IMC Hawks Blog

Category: Wilmington NC

  • Filter Your Way To A Greener Earth


    “What do you want for dinner honey, how about plastic?” This may seem like a ridiculous statement, but it’s one that needs to be taken seriously. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a large island in the Pacific Ocean that is full of tires, plastic, nets, and lots and lots of trash. To be clear, the largest landfill isn’t on land, it’s in the ocean. An estimated 80% of the garbage in the ocean comes from land sources and plastic composes 90% of the trash floating in the oceans around the world. The size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not verified, but some say that it is twice the size of the state of Texas while others say the garbage island is 3.8 million square miles. The trash leaves human hands, goes into the ocean, and kills sea animals. Sea turtles become entangled by fishing nets, eating plastic bags mistaking them as jelly fish, and dying because of it. Birds are also scooping up the trash and feeding it to their young mistaking it for food and dying from starvation or ruptured organs. How does this process come to a full circle? The trash leaves humans hands, goes into the ocean, animals then eat the trash, bigger animals eat the smaller animals that have ingested the trash, the animals are then caught by fisherman, and then the fish, which have ingested trash and plastic, ends up on your dinner plate. Sounds delicious right? No, I didn’t think so.

    Mostly everyone can agree with the statement that we live in the “Age of Plastic”. However, it has been a growing issue within the world that plastic is harmful to the environment. But has anyone stopped to think of what it is doing to the human body? Werner Boote has and that is why he created the documentary called Plastic Planet. Boote traveled all over the world to understand how plastic is made and used throughout the countries. During the video he speaks to the world’s foremost experts in biology, pharmacology, and genetics to receive some answers about the effects of plastics. A shocking revolution of this video is that plastic is actually in our blood. He created this video to educate those about the risks of plastic and how long the material really lasts on earth. This video is encouraging those to limit the use of plastic and to educate the next generations of children so that they understand what kind of a plant they are being introduced to. Last year, the Green Team on UNCW’s campus collaborated with another sustainability group to play this movie for the students to see. People should be educated on the effects of plastic and understand how harmful it really is.http://firstrunfeatures.com/plasticplanetdvd.html

    Many companies are now producing products to help save the environment and cut down on the amount of plastic bottles the world uses every year. Brita water filters has made technology so that customers can make tap water from their home safe from harmful bacteria and pure while using their own glasses. Brita has a new campaign, Brita For Good, which asks customers to use their bottle and pitcher filters to save about 300 plastic bottles from being used and thrown away. The average filter needs to be thrown away every two months, so you don’t have to constantly be worrying about changing the filter. Camelbak is another company striving to save the environment from being consumed by waste. They have recently designed a product to solve water purification problems with a system that uses UV light. The bottle takes 60 seconds to purify the water inside, which is not too long to wait for pure and fresh water.

    -Kelsey Bendig, Brooke Keller, Andrea Blanton, Brian Burch

  • Watch TV on your own time

    Digital video recorders, also known as DVR’s, have been around since 1999. Replay TV and TiVo were the first two digital video recorders launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. DVR’s have become increasing popular because it allows you to record your favorite shows or movies and watch them later when you have more time. Now there is no need to rush home or stay up late just to catch the news or E! True Hollywood Story. DVR is changing how we watch television. With DVR on everyone’s mind, cable companies have created apps so that their users can set their DVR’s to record even when they are not home. Another feature of DVR that has caught many people’s attention is the fact that you can fast forward through the commercials. People can enjoy their favorite shows without interruptions. This has made it difficult for advertising companies to get the viewers to watch their advertisements.

    With the development of DVR and television show recording programs, companies have to find new and effective ways to market their products to their target markets.  Television viewer’s ability to fast forward through commercials is thought to be affecting buying habits of consumers.  Companies and marketing experts have to peruse other means of getting their products out to the public.  Social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and especially Pinterest are effective ways for companies to market their products in a way to get consumer attention.  Through this marketing hardship, integrated marketing communication is very important to gain and retain interest.

    -Kelsey Bendig, Brooke Keller, Andrea Blanton, Brian Burch

  • The trend of helping others

    With everything that is happening in the world today, it is nice to see that others are using their products to direct consumers’ attention to things other than America’s economy. Some companies have created a brand based on helping those in need. This trend has been one that can actually make a difference in the world we live in. These companies are using their consumers’ ethos to make them feel as though they are doing the right thing by buying certain products. This marketing tactic has proven to be a successful one because two brands especially have become increasingly popular throughout their mission to help those who truly need it.  

