You don’t have to be tricky. You don’t have to ruthlessly beat out the competition. There’s plenty of room for all in business. You only need to define what people want that you can provide.

There are just a few easy steps to defining, creating, and selling a product.

1) Know yourself.

2) Be confident in yourself.

3) Know your public.

4) Reach your public.

5) Deliver what you commit to.

Here I am taking up only the first of these steps: know yourself, your skills and wisdom.

It helps to do a quick assessment of who you are and what you can do. Make a list of the things you care most about, the things you love to do, the things you like to talk about or read about. You will find several products you could develop.

For example, you are 17 years old and you have spent years skateboarding with your friends—in the neighborhood, at the skateboard park, and even along a trail in the woods where you built a ramp and practiced your moves. You find skateboarding a fast, fun, and inexpensive way to get around. You have an audience out there yearning to learn skateboarding techniques and eager to hear of your adventures. What you know can be told in speeches or written and packaged as simple how to books or eBooks. You will find the best way or ways to sell what you know. As a first step it is only necessary to put skateboarding on your list along with anything else about which you feel passionate.

Or, suppose you have volunteered delivering meals to the elderly and homebound. During that time you have heard lots of stories of days gone by. You decide to start writing these down. Before you know it, bingo, you have a fascinating collection of stories, supplemented perhaps with a photo of each storyteller. For now, just put story collecting on your list.

Let’s say you have always had a knack with small children. You seem to know how to quiet a crying infant or keep a toddler occupied. Other people comment on your ability and ask you how to do it. You have never really thought about it but now you begin to notice what you bring to children. You tell people, “I never worry—I just know kids will respond to me.” You realize that your calm and interested approach to children is a gift that can be cultivated. Never mind how. For now, just put this on your list, something you know that others want to know.

Simply making the list will give you confidence and start ideas sparking.

Years back, I was commissioned by a Swiss company to write the label texts for a product called Chlorella pyrenoidosa. I should get everything into four sentences in each German, French, and English, whereby the information content in all three languages had to be identical. I still think it was one of the hardest writings I have ever done.

The product was registered under the novel foods act in Switzerland, and therefore I had severe limitations into what I was allowed to say. E.g. words like vitamin or trace element were completely out of bounds, others like health severely limited. What it ran down to were four sentences to convey to the buyer that he bought a product with lots of vitamins and trace elements that were good for your health without saying it in so many words.

As I had to do quite a lot of preliminary study, I came to several conclusions about labels, labelling, and information content of labels. For my own amusement, I also set up four categories of fraudulent labelling which I want to share with you.

Fraudulent labelling by law

This category is the one you will be thinking of when reading fraudulent labelling. It is, in my opinion, a capital crime and should be severely punished. As is, these people usually buy themselves free on the proceeds of the fraud.

Famous cases that I am able to remember without researching them were the German Kebab case, where three year old meat was relabelled as fresh and then sold to the Kebab producers; the Italian Mozzarella case, where parts of mice and other unsavoury ingredients where found in Mozzarella products of most producers; the Argentinean beef case, where beef was shipped from Poland to Argentina, was relabelled as Argentinean and then shipped to Germany.

I haven’t been comfortable eating either Kebab or Mozzarella since. The beef case had an added twist to it, as the Polish producers received money from the EU to export the meat so it would not come onto the European market. None of the persons concerned in either three cases ever went to prison. Just as obviously, these labels were just fraudulent and not artful.

Fraudulent labelling by ethics

Into this section I moved those labels that I thought fraudulent but were in keeping with the law. E.g. a product known as Tyrolean Ham sold mainly in Germany. The pigs are born and brought up in Germany. They are then transported by lorry to the Tyrolean part of Italy where they are butchered and the ham is cured. The finished Ham is then transported back to Germany by lorry.

Into the same category I put chickens labelled as free range. They are brought up in cages as long as possible and then spend an exact amount of time outside. The poor beasts must hear the clock ticking every moment they spend out there.

Fraudulent labelling by morals

Into this section I moved those labels that are built on allusions to a legal labelling process. To stick with the free range chickens, to use that on a label, the producer must follow legal rules set up. In this case the legal rules are minimal, but still, they are there. A producer might now find a catch phrase that gives the impression of his product being free range. Let’s say he claims that his product is produced from freely ranging chickens.

A further example is certain imprints granted by some organisation or other, where a producer might just invent his own organisation and imprint. All these labels have in common that they might or might not be against the law depending on the judges.

Fraudulent labelling by default

This section contains the labels of products that may not show important information as the law forbids them to do so. To get my beloved tomatoes in, a shop is not allowed to write or publish any allusion to lycopene, even though that would be of interest to the consumer.

To get back to the starting point, Chlorella pyrenoidosa have high iron and beta-carotene content. They also make people vomit who suffer from Escherichia Coli. None of this may be printed or published by the producer because it might give the impression that the algae are healthy.

Fraudulent labelling by omission

Yes, I know, I made four categories. The point is, all labels fall into this last section. That’s where art meets fraud. The art is to omit everything negative if legally possible and pile in as much positive hype as laws allow. It’s like drawing a straight line while dodging legal hurdles at the same time.

For the consumer this means that labels are the perfect carrier of false information. If you start really reading the labels on food, you will spend more time figuring out what they didn’t tell you than reading what they tell you. The exercise is good for you as it trains your brain daily at top level.

Perfect examples for artful labelling are all products in the light or diet section. If these products make any claim to a reduction of anything, be it sugar, salt, or fat, they must be able to prove that. On the other hand, they must not tell you what they added as long as it is naturally contained in the product anyhow. Therefore, sugar free products contain more salt and more fat than normal, as otherwise they would taste like the packaging they are sold in. The same principle is used for fat free and salt free products where sugar replaces one or the other. Obviously, the addition of toxic waste like artificial sweeteners must be declared.

I am sure, there are hundreds of examples out there just to be put into my categories. If you haven’t encountered any, start reading the labels really carefully and figure out what they don’t tell you.

These businesses may not want to go out and purchase the art directly, so they depend upon people like you to supply them with the art they're looking for. In turn, they pay a monthly rental fee for your services. Your art related business saves them the footwork and expense of having to select and locate suitable art for their office décor. Instead, you help them choose appropriate art and they rent it from you on a monthly basis.

One of the best ways to start this type of art related business is to network with local artists in your area looking for markets for their artwork. Not only will the art from local artists be unique, but local businesses will enjoy the positive connotation associated with supporting local artists.

If you have studio art galleries in your area, visit and browse through the art work that's on display. When you find elegant art that you think would be appropriate for a corporate setting, get a business card from the artist who created it. Once you have several potential artist contacts for your art related business, call and see if they would be interested in selling their pieces to you at wholesale prices or renting them to local businesses through your service. If they choose the rental option, you would double the rental amount you charge your client to make a profit.

Once you have a representative selection of artwork, prepare an online site with clear photos of the pieces you have available. There's no need to have a physical site for this business. You can have potential clients view the available choices from your website and later expand into a small catalogue as your business grows. This will help to keep your overhead down.

