IMC Hawks Blog

Author: imcclass

  • Event Planning 101

    When many people think of event planning they think of weddings, galas and other extravagant parties. While these are occasions that require an event planner, many other corporate events such as meetings and conventions requiring the expertise of an event planner as well. Event planning is key to the success of IMC. Events can be used to showcase new ideas or products, raise awareness and or profits for a cause or simply celebrate success. A few students from our class are currently exploring the event planning process, helping to plan a 10 year celebration event for a local charter school. Students are learning first hand all the intricate details and preparation that come along with event planning.

    An event planner is someone who coordinates every detail for the specific occasion. They deal with finding and securing an appropriate venue, choosing food and beverages and finding a supplier for AV equipment if needed. With this being said, event planners should be comfortable with details and deadlines. While preparation for an event is the bulk of the work, don’t think that on the day of the event you’ll be relaxing. During the event itself, you are responsible for making sure things run smoothly including registration, raffle prizes, food service etc. The industry does have it’s upsides too. Event planners often get to travel a lot and visit beautiful hotels and destinations either regionally, internationally or both depending on where the events you plan are being held. You are also constantly meeting new people, some who are highly influential in todays world.

    Those in the event planning field can either find work for corporations that have an event planning department in house or they can work for an outside company that is contracted to do work. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, event planning is expected be grow faster than average for all occupations in the upcoming years. The average salary for employees of the field in May 2008 was about $44,000 per year with a high of around $75,000. Event planning provides it’s employees with many options to find work as well as a career with a growing future.

    As with most careers a great place to start is with an internship. Nonprofit foundations, wedding planners and schools are just some of the many businesses that could offer potential internships or volunteer opportunities. Classes that the UNCW Communication Department offers such as interpersonal communication in addition to IMC and Adv. IMC will help better prepare you for the job as well.  Although there may be a lot of details and pressure involved with event planing, the people you meet and places you can go are endless.

    Jess Smith

  • The Importance of Public Relations

    This week, our class will be focusing on careers in the IMC field. After taking both the introduction and advanced IMC classes, I have found that public relations is a vital part of this field. Searching for a job after college can now be very difficult with the current job market. By having the right qualifications and characteristics, anyone can achieve a career in public relations. Companies such as Nike and Walmart, along with individuals such as Tiger Woods, have used public relations tactics to regain respect from the public. This field has proven its importance through the several successful, and failed, PR stunts.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public relations specialists “serve as advocates for clients seeking to build and maintain positive relationships with the public.” In order to be successful in PR, you must be able to work well with others and maintain your time wisely. Someone working in this field must be capable of making the public happy and taking their harsh criticism. PR deals with businesses ranging from nonprofit organizations to fortune 500 companies.

    Salaries for a worker in the public relations field can vary. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that in May of 2008, the annual salary of a PR specialist was around $51,280. You can earn anywhere from about $30,000 per year to $100,000 per year, depending on experience and actual position in the field. Public relations is just like any company though; if you work hard enough, you can work your way up.

    Whether interested in working for a privately owned public relations firm or becoming an in-house PR representative, the work is stressful. Experience with press releases and face-to-face interaction will certainly help for success in this field. Being able to openly communicate with the client and efficiently multi-task are necessary characteristics of working in the public relations field. The demanding work load and pressures of deadlines can certainly be difficult, but the payoff is all worth it.

    – Lacey Inman

  • Afghan Star: Idol in the Middle East

    While settling down one night this past week, I decided to do some last minute channel surfing. As I was flipping, I stopped on an HBO channel to see what I thought would be a typical documentary on the happenings in the Middle East. I was right, and wrong. What I thought would be a film on the stories we are constantly bombarded by in today’s new sources turned out to have a true twist with a Neo-western touch.

    As I watched crowds of people file into a small building with lines out of the door I couldn’t help but think it looked slightly familiar to an American show I’d seen before, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. As individuals went into a room with a panel of what appeared to be judges, it hit me. “This looks just like American Idol”, I said to myself. Turns out, I was very close. These people were auditioning for a show called Afghan Star, the Middle Eastern version of the hit American Show.