    If you haven’t heard of TOMS, you aren’t in with the latest trends.  Here on the campus of UNCW especially, TOMS are almost as big of a hit as Rainbows.  Not only do they look amazing and feel great, the TOMS brand is all about giving back.  For every pair of TOMS sold, the company donates a pair of their shoes to people in need.  The TOMS brand started back in 2006 with the creator’s trip to Argentina, where he saw first hand how many children had no shoes to protect their feet.  This is not only true in Argentina, but in many other developing countries where children grow up barefoot.  The TOMS brand slogan is ONE FOR ONE and is making a major impact on the trend of helping those in need.

    Chegg is a resource that hundreds of thousands of students utilize around the world to rent or buy textbooks to save money. One of Chegg’s incentives for students to rent or buy textbooks from their company is their philanthropic marketing strategy.  Chegg markets to their consumers that with their support, Chegg can plant trees around the world. Today, Chegg has planted over five million trees with their partnership with American Forest Global ReLeaf Foundation.  As stated on Chegg’s website these trees are planted worldwide to, “help regenerate areas damaged by wildfire, strengthen River Bounds, and restore wildlife habitats.”  In 2011, 175,000 trees were planted in Pondicherry, India, 40,500 trees were planted in Colorado and 700,000 trees were planted in Florida, just to name a few.  Chegg inspires students to be a catalyst for change around the world.  When their consumers purchase their textbooks through Chegg they can make a difference in the world by improving the environment.

    -Kelsey Bendig, Andrea Blanton, Brooke Keller, Brian Burch

  • Networking your way to the top!

    The Annual Communication Studies Day is something students and faculty alike look forward to every spring.  This jam-packed day is full of expert panels and networking sessions to help communication studies students get their names out there in their potential field, and a fashion show with examples of appropriate work attire.  Networking is something that is becoming more and more important when trying to get a job in society today.

    What exactly is networking? According to the UNCW Career Center website networking is, “the development of contacts and personal connections with a variety of people who might be helpful to you and your career.” Building a personal connection and relationship with people in the community will be beneficial. According to the UNCW Career Center website, 80% of jobs are filled by networking – people they know. Networking doesn’t guarantee a job, but it is a great way to gather information and get advice from people who have been in the industry for a while. It is important to network at any given opportunity. Networking can occur through various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social media is a powerful tool that should be utilized when networking.

    COM Studies Day allows students to hear from professionals and get experience with networking. Jenna Curry, a COM major graduate and treasurer of CSS during her years at UNCW, took these days to heart. After she started her career, she noticed that she did not know many young professionals in the Wilmington Area. With this realization, she decided to create an atmosphere where young college students and graduates could meet and network with local businesses because she had learned the importance of networking at UNCW. Port City Young Professionals (PCYP) is the atmosphere she created. PCYP hosts a networking event the third Wednesday of every month in different areas of Wilmington. Curry hopes to give the members a chance to establish new personal or professional relationships, give young business people a chance to interact socially, and share ideas. “PCYP was created to help improve its members’ networking skills, expand their contact base, and provide the opportunity to promote themselves and their business in a relaxing atmosphere. The goal of the PCYP is to ultimately help its members get involved in the local business scene and to impact the current and future marketplace.”  For more information about Port City Young Professionals check them out at: www.portcityyoungprofessionals.com.

    -Kelsey Bendig, Andrea Blanton, Brooke Keller, Brian Burch

  • What’s Your Unique Brand Style?

    UNCW’s Communication Studies Day includes an informative Dress for Success Fashion show for college students of all ages and levels. The fashion show will also include skits demonstrating the importance of an elevator speech, professional attire, portfolios, and how necessary it is to be prepared for interviews. This year the theme, “Will You Make the Cut?” is based upon the Food Network show “Chopped.”

    One idea about IMC manifested in this fashion show is that company image and brand management is very vital for growth and success. Individuals, as well as companies, have always had their own image and have to manage their own brand. It is sometimes hard for college students to transition from a student image that they have had for the past 13 years to a business professional image. The great part about the fashion show is that it shows students how to transition from their current image and brand to something more professional.