Be prepared to offer suggestions on how to decorate offices and waiting rooms since not all business people have an eye for art and design. As your business expands, you may consider hiring an interior designer to choose the artwork for large offices and buildings or consider getting interior design training yourself.

To market this type of art related business, you'll want to approach business offices as well as restaurants, doctor's offices, banks, and other establishments that need to create a favorable impression. New offices opening in your area are another good source for business. You may be called upon to provide artwork for the entire building. Imagine the monthly rental fees on that type of project!

This is an art related business with real growth potential. If you have an eye for art and a head for business, this just might be the business for you.

What does a writer have in common with a multinational cookware manufacturer? Both have created products to sell to the public. The cookware manufacturer normally charges upfront for their cooking products and the writer's products are generally free to read on the Internet, but the writer does get paid from advertisers who have purchased ads from third-party advertising brokers. The readers are not required to pay to read their favorite authors' writings.

When writing an article title to publisher on the Internet, it really should be written using descriptive words and phrases. If you have written a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) article about building birdhouses, then which of these article titles would draw your attention to it:

“How to Build a Birdhouse”

”Build Your Own Birdhouse In Six Easy Steps”

”Build an Awesome 5-Star Birdhouse Using Only Toothpicks”

Of course, we are assuming that the building instructions require toothpicks in the construction process.

The first article title is a very basic example that is written using the direct approach, but employs no high value descriptive keywords in the title.

The second article title is a bit more descriptive than the first article title, but does not pack a powerful enough punch to make the first impression memorable. The best keyword used in this title is the word “Easy”. This word alone would attract more readers to stop to read more. People just have a thing for learning easy things.

The third article title is very attractive as it uses three good keywords that if used together can create powerful results. The first keyword in the title is “Awesome”, the second keyword is “5-Star”, and the third and final keyword is “Toothpicks” and it is the last keyword that creates the curiosity factor, which is a powerful marketing tool within itself.

The “Awesome” keyword, tells the audience that this article is better than the rest. Using the “5-Star” descriptive word combination, informs your audience that the birdhouse are high quality and the third keyword “Toothpicks”, generates curiosity, because toothpicks are usually not a traditional constructing material.

Writing a winning article title for the Internet publishing market is kind of kin to how newspapers write their frontpage news headlines that are commonly larger than life. Boring titles will not take a writer anywhere, but add a splash of personality and showmanship, and then you are writing like a true Internet copyrighter.

Winning article titles do need a little seasoning and planning to write successfully, but adding too much extra flavoring to the descriptive word flow could cause a mess to happen. Avoid making too powerful of statements when writing your article titles and do not write an article title that does not have anything to do with the article that you have written. This is considered being deceptive and you as a writer will lose your credibility and your online reputation will be damaged in the process.

But why invest in art?

The question shouldn't be, "Why invest in art?" but rather, "Why not invest in art?" Art is one of the few investments that can be used and enjoyed by an investor while it is appreciating in value. It is always a wise decision to turn an interest or hobby of yours into an investment. Your passion can become more than that once you take the steps towards investing.

Investing in art is one of the most beautiful ways to invest, but that does not make it a less business savvy way of doing so. It is imperative that you invest in art that is both beautiful and pleasurable for you but also is a good business decision. When you can combine these aspects, you can overall improve your chances of getting wealthy from the art that you purchase.

The fact is that art, in many of its forms, is a process. The hope is to purchase a piece of art from an artist and wait for the value to go up before selling it off or simply holding on to it over time. In many cases, it only takes a matter of hours, not years and not months, to see an increase in the value of the art that you have purchased, assuming that it is a piece that is well worth investing in.

The question becomes, then, how do you know if the piece is worth something? How do you know that it will be worth your invested money? Just like any type of investing, there are risks that you will have to take on and many times, they won't pay off. But, when they do, you could find yourself facing an ideal investment opportunity!

Take for instance the case of June Carey, and Greenwich Workshop. "Greenwich has been selling her art for about 5 or 6 years and in that time prices of the limited editions that sold for $750 were selling for $2450 and up 2 years ago." That's an increase of over 300 percent! How is this not a wise, worthwhile investment!

There are many reasons to invest in art. For one, if you choose to buy and sell art, take into account that many different people have different "eyes" when it comes to art. And moreover, different people enjoy different types of art. If you make wise investments, it should not be too difficult at all to find a market and clients to purchase the work in which you invest. Investing in art makes perfectly good sense.

Don't Worry, Be Crappy

An innovated person does not worry about presenting the “perfect” product. If a company waits until everything is perfect, the product will never be shopped and marketed. We can always jump some curves, and the market will accept imperfections. (eg. Software release which always have patches after the official release and revision of newer versions ).

Jump To The Next Curve

Too many companies fight it out on the same curve and the same arena. For example, if they're Daisy-Wheel printer companies, they may think that innovation means coming out with a dot-matrix printer. But, true innovation means they should be investing on laser printers. True Innovation happens when the company jumps to the next curve, or even better - invent the next curve or wave.

Think Digital, Act Analog

Thinking digital means that you should use all the digital tools at their disposal to create great products. Acting analog means remembering that the purpose of innovation is not cool products and cool technologies, but Happy People.

Don't Be Afraid To Polarize People

Attempting to appeal to every demographic guarantees mediocrity. Instead create great products that makes segments of people very happy - and fear not if those products makes other segments unhappy. You can never make everybody happy, that's the bottom line.

Never Ask People To Do What You Wouldn't Do

Suppose you invent the world's greatest mousetrap, but the customer needs a Ph.D to set it and get it working. No one at your company would jump through those hoops - so, don't expect customers to, either.

Don't just come up with problems

Don't always be the bearer of bad news, be the one that bring solutions to the table.

Stop fixing it, prevent it!

They want you to be the problem solver, so put things in place that resolve the issues completely.

Be dependable

There's nothing worse than a person you can't rely on, whether it be missed days or showing up late regularly. We all know people like this, when you need them your doubtful...

Don't be a kiss ass

There is nothing more annoying than a person that constantly agrees with you, or is constantly nodding their head... Kissing ass will not get you where you want to be. Be true to yourself, and others. Besides you will thank yourself in the end.

Your not there to make friends

Yes this is the hard part... well work friends are ok, as long as it doesn't get in the way of your job or employer. But at the same time you don't want enemies, they would then see you as a liability if people were complaining about you all the time. The best way to play the game, is stay right down the middle, everyone knows you can be nice, and a hard ass at the same time. This is how you get people to give you that little extra, and know that they will be appreciated for it.

In this assignment I will be setting up my own business that can be run within the local area of New Mills in Derbyshire and in the area of the school. The business I will be setting up will provide a service rather than a product. In this assignment I will be outlining the legal requirements that must be followed in order for your business to be legitimate and legal. Competition in the local area must be identified in order to compete in the local community and to ensure that the business can be as successful as possible. The legal format of the business needs to be decided upon, for example should we be a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company? I think that the legal format of my business should be a partnership, as I am practicing business in a group. This will be explained further on in my assignment. I will need to highlight why I have chosen this legal format and whether it is justified, for the business.

