For my last post for the thesis project seminar class, I am going to talk about one of my research interests that I have not written about or spoke about all semester. The reason behind this is simply that I am tired of talking about brand image and social cause-related marketing!
So for this blog I am going to focus on alternative advertising methods. In today’s busy world a person can see up to 5,000 advertisements in one day! That is crazy! With that much going on around us how can advertisers expect to reach their target audience without breaking into their “world” (or their audience segment: such as teen, tween, parents, baby boomers, etc…)? The answer is that they can’t or at least not without the help of guerilla marketing which uses “sneaky” (for lack of a better word), creative ways to get the information about the product or brand out there and into the life of the target audience. Guerilla marketing uses interesting and unique campaigns to create a word-of-mouth buzz about the product or brand.
Though I said I wasn’t going to discuss brand image, I lied, because I have to mention it here. When an advertiser or brand breaks into their target audience’s world, the brand become relevant to the consumer and therefore integrates itself into their everyday life. This causes the brands image to form and be validated in the eyes of the consumer. But, let’s go back to alternative advertising methods…
While alternative advertising methods and alternative media fascinate me, I am no techie and may not have complete understanding of all things electronic or internet related. I want to focus this blog post on some of the most interesting alternative advertising methods I have found. Some of these are so artful and eye-catching that even people outside of the target audience have to notice. Now that is effective advertising.
First, I want to talk about sidewalk advertising, which I find to be so interesting. While it may not be the most technologically advanced, it is so artful and intriguing that it catches the interests of many walks of life. It can also be very noticeable because it is not very common yet. Click on this article, it is pretty interesting and presents several alternative advertising methods. Also, this picture is an ad for beverage in Europe somewhere, I believe. I first saw this ad in Jim Avery’s advertising campaigns class.
Second, I want to talk about Facebook and MySpace advertising. This is quite possible the best internet advertising a brand or business marketing to tweens, teens, or young adults could do. I know that I (who never click on internet ads) have even click on a couple of ad on Facebook, because they were relevant to me at the time.
Last, I want to mention mobile advertising, not mobile phone advertising, but actual ads that move. Everyone has seen an ad on the side of a bus or a truck, but how about an entire truck that is an advertisement for something. Like this truck that is advertising for the movie Juno that recently release on DVD.
Well, there are tons more alternative methods but I just wanted to touch on a few that I really believe could work (for awhile until they become normal, then a new alternative will be needed).
Showing posts with label Emily Lile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emily Lile. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Life After Project!
Is there life after the completion of a thesis or project? YES! A much less stressful life awaits! :)
With the completion of my project will also come the end of my school years, so yes for me there is life after completing my project!
As is the nature of any professional project, I hope to successfully disseminate my ideas and the core concepts from my project to a particular client. I am still uncertain of who exactly that client will be, but this will be determined when I get a little closer to time for me to begin my final project. If I go with the project proposal that I have come up with for this class, the client would be Grand River Dam Authority as well as a chosen nonprofit agency.
The audience I really hope to influence would be nonprofit agencies as well as large corporations that wish to be socially responsible and help to financially support a worthy cause. My project proposal proposes that a joint advertising campaign be created, that would involve both a for-profit corporation and a non-profit organization. Not only would the nonprofit benefit because of the financial support, but the corporation would benefit as well, because of the goodwill and positive brand image the partnership would accrue.
The interesting spin that this project has as opposed to other social cause-related marketing campaigns is that it involves the non-profit one hundred percent. Input, approval, and suggestions for the ads of both entities would be needed from the nonprofit as well as the corporation. Also, though this would be an advertising campaign, several public relations techniques and practices would be implemented therefore making it an integrated marketing campaign. In today’s world of advertising, many traditional methods are very near death. That is why it is so important for new and integrated forms of advertising and marketing to be created and put into practice.
Brand image building has emerged as an important way to promote and stabilize your brand. For example, try to think of an advertisement you have recently seen for Starbucks coffee . Except for billboards Starbucks doesn’t really advertise heavily, but they have an amazing brand image that brings in new customers and keeps previous customers returning day after day. Or, take Apple computers for example, while yes they may use traditional advertising to advertise their newest product, their brand image is so strong that they have a consistently growing loyal following. Their brand is so salient that people use it to define themselves. That is what my project sets out to do, maybe at a smaller scale that is not so cult like. J In essence, this project is simply increasing brand awareness while also increase favorable brand image for both the nonprofit agency and the large corporation. So, all of this being said, the best way to share my ideas with a broader audience is to pitch the idea to a client and begin implementing it one client (or client pair) at a time.
With the completion of my project will also come the end of my school years, so yes for me there is life after completing my project!
As is the nature of any professional project, I hope to successfully disseminate my ideas and the core concepts from my project to a particular client. I am still uncertain of who exactly that client will be, but this will be determined when I get a little closer to time for me to begin my final project. If I go with the project proposal that I have come up with for this class, the client would be Grand River Dam Authority as well as a chosen nonprofit agency.