    Whether people realize it or not, we are branding ourselves every day through the types of clothes we choose to wear in professional or unprofessional settings. Your unique brand style can be a description of who you are in a job interview setting. It is very important to make interpersonal connections with job interviewers through your developed style and authenticity that will make you stand out from others. Branding yourself when looking for a job is very similar to branding a product. Basically, you are selling yourself as a product to your potential employer with the goal of standing out amongst the rest. Are you casual business, formal business, chick, trendy, preppy, classic, or a hybrid of several?

    By: Laura Simmons, Mollie Berthold, Dorothy Conley, Christina Stevenson

  • Surfing Your Way to Success

    Entrepreneurs, as well as many other companies, rely on Integrated Marketing Communication to get the word of their business out to the public with multiple methods. A fellow UNCW Senior in the Communication Studies department, James Connolley, has been an entrepreneur using IMC to promote his business, JC Surf Camp. James has been teaching people of all ages how to surf for 8 years and has been an entrepreneur, owning JC Surf Camp for 6 years. His decision to start his own surf camp business started with a conversation with his high school bible study leader. James has a love for surfing, kids, and Jesus and decided the best way to combine all the things he loves into his surf camp. He likes to share his message through his surf camp by the quality and professionalism in his every day work.

    When the surf camp started in 2006, the only way James was communicating with his publics was by posting fliers in the storefront of a local surf shop. His business quickly started to grow and in 2007, James decided he wanted to market his business to a broader audience. He paid someone to build his own website and just recently added new content and features. James uses many other ways to communicate to his public by using mass emails, direct mailing, brochures, website, and social media. The best marketing overall with JC Surf Camp is word of mouth advertising and partnerships with other local camps in Wilmington. More recently, James was able to advertise his business through the local news station WECT.

    Link to WECT Live bit on JC Surf Camp

    The JC Surf Camp team considers surfing one of the greatest blessings in life and goes to great lengths to ensure others see it the same way. Each instructor at JC Surf Camp has gone through an extensive SurfInstruct Training Program before becoming a surf instructor. This program was developed to ensure every instructor knows ocean safety, surf safety, CPR and First Aid certified, and knowledge of different teaching methods for all levels, such as, kids, teens, groups, or private lessons. Another way James and his team ensure safety is by providing UV protected rash guards and soft-top surfboards. Safety is very important to all the JC Surf Camp instructors to make sure they are providing a safe learning environment. James stated it perfectly when he said if people feel safe, they are able to have fun. This is one of the messages James tries to communicate to retain and maintain customers.

    Many times entrepreneurs start from the ground up and have to take what they have and make the most of it. Since James is in the communication studies department at UNCW, he has been able to take the knowledge learned in communication classes and IMC classes and implement that in his business. James, as a student and entrepreneur, thinks of entrepreneurship as an adventure and has far exceeded what many entrepreneurs his age are capable of.

    Learn how to surf today!

    By: Laura Simmons, Dorothy Conley, Christina Stevenson, Mollie Berthold

  • Every Ending Is A New Beginning

    Last week, in the prerequisite class for the IMC-Hawks, Integrated Marketing Communication I, students were assigned a project in which they had 48 hours to complete. The assignment was to create a multimedia campaign to promote UNCW. One group of students in the class proposed an idea to ask students and faculty “one question” in an attempt to capture their experience at UNCW in just a few words.

    As this class, and many of our college careers come to a close, we decided to expand on this evoking concept and provide our own final few thoughts before we all sign off for the last time.

    Looking back at my college career, I was offered a lot of advice but the one that held true no matter what the circumstance was to value your time here. These past four years have been frustrating, exhilarating, gleeful, melancholy, and turbulent but they have helped me grow and achieve things that I never thought possible. Treasure opportunities and learn from your mistakes; it’ll only make you a stronger, most resilient person in the end. – Jessica Kingman

    UNCW provided me an opportunity to see the world. Studying abroad with UNCW to Valencia, Spain opened my eyes to various ideals, ethics and values other cultures engage in which I now incorporate into my life. – Michela Noreski

    With one semester left in my college career, I’ve realized that you really shouldn’t hold back.  Do what makes you happy and don’t be scared to try new things; it’s all about the experience! – Liz LaPuasa

    Everyone says that college changes their life forever – UNCW has definitely changed mine. As I am about to graduate, I realize how much I am not ready to leave this place. The best advice I can give to future Seahawks is a lesson learned from the one and only Tom Petty: “You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have. Drink ’til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does…” – Jordan Hill