I will be identifying the sources of finance and help and advice that may be accessible to the business owner. I will outline how to financially manage your money successfully so that we are not missing a penny. I will be defining start up costs and running costs and what they are and what the start up costs and running costs of my business will be.

To make a profit is the reason why people set up in business so I will identify why it is important that my business must make a profit. I will be providing examples of cash flow forecasts and how they may be a weakness and showing what break-even charts are, as I will produce this information from the business that I create and run in order to write this assignment.

My business idea

Before you start a business it takes months of careful planning and negotiations before you can actually set out to do your aims and objectives. First of all I must brainstorm business ideas of what service our business may include. I must identify the aims and objectives of the business and the mission statement in order to clearly define the business plan. Below is a diagram showing the ideas that I had for my business activity:

Garden maintenance Service.
Dog walking service
Valentines day messaging service
Child minding service
Brain storm
Cleaning service
Escorting service
Home work service
Car washing service

Having considered all of my ideas and deciding that I will undertake a lot of research both primary and secondary and remembering that what I am doing must sell a product and/ or a service, I have chosen to do a Valentine Day Messaging Service. I have chosen to run my business in the couple of weeks leading up to the time of the 14th of February (Valentines Day) 2007, this gives me five months to gather myself and establish as a business.

I am going to do a valentines card messaging service where students/ pupils can pay a certain amount of money to have a card delivered to another member of the school. I will be making the cards with specific designs that make them attractive to my target market. I have chosen this plan for my business because it's a popular attraction to the youth of today, valentines for some is an important time, people feel the need to splash out on gift and cards for their loved one. I plan to also diversify to suit the needs of my customers. What I will diversify into will depend on the market research that I will conduct, in order to identify other gaps in the market and increase profitability.

I have also chosen this business because of the time scale. I don't want to be too restricted in my time, as this type of business plan needs to be planned carefully for it to be a success, also the time I have, has given me sufficient time to conduct a fully flourished market survey and to analyse the opinions of my target audience and identify the gaps in the market.

The other business ideas that I had were not as realistic they would have had to have been operated outside of the school in a market that hard to gain access to and I could have potentially lost out on certain aspects and the needs of the market. As there are approximately 700 pupils in the lower school and an estimate of 180 students in the sixth form who come every day, you have a better chance of successfully advertising your service or product because they will see it repeatedly as they walk the next scheduled lesson. The School is a good place to do business as it would be easier to conduct market research and easier for your target market to get hold of your product or use your service.

In market research, companies have two types of data in research and they are primary and secondary data. How you obtain the data on your market research depends on what type of information you use. I have used primary research, which involves a lot of interaction with the target market. Secondary research, which is also known as “desk research” involves using data that has already been created or provided by one of the following:

Government statistics
Market research companies, e.g. Gallop
Newspapers
The Internet

The advantages of this market research are that the information is already available and it is cheap and also you can find out what other competitors are doing, but this information may be out of date and difficult to make sense of. And the information may not be relevant. To avoid this, primary research is done also known as field research and this information that is newly created and can be collected either by research firms, i.e. Gallup and Mori, or can be collected by the firm itself. There are lots of ways that you can conduct field research and they are as follows.

• Test marketing
• Surveys
• Observation
• Consumer panels
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Electronic (EPOS)
• Postal
• Face to face
• Telephone
• Open ended
• Group interviews
  

The advantages of this kind of research are that you obtain the information you want; the information is up to date and the competitors will not have this information but this information is expensive, is difficult to obtain and takes longer to obtain.

In order that I can decide whether my idea will be feasible I have decided that I need to conduct some market research. The market research that I will conduct will be primary. This consisted of a questionnaire made up of specially selected questions that may draw the answer we want from the pupil. I have decided that this is the most appropriate due to the nature of the business I am intending to set up. Also because the target audience that I want to attract to buy my service are within our school community, therefore it is important that I gain the views and opinions of the younger students within school. We put together a questionnaire for our market research, which consisted of the questions that you see below.

Questionnaire

How much would you pay for a Valentines Day card?


£1.00 £1.25 £1.50 £ 1.75

How much extra would you expect to pay for the valentine card to be delivered



25p 50p 75p £1.00

What year group are you in? (Please circle)


Yr7 yr8 yr 9 yr10 yr11 6th form

What would you buy them for Valentines Day?

Cards jewellery

Chocolate teddy's

Roses other

Perfume

If you have picked other, please will you state your answer______________

Our target market is the year nines in our school. I found that I naturally aimed this questionnaire at the year nines as they may be experiencing a first love and are new to the giving of presents to loved ones. We are selling valentines cards aimed at both male and female and also year nines are our target market as they hang around in one big group in the library. We asked about 60 pupils 30/male 30/female, questions from our questionnaire, forty-one pupils said they would pay a pound for a valentines card, four said they would pay one-pound twenty-five, eight said they would pay one pound fifty and seven said they would pay one pound seventy five. We then asked them how much extra they would pay for a delivery service and sixty pupils said that they would only pay twenty-five pence for the charge of the delivery service of the cards given the choice, they also said given the choice they wouldn't pay anything for the delivery they would have it all included in the price. So I took this onboard and decided to include delivery in the price.

Tally Chart.

In order that we could analyse our results it was necessary for me to construct a tally chart as this clearly displays the responses that I have gained form the students who completed our questionnaire.

Question

Answer

Tally out of 60

How much would you pay for a Valentines Day card?

£1.00

£1.25

£1.50

£ 1.75

41

4

8

7

How much extra would you expect to pay for the valentine card to be delivered

25p

50p

75p

£1.00

50 pupils said 25p

2

5

3

What year group are you in?

Yr7

Yr8

Yr 9

Yr10

Yr11

6th form

11

6

28

3

8

4

What would you buy them for Valentines Day?

Cards jewellery

Chocolate teddy's

Roses

Perfume

Other

32

0

0

6

18

1

3

3 people said that they would cook a meal for their “loved one”

Graphs

In this Graph I have comprised the results into a pie chart above, it tells you that majority of people would pay a pound for a valentines card

In this Graph I have comprised the results into a pie chart above, it tells you that majority of people would pay a pound for a valentines card

How much would you pay for the delivery of a valentine's card?

This graph above consists of how much the paying customer would pay for the delivery of the valentine's card. Most people would only pay 25p for the delivery but it came out in conversation in my one to one market research that they would rather have the delivery of the card in with the price of the card.

This graph above shows how many people from different year groups have an interest

in the service I am providing. This means that the majority of my customers are in year nine (3rd year)

This graph shows what kinds of things the customers would buy for their valentine bearing in mind that most of the customers will more likely be in year nine (3rd year)

In the Key, people who said other said they would cook a meal.

Analysis

I have analysed through the graphs that my target market is year nines and the products they would be more likely to buy will be valentine's cards and roses and they would only pay one pound for the card and the delivery service of the valentine's cards. So I have determined what the market in the school want and identified that there is a gap. And I also came to an initial decision on the place where I will sell my product, which will be in the library. I think that selling both valentines cards and roses would be a little too much to handle so we have decided that we will only sell the valentines cards

The Name of my Business.

