IMC Hawks Blog

Category: Marketing

  • Advice on Family-life and Internships!

    How did you go about finding internships? How helpful did you find them?

    Sarah: I highly recommend reaching out to Joe Browning. I hounded him about interning for him. I arranged my schedule so I could work for him. I showed him my writing and I was like I will be here in the fall whether you like it or not.

    Consensus: Internships are worth it, pursue them and be persistent!

    How do you balance family life and professional life?

    Ashlie: I have a four year old and a two year old. I work full time and so does my husband. You just figure out a way to make it work. I have a huge support system around me.

    Ryan: I definitely agree that you have to have a support system. Without my mom, I don’t know what we would do. You make it work, if something happens you make the best of it.

    Ashlyn: I don’t even have time to date. I’ve just been so focused on my career, it hasn’t bothered me.

    Group consensus: Flexibility and balance are key!

  • Advice on Graduate School

    Looking back, would you still have taken the time off before entering graduate school or entered straight after undergraduate school?

    Panelist consensus: The time off helps to prepare you for the work load. Too much time off makes it harder to get back into the swing of the school schedule.

  • Advice on the Interview

    What was something that you did that got you in the door or really impressed your supervisor?

    Ashlyn: Personality, confidence, and knowing what you want to do. They want somebody that wants the job and can get the job the done. You have to be 150 percent I think.

    Ashlie: Express that you know their company, stalk them online.

    Eric: One of the weirdest interviews I had was a graduate school interview, when they asked me what questions I had and they wanted to base the interview of that. That is something to be prepared for.

    Group Consensus: NETWORK! NETWORK! NETWORK!

  • Happy COM Studies Day!

    Panel one has officially kicked off! The panelists are: Sarah Briney, Ashlyn Burke, Ashlie Lanning, Ryan Koresko, and Eric Sneeden.  A huge thank you to the panelists for coming back to share their knowledge!

    So far Ms. Chin and Dr. Weber have gotten the first shout outs! Ashlyn Burke reminded us of Dr. Weber’s warning that most COM majors don’t have jobs that work 9 to 5 shifts. Sarah Briney credited Ms. Chin for the helpful knowledge she gained in Public Relations to Ms. Chin’s classes.

    Were any of you totally sure of what you wanted to do?

    Ashlyn Burke: I expect my career not to be boring, but I’m still not sure I want to do.

    Sarah Briney: I never thought I would be working in market research. Went back to school for teaching and realized that wasn’t for me either.

    Ryan Koresko: I’m still doing a similar job to what I thought I would, I think you just have to be focused but have some breathing room so that if something else comes you could go in that direction to.

    How has social media changed your career?

    Ashlie Lanning: Well it is my career. It means I’m always on. There’s definitely a shift towards “Real Time Marketing.”

    Ashlyn Burke: Make sure that there’s nothing on social media that can harm your career. I can not tell you the impact it has.

    Ryan Koresko: It’s just not acceptable to wait anymore, from a news perspective. You have to get the information out as it is happening.

  • “Checking In” to Spring Break

    Happy Spring Break! Many students have spent the last couple months (or longer) trying to figure out where their Spring Break time is best spent. If you’re like me, this preparation may have involved a thorough internet search to find the perfect hotel for your week off. An increasing number of hotel chains have discovered the perks of social media use and are developing ways to satisfy the needs and wants of their customers on an increasingly personal level.

    Social media sites such as Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook Places, allow a user to “check in” or log their current location. While some companies may be skeptical about the relevance of such tools to the business that they do, the hotel industry has discovered that these services create a greater feeling of inclusion and personalization to their guests. Now hotels can invite guests to “check in” both literally and virtually, completely committing to their stay. Another added benefit of location-based check-in tools is the ability to track and incentivize a guest’s stay. Hotels participating in incentive programs for social media have been known to use a variety of rewards to reach out to their social media circle; examples include anything from a discounted meal in the hotel restaurant to late checkout times for the final night of your stay. Some hotels have gone so far as to collaborate with airlines or credit card companies to create an unofficial “rewards program”; offering discounts and frequent flier miles for using your American Express card or staying at the Hilton.

    Of course with programs such as these, there can (and will) arise questions of security and privacy. Many savvy social media users are hesitant to place their exact location online. The flip side of this is that many users don’t want the world to know where they are NOT (for instance at home…protecting their belongings). While safety and security concerns are understandable, potential thieves and “bad guys” are not the only party with a vested interest in your location and personal information. Some of the aforementioned hotels have begun tracking mentions of their brand to create a more customized experience. For instance, say you book a night at a Marriott and tweet about how excited you are to stay there for your anniversary. With the use of these tools it’s not unlikely that you will open the door to find a chilled bottle of Champagne with a note from the staff wishing you a “Happy Anniversary”. Or, on a creepier note, a woman on the local radio the other day described checking into a hotel to find a wrapped dog bone and a note saying “Snickers misses you”, a response to her Facebook status the day before where she stated that she “ hate(s) to leave Snickers (her dog) at home when she goes on vacation”… To me, this was a little bit too personalized.

    As is typical with this type of marketing, it is necessary to find a happy medium between discovering a guest’s needs and invading their privacy. How far is too far and is there such thing as too personal? While this may not be a topic that concerns you too much while lounging on the beach in Florida or soaking up the culture in a foreign country, it’s important to keep in mind that while logging your location, you may be signing up for more than you recognize. So what do you think? Will you be
    “checking in” before you checkout this Spring Break?

