IMC Hawks Blog

Category: Marketing

  • Why You Should Hire a UNCW Com Studies Major!

    Last week our Corporate Communications class discussed why other majors consider Communication Studies as the “easy major” or the “business school dropouts”. This is untrue and is the very reason that we have gateway classes such as com 105(intro to communications) and com 200 (research methods).  You are a pre-com major until you earn a “B” or better in both of these courses and then you become a full Communication Studies major. The gateway classes sort out the people who are serious about getting a degree in Communication Studies from the people who need to go a different route. Some people may think that a Corporate Communications class belongs in the business school; however, we feel that every corporation needs effective communication to succeed so, why not hire students who have a Communication Studies degree.

    Here are our entrance requirements: http://www.uncw.edu/com/academics-entrance.html

    In order to prepare for our future careers we have the option to partake in an internship. While an internship is not required to graduate with a Communication Studies degree from UNCW, many students choose to be involved in one. Most students who are interning from this department are working in fairly large corporations.  Since communication in different careers varies there are many positions a Communication Studies Major may hold. Students at UNCW  intern and may eventually be hired in positions like…event planner, public relations assistant, marketing assistant, account executive, news anchor, journalist, human resources recruiter etc. and that is just to name a few! The options available with a Communication Studies degree in the Corporate world are unlimited and with all the wonderful things we learn and the networking we create thanks to UNCW, we are already well on our way!

    -Emily Hunter

  • How Does UNCW Handle Communication?

    Within the University of North Carolina at Wilmington is a department which offers a full range of services for providing optimal communication and promotion of news and events regarding the university.  The UNCW Marketing and Communications (MaC) department works to enhance the image of the university and to increase its position among other higher education marketplaces by managing marketing, communication, public relations, media relations, community relations, and advertising strategies.  MaC also seeks to preserve the integrity of UNCW and its reputation for excellence through a variety of services such as crisis communication, event promotions, issues management, and marketing and research strategies. Furthermore, MaC takes charge of the management of corporate events and marketing communication activities, which is done in order to build strong relationships with key institutional stakeholders who are vital to the continued success of the university.

    Although many crisis situations potentially occur without warning, many situations can be anticipated or mitigated before they get out of hand.  This is where MaC comes in.  MaC helps facilitate and maintain an extensive and effective system of communication during a period when the university may be in a crisis due to a campus emergency or circumstances that threaten to integrity of the institution.  In the event that an emergency occurs such as a major tropical storm, hurricane, fire or some other campus or regional emergency, MaC is responsible for communicating with the faculty, staff, students, visitors, and external audiences in the community.  The Seahawk Siren System, the UNCW Emergency Information Hotline, the UNCW Alert Website, as well as mass text messages and e-mails, are all efficient forms of notifying people if there is an emergency on campus.

    Corporate communication is the foundation of UNCW’s success as a university, just as with any successful business.  When dealing with crisis on campus it is important that it is effectively and positively handled through the marketing and communications department, but it also is important that the students and faculty are in the know and able to efficiently deal with the crisis. Students and faculty may be the image of this university, but a great deal of work is accomplished by other staff members, who are vital its success.  The university has very similar responsibilities and obligations to their students as a corporation does to their employees.  Each must create a strong public appearance in order to draw students/employees, and must provide a favorable work environment in order to keep them from leaving for another, more desirable, school or company.  Furthermore, within the system of higher education, UNCW must compete with other colleges and universities if they wish to be successful, thus it is just as important to foster a strong corporate bearing which will maximize opportunities for funding and university advancement.

    – Arielle, Danielle, Haley and Lora

  • Beyonce: More than Just Bootylicious

    Corporate Communication is present in almost every industry, whether we recognize it or not.  One industry that many people would not typically associate corporate communication with is the music industry.  Musicians and artists create their own identity and brand themselves in a way that is different from others in the industry.  Beyonce is one artist who has been extremely successful at creating her own identity, which has helped her create a large fan base and expand her success into other industries.  Beyonce’s musical talent has earned her several Grammys and many of her albums have gone on to be multi-platinum selling albums. Beyonce states that her newest album “is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I’m working and when I’m on the stage. The double album allows me to take more risks and really step out of myself, or shall I say, step more into myself, and reveal a side of me that people only know me see.”

    When people hear Beyonce’s name, several things come to mind.  Jay-Z, Single Ladies, her dancing abilities, Destiny’s Child, her clothing line, and much more. Jody Rosen of Entertainment Weekly writes, “Beyonce Knowles is a storm system disguised as a singer.” She even has her own YouTube station. Beyonce is not only a musical sensation, she is a corporate powerhouse.

    Her clever strategies to success have gotten her where she is at today. Beyonce’s musical career has evolved into a huge corporation. She uses music to form her identity, image, and brand her corporation, which has opened up many other doors for her in the entertainment industry.  She has acted in films, created her own fashion line, and been on countless magazine covers.

    She was recently featured in a 60 minutes news brief talking about her success as an entertainer. Take a look.