The audience I really hope to influence would be nonprofit agencies as well as large corporations that wish to be socially responsible and help to financially support a worthy cause. My project proposal proposes that a joint advertising campaign be created, that would involve both a for-profit corporation and a non-profit organization. Not only would the nonprofit benefit because of the financial support, but the corporation would benefit as well, because of the goodwill and positive brand image the partnership would accrue.
The interesting spin that this project has as opposed to other social cause-related marketing campaigns is that it involves the non-profit one hundred percent. Input, approval, and suggestions for the ads of both entities would be needed from the nonprofit as well as the corporation. Also, though this would be an advertising campaign, several public relations techniques and practices would be implemented therefore making it an integrated marketing campaign. In today’s world of advertising, many traditional methods are very near death. That is why it is so important for new and integrated forms of advertising and marketing to be created and put into practice.
Brand image building has emerged as an important way to promote and stabilize your brand. For example, try to think of an advertisement you have recently seen for Starbucks coffee . Except for billboards Starbucks doesn’t really advertise heavily, but they have an amazing brand image that brings in new customers and keeps previous customers returning day after day. Or, take Apple computers for example, while yes they may use traditional advertising to advertise their newest product, their brand image is so strong that they have a consistently growing loyal following. Their brand is so salient that people use it to define themselves. That is what my project sets out to do, maybe at a smaller scale that is not so cult like. J In essence, this project is simply increasing brand awareness while also increase favorable brand image for both the nonprofit agency and the large corporation. So, all of this being said, the best way to share my ideas with a broader audience is to pitch the idea to a client and begin implementing it one client (or client pair) at a time.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Connecting to the Body of Knowledge
As a graduate student, the body of knowledge daunting and even overwhelming at times, and finding your place within the vast body of knowledge can be difficult. The process of finding your place within the ominous body of knowledge you first must begin with your own interests and ideas. From there the process continues with basic research on the topics that emerged from your areas of interest.
In the beginning stages of research, I know that I was overwhelmed because though I had several ideas on research topics that I found very interesting I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to focus on. Last semester I focused on the effects thin-image media has on young girls and this semester I am focusing on brand image, but I am still not one hundred percent locked into a topic. I still struggle with this because I am doing the project option and I find it hard to decide on a research topic without knowing for certain that it will be able to be disseminated to a broader audience or a specific client and be of benefit to them. I want to do an ad campaign and that is hard to finalize your plans when you don’t have a specific client in mind.
I think that really the best way to conduct research in a way that connects to the body of knowledge in journalism and mass communication studies is to research and read past studies until you find a topic or study that sparks your interest. A good way to make your research really connect to the larger body of knowledge is to look at the limitations and suggestions for future research that is presented in past studies. A couple of good places to find scholarly articles are Google Scholar and the OU library and Lexis Nexis. This is an easy and logical way to tie your research to the basis of a past study and build off of the already known findings. It is important to connect your research to other researchers work, because the work of others provides a good foundation to build your own studies. Also connecting your work to others research is a way of validating your work and showing to readers that you are knowledgeable on the topic.
The pros of connecting your research to the body of knowledge are vast. As I mentioned earlier, connecting your research with other researchers’ work give you a good foundation for your own study. It also helps to validate your study if you use previously published or validated work to build your own study.
The cons of connecting your research to the body of knowledge are few to none. The only major con, which isn’t really a con at all, only an annoyance, is that it takes a lot of time to conduct the research. Also if your study contradicts the previous findings on a topic, you may have a much harder time getting people to accept your study as valid. Really neither of these are cons, they are just a part of the process of conducting research and writing a thesis or project.
In the beginning stages of research, I know that I was overwhelmed because though I had several ideas on research topics that I found very interesting I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to focus on. Last semester I focused on the effects thin-image media has on young girls and this semester I am focusing on brand image, but I am still not one hundred percent locked into a topic. I still struggle with this because I am doing the project option and I find it hard to decide on a research topic without knowing for certain that it will be able to be disseminated to a broader audience or a specific client and be of benefit to them. I want to do an ad campaign and that is hard to finalize your plans when you don’t have a specific client in mind.
I think that really the best way to conduct research in a way that connects to the body of knowledge in journalism and mass communication studies is to research and read past studies until you find a topic or study that sparks your interest. A good way to make your research really connect to the larger body of knowledge is to look at the limitations and suggestions for future research that is presented in past studies. A couple of good places to find scholarly articles are Google Scholar and the OU library and Lexis Nexis. This is an easy and logical way to tie your research to the basis of a past study and build off of the already known findings. It is important to connect your research to other researchers work, because the work of others provides a good foundation to build your own studies. Also connecting your work to others research is a way of validating your work and showing to readers that you are knowledgeable on the topic.
The pros of connecting your research to the body of knowledge are vast. As I mentioned earlier, connecting your research with other researchers’ work give you a good foundation for your own study. It also helps to validate your study if you use previously published or validated work to build your own study.