The next stage in my business once I have chosen our service is to choose an appropriate name for my business. I have decided to do a brainstorm on the different types of names for my business this information is below,

Valentines
Messaging service
Be my valentine
Card delivery service
Secret valentine
Service
Valentine spy
Brainstorming
Ideas for business name.
Valentines anonymous
I spy a valentine
Kings cards valentine delivery service
Crowns cards valentine delivery service

I have decided to use the name Crowns Cards Valentine Delivery Service. The reasons for me choosing this particular title is that its catchy, and using words that are strongly linked with royalty make you feel like this will be a royal service. The language used in the title is alliterated using the sibilance of the C at the beginning of the first and second word and the S at the end of both of them. Having these carefully chosen words allows me to colour code my product or service. I can select a number of colours that relate to royalty for example purple's and blues and reds. The title, because of alliteration, will stick in my target audiences mind and that is a good advantage to the supplier, as they will get recognition. The word crowns makes you think of bright, colourful and wealthy prospects and associates the service with good living an a rela-a-a-xing life. Associating this service with such things as royalty will create recognition. The recognition will come through advertising, which is why the name is important because it could influence the colour co-ordination of the logo's, poster's and the Valentines cards and could be a crucial point of your sale of the service or product. The name must stand out and put the message across of what my business is about in abbreviated terms.

The reasons that I did not choose the other business names were because of the reasons that follow.

Valentines messaging service- this name was in my opinion too plain and would not be remembered by its onlookers.

Be my valentine delivery service- was too poetic and may be too girly and I want a good mix of male and female customers.

Valentines anonymous- I then looked at the more secretive side of Valentines Day and decided that this title was too closely related to the title of classes, in which people who have problems go to, for example, smokers anonymous. I didn't want my target market to feel like they have a problem

Secret valentine service- I then got back to the idea of the experience being a service that is publicly used and secret if you want.

Valentine spy- then I created this title, which makes the customer feel like it's a more personal service and mischievous and all kids like mischief. This title could possibly create suspicion between people and provoke action to use the service.

I spy a valentine- I then realised that the target market consists of mainly Kids, I then began to wonder about children's nursery rhyme's and the game called, I spy. And thought that if I incorporate this theme it is almost as if the person who reads it is saying it and it puts the idea of looking for a special valentine into the young ones head. But this title felt too young for my target market.

King's cards valentine delivery service- I then started thinking about reputation of the service and of certain qualities about the service that make it quite respectable and honourable. I wanted people to feel like people who use the service will be treated royally and have fun using the service.

There are many people who get into business every day and start up in business and there can be many reasons for this. To identify them in motion is circumstantial so here is a list of the different reasons for people setting up in business.

To have more control over your working life.

To make a profit
Dissatisfaction of current employment
Belief that they have a potentially successful idea
Recognition that there is a gap in the market
The need to have work of some kind (Self-satisfaction)
Incentives from government or other organisations
Or following the route of family or friends

There are a number of reasons why I chose to run my business inline with Valentines Day. I chose to set up the business on the theme of Valentines day because the market for the types of product or service that I had to build/ create, already existed and I didn't need to invent the market and build a reputation from nothing, but as Valentines day is a special day in which people buy gifts for their loved ones, I thought that I would exploit the needs of the customers for the certain day of valentines day. Another reason for just setting up the business is because there is a gap in the market of the school for Valentines Day and the belief that I have potentially a good idea that I can make a profit from.

One of the first things that I must do is make my mission statement. A mission statement is a statement that outlines the aims and objectives of the business and the business activities that involve the day to day running of the business and the overall targets of the business. Here is an example of a mission statement from a confectionary company called Swizzels Mattlow;

Swizzels Matlow Limited has a commitment to provide QUALITY sugar confectionery at VALUE FOR MONEY prices and will continually introduce INNOVATIVE NEW PRODUCTS and contribute significantly to the development of the children's sugar confectionery marketplace.

The Guarantee:
Swizzels Matlow Limited will continue to respond to the ever-changing needs of our customers and provide the products necessary to maintain our heritage and position as market leader.

Using the same ideas as this mission statement above I have written my mission statement. In this mission statement above they try to draw you in to their aims as a business, for example they say they will continue to introduce innovative new products in order to maintain their heritage as market leader.

Aims and objectives are important in the running of a business; aims are where you aim to be, or where you are aiming to go with the direction of the business. Objectives quantify your aims giving them restrictions for example time restrictions. Saying as a business we aim in two years to be supplying Derbyshire with their valentines gifts. This is an example of quantifying your aims and making them happen in a time restriction or any kind of restriction.

This is my aim as a business

The aims of Crown Cards Valentine Delivery Service are:

• To provide a smooth and quality service to the younger kid's that is unproblematic and fun.
• To promise to listen to the consumer and ensure that this service is as personal as it is public.
• We are also setting out to make this business profitable and we want this service to be very interactive with the customers making sure they get what they want out of the service at a price that is GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY.

We believe that these aims will help us to achieve some kind of direction in the business. We will be monitoring them on a regular basis in order to ensure that they are being achieved, once they have been achieved we will then set some new ones so that our busness is regularly being driven forward. And kept on track so we don't lose our way.

These are our objective as a business

We, for one day want to provide a fun service for the customer, we aim to make a profit and hope we sell at least fifty cards.

Sources of Help and Advice

There are many sources of help and advice available to small businesses. There is even help and assistance for businesses before they set up. The first source that I have researched is HSBC Bank. This was done through the Internet and looking at their website.

HSBC inform and give advice on writing a business plan. A business plan can be defined as:

“A written document that describes a business, its objectives, strategies, market and financial forecast.”

The website tells you how to write a business plan and how it should be set out. The next stage, according to HSBC, is the forming of a business. Once you have made up your mind to go ahead, you need to get to grips with the legal requirements for forming a business. Setting up your business in the right way keeps costs down. It can also help prevent your working relationships turning sour, one of the major causes of business failure.

Ownership of the Business

There are four main choices for the legal form of your business.
If you are a sole trader, you are self-employed, with no special legal structure.
In a partnership, two or more self-employed people work together as partners and share the profits (or losses).
A limited company is a separate legal entity, distinct from its shareholders, directors and employees.
Unlike a sole trader or partnership, it is not the same as the individuals who own or run the business.
A limited liability partnership has some of the advantages (and disadvantages) of both a company and a partnership.
For example, it is a separate legal entity and can continue despite the resignation or death of some members. We as a group decided that we shall write up a business plan and think everything through before hand so we don't make any mistakes and waste any resouces. The idea of this section is to keep you in control of the business so it doesn't go spiraling into debt. We shall conduct market research and join together to make our business.

My group and I have decided to choose a partnership for our type of business ownership, as a sole trader was not suitable for this type of business activity. The advantages of choosing this type of business ownership meant that we could share the responsibilities of the tasks ahead to make a quick, fast and efficient launch of our advertising and our product as we only had a time scale of two weeks. Here is a list of the advantages of a partnership:

Easy to set up, but a deed of partnership is advisable.
These businesses are usually small so less capital is needed.
Responsibilities can be shared.
Decisions can be shared.
And can be run as a family business.
Accounts can be kept private.
And money comes from the partners.