    I watched on to see people fighting to fill the studio where the show is being filmed and it reminded me so much of the American ways of pop stardom. There is a difference in Afghanistan though. Before Afghan Star, there was years of silence. With the Taliban as the last word, singing was banned throughout the country. Even now that this ban is lifted some of the singers still fear for their lives. In the film’s trailer, one contestant named Setara, received a call from her family because they heard she had been killed.

    In America, these type of show are a marketers dream come true. Give someone a story and a song, with a little promotion and they can just sit back and reap the benefits. In Afghanistan, this version has become just as popular. As western society continues to influence these countries through entertainment and other outlets, another question arrises, is this the freedom they want?

    Colby Lewis

  • Lessons Learned from Chips

    When I picked my friend up from the airport after a short-term study abroad session in Italy, I naturally asked how her trip was. She looked at me, smiled and said something along the lines of, “I have discovered the most delicious thing in the world.” I expected her to say fine Italian bread, or pastries, or anything along the lines of cultural food. With a mischievous grin, she opened her suitcase and there they were—three cans of her beloved Pringles Paprika chips. She was beaming! About 2 months later, I left for a study abroad trip and was in search of the Paprika chips to bring back as a gift. I bought some for myself and, though I hate to admit it, I too became hooked on the Paprika chips! After I was home for about two weeks, I began to crave them, so I went to the grocery store just to look around in hopes they would be there. Much to my disappointment, they weren’t. That same night I went to a cookout and tried a flavor of chips for the first time: Barbeque…wait, Paprika? Yes, you guessed it! Barbeque chips in the U.S. are the same as the Paprika chips in Europe! What a concept. Both Lays and Pringles knew “Barbeque” the way the U.S. knows it, wouldn’t make sense in Europe, so they decided to rename the chip!

    Taking culture into consideration is vital when companies want to expand and market their product in other countries. Some products simply don’t translate. It is necessary to understand different markets and customer needs, or it could be a catastrophe. When embarking on an intercultural marketing campaign, it is essential that companies think about these scenarios. They may have to alter their product slightly, but it will translate more successfully. Though Lays and Pringles gave up the name “Barbeque,” they kept the idea of the chip and changed the name to the main ingredient in the chips, Paprika. Also, they had to note that “chips” in many countries are our “French fries,” and are instead referred to as “crisps.” Next on American shelves: the popular “ham” flavored chip from Spain, or the Mayonnaise Cheese flavored Pringles from Japan! Just kidding.

    Rachel Kaylor

  • Blunders of Intercultural Marketing

    In the global market, it is very important to be aware of cultural traditions and translations. If a company is not cautious with their marketing attemps, the results can be disasterous. However, these disasters can also be quite hilarious. That’s exactly what kwintessential  proved with its article about cross cultural marketing blunders.

    The article lists a few rather humorous marketing errors that have happened in the past. Some of the companies listed include high profile names like IKEA, Honda and Procter & Gamble.

    IKEA’s incident had to do with a poor choice in naming one of its new desks: FARTFULL. Honda did not do their homework when the automotive giant decided to introduce their new car “Fitta” to Nordic countries in 2001. With that research, the company would have learned that the term fitta is a vulgar term for a woman’s genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. Marketing megatron, Proctor & Gambel, did not understand the cultural differences of Japan. P&G  offended the Japanese by broadcasting a television commercial that goes against the Japanese idea of privacy and appropriate behavior. The advertisement showed a husband entering a the bathroom, touching his wife while she was bathing.

    Mistakes like these can cause many problems in marketing and public relations efforts. It is essential for companies to have better understandings of the world around them, to learn about the varying and different cultures in this growing global market.

