Toyota in China - Assignment Example

Purpose Needless to say that there is always an idea behind construction/development of anything. For example, if a bridge has to be constructed, firstly an idea is developed in the shape of its layout/architecture/design before construction. Similarly, I had certain ideas in mind to project this poster – “Toyota in China”. I understand the core objective behind this activity is to develop not only the skills & abilities required for creating an informative & eye-catching poster but also exercise brainstorming to extract out-of-box ideas out of the students’ brain. Content of poster Content of poster was developed and organized keeping in view the way information is absorbed & processed by a human brain. 1) Headline plus Logo: The poster starts with a headline followed by a picture of Chinese flag and then Logo on right. It was aimed to give readers at-a-glance understanding of theme or what the poster is all about. Giving logo was aimed to highlight the brand whilst forcing brand-conscious people to read through. The idea was put in place referring to other posters. 2) Introduction: Under introduction, I have tried to highlight Toyota’s distinct manufacturing philosophy and state-of-the-art technology that it has recently introduced in China. Secondly, comparing Toyota with GM, I have tried to shed light on Toyota’s progression pace all over the world. Toyota’s latest brands especially the hybrid car gives enough evidence of unmatched technology that Toyota possesses. The content was organized based on the philosophy that describes three main things that could get a human brain to click ON – i.e. Significance, Involvement and Intrigue, 3) International Strategy: In order to enhance Toyota’s reputation internationally, I deemed it necessary to incorporate Toyota’s global strategy by describing a little background of the firm’s origination and its successful business journey – i.e. where they were, where they are & where they want to be. Information has been organized in a way that gives firm’s step-by-step development periods. 4) Toyota’s success factors in China: Having in mind the human psyche of first concentrating on visuals, colors, graphics, etc., success factors have been placed in centre with multi-color arrow signs, showing beautiful car images with a caption underneath and putting key highlights in red boxes. Failure factors show Toyota’s weakness in parts’ automation. 5) Toyota’s strategy in China: This part is intended to underline the strategies adopted by Toyota in China. The information, which was organized in chronological order, basically reveals Toyota’s success story in China. 6) Conclusion: It presents the bottom-line of Toyota’s achievements the world over. Skills developed through the creation of poster I understand development of my skills had started far before beginning of creation of the poster. Creating a poster was not only an art but was carrying multiple objectives along. The core of this activity was to gauge a student’s cognition, skills, level of innovative thoughts & out-of-box ideas that could well-articulate your message across the readers. The most important skills that I developed by this activity were “Brainstorming” and “Transforming long ideas and scattered thoughts into a fewer words”. Besides that I also learned the technique of attention-getting opening of the poster that could tempt your target audience to read through. In this poster the headline – TOYOTA IN CHINA with Chinese flag and Logo served the purpose. Further, I got an opportunity to excel & apply my skills based on the creative pyramid of AIDA – i.e. Attention: First get their attention; Interest: Once you have their attention, create interest; Desire: Once interest is developed, create a desire in them, and finally Action: They buy your product. Order & flow of information given in the poster are in line with AIDA philosophy as described above – i.e. Got attention by with a strong introduction; Created interest by revealing Toyota success story in China; Developed desire by placing highlights in red boxes and showing visuals with caption, and finally influenced action by reiterating Toyota’s success in conclusion. Researches have proved that men and women process information differently in their brains. Men respond better when text is reinforced by visuals that show benefits. Therefore, assuming men, being my target audience, texts particularly salient features, have been backed by visuals & graphics. Presentation of poster in terms of layout, placing right information at the right place and especially use of colors was also worth-learning. Efforts were made to keep consistency in the layout and ensure orderly arrangement of all the elements – i.e. visuals, headlines, subheads, body, logo, etc. Consistency in flow of information was taken care of and broken into “pleasing proportions” where necessary. Regarding use of color, a study was conducted with regard to impact of using different colors. Therefore, care was taken when using color in a way that the poster looks neither too glamorous nor too dull or stereotype. Last but not least this task has undoubtedly triggered students to dig-out not only their hidden talents but also remain on a quest to do things differently. Strengths & Weakness found in the poster: As I firmly believe that there is always a room for improvement, I give below a couple of Strengths & Weaknesses that I found during the post-review of the poster. Strengths: 1) Showing the Chinese flag & Toyota logo reflect what the poster is all about. It helps readers to tune their mindset to the topic. 