IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Marketing

  • The Miracle of Celebrity Endorsement

    The key to success when promoting a product, whether old or new, is by using a familiar face to associate with it. Many companies hire celebrities to advertise their products in hopes of increasing sales.  The widely known sandwich staple, Miracle Whip, recently came up with a marketing strategy to promote their product using celebrities. These ads aren’t like anything you have seen before.

    Paul DelVecchio, commonly known as DJ Pauly D from MTV’s Jersey Shore, stars in one of the commercials:

    What’s different about these ads is that Kraft chose to highlight individuals who dislike their product. The “which side are you” campaign has brought much attention to Miracle Whip. Even though Pauly D despises the sandwich spread, the commercial still succeeds in catching the viewer’s attention. Kraft made a wise decision in choosing Pauly D as a spokesperson for their product because of his connection to a different viewing audience. Many of today’s generation tune in every Thursday evening to catch the latest episode of the hit show. By choosing Pauly D instead of a big-time celebrity such as George Clooney or Brad Pitt, Kraft is targeting a younger audience in hopes of attracting buyers who have never tried Miracle Whip before.

    Which side are you on?

    -Stephanie Bakolia, Claire Outlaw, David Glaubach

  • Do campaign ads sway your vote?

    In just under two months, we will celebrate the arrival of a new year. There will be plenty of things to anticipate in the coming year: the optimists will make their resolutions striving to reach them by the year’s end and the pessimists will continue to raise their voices about the end of the world. But 2012 also brings another event with it: the presidential election.

                As the presidential campaigns begin to get into full swing, our television sets once mainly confirmed to the usual commercial advertisement bombardment will face another kind—the political advertisements. Every four years we are exposed to the constant cycle of emotional ads, attack ads, biographical ads, issue ads, and on and on and on. And the reason is simple: the person who spends the most money in the races is usually the victor. This was demonstrated in the 2008 presidential election with Barack Obama outspending John McCain 3 to 1 on political advertisements on television. In the 2008 congressional campaigns, in the 426 House races, the person who spent the most money won 397 of those races. Also in the races for seats in the Senate, the biggest spender won 30 out of 32 races.

                This does not necessarily mean that if a candidate spends more money on advertising that they will win. However, it could be an indicator of just how much influence advertising has on our election process.  We are inundated with ads and messages about political candidates from TV to radio to simple guerilla marketing tactics and it obviously impacts our voting decision. So take a step back and think about it as you begin to listen to these ads. Are you voting for this person because you truly feel they are the best candidate or are you voting because the candidate’s ad campaign was great?

     

    For a closer look at how much politicians are spending on political advertising, head over to http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/

      -Jessica Kingman, Alaethea Hensley, Lauren Phelps

  • Trending Topics: Political Campaigns

    With the next presidential elections only one year away, political campaigns are in full swing. The republican candidates have met multiple times to debate various topics of high concern to the American people in an attempt to pull voters early. With Obama having only one more year of his term in office, he is also working to attract voters to support him to another four years of Presidency. In fact, his recent announcement of a new college loan plan seems to be another attempt of attracting young voters; the voters who most popularly voted him into office in 2008. However, debating and new Presidential plans are not the only ways these candidates can depend on to win American voters in November of 2012; they also are in need of intensive marketing of the brand they want to represent via various strategies.
    The use of traditional and non-traditional marketing tactics will be the primary difference between this election in comparison to those historically. The typical running of television, magazine, radio advertisements will most certainly be used; however these candidates will also need to perfect the art of social media if they are looking to appeal to the younger generational voters. These candidates will only stand out among the competition if they can look savvy to all generations while still maintaining consistency in their messages and vision for our country. The use of social media and non-traditional marketing tactics will not only bring attention to these candidates, but will also give a positive indirect message that they are embracing the advancement of social and technological advancements around them. Building an image, brand through these tactics will be a huge change in comparison to campaigns in the past, allowing their messages to gain momentum faster and build a following of all audiences successfully.

    – Jared Sales, Sally Shupe, Oliver Evans

  • The 31 days of Hallomedia

    On a scale of one to fun — Halloween is by far the most-fun holiday of all holidays. Christmas is great, Easter is swell, and Hanukkah has the tendency to get crazy, but Halloween tops them all in terms of an all-around good time. It is such a good time that there is an entire month, “Monstober,” dedicated to it on the Disney Channel! On ABC Family, 13 solid-packed nights of Halloween are sure to get you in the spooky-spirit!

    And how could we ever forget the infamous annual hour-long special of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, which airs tonight at 8pm on ABC.  Other holidays are also heavily recognized in the media, such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day, however, they do not compare to the hype of Halloween and the month of October.

    If you think about it, although Christmas is considered a Christian holiday, it is celebrated by a large number of non-Christians as well. The only thing is, Christmas is surrounded by other holidays that “steal its thunder,” if you will. Hanukkah and Kwanza, with New Years’ celebrations shortly after, withdraw some of the attention to Christmas. On the other hand, Halloween has October’s attention-span all to its self!

    Every morning in the month of October talk shows across network television showcase all that Halloween has to offer in terms of recipes, decorating, and entertaining. The Today Show with Kathy Lee and Hoda provide you with the tasty treats and monstrous-mixed drinks. LIVE with Regis and Kelly share ideas for how to dress the snazziest at your Halloween event, while The Martha Stewart Show gets you ready to decorate your house in a ghoulish, yet glamorous way.

    When else can you convert a fruit or vegetable into a bird! Our own blogger, Jordan, made these adorable Angry Bird-inspired pumpkins.