    House of Dereon is Beyonce and her mother Tina Knowles’ clothing line that they began in 2004. Expanding the brand, Beyoncé and her sister Solange Knowles  launched the junior line Deréon that is geared towards younger consumers and is more reasonably priced. Deréon was introduced in 2006. The tag line for Deréon is “Where the sidewalk and catwalk meet”. Beyoncé also mentions the clothing line in the song Get Me Bodied, from the album B’Day, and in her hit single Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).

    Beyonce\’s House of Dereon

    -Megan, Fran, Lacey, and Ari

  • So…What Exactly is Corporate Communication?

     In defining Corporate Communication this early in the semester it is important to note that our class definition is somewhat vague now, however it supplies us with a good foundation. With that being said we decided to jump ahead and do some of our own research to expand our definition. In every definition we found there was at least a mention of crisis communication. In most cases, the definitions stressed the importance of communicating quickly and efficiently during a crisis.

    This research left us baffled as to why our definition fails to include the propensity for crisis management. Despite the greatest risk management efforts, organizations still suffer from crisis every day. It is the responsibility of these organizations to recover from these hardships while still maintaining favorable relations with stakeholders. How a company responds and recuperates after crisis is a vital part of the organizations corporate communication.  That is why we feel it is necessary to incorporate crisis management into the umbrella that encompasses corporate communication. As the semester moves along we look forward to visiting this idea of crisis management in case studies and in any corporate settings we may encounter in our own future careers.

    -Gracie, Emily, Meghan, Wade

  • TED: Are more choices better, or has more become less?

    TED: Technology, Entertainment, Design is a nonprofit project that started in 1984 and focuses on Ideas Worth Spreading. TED holds an annual conference where talented and innovative speakers and performers speak about their lives ideas and challenges. Some of these speakers include Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Bill Gates, Brian Greene and many other brilliant people. This April, Terry Hayes and Dr. Persuit held a video session and discussion time to watch two speakers and for students to discuss the topics and their opinions.

    One of the speakers was Malcolm Gladwell, and his speech was titled “Spaghetti Sauce.” His speech focuses on one man, Howard Moskowitz, and his philosophy that “There isn’t one “perfect Pepsi” there are in fact numerous “perfect Pepsis.” Howard built his reputation and transformed the market world based on this idea, that companies should not try and find the “perfect something,” instead they should find varieties of perfect products. This idea gained its acceptance and status when Howard applied the theory to spaghetti sauce, specifically Prego. Prego hired Howard in the 1980s to help them compete with Ragu. Howard did millions of tests on millions of people using different types of spaghetti sauces and found out that people do not prefer one specific type of spaghetti sauce, instead the American people like many different specific types. This is why when you walk down the grocery isle with spaghetti sauce, there are difference sauces ranging from plain, to extra chunky, to mushroom flavored, and so on. Howard successfully changed the way the food industry approaches marketing, making of the products, and meeting the desires of the American people. The fundamental idea can be used in not just the food industry but in all areas of marketing. Marketers are beginning to realize that the way to make the consumer happy is not remember that they are all individuals with specific and different desires, needs and wants. Howard successfully passed along the lesson that the human population is filled with diverse beings with different ways to achieve their happiness.

    The second speaker was Barry Shwartz and his speech was titled “Paradox of Choices.” His speech talks about his book, which is about the way to maximize the welfare of all of the citizens, you must maximize the individual’s freedom through maximizes the choices people have. Choices lead to freedom which then leads to welfare, which should be the defining goal of societies. Barry shows the world through the choices we are offered by explaining that in a grocery store there are over 175 choices of salad dressing, and when you go to the doctor he or she will give you a number of choices of health care you can choose, and you can choose what prescription drug to take and so on. This has resulted in people giving the choices to wake up every day and invent our own identity and choose from all of the choices offered what kind of person we want to be. All of the choices we are offered occupy our entire day, all day and everyday leaving zero time to actually live the life we have chosen. He does point out the good news about having so many choices, which can be easily seen, but he discusses more deeply the bad news about all of the choices. One is that people are paralyzed by all of these choices because they are unable to choose which action to take. People have become either too lazy or to overwhelmed by all of the options available to them that many times they choose no action, or put off deciding for days and days. Another negative effect of the many choices is that people are beginning to have the expectation to receive perfection because of so many choices they have to choose from. This is resulting in people’s expectations not being met and the people ultimately being disappointed by their choices.

     The TED viewing finished with discussion questions for students to wrap their minds around. I invite you to also watch these brilliant speakers and ponder these questions:

    • Think of companies that have achieved success by offering limited product lines.

    • Think of companies that have achieved success by offering vast product lines.

    • As marketers, do we need to offer more varieties of our products, or should we offer fewer choices in order to help customers decide?

     • When are more choices better? Does it depend on the type of product or service? Is it always better to have more choice for high-involvement products, or is simplicity sometimes preferable?

     http://www.ted.com/

     -Shannon Meadows

  • 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