    What does UNCW mean to me? It means opportunity. The opportunity to start fresh, the opportunity to expand my knowledge, the opportunity to be a part of a tight-knit community, the opportunity to meet new people, and most importantly, UNCW has been the opportunity for me to grow as a person. I could not have chosen a more perfect school to spend my college years. I’ll be graduating next December—and when I do, I guarantee you it’ll be with no regrets. – Stephanie Bakolia

    I say, UNDER-PROMISE AND OVER-DELIVER and MEAN WHAT YOU SAY AND SAY WHAT YOU MEAN – Jared Sales

    The UNCW COM Studies Dept. has afforded me the opportunity to become an employee at one of the most prestigious publishing companies in the world. – David Glaubach

    My advice for the next IMC Hawks is: “Keep up with your work on a daily basis and be in full communication with your group members. If you all learn how to use your strengths, every assignment will become easier.” – Sally Shupe

    As a senior who is graduating a year early, I cannot believe how much I have learned from UNCW and particularly from my amazing professors in the COM department in such a short amount of time. If I take away anything from this experience, it is that you must find a way to feel passionately about the work you do, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time because every assignment will help you develop further as a student and an educated citizen. – Claire Dillard

    My advice for the next IMC class is to READ the books assigned! Not only are they very interesting and teach so much about integrated marketing, but they are a great to source for future interviews! Everyone in the business knows Shirky! – Ashley Nelson

    There are so many things I could say but I am sure my classmates have covered most of them. My advice to you is simple…don’t forget why it is you are here and how important what you are learning is because we are the future. – Alaethea Hensley

    My advice to the incoming IMC-Hawks is to remember the importance of every lesson you are encountering through this course, and every course you take at UNCW. Don’t just do it for the grade, see the importance in each problem, each assignment and each project. You will get out of the course what you put into it!-Lauren Phelps

    UNCW to me is a place where I am able to fully reach my potential and grow as an individual, both creatively and intellectually. As a transfer student, I couldn’t be any happier with my decision. I think it is safe to say that the Communication Studies Department has given me tools to succeed in the working world. – Claire Outlaw

    Thank you to my IMC 2 class for asking me to join them on their last post of the semester. Although this sounds like graduation advice, it’s more like life advice. I try and follow it as much as I can. — Henry James, the American-born writer (he wrote The Turn of the Screw and The Portrait of a Lady, among others, which you may remember from a literature course you might have taken at UNCW), wrote an article called “The Art of Fiction” that was published originally in 1884.  In this piece, James responds to a pamphlet about writing fiction from another writer, with whom James seems to disagree. I’m not a literary critic so I’m going to leave it at that. Anyway, one of the pieces of advice James gives to new writers of fiction has always resonated with me as a student, a scholar, a teacher, and a citizen: “Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!” I offer to you, my IMC-Hawks, that being this kind of person – the kind on whom nothing is lost – is one of the best pieces of advice I can give you as you complete your B.A. in Communication Studies. To me, James is saying more than “pay attention;” he’s reminding us that a lot goes on that we ignore, either willfully or unintentionally, when we should be at our most conscious. I see it in my classes, when students are caught up in everything other than what we’re discussing that day; I see it in my son, who can get lost in a game of Angry Birds (my parenting award is on its way!); and I see it in my own behavior, when I have two monitors and an iPad and a cell phone and all are tuned to something different. To be the kind of person on whom nothing is lost, we sometimes have to stop paying attention to those distractions and focus on what’s in front of us. Conveniently, an education in communication studies teaches us to be the kind of person on whom nothing is lost. Rhetorical theory teaches us how to interpret oral and written communication. Paying attention to interpersonal communication helps you in your most intimate relationships. I try to demonstrate how understanding of IMC doesn’t just make you a better practitioner, it makes you a more conscious consumer and a more engaged citizen.  Being the kind of person on whom nothing is lost rejects the passive and embraces the active. Take an active role in your education, your occupation, your family life, your civic life. Don’t just sit back and let it happen to you. Good luck and I’ll miss you all!   – Dr. Persuit

    We hope you have enjoyed our edition of the IMC-Hawks blog this past semester. Although this is our final blog post as a group, be sure to check-in in January for a new generation of IMC-Hawks! Until then — Stay classy, Seahawk Nation.

    IMC-Hawks:  Oliver Evans, Jared Sales, Michela Noreski, Lauren Phelps, Jordan Hill, Alaethea Hensley, David Glaubach, Liz LaPuasa, Stephanie Bakolia, Sally Shupe, Claire Dillard, Ashley Nelson, Claire Outlaw, Jessica Kingman