2) Although red color depicts a sign of danger or negativity, but blending/combining it with light orange has defused the impact to some extent; 3) Contents, given in small square & rectangular shape boxes, persuade readers to move on and read through; 4) Some information given in the “Introduction” truly appeals readers to know more about Toyota. For instance, (1) Toyota China has successfully introduced its unique manufacturing philosophy……… (2) Toyota could supersede GM as the world’s largest car manufacturing company. (3) Toyota proved to be a technology pace-setter by introducing a design for the hybrid car; 5) Information presented under “International Strategy” reflects Toyota’s determination to ensure its technological supremacy & sustainable growth, which shows further technological advancement in automobile industry in years ahead; 6) In context of “Toyota’s success factors in China”, information in bullet points with arrows directing to the relevant red box shows consistency to some extent. Moreover, summarizing in a single descriptive sentence (in red boxes) and car images with caption added value to the overall construction of the poster. However, positioning & alignment of text boxes plus background red color in text boxes need to be changed; 7) “Toyota’s Strategy in China” gives to the interested readers explicit information in context of Toyota’s presence in China; Weaknesses: 1) Though effort has been made in the start-up by putting the headline “TOYOTA IN CHINA” with the flag, nonetheless more needs to be done to demonstrate Toyota’s branding and boost a reader’s interest as well. 2) A person feels boring and often does not pay attention when information is given in a text form. The entire introduction contains a running text which may result in lowering the reader’s interest. 3) The quality & standard of writing are relatively not up to the mark. Headings are stereotype while professionalism in overall construction also seems lacking. 4) Using red color is highly discouraged in presentation or projection as it represents the blood color or a sign of danger/emergency or negative results, etc. In this poster red color has been largely used both in text & background. However, if something is originally red, it must not change. For example, Chinese flag & Toyota logo in this poster. 5) Content of “Why is Toyota in China successful?” seems to be flying from one side to another plus not properly organized. Text alignment has not been concentrated on. Text boxes too are neither appropriately positioned nor are in parallel with the relevant content. 6) Though car images have contributed to beautifying the overall look of the poster to certain extent but they are not exhibiting significant value-addition. 7) The word “Conclusion” sounds stereotype and is used in documentation stuff such as research paper, literature review, case study, story, etc. For a poster, it does not suit at all. Recommendations for improvement: 1) In order to ensure a more lively start-up, a kind of slogan/tag line (in different color & font style) may be added to underneath the headline. For example, “Great people to drive with” or “Make your dream true with Toyota”, etc. 2) a. The word “introduction” should be replaced by “About us”. b. Introduction should be in bullets and the content should be objective more than subjective. For example, annual sales turnover or revenue generated or profit earned or production capacity or amount invested in R&D, etc. should be incorporated in bullets. c. Owing to a starting point, each & every word of introduction should be fairly simple & easy-to-understand and should exhibit professionalism. 3) a. The heading “International Strategy of Toyota” should be replaced by “Our Global Strategy”. b. Each strategy should briefly describe the resulting impacts (Pros & Cons) and how they were overcome by Toyota. c. Red font color should be avoided. 4) The heading “Why is Toyota in China successful?” should be replaced by “Why Toyota beyond others?” This, being a core & center part of the poster, should be well-structured, well-presented & well-written. Color, layout, fonts, drawings, pictures – meaning everything should give a professional look backed by more appealing visuals. Instead of red color, the most liked color of the Toyota car in China should be used throughout the poster. 5) a. The heading “Strategy of Toyota in China” should be replaced by “Our success story in China”. b. Each point should briefly reveal the resulting impacts, preferably in figures. 6) The poster must not end with an ordinary tone. The word “Conclusion” must be replaced by some good business jargon and the concluding text should entail the focal point of Toyota’s success. 7) Last but not least it is my personal opinion that either “Failure factors” should be removed or rationalized with positive concrete reasons. Read More