A partnership is more suitable for our business type as our time scale is small, we can operate effectively sharing out tasks, decisions and paper work.

Legal Requirements

There are certain legal agreements that must be followed before a business can start trading. A partnership is a business run by two or more people together. There should be a written agreement detailing this arrangement. Profits are usually shared between partners according to the agreement. Although profits may be shared unequally, liabilities, which may arise, are shared jointly. This is something that everyone involved should be very clear about. Even if you only own 1% of the business you will still be responsible for 100% of the liability.
A partnership is a very risky type of business to get involved in, just because of all the potential for conflict, and the financial effect, conflict between partners would be likely to have on the business. However, now the Limited Liability Partnerships Act has received Royal Approval and will become Law by the end of the year. There are a number of advantages to LLP including limited liability (as with a Limited Company) and the tax advantages of a Partnership. Your obligations are the same as for a Sole Trader. Your liabilities are the same as for a Sole Trader. The good side choosing a partnership is that often more money can be raised to start the business if more than one person is involved. You will need to keep records for Inland Revenue (and also for VAT if you are VAT registered), but there are no other legal requirements. Each partner should submit a P/SE/1 and you are taxed as an individual. If you leave the partnership your tax liability will follow you (unlike in the past when the remaining partner had to pay it)

The workload can be shared. Fair trading regulations exist to protect the consumer from exploitation.

The consumer has basic legal rights if the product is:

• Given a misleading description
• Of an unsatisfactory quality
• Not fit for its intended purpose

There are two types of limited company that define the way money can be raised through shares. Private limited company's can sell shares only to designated people and there is a limit to how much capital can be raised through this method. Public limited companies can issue shares to the public so this means that any one can have a share in the business. In companies such as Sainsbury's shares are sold to gather capital, this is very different to a loan, as the money does not have to be paid back over a fixed period of time. When one shareholder sells his or her share(s) the company does not raise any additional funds. There are also preference shares and ordinary shares; ordinary shares are the most common form of share capital and these shareholders can vote at business meetings but the amount of dividends they receive will vary due to the share price. Preference shares do not have a say at meetings so they cannot vote. The dividends of these shares are usually fixed at a rate of five percent of the share price and are given out once a year. Preference shareholders receive their dividends before ordinary shareholders.

Stakeholders.

I am now going to investigate the stakeholders of a business. Stakeholders are anybody who has an interest or “stake” in the activities of a business. Stakeholders may be able to influence what a business does, but some may have more influence than others. For example the government can influence the location of a business and various other things like employees. For example the stakeholders of Sainsbury's are.

1. Share holders
2. Employees
3. Local community
4. Government
5. Suppliers
6. Management
7. Banks
8. Customers
9. Pressure groups. .

All of the above have an interest in the activities of business, below shows how their interests and influences have changed over time. In business it is important that your business complies with the stakeholders needs to remain inline as a competitor with the competition. Below is an example of Sainsbury's stakeholders and how they influence or change over time. The following stakeholders of Sainsbury's in the chart below are shareholders, employees, local community and Government.

Stakeholder of Sainsbury's

Shareholders

Employees

What is their main interest in the business

High dividends and the business to expand and do well they also want the share prices to go up

Employees want Job security, good pay and good working conditions

What influence do they have over the business?

The share holders own the business

As a group, a union they may have a lot of influence in the business

What expectations do they have of the business?

High profit which leads to high dividends

Want pension schemes, good training, good rates of pay, social events and discounts

How have interests changed over time?

Looking to expand the business using the latest technology available. This may produce higher profits

Interested in the business doing well. They may have shares in the business themselves given as a staff bonus.

How has influence changed over time?

Employ more senior managers from other chains -Tesco manager- new ideas from outside the business.

More influential as there is a staff shortage in the area. Low level of unemployment. It costs 3000 pounds to train one person.

How expectations have changed over time?

Want greater profits and expansion to gain a greater share of the market.

Now expect better training, wages and conditions.

How is the business responding to any of the above changes?

They have tried to target other markets- electrical, insurance, petrol etc.

Always pay above minimum wage. Provide benefits so they don't leave to go to another store. Childcare flexibility maternity/paternity leave. Staff socials

Stakeholder of Sainsbury's

Local community

Government

What is their main interest in the business

They want the business to provide the public with good quality service and products

For the business to be successful and expand because the more money they make the more tax they pay.

What influence do they have over the business?

They have a say in the running of the business with regards to opening times and other things an example of this corresponding with Sainsbury's is the local community stopped the building of a petrol station.

They have an influence over employment, the selling of alcohol, and the location of the business.

What expectations do they have of the business?

They expect the area to be kept clean and tidy and they expect them to employ some of the local community

They expect them to abide by the laws and pay taxes on the goods they sell.

How have interests changed over time?

Sainsbury's stores have got bigger so there may be more disruption

Because they have got bigger they expect them to employ, comply to laws and sanctions put in place and create a good image.

How has influence changed over time?

Local community groups have more power through forming groups

They can influence employment, location and make them give to the local community for example putting money into the hospital near by.

How expectations have changed over time?

They expect a certain number of the unemployed population to be employed and the are to be kept clean and tidy

They expect Sainsbury's to be economic, provide good products and fair service at reasonable prices to pay tax

How is the business responding to any of the above changes?

Employing local people, keeping in touch with the community and being ethical.

Employing the local community and abide legislations

Stakeholder of crowns cards valentine delivery service

Local community

Government

What is their main interest in the business

That the business sell good quality products at a good quality price

That the business do well and create lots of jobs

What influence do they have over the business?

They influence what the business sell

They can influence employment, location of the business and in some cases their product line for example, the government want their product line to educate younger children in some way.

What expectations do they have of the business?

That the business is ethical, honest and conform to legal requirements

They expect them to abide by regulations and pay taxes of goods they sell

How have interests changed over time?

They expect the business to listen more to customers

Their interest in the business

How has influence changed over time?

The influence of customers has not changed over time

More recently they can influence the size of a business for example how many stores Tesco have nation wide.

How expectations have changed over time?

They expect the business to keep the community clean, employ local people and give something back to the community

They expect them to recycle waste, be ethical (charitable) and conform to legal requirements. Also they expect them to pay tax.

How is the business responding to any of the above changes?

The business has employed people from the local area; keeps the area of selling clean and keeps in line with regulations for example VAT registration.

Also the business will organise charitable events that benefit the community.

The business is responding to the government by recycling waste, generating local economy by employing local people and complying with legislation.

Stakeholders of Crowns Cards valentine delivery service

Share holders

Employees

What is their main interest in the business

Shareholders main interests are the profits of the business and the long-term direction; in a small partnership business shareholders are usually family members.

Employees want Job security, good pay and good working conditions

What influence do they have over the business?

They have little influence as a minority but with other share holders they become majority and have say over such things as diversification, dividends

As a group, a union they may have a lot of influence in the business

What expectations do they have of the business?

They expect the business to make a profit and set targets to be achieved and also be legitimate

Want pension schemes, good training, good rates of pay, social events and discounts

How have interests changed over time?

Their interest may have changed to, the direction or the product range of the business. Or the market share that they own and Growth.

