Grounded Theory

Through my thesis I intend to make a statement about the influence branding and media has on us. Through viral marketing this influence increases, with advertisers seeking many alternative means to reach their target market. Habbo Hotel, a real time online community which mainly attracts children, is a good example of viral media with the prominent advertising that appears while online. Advertising has also started promoting their products on mobile phones which is yet another example of viral media. It creates a question about the ability to get away from branding. Branding is invasive!

So the statement that I’m trying to create is that branding is so prominent it influences the majority of our lives. The way I intend to do this is by an installation. By creating physical movement through the installation, through means of viral media/marketing, the idea starts to emerge of branding controlling our actions.

My thesis is based mainly on the ideas of Douglas Rushkoff. He talks about the impact on us as consumers through branding. Our decisions are based on which brands are best. Brands create status, consumers are branding themselves with their final decision of the product. Basically our lives are lead by the brands which have the best status for the right amount of money. This allows me to make the statement that brands have a big influence on our actions.

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy as well as Yoshi Sodeoka are my precedents. They are known for using a variety of mediums to portray their ideas. They interest me because of their design process and styles. Taking inspiration from various sources and mashing them together to create something that is not just aesthetic but conveys the idea. Their experimental design appears to have a casual contemporary look yet maintain a professional approach. This is something that I want to take into my installation, so people wont feel threatened or bias and maintain full interaction with the piece.