The cons of connecting your research to the body of knowledge are few to none. The only major con, which isn’t really a con at all, only an annoyance, is that it takes a lot of time to conduct the research. Also if your study contradicts the previous findings on a topic, you may have a much harder time getting people to accept your study as valid. Really neither of these are cons, they are just a part of the process of conducting research and writing a thesis or project.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Developing My Research Topic
Developing My Research Topic
Developing my research topic seems to be an on going process that has only just begun. Though this is only my second semester in graduate school, I feel great pressure to select my project topic. I often feel that I am behind because I have not made my final decision.
Of course I have no problem thinking of topics that interest me. Last semester I devoted all of my research to the cognitive effects of sexualized images in the media on preadolescent girls. Two prominent research groups on this topic are Sands and Wardle (2003) and Harrison and Hefner (2006). I find this topic very interesting (and sad). Sometimes as students of media and media practioners, I think that we forget or underestimate the power the media actually has over the mindset of the consumers. While this topic is very interesting to me, I don’t see it as my final project topic. I am also very interested in cohesive branding of companies or brands. I find it very interesting to watch new businesses come to town and either do phenomenal (eg- Rusty’s) because of a branded and focused image, or flop (does anybody remember the brief life of Dairy Boy on Lindsey Street?) because of the lack of focus on creating a distinct image. Starbucks and Panera are prime examples of the success a company can have by simply having a good quality product and creating a distinct image for the entire look and feel of the business. This is why people are still flooding into these businesses ready and willing to pay four dollars for a cup of coffee and eight dollars for a sandwich (myself included). Yet another topic that I am interested in is event sponsorship and brand partnership, which are two very different things but both involve two separate entities coming together to promote a product. I am interested in why some partnerships are golden (eg- American Idol and Itunes) and some are destined to fail (eg- Vera Wang and Kohl’s). Both of these examples are purely my opinion, only time will tell whether or not I am correct. I would like to know more about what the variables of good partnerships and sponsorships are and what the key signs that the partnership will fail are.
While all of these topics interest me, I am looking forward to doing a professional project that will help me gain experience in the professional realm. Like I said in my earlier post, my undergraduate degree was in advertising and I am extremely interested in working for a non-profit organization , so I am trying not to stay solely focused on advertising. I want to broaden my knowledge of public relations so that I can have more to offer a non-profit agency.
While I often feel that I am behind because I have not nailed down my research topic, I also find it hard to finalize a topic for an applied project. It seems to me that if a project is meant to be implemented by a company or agency, it is quite hard to have a topic finalized until you have established a relationship with the company or agency that you want to use your project. To me, until I know what the company wants or needs I won’t have a finalized topic.
Developing my research topic seems to be an on going process that has only just begun. Though this is only my second semester in graduate school, I feel great pressure to select my project topic. I often feel that I am behind because I have not made my final decision.
Of course I have no problem thinking of topics that interest me. Last semester I devoted all of my research to the cognitive effects of sexualized images in the media on preadolescent girls. Two prominent research groups on this topic are Sands and Wardle (2003) and Harrison and Hefner (2006). I find this topic very interesting (and sad). Sometimes as students of media and media practioners, I think that we forget or underestimate the power the media actually has over the mindset of the consumers. While this topic is very interesting to me, I don’t see it as my final project topic. I am also very interested in cohesive branding of companies or brands. I find it very interesting to watch new businesses come to town and either do phenomenal (eg- Rusty’s) because of a branded and focused image, or flop (does anybody remember the brief life of Dairy Boy on Lindsey Street?) because of the lack of focus on creating a distinct image. Starbucks and Panera are prime examples of the success a company can have by simply having a good quality product and creating a distinct image for the entire look and feel of the business. This is why people are still flooding into these businesses ready and willing to pay four dollars for a cup of coffee and eight dollars for a sandwich (myself included). Yet another topic that I am interested in is event sponsorship and brand partnership, which are two very different things but both involve two separate entities coming together to promote a product. I am interested in why some partnerships are golden (eg- American Idol and Itunes) and some are destined to fail (eg- Vera Wang and Kohl’s). Both of these examples are purely my opinion, only time will tell whether or not I am correct. I would like to know more about what the variables of good partnerships and sponsorships are and what the key signs that the partnership will fail are.
While all of these topics interest me, I am looking forward to doing a professional project that will help me gain experience in the professional realm. Like I said in my earlier post, my undergraduate degree was in advertising and I am extremely interested in working for a non-profit organization , so I am trying not to stay solely focused on advertising. I want to broaden my knowledge of public relations so that I can have more to offer a non-profit agency.
While I often feel that I am behind because I have not nailed down my research topic, I also find it hard to finalize a topic for an applied project. It seems to me that if a project is meant to be implemented by a company or agency, it is quite hard to have a topic finalized until you have established a relationship with the company or agency that you want to use your project. To me, until I know what the company wants or needs I won’t have a finalized topic.
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