Interested in the business doing well. They may have shares in the business themselves given as a staff bonus.

How has influence changed over time?

The influence of share holders can change the direction of a business and what products are being sold

More influential as there is a staff shortage in the area. Low level of employment. It costs 3000 pounds to train one person.

How expectations have changed over time?

Shareholders expect the business to be innovative, modern and competitive. Certain expectations do not change. Like profitability.

Now expect better training, wages and conditions.

How is the business responding to any of the above changes?

My business is responding by increasing dividends from profitability and setting the long-term direction of the business. Also allowing room for more specialised ideas.

Always pay above minimum wage. Provide benefits so they don't leave to go to another store. Childcare flexibility maternity/paternity leave. Staff socials

Every business has competition and that is what in most cases puts businesses out of a sale. Losing sales can be because of the price of your product. You have to identify your competition and put your prices inline or below your competitions price line. This creates desire for the cheaper product and helps achieve to create a custom for your business. Having a cheaper product creates word of mouth and can be very reputable and profitable to your business. The competition in the new mills area is Pricilla's, which is Gift shop in the town centre. Church road Stores, the co-op and the flower shop also I am in competition with shops that sell crafts materials for example card and decorative sequins. This is why I must promote my product as being bigger and better than making your own valentines card and really make people believe that the product is worth the price. The usual price of a valentine card at each of my competitor's stores is one pound fifty at the least. This puts me at an advantage as my business is promoting a sort of after sales service. This is the delivery of the card to the valentine. The local shops advertise valentine's cards with an envelope and nothing else for one pound fifty where as my business is offering free delivery service with the valentine's card for one pound. I have decided this would be my unique selling point and would be the deterrent of the other customers to guide them to the additional cheaper price.

Evaluation of this section

In this report I will be investigating why people decide to set up in their own business, how you carry out suitable market analysis into your business to produce an idea that can create potential competition or fill a gap in the market. Explaining what resources are needed for setting up and running a business, to recognize the distinctive features of your product and that you can recommend a suitable price, a list of the main resources that the business would need before it could start producing and selling, details of the type of business ownership chosen for the business and how this affects profits, liability and the way the business must be registered, an outline of the legal requirements that a business must meet before it can start trading, and details of suitable sources of finance for your business. I set up a business with four other people set for the theme of Valentines Day. We set out to make a profit, substantial enough for four people.

Reasons for setting up in business

There are many reasons for people setting up in business these include,

To have more control over your working life.
To make a profit.
Dissatisfaction of current employment.
Belief that they have a potentially successful idea.
Recognition that there is a gap in the market.
The need to have work of some kind. (Self satisfaction)
Incentives from government or other organisations.
Following the route of family or friends.

Another reason for people setting up in business is “redundancy”. Redundancy money is given to an employee when a business is made redundant, so this can be used as capital to set up their business. The advantages of owning your own business is that you can keep all the profits depending on the type of business ownership

Seeking sources of help and advice

There are many sources of help and advice available to small businesses. There is even help and assistance for businesses before they set up. The first source that I have researched is HSBC Bank. This was done through the Internet and looking at their website.

HSBC inform and give advice on writing a business plan. A business plan can be defined as:

“A written document that describes a business, its objectives, strategies, market and financial forecast.”

The website tells you how to write a business plan and how it should be set out. The next stage, according to HSBC, is the forming of a business. Once you have made up your mind to go ahead, you need to get to grips with the legal requirements for forming a business. Setting up your business in the right way keeps costs down. It can also help prevent your working relationships turning sour, one of the major causes of business failure. There are four main choices for the legal form of your business.
If you are a sole trader, you are self-employed, with no special legal structure.
In a partnership, two or more self-employed people work together as partners and share the profits (or losses).
A limited company is a separate legal entity, distinct from its shareholders, directors and employees.
Unlike a sole trader or partnership, it is not the same as the individuals who own or run it.
A limited liability partnership has some of the advantages (and disadvantages) of both a company and a partnership.
For example, it is a separate legal entity and can continue despite the resignation or death of some members. We as a group decided that we shall write up a business plan and think everything through before hand so we don't make any mistakes and waste any resouces. The idea of this section is to keep you in control of the business so it doesn't go spiraling into debt. We shall conduct market research and join together to make our business.

Research into your market

In groups we were asked to set up a business that corresponded with the 14th February, Valentines Day. We were asked to analyse the market, to try and find a gap in the market, by asking questions to our target market. By doing so we can set up our business idea and make a profit, we only had two weeks only to set up our business idea, conduct our advertising and market research and then launch the product. Our target market is the year nine pupil's of New Mills School we obtained our target market from the questionnaire that we produced. We have decided to sell valentines cards along with a messaging service, in which we deliver the valentines cards to the classroom of the secret admirer.

In market research, companies have two types of data in research and they are primary and secondary data. How you obtain the data on your market research depends on what type of information you use. Secondary research, which is also known as “desk research” involves using data that has already been created or provided by one of the following,
Government statistics
Market research companies, e.g. Gallop
News papers
The internet
The advantages of this market research are that the information is already available and it is cheap and also you can find out what other competitors are doing, but this information may be out of date and difficult to make sense of. And the information may not be relevant. To avoid this, primary research is done also known as field research and this information that is newly created and can be collected either by research firms, i.e. Gallup and Mori, or can be collected by the firm itself. There are lots of ways that you can conduct field research and they are as follows.
Test marketing
Surveys
Observation
Consumer panels
Questionnaires
Interviews
Electronic (EPOS)
Postal
Face to face
Telephone
Open ended
Group interviews
The advantages of this kind of research are that you obtain the information you want; the information is up to date and the competitors will not have this information but this information is expensive, is difficult to obtain and takes longer to obtain. The market research that my group and I conducted was known as field research. This consisted of a questionnaire made up of specially selected questions that may draw the answer we want from the pupil. We have conducted field research for our business idea. We put together a questionnaire for our market research, which consisted of the questions that you see below.

How much would you pay for a Valentines Day card?

£1.00 £1.25 £1.50 £ 1.75

How much would you expect to pay for the valentine card to be delivered

25p 50p 75p £1.00

What year group are you in?

Yr7 yr8 yr 9 yr10 yr11 6th form

What would you buy them for valentines day

Cards jewellery

Chocolate teddy

Roses other

Perfume

If you have picked other please will you state your answer______________

Our target market is the year nines in our school. I found that I naturally aimed this questionnaire at the year nines as they may be experiencing a first love and are new to the giving of presents to loved ones. We are selling valentines cards aimed at both male and female and also year nines are our target market as they hang around in one big group in the library. We asked about 60 pupils questions from our questionnaire the questions, forty-one pupils said they would pay a pound for a valentines card, four said they would pay one-pound twenty-five, eight said they would pay one pound fifty and seven said they would pay one pound seventy five. We then asked them how much extra they would pay for a delivery service and sixty pupils said that they would only pay twenty-five pence for the charge of the delivery service of the cards.
We have also had to compete with all of the other shops in New Mills that sell cards and they are;
Pricilla's, the late shop, church road stores and the Co-op. all of these shops sell valentines cards at a price of up to two pounds. We had to find card that was a reasonable thickness so the cards aren't too flimsy and that was at a good price. The cheapest we could find was 25p for one piece of card but the card was good quality. For the design we found little packs of foam hearts, which were cheap also and made for good use. Based on the market research and the price of the competitions cards we decided to charge one pound twenty five for the card and the delivery service.

