Marketing & Advertising

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Let’s go to a place where signs line the streets left to right, up and down, and where thousands of people walk; Times Square in New York City! What more could a business ask for to advertise their product? If you’ve been there, you know exactly what I mean, and if not let me paint you a picture. Times Square is an area within the City where ads come in the forms of pictures, lit up signs, and even videos. Marketing and advertising take place in all businesses and is needed everywhere, but Times Square for me resembles the latest trends and a competition of who can attract the most attention to their ad. What element will make people stop and stare at a specific company’s ad?

These are only some elements and aspects that are studied using a communication studies degree. Within communications we are able to study these questions and find what trend may be the most effective in reaching a target audience. Using a communication studies major you can go into a variety a fields, and marketing and advertising is seen as a growing area.

Certain characteristics are needed to work in marketing and advertising, such as patience, multi-tasking abilities, creativity, and the ability to work well in a team environment. Just as in any company or organization, to complete the work effectively and efficiently, working with others is essential. To be a successful marketer, it’s important that you are able to communicate well, be it talking to large crowds, other employees, or to clients in a meeting.

As students, it is our responsibility to develop a strong foundation while we are in school, so that upon graduating we can be confident in our journey ahead into the professional world of business.

– Alissa Lockwood

Comments

14 responses to “Marketing & Advertising”

April 17, 2010

Deji Adeleke

Alissa,

I’ve never been to New York City, (I went when I was 2 years old, but that doesn’t count) but I do plan on visiting this upcoming Fall semester. The amount of ads that we’re also prone to seeing on TV or even in person are beginning to get out of control. Marketing agencies and companies are constantly on their toes trying to identify what it is that people will stop to look at and potentially buy. It’s amazing how good we are, as consumers, at distinguishing between all the BS and discerning what really is an ad speaking to us or just another ad trying to fill your brain with all types of unnecessary information.

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April 18, 2010

Allison Day

I agree with you when you said that patience, multi-tasking, creativity, and working well in groups are critical attributes to have when working in marketing or advertising. These are qualities that, as Com Studies majors, we should be working to perfect for when we graduate and enter the real world.
However, I think you left out another important quality. I just read the position paper that the Creative Advertising group wrote in our intro to IMC class. They stated that a very important aspect of advertising is being able to handle and adapt to change. Since technology and trends are always changing it is important to keep on top of these changes so you don’t get left behind.
The paper also discussed how social media is becoming a powerful tool for advertising. Social media has changed rapidly in the past five years. We saw it go from myspace to facebook, and now twitter. Who knows what we’ll see in the next five years. Its important for practitioners and students to keep up with the changing technologies.

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April 19, 2010

Sarah McIntosh

This post reminds me of the clips from The Persuaders that we watched in our IMC class. Times Square is loaded with messages, and marketers and advertisers have to learn how to create messages that stand out from the others.

Whenever I tell someone that I am a Communication Studies major, what I am learning and what my career path might be are not as self-explanatory as if I were to say, “I am a Nursing major.” This post does a great job of explaining what we are learning in our department and one of the many options we have to pursue as a future career. Although my future is not as certain as a student studying nursing, I am encouraged by the fact that there are so many possibilities out there for me.

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April 19, 2010

Kacy Cox

I agree that Times Square is a place heavily laden with advertising. The in-your-face, oversized, light-up advertisements you find in Times Square truly represent our market as one that relies and thrives on advertising.

I think Communication Studies ties in perfectly with the fast paced, continuously changing, world of advertising and marketing. This is just one of the reasons why I enjoy com studies so much. By taking a variety of different classes and exploring the major, I feel like I am truly beginning to see every facet of this diverse major. As I begin to evolve as a student, I am learning that I definitely possess the necessary abilities to work in the field of marketing or advertising and I hope my degree in Communication Studies from UNCW can help me do so in the future.

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April 19, 2010

Lauren Locke

It is interesting to see how everyone had their own take on this wall post.

First, I think Times Square is a great point. How in the world would a IMC team come up with a way in which to stand out? Also, the episode of the persuaders is a perfect example of this.

In the blog we are currently assigned in Intro-to-IMC we are discussing personal branding. I also sat through a class this morning in which we talked about personal branding in todays job market. This is honestly something I had never thought of before. How will I make myself stand out? Especially since there are literaly thousands exactly like me who are willing to do practically anything to get the same position. Some may be more qualified than me, or maybe even a better fit for the job! So then what action should we take as soon-to-be graduates? Especially with a degree such a communications studies. I enjoy the fact that COM is such a broad major. I feel that I have limitless oportunities, I havn’t chosen to study anything that will box me in. However, this has lots of disadvantages as well. I feel like many people don’t understand what COM studies majors do. This means that lots of employers also won’t understand. Even my parents weren’t too thrilled when I inititally delcared my major. More people need to understand that COM is no longer a “cop out” degree. However, as students entering the real world we will have to be the ones to prove ourselves. We will have to work harder, longer hours and fight harder for jobs. I guess its time to get creative and resourceful. Hopefully I won’t get lost in all the busy lights of NYC for too long. 🙂

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April 20, 2010

Chad Graves

New York is seen as one of the biggest advertising and marketing venues in the United States. Much of that is due to the vast amount of ads seen in time square. As a communication studies major, it is our job to see the messages that these ads portray and judge the ads effectiveness. I think that you make a strong point saying that communication skills are greatly appreciate in the marketing and advertising world. I have now had an internship and just got a job with two different companies doing marketing. Neither one of these companies showed any worry in hiring a communication studies major. Hard work shows on a resume and and in an interview the skills learned in the major can go a long way with businesses.

