Eff Test Certificate here.
0 Comments

Conferences: 2020 Summer is up and about!

29/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Update (29th March 2020): Due to the Coronavirus, non-essential events and travel have been restricted. The UK is currently on lockdown to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Therefore, conferences have been postponed or have gone virtual!
  • FTL5 - postponed to 29th to 31st October 2020
  • RaAM - virtual, click here for more information
  • Birmingham Statistics Summer School for Linguists - postponed until further notice
  • UKCLC - virtual, click here for more information
  • AELCO - going ahead
Picture
With my recent work on the EMMA project and starting my PhD, there is a lot of new research to talk about! And Summer 2020 is going to be the time to gain some crucial feedback on my work so far. This Summer, I will be presenting at several international conferences in Bulgaria, Norway, and Spain, and in the UK. I will also be returning to assist in the running of the 3rd Statistics for Linguists Summer School at the University of Birmingham.

Read More
0 Comments

Introducing new book Unpacking Creativity: The role of figurative communication in advertising

11/10/2019

0 Comments

 
Jeannette Littlemore, Paula Perez-Sobrino, and Samantha Ford (pictured to the right) are writing a collaborative monograph that explores the ways in which figurative communication is being used creatively in advertising.

Just like language, advertising constantly evolves. Research has largely focused on the print form of advertising. But of course it is now much more than that, and has been for some time! Advertising can span multiple modes: 
Picture
From left to right: Samantha Ford (me), Jeannette Littlemore, Paula Perez-Sobrino
from text to sound to imagery to movement. It can also involve the consumer in very different ways than what it used to (think back to when we would have to read advertising).

​Advertisers are becoming increasingly aware that their audience are critical of their craft. In recent years, advertising has shifted from selling a product to selling an experience. It is moving toward, or has already reached, integrating advertising a product, service, or experience with a story or activity that involves the consumers themselves. Research has shown that figurative language including metaphor and metonymy is frequently used in print advertising (Forceville, 1996; Perez-Sobrino, 2017; Littlemore and Perez-Sobrino, 2017).

​The new ways in which advertising is reaching its audience must also be explored in order for academia to keep pace with the changing world. As such, Jeannette Littlemore, Paual Perez-Sobrino, and myself - Samantha Ford - have come together to write a collaborative monograph on the role of figurative communication in advertising in the modern world. With the book, we hope to draw together key insights into how academics and advertisers alike may work together (as in the EMMA project) to improve the way in which advertising may be used for the better; to raise awareness of important issues and highlight essential services that will improve our lives, and not just to sell products.


For more information, visit the EMMA website.
0 Comments

Talking taboo using metaphor in a sexual health campaign

9/10/2019

0 Comments

 
Watch this video to find out how I worked with Jeannette Littlemore, Paula Perez-Sobrino, and David Houghton, and Big Cat Advertising Agency to effectively implement metaphor into a campaign that talked about sexual health. For more information about the campaign and the EMMA project, click here. 
​
0 Comments

EMMA and Big Cat launch sexual health campaign in Birmingham

4/9/2019

0 Comments

 
In June and July 2019, Big Cat and EMMA launched their collaborative campaign for Umbrella Health, an NHS sexual health trust, across Birmingham and Solihull. EMMA tested the effectiveness of metaphor use in a sexual health campaign advertising an STI home-testing kit for Umbrella Health. Measures for effectiveness included consumer understanding, appeal, and reported engagement of the campaign when metaphor was used as an innuendo for places in Birmingham, United Kingdom (e.g. Popping in his Mailbox?, Exploring her Botanical Gardens?).

​With a regional Qualtrics survey, EMMA
Picture
The campaign featured across Birmingham and Solihull, including the Grand Central Station, near the Bullring.
examined whether participant responses varied according to: (a) participant age, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, and (b) the figurative nature of twelve campaign adverts, in order to establish which figurative factors shape the extent to which consumers report that they find the adverts funny, appealing, and say they would engage with the campaign’s call to action (i.e. to order an STI kit) or its presence on social media. The figurative nature of the adverts varied three-way: (1) the level of conceptual work required to decode the adverts’ meaning; (2) the progression of the sexual conquest narrative (i.e. where in the progression of the sexual act from dating to sexual intercourse was referred to via metaphor); (3) the level of creativity (conventional to novel) in the adverts.

To read the full article, click here.

0 Comments

Master of Arts by Research Graduation 2019

15/7/2019

0 Comments

 
I graduated with a Master's by Research (MA) degree in English Language and Applied Linguistics with no corrections on Monday 15th July 2019 from the University of Birmingham.  My Master's thesis was entitled: The Visual Language of Virtual Product Design: The Semiotics of Colour and Shape in Smartphone App Icons. I am always grateful for the support from my supervisors Dr Bodo Winter and Professor Jeannette Littlemore, who gave me opportunities that have enhanced my educational experience as well as assisted in the development of my academic career. The MA degree was a lesson in self-motivation, perseverance, and application. It proved to be great practice for my PhD 2019/2023, which I will begin in September. 

Picture
During my MA, I worked as a Research Associate on the EMMA project, collaborating with the Big Cat Agency. This role has inspired my PhD as a Collaborative Doctoral Award for which I received from the Midlands4Cities Arts and Humanities Research Council (M4C AHRC). My thesis will involve working with Big Cat Agency on a collaborative PhD entitled: The creativity of figurative messaging in advertising: a collaborative investigation into its application and measurement of success in real-world advertising campaigns.
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Categories

    All
    Academic Research
    Awards
    Collaborations
    Conferences
    Courses
    EMMA Project
    Fundraising
    Partnership With Big Cat Agency
    Publications
    Research Experience

    Archives

    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    November 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Timeline
  • Projects
    • Blog
    • EMMA Project
  • Publications
  • Conferences
  • Awards
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Training
  • Contact