Deciding on the type of business ownership

The presentation that I did was on a sole trader, I have copied the slides as evidence for this assignment, and these slides are detailed below:

My group and I have decided to choose a partnership for our type of business ownership, as a sole trader was not suitable for this type of business activity. The advantages of choosing this type of business ownership meant that we could share the responsibilities of the tasks ahead to make a quick, fast and efficient launch of our advertising and our product as we only had a time scale of two weeks. Here is a list of the advantages of a partnership:
Easy to set up, but a deed of partnership is advisable.
Usually small so less capital is needed.
Responsibilities can be shared.
Decisions can be shared.
And can be run as a family business.
Accounts can be kept private.
And money comes from the partners.

A partnership is more suitable for our business type as our time scale is small, we can operate effectively sharing out tasks, decisions and paper work.

Section 7 Legal Requirements
There are certain legal agreements that must be followed before a business can start trading. A partnership is a business run by two or more people together. There should be a written agreement detailing this arrangement. Profits are usually shared between partners according to the agreement. Although profits may be shared unequally, liabilities, which may arise, are shared jointly. This is something that everyone involved should be very clear about. Even if you only own 1% of the business you will still be responsible for 100% of the liability.
A partnership is a very risky type of business to get involved in, just because of all the potential for conflict, and the financial effect conflict between partners would be likely to have on the business. However, now the Limited Liability Partnerships Act has received Royal Approval and will become Law by the end of the year. There are a number of advantages to LLP including limiting liability (as with a Limited Company) and the tax advantages of a Partnership. Your obligations are the same as for a Sole Trader. Your liabilities are the same as for a Sole Trader. The good side choosing a partnership is that often more money can be raised to start the business if more than one person is involved. You will need to keep records for Inland Revenue (and also for VAT if you are VAT registered), but there are no other legal requirements. Each partner should submit a P/SE/1 and you are taxed as an individual. If you leave the partnership your tax liability will follow you (unlike in the past when the remaining partner had to pay it)

The workload can be shared. Fair trading regulations exist to protect the consumer from exploitation.

The consumer has basic legal rights if the product is:

• Given a misleading description
• Of an unsatisfactory quality
• Not fit for its intended purpose

There are three main consumer protection laws:

Trade Descriptions Acts of 1968 and 1972

False or misleading information must not be given about products.

For example, "fresh" must mean that the food has not previously been frozen.

Consumer Credit Act 1974

This protects you when you borrow or buy on credit.

• Businesses must have licences to give credit.
• No one under 18 is to be invited to borrow or buy on credit.
• Businesses have to state an Annual Percentage Rate (APR).
• If you sign a credit agreement at home you have several days in which you can tear up the agreement. It is called a "cooling off period".

Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994

This Act says that all products have to be of a "satisfactory quality". This means that they have to:

• Be safe
• Last for a reasonable amount of time
• Be fit for their intended purpose
• Have nothing wrong with them (unless the defect was noted at the time of sale)

Sources of finance

Businesses need finance, for the reasons that the business may need to start up. Sources of finance are available for businesses that want to find new technology, open new markets, acquisitions or moving to a new premises or the day-to-day running of the business. Businesses have internal and external sources of finance. Internal finance comes from trading of business, day-to-day cash from sales to customers, loans from trade suppliers through extended credit, reductions in amounts of stock held by the business and a sale of surplus assets (no longer needed). The external sources of finance are from individuals or organisations that do not trade directly in business also other sources are banks, investors or government grants. A business also needs long term and short-term finance for the long run of the business so an owner can budget for a bad spell (a decrease in sales). Short-term is needed for the day-to-day running of the business this is paid back in a short amount of time so it is less risky for the lender. Long-term sources of finance are usually used for big projects that will pay back over a longer period of time. This is usually risky for the lender as the business may go into debt so the lender usually asks for some sort of insurance or security just in case the business can't pay back the loan. A mortgage is an example of secured long-term finance. The main sources of finance are Mortgages, bank loans and share issues and debentures. Depending on the amount of money you want to borrow and the circumstances you must decide which source you choose. The criterion for choosing a source of finance depends on:

• Amount of money required
• How quickly money is needed
• Cheapest option available
• Amount of risk involved for the reason for the cash.

Using your own source of finance is the cheapest and most reliable source since is carries no obligation to pay back or pay interest, you don't have to divide the business control to another paying partner. It is a more flexible source, as there are no authorisations to overcome and you can add more finance if required (and if available). There are various tax incentives for people who invest in their own business. Sources of finance for sole traders and partnerships include:

• Bank loans
• Bank Overdraft
• Trade credit
• Retained profits
• Taking on a new partner
• Government grants (depending on the area and the activities)
• Remember- there is no company; so a sole trader or partnership cannot have shareholders providing finance. .

There are two types of limited company that define the way money can be raised through shares. Private limited company's can sell shares only to designated people and there is a limit to how much capital can be raised through this method. Public limited companies can issue shares to the public so this means that any one can have a share in the business. In companies such as Sainsbury's shares are sold to gather capital, this is very different to a loan, as the money does not have to be paid back over a fixed period of time. When one shareholder sells his or her share(s) the company does not raise any additional funds. There are also preference shares and ordinary shares; ordinary shares are the most common form of share capital and these shareholders can vote at business meetings but the amount of dividends they receive will vary due to the share price. Preference shares do not have a say at meetings so they cannot vote. The dividends of these shares are usually fixed at a rate of five percent of the share price and are given out once a year. Preference shareholders receive their dividends before ordinary shareholders.

Conclusion

I have concluded through our research and our investigations that our business idea and business plan was successful as we chose the right target market and the right resource and selling pitch. It was original; it wasn't too expensive for our product in the overall cost and the investment was payable and payable with interest. This shows that investment into our business would be a good investment and a secure investment.

Barnardo's is a charity for children who are being fostered into care because the parents didn't have financial status to afford a child. The president of Barnardo's is Cherie Blair or also known from her maiden name as Booth. The charity where provided with the money to launch a campaign against poverty, in which a million pounds was spent. The campaign was launched in August of two thousand and three and lasted until October of two thousand and three. The reasons for this are that the campaign was banned as the pictures were offensive to people of the general public.

The advertising complaints commission received around five hundred complaints saying that they were shocked and distressed by the advertisements. They went to the advertising standards agency and the ASA ruled that the advertisements would cause wide spread offence and should not be repeated. One million pound's was spent on the campaign that lasted three months.

The images on the print consist of newly born babies with implements that show a scene, and sense of poverty. The adverts contain babies with objects such as a syringe and mentholated spirits super imposed onto the picture and into the babies mouths another contained a cockroach in his mouth. With this evidence I can see that the main strategy of the campaign is to shock you these are what are known as scare tactics. They want to scare you into reading the text that contains information about their aims. Their aim is to raise awareness of poverty around the UK so they can raise a charitable fortune to put an end to sufferings of people with children living in poverty. They raise issues such as “A child's chances when born into poverty can be dead against him/ her and very much direct you towards a life of crime and drug abuse in later life”.