    Kwintessential.co.uk is a great source to use to better learn about the communication differences in this world. According to the website, “Business success is now more and more about creating and nurturing strong relationships with international and multicultural colleagues, customers and clients.” Kwintessential provides translation services, interpreters, multilengual design and intercultural communication training.

    Resources, like Kwintessential, allow for effective and positive marketing across the globe to continue to grow and prosper. If companies are struggling in the global market, they should take a minute to look around and learn about their interculural marketing techniques. They must adapt these techniques to the culture to which  they are marketing. It is only until then that their global marketing will become a success.

    – Jesse Bazemore

  • Kraft, there’s more than just the blue box

    In the U.S., when most people hear Kraft they naturally may think macaroni and cheese because it dominates the market in the United States.  But in developing countries, macaroni and cheese doesn’t have the same popularity and in turn is mostly an afterthought for Kraft.

    For packaged food companies, it is a struggle to understand which products will be successful in emerging markets and how to appropriately market them internationally.  In these types of food packaging companies, there are challenges because food is typically seen as a large expression of culture.

    Mike Mazzeo, a professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellog School of Management is speaking about food when he says “It’s much more clearly tied with culture, so it’s much more difficult to penetrate our products in their markets.”

    Another factor is that many countries already have strong local brands which are tough competition to food multinationals such as Kraft.

    “Kraft, maker of Oscar Mayer meats, Ritz crackers and other household brands, retooled its developing-market efforts three years ago, moving away from a scattershot approach.”

    Previously, Kraft was attempting to “plant flags all over the world” but now due to these challenges, Kraft has decided to change their campaign to focus on 10 “power” brands and 10 countries.  The aim here is to push brands that are most likely going to be easily translated across borders.

    One of Kraft’s power brands is Tang, a powdered-drink which gained popularity in the U.S. around the 1960s and 1970s.  Even though its popularity in the U.S. has dropped, in developing markets from Brazil to China, Tang has become an international success with $750 million in annual sales.

    In the article they stated, “Mac and cheese is iconic, but it’s not one of our 10 power brands,” Khosla said. That’s not the case for Tang, though, which is one of Kraft’s 10 power brands in developing countries, right up there with the powerhouse Oreo.”

    Kraft has learned the importance of focusing products and advertising around the specific culture your company is entering for the best results.  To see more specific examples of other major packaged food companies and their experiences internationally, follow the link to this article by Los Angeles Times.

    -Taylor Diehl

  • Marketing Over Seas

    Mindshare Media is an innovative media network corporation that functions not only in North America, but across the world. The many locations of  MindShareMedia offices include North America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asian Pacific. The company strives to enhance the way businesses interact and communicate with consumers and convey new, pioneering ideas in a unique way. The company claims “gaining a greater share of customers’ minds for our clients calls for smart ideas, but they are worth little without rapid decision-making, committed action and faultless execution,” which is always the goal of their employees.

    Upon visiting London in May of 2009, I had the opportunity to tour a Mindshare office and speak with a young professional who had been employed with the company for a few years. He described that the way the company conducted business was very laid back, yet professional, and focused on helping their clients cover new ground and break away from traditional audiences. He even discussed a current campaign Mindshare was working on with their client, Hanes underwear. The young man explained that employees of Mindshare developed a marketing strategy of displaying and simply stringing Hanes men’s underwear throughout the streets of London to gain attention from people passing by. This was just an example of how Mindshare takes their strategies to a new level.

    Current clients include Nike, LG and Virgin Mobile, and the Mindshare website provides many case studies to support their past and current clients. MindShare Media prides themselves on creating groundbreaking advertisement campaigns as well as overall promotional marketing strategies and tools. They have a very impressive website that is interactive and details their mission as a company, their services, as well as their new ideas of marketing for a particular product.

    The marketing strategies and overall communication tactics Mindshare employ are without a doubt worth exploring. Mindshare Media will only continue to grow as the global communication market shrinks and people are brought closer together with innovative ideas and resources such as the ones this company offers.

    Stephanie Saulsbury

    Lacey Inman