    Later on in the day, while you are prepping your plans for the holiday with all of your newfound knowledge, holiday favorites are featured on T.V. Who doesn’t love seeing the Disney Channel’s Halloweentown and its three other entries, Halloweentown II, III, and IV. Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Casper round out some of the classics featured on television during the month of October. It’s amazing, if you think about it — all of these great movies and shows that are featured each year were filmed many years ago; yet, they continue to market to us and we keep tuning in!

    With Hallomedia, we can enjoy the entire month of October with all it has to offer, not just the last day!

    — Michela Noreski, Jordan Hill, Ashley Nelson

  • Trick or treat..Smell my feet..IMC

    To many people, Halloween strictly means candy, tricks, costumes, and monsters. However, Halloween actually has a history rooted in religious conquests and power struggles; a characteristic that most people are unaware of. This national holiday dates back to Celtic pagan festivals that celebrated the end of the harvest season.Druid ceremony They believed that on this day the spirits would come back to earth and roam free; causing mischief and looking for living souls to possess. The people would dress up in frightening costumes, make blood sacrifices and leave food outside of their front doors in an attempt to ward off the evil spirits and appease their appetites. Halloween only fundamentally changed when the Romans took the Celtic lands and forced Christianity among its people. The Romans adopted the Celtic celebrations, infusing their religious beliefs into the concepts, and named it “All Saints Day” in order to honor the saints that did not have a day of their own.  By the 1500s, “All Saint’s Day” had become “All Hallows’ Day”, and the Celtic festival had begun to be known as All Hallows’ Evening, Hallow Evening, and eventually… Halloween. 
    This holiday fell somewhat dormant until 1921 when the first citywide celebration of Halloween began in Anoka, Minnesota; followed by New York and L.A. Only about 5% of the American population celebrated this holiday until now, as it has become one of the most celebrated holidays in the US. With this mainstream evolution in mind, many businesses are in debt to the creators of such a day. From candy to costumes, this day turns out to be one of the most profitable of the year, making the importance of marketing efforts vitally important. The goal of the holiday is no longer to ward off evil spirits; but rather to have the best costume and best collection of candy. For one day every year, people feel it necessary to build a costume based on their perception of a person, product, or trend; driving attention to some of the biggest “hits” of the year. Since everyone is now participating in the tradition, the role of marketers is to offer these costumes and candies to every main audience of Halloween: children, parents, teenagers, and young adults, in hope that their variety will be selected as the “hot item” this year.

    Jared Sales, Sally Shupe, Oliver Evans

  • Potato — Po-ta-to : Sweet Potato vs. Yam

    North Carolina is known for celebrating many odd and obscure things. For instance, our great state has festivals glorifying everything from pickles to blueberries, from crabs to mules, and in this case: both sweet potatoes and yams. Are you following along – sweet potatoes and yams are two separate entities!

    yams

    In the United States, yams are really just another name for a sweet potato. However, a true yam is usually imported to America from the Caribbean. When cooked, yams are a soft, sweet, orange concoction. I know what you’re thinking – this sounds just like a sweet potato! The US Department of Agriculture requires that the label “yam” always be accompanied by “sweet potato” to avoid the confusion because they are generally used interchangeably.

    North Carolina is known for specializing in this crop of ‘related-vegetables’. The sweet potato is a native crop in North Carolina and is primarily grown in the coastal plain area of the state.  We are also recognized for our crops in tobacco, cotton, blueberries, and peanuts.

    But, why should we celebrate a vegetable? The answer is, why not! October 22nd and 23rd, in Tabor City, N.C., the NC Yam Festival celebrates its agricultural heritage by saluting the yam. From 1947 until 1961, the little border town of Tabor City played host to one of North Carolina’s largest festivals.  Since 1947 the Carolina Yam Festival has been attracting as many as 15,000 visitors each year, to this tiny community of less and 2,000. The following weekend, in Snow Hill, N.C., Greene County will be celebrating the vegetable at the 4th annual N.C. Sweet Potato Festival.

    Each event is sure to be a good time, with the Sweet Potato festival having entertainment such as Jason Michael Carroll at this years’ event.  But, if you look at it like these North Carolina growers do, more is always better – so check out both festivals!

    If you are not craving a sweet potato/yam after all of this, hopefully this will at least ease your mind: the main difference in these two vegetables is that their individual festivals are held on different weekends in October and are about 2.5 hours away from each other! These festivals combined don’t need any marketing, they rely on word of mouth to promote these fantastic events for people of all ages to have a yam good time!

    – Michela Noreski, Jordan Hill, Ashley Nelson

  • Connecting to Potential Jobs

    When it comes to the big job hunt, there are a plethora of considerations that come to mind. Seeking out career fairs, perfecting your resume, and getting the right professional look all seem to be high on the list. However, there’s one tool we sometimes neglect when it comes to seeking out jobs in our field, whether it be Marketing, Advertising, PR, or IMC: social networking. Sites such as LinkedIn provide a huge leg up for those looking for a job in our current market. You will be able to get your resume out to multiple different audiences with the click of your mouse, while also putting your resume out to employers who you may have initially overlooked.

    Not only is LinkedIn important for initially creating new job opportunities, it is also useful in growing and cultivating new connections and relationships. Networking is extremely important in the field of IMC and every connection you get could be a potential for a new opportunity. Active use of this resource shows those you have connected with, what you are up to, how you are looking to grow professionally, and if you are currently looking for employment options. With the current economic state, we have to exploit every avenue we can to ensure that we are able to find a job upon graduating.  While it is necessary that we have a strong resume and good interviewing skills, we also have to remember that our potential job opportunity could be found through LinkedIn.

    – Lauren Phelps, Alaethea Hensley, Jessica Kingman