In these images the babies are on their backs and the photographer (Miles Aldridge) has taken the pictures on an angle looking at the baby from the side. This makes the baby with the image of, for example a cockroach in its mouth look uncared for and not nurtured. Also the positioning of every baby is on its back showing weakness towards the poverty that he/ she must face. All of these connotative meanings represent the weakness of the child

In comparison, one of the images, which is of a baby with a “silver spoon” in its mouth, we see the baby from a birds eye view. This connotative meaning signifies some one watching over the baby like a mother nurturing a baby. There are other connotative meanings such as the colour in the image; it is gold on a soft cushion. The gold in the image signifies wealth and a good upbringing that the child will have because of the benefits of wealth the cushions shows comfort that the child will witness.

In the other images we see that the surface that the babies are on is firm and looks uncomfortable and the back ground in the images are very indistinguishable. It looks like the room is empty and cold. The colours in the image such as a slimy green and a very dull grey/ white wash on the surfaces make you think and feel that the room is cold and empty. The image of the baby drinking mentholated spirits is on a drunken angle that looks and suggests that the baby will be an alcoholic in later life due the conditions of poverty she/ he has grown up in. the syringe suggests drug abuse, and the cock roach signifies poor living conditions.

These images are trying to get you to read the text in the image. In this text it contains a lot underlying emotion that it try's to draw from. For example the text next to the images it will contain the name of the baby and how old it is. This makes you feel emotionally drawn to the circumstances that the text outlines that the baby with have to cope with. The photographer in a way takes away the innocence of the baby with the images of drug abuse and the text gives the baby back its innocence and draws you to feel more for the child. The text in one of the images say's, “If only poverty didn't crush the spirit, hopes and joy of thousands of children every year. If only poverty didn't rob them of the choices of a positive future.”

The text is trying to emotionally draw you to making the decision to give money to the charity of Barnardo's. Because of the information in the text I know who their target audience is. They are looking for people who go to work and earn a wage that is of a sufficient amount a year. To be a bit more precise they are looking for people with disposable incomes and even perhaps people who have children. These adverts draw your emotional feeling for the baby's position.

In this world of advertising it's hard to determine weather they failed their aim to raise the awareness of poverty. It brings the question to mind, does bad press in the advertising world potentially fail your aims of advertising? In my opinion this is not nessaccerally true. As people looked at the images in disgust they will see the logo of Barnardo's and through the shock tactic that the photographer has used they will remember the charity and what they stand for, not nessaccerally in a good light but they will remember. And that in my opinion is successful advertising. Barnardo's was asked these questions bellow and these are the response they gave.

“What does Barnardo's think the adverts will achieve?

“The adverts are part of the Barnardo's campaign 2003 on Child poverty. The one key role of these adverts is to deliver the message across the nations that children growing up in poverty are robbed of their future.”

“These hard-hitting images will cut through the prejudice and apathy that we know exists, and engage with the target audiences and drives them towards supporting Barnardo's vital work. We want the adverts to provoke debate surrounding child poverty and establish this issue as significant”

“Finally, these adverts will continue to build the position of Barnardo's as a modern, relevant and deserving charity to maximise our potential for fund raising and influencing social policy for children.”

“The concept behind the silver spoon campaign refers to the proverb “born with a silver spoon in your mouth” meaning to be born into life of opportunity and prosperity.”

“Barnardo's is using metaphor within the advertising to make the point that not all children are born with the same opportunities or aspirations for the future. Children born into poverty are more likely to have a life that stays hard and a future of homelessness, substance misuse or crime.”

“Using the line ‘not every child is born with a silver spoon,' there are three different executions each featuring a newly born baby with an object superimposed in his/her mouth in order to demonstrate metaphorically the possible future consequences of children who are born into poverty. The objects chosen are a syringe to signify drug abuse, a bottle of methylated spirits to signify alcohol abuse and a cockroach to signify poor living conditions.”

“There is also a fourth advert in the campaign that shows a newborn baby with a silver spoon with the strap line ‘if only every child in the UK was born with a silver spoon'. This presents Banardo's vision that the lives of all children should be free from poverty.”

“The cockroach is an effective symbol of poverty. It is an unpleasant and unwelcome pest that thrives in squalid living conditions and blights the lives of those children

And their families that are unable to escape using the cockroach as a symbol of poverty was triggered from the experiences of service users and staff that were consulted.”

“The entire campaign cost £1,000,000 this is less than 1% of turnover, this spend was stretched considerably by the contribution of free recourses from our agencies and negotiating reductions of cost”

Isn't that a lot just for print? Wouldn't the money be better spent on your projects?

“The spend is less than 1% of turn over and is a fraction compared to other organisations' advertising activities. This budget has been stretched considerably due to the reduction of costs through out the development of the campaign, for example, the photographer Miles Aldridge waived his fees, and we have been given agencies' resources for free”

“Poverty is a key part of Barnardo's vision. We need to address the lack of awareness and apathy that we know exists surrounding child poverty in the UK . The campaigning activities are vital to ensure that the public are aware of Barnardo's work and that Barnardo's continues to be positioned in the mind of the public as a modern and relevant charity to stimulate deservedness and provide a climate for fundraising and influencing”

Did you use real babies for the ad's?

“Yes we used babies of between two and fifteen weeks old who were bathed and then had special make up and petroleum jelly dabbed onto their skin to signify that they were new born babies. There was a nurse on the photography shoot as well as the babies' mothers who were able to swap stories and chat to the photographer who has three young children of his own.”

Aren't you encouraging young children to put dangerous objects into their mouths?

“The adverts are not targeted at small children and will be shown predominantly in news papers.

We photographed the babies separately and then superimposed the objects as a later date in order to create the illusion that the objects were in the babies mouths.”

My responses to the advertisements were of mixed messages. I can't agree that leading a life of poverty can nessacerally lead to a life of drug abuse and a life of squalor, it's the choices the child makes, and it is up to other people such as parents and drugs education teachers to try and deter their child from making the wrong decisions. In this advertisement they have provided a stereotypical outlook on people who live in poverty, this brings present a lack of sensitivity to the poor population in the UK , who's argument is that of offence to the poor population. The up roar that is concerning these advertisements in my opinion is exact. These adverts are offensive as it could create repute between the social classes of society and label these people with an image. The advertisements should be banned. I do not think that the target audience would sympathise with the children in these circumstances so therefore I think that the campaign is at loss.

I think they have succeeded in their aim to raise the awareness of child poverty and their brand awareness in the UK but through neglectful language they have failed the campaign by failing to reach their audience with a positive message. They make fair points that poverty can change a child's life and choices and may lead to missed opportunity but they are insensitive. The pictures implicate that people who live in poverty do not care for their children, it is in a very subtle way that this is put to the audience but I can see the subtle offence that the public may have picked up on. One million pounds was spent on this campaign and it was then later banned, this with care and sensitivity could have been avoided and successful.