    – Lauren Habig

  • S.O.S.

    The night has progressed and you are about to make your move when the inevitable question arises, “do you have a condom?” This is the premise that Durex has based their new campaign on. The S.O.S. campaign is an “app powered” one-hour condom delivery service discreetly operating between 4pm and 4am. When one first runs across this ad they may think it is a parody, but this is a service that already exists in certain cities, such as Dubai. The company plans to further expand the campaign to more cities. In today’s busy world, everyone loves a delivery service. How else would we get our last-minute pizzas, packages, flowers…condoms? The new Durex campaign, launched by the Buzzman firm, is ingenious and definitely outside the realm of normal advertising. The unique aspects of this campaign clearly exemplify why this firm has been credited with the development of captivating campaigns in the past. Future endeavors should not be far behind when examining their exciting new usages of message, labels, and systems.

    S.O.S. (short for “Save Our Souls”) is globally recognized as a distress signal. Viewing the YouTube commercial on Durex condoms it is evident that the sense of urgency, emergency, distress (if you will) associated with an S.O.S can easily be transferred to something less immediately life-threatening.  It was genius to associate their entire campaign on the premise that this product and service is not only a service people may want, but a good they most definitely NEED!  The name itself alerts potential consumers of this product to the fact that it could be important for their lives.  Buzzman of Paris is the firm credited for the original development of this campaign, which may explain why Paris is the leading city in votes for implementation of delivery service (or is it because Paris is truly the city of love)?  Either way there is definitely potential for geographic growth.

    sos_condoms

    http://www.sos-condoms.com/

    Not surprisingly, YouTube is a vehicle for advertising both the product and service.  Social media is being adopted by most modern businesses as a way to connect with audiences on a personal level which allows them to identify and solve the needs and wants of their target audience. The sensual and provocative usage of filming in the commercial fits perfectly the “edginess” that the campaign strives for, while remaining appropriate to the standards of social media. Not only does this medium provide unlimited amounts of information, it builds brand image and is yet another way to gain valuable information about its consumer.  A win-win for Buzzman,Durex and the customer!

    Retailing is the sales of goods and services from businesses to the end users. Durex, in this retail plan, concentrates on its brand image and loyal consumers for selling the product itself (the condom) but this plan furthers the retailing process by integration of a new supply chain of their product.  Rather than purchasing their products by the counter at a pharmacy, or even online, the timeliness and personal service is considered.  Why should pizzas be the only show in town?  Condoms have hit the big time in this retail venture.  It should be interesting to see how this takes off.  The worst-case scenario is that Durex gets people talking, and their condoms “protect” Buzzman’s reputation for fresh ideas.

    – Zach Abramo, Callie Fenlon, Lauren Habig,  Alexandra Huss, Michael Nunes,Daniel Schaefer

  • Get Your Vote On!

    From commercials to infomercials, advertising and marketing in this day and age has become a completely different game than in the past. Lately, between the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day, many Americans have been overwhelmed with advertisements and promotions that are attempting to make their company stand out from the competition. Whether it was simply trying to convince you to buy their soft drink or attempting to convince you to buy your girlfriend’s engagement ring from their jewelry store, sometimes it seems a little too forced.

    http://www.stikkymedia.com/blog/pepsis-20-million-dollar-social-media-campaign

    In response to this tension,  marketers are always looking for innovative new ways to involve consumers in the production, promotion and selection of the product itself. This method has been used effectively before and proved quite fruitful for certain companies. In 2007, Mountain Dew began their “DewMocracy” promotion where customers get the chance to vote on new flavors, graphics, colors and names. To this day, Mountain Dew continues to create opportunity for customer interaction in their promotions and advertisements.

    Interactive promotional campaigns are ideally designed to benefit both the customer and the company. Lays potato chips are the most recent corporation to take this creative strategy and run with it. Lays has put together a multi-step process for establishing their newest flavor of chip. Originally, Lays invited consumers to submit their flavor ideas and let the public vote on these flavors on Facebook. At this point, the public has voted and Lays has narrowed the competition down to the top 3 public favorites. These flavors have actually been produced and are available for purchase for a limited time. While these flavors are available the voting will continue on Facebook and eventually one will be voted in and named the newest member of the Lays family.

    http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/297982/81/You-get-to-pick-the-new-Lays-potato-chip-flavor

    Taking a step back and evaluating this marketing strategy utilized by Lays, Mountain Dew and many other large corporations, it is clear that it is effective not only as a result of the customer interaction, but in a handful of other ways. Obviously if voting and discussion is taking place on social media, this is driving a ton of Internet traffic to each of the respective websites. Also, the customer involvement builds a relationship with the consumers and gives them the feeling that they are a part of the company and making important decisions. Finally, specifically for Lays and other promotions that offer the product for a limited time, this strategy causes a boom in sales with everyone trying the new product.

    Now that this promotion idea of customer involvement has been tried and proven many large companies are adopting these campaigns. Doritos, along with a few other companies, ran campaigns before the Super Bowl to have the consumers make and vote for which commercial would be shown during the big game. So despite the fact that we are still being consistently and constantly advertised to (and that’s not likely to change any time soon!) the benefits of running these promotions are clearly beyond the obvious boost in sales, this is relationship building at its finest!

    – Zach Abramo, Callie Fenlon, Lauren Habig,  Alexandra Huss, Michael Nunes, Daniel Schaefer, Dann Williams