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April 20, 2010

Megan Regele

Your blog post created an image in my head about being back in Times Square. I remember it being filled with so many ads and messages coming at me from all directions, but I didn’t know what to think of all of them. After taking several Communication classes, especially IMC, it has opened my eyes to the constant stream of messages that we receive every minute of every day. It is our job as consumers to decipher which messages we want to pay attention to and which ones we can ignore. I agree with you about the certain characteristics that are needed in the field of marketing and advertising, and many of these characteristics we can obtain through our courses at UNCW as well as through internships and experience in these particular fields. These characteristics and lessons that we have learned while at UNCW will be definitely become a vital resource and skill to keep with us as we continue on in hopes of having successful careers after graduation.

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April 21, 2010

James Barrow

Glad to see other folks interested in Marketing & Advertising. All the skill sets mentioned are definitely a must to work in this field. As students at UNCW, we must position ourselves above the rest of the competition knowing it will be fierce. The biggest obstacle I feel I face and maybe some of you as well, is the uncertainty of where I will end up in my professional life. To fight this fear, I’m planning on looking into internships in PR before graduation. Just don’t let the challenge drag you down!

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April 21, 2010

Maxann Keller

I actually thought about this a lot when our Intro to IMC class watched a short clip from an advertising show about the mass media confusion seen in large cities where billboards start merging together into clashes of colors and useless words.

I think that the more we try to litter the streets, buildings, anything really, with our brand, we are just trying to clutter and confuse the public even more. Its getting harder and harder to be unique and original in this ever changing market of products.

But thanks to group marketing, brands are becoming more about reputation behind the advertisement, making it so every picture and photograph must be more carefully designed and structured in order to portray the message. It should not be about those lights, and how many people can see it, but how powerful the product is behind the brand that is being shown. Times Square is a prime example, and I could greatly connect my thoughts to your idea!

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April 22, 2010

Carissa Niederkorn

I agree; this field does require lots of different skills in order to be successful. As consumers, we always see advertisements for different products. But as a professional in this field we need to move forwards and use our creativity to create something new. We constantly have to think or ways to advance our brand and communicate to the public.
Those interested in marketing, advertising, and similar fields can’t just use the same tactics over and over. If they want to advertise in Times Square they have to have a strong marketing plan that is creative and new.

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April 22, 2010

Kay Janssen

I am an exchange student and during spring break I finally got the chance to visit New York City and of course Time Square, which was one of the things I really wanted to do during my stay in America. When walking passed Time Square I was amazed not only by the amount of bright lights and advertisements, but also by the thousands of people walking there and taking pictures of everything. So I have to agree with you that Time Square is the absolute wish for a advertising business to advertise its product, since it will be seen by thousands of people.

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April 22, 2010

Eliza Wadson

When I think of Time Square, I too am reminded of “The Persuaders” and the challenges that face the advertising and marketing world. We see the huge, flashy, over the top adverts in Time Square and aren’t impressed anymore. The problem for the industry, and us as communication majors, is how do we garnish interest and attention from an audience now. Luckily for us who are entering into the job market in the next few years we will (hopefully) be well equipped with necessary tools and tactics, many of which we have learned about in IMC, to draw attention to our “brands” with or without large, over the top, flashing billboards.

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September 5, 2010

Brittany Mossop

I also remember this vision of signs all over time square in “The Persuaders” that we watched in IMC the other day. However, I cannot help but to notice signs all over; even in the most rural of areas bulletin boards ruin the scenic views. In the North these bulletins are full of Divorce lawyers, and in the South they are full of pro-life messages. Which makes me in turn think of Twitchell and how he states that even churches now become branded.

Also, I also like your description of our major. As a comment a few above me stated, that it is easier to explain a Nursing Major than a Communication Studies major.

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September 7, 2010

Jessica Marsh

While reading the opening sentence of your post the first scene from “The Persuaders” instantly popped into my head. There are hundreds of ad’s that surround us every single day, it is the advertisers job to make sure their particular ad is the one that stands out to us. In “Brand Nation,” Twitchell comments on how a brand needs more than just creativity but a loyal band of consumers. This goes back to how even church’s are being branded these days. But no matter how amazing a church (or product) is, those loyal church goers are typically going to do what the rest of their fellow church goers do. If the church makes one decision the congregation disagrees with it only takes one person to decide to leave that church and the next thing you know the church is down one hundred members. The same thing is true in advertising. The brand can make one mistake and it takes one person to spread that commercialized gossip and the brand no longer has many loyal customers. Advertising can be tricky, but like you said it does take patience.

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