IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Marketing

  • How Much is Too Much?

    As the ten-year anniversary of September 11th quickly approaches, many Americans are beginning to prepare for the remembrance of the lives that were lost on that day. All across the country, people are buying extra American flags to place in their windows, commemorative pins, banners, posters, and even coin sets. And that is exactly what marketers want them to do.

    NYCWebstore.com boasts an impressive display of 9/11 commemorative goods from Twin Tower ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree with care, to memorial umbrellas, to FDNY and NYPD shot glasses. Although some of the profits from these “limited edition” items do go towards The FDNY Foundation, we are not told exactly how much.  None the less, at least our conscience can be comforted knowing some part of our consumer spending is for the greater good. However, unfortunately we cannot say the same for all products.

    What better way to remember than through the unique 9/11 Commemorative Coin Certificate? But if a coin-certificate doesn’t tickle your fancy, fear not for the National Collector’s Mint has a variety of coins to choose from including a brand new coin rolled out to honor the 10th anniversary. Now only $29.95 can help you “pay homage to America’s heroes and remember the day that changed America forever… order today!” 

     We do not mean to make light of 9/11. For many of us, this marks an extremely important day in our country’s history and is a day that we will not soon forget. However, when is too much? When does our need for consumption begin to take over so much that we need to have teddy bears, snow globes, and necklaces to help us “remember our heroes”?

    – Jessica Kingman, Alaethea Hensley, Lauren Phelps

  • Something to Wine About

    This Sunday, communities from all over the country will commemorate the 10-year anniversary of September 11th, 2001.  With the United States remaining politically divided on many issues, people are wondering if the anniversary of September 11th could bring the country closer together.  Leaders around the U.S. are calling for a change in the nation and “true bipartisan cooperation for the benefit of our country.”

    From big events, like the 9-11 Memorial opening in New York, people everywhere in America are finding ways to remember one of the biggest tragedies in our country’s history.  Perhaps one of the most controversial has been the selling of 9-11 Memorial Commemorative wines.  Lieb Family Cellars of Mattituck, Long Island has caused outrage by producing a range of 9-11 Memorial wines to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center.  The winemaker is selling Chardonnay and Merlot wines at $9.11 a bottle, and giving 10% of the proceeds to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

    Despite these donations, the announcement of the wine has made many upset.    Lieb Family Cellars’ advertisements promote a wine made from “grapes grown 90 miles from the site of the World Trade Center,” and with sensitivities over the anniversary running high, this concept has sparked outcry.  Critics have accused the maker of, “exploiting the atrocity to make money.”

    Lieb Family Cellars insists that it is not making any money off the project.  Gary Madden, the general manager told The Times: “It’s a non-profit project.  We made the wine for charity; the profits on sales go to them.  It was done with the foundation, all under their licensing.”

    Many people have taken to social networking sites, such as Twitter, to express their anger about the issue.  Perez Hilton said, “WTF?” He calls this “tacky” and posted the following tweet: “@NoReservations- 9-11 Wine?!!? Are you out of your MIND?!! EPIC FAIL.”

    Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has called the brand naming around this wine “grotesque, exploitative and vomit inducing,” while the FDNY EMS proclaims, “What does the 9/11 Memorial brand next? Soap? Carwax? Tampons?  Hot dogs? Dog food?…anything for $?”

    Some say the Lieb Family Cellars’ intentions are good, with the victims and their families in mind; however, perhaps they should have done a little bit more research in regards to the implementation and marketing of their commemorative product.

    – Stephanie Bakolia, Claire Outlaw, & David Glaubach

  • Great Grapes Wine, Arts & Food Festival

    Nothing screams spring quite like the sunny weather, beautiful walks with trees in bloom, with a glass of wine in hand and live bands serenading the evening. Thanks to the Great Grapes Wine, Arts & Food Festival, you can experience all of these, and much, much more.
    G.G.A.F.F is home to casual wine tasting with over a hundred different varieties of wines available for tasting. Souvenir tasting glasses are available for purchase upon entering the festival, and once in hand, you are free to stroll from tent to tent and table to table for tasting and sampling the rich heritage of many North Carolina vineyards. The atmosphere is created for one to relax in the beautiful green setting of the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Regency Park (Cary, NC).

    This particular festival takes place April 16th, 11am-7pm.
    Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. This way, all may settle in on the lawn and enjoy LIVE music on the Main Stage . Chefs are also in attendance, offering expert advice, tips and tricks for your next night in the kitchen!  There is even a kids activity area where children can come play, listen to music, and learn about art and other cultural intrigues.

    Other events during the day include grape stomping, art showcases, and tastings-wine and food pairing.

    Can’t make it to Cary next week? No worries! The G.G.A.F.F is in Reston, VA (April 30th 12pm-6pm) Cockeysville, MD. (June 11/12 12p-6pm), Reston, VA (September 10/11) and Charlotte, NC (October 1st)
    More information can be found on the festivals website:
    Uncork the Fun!

    -Maxann Keller

  • March Madness: The True Underdog Story

    Every NCAA Tournament kick starts spring and there is truly nothing like the opening days of tournament basketball. People have put all their time and effort into studying brackets for their office or friendly pool. As the tournament starts we all question whether a 16 seed will finally upset a number 1 seed. Yet again, this year it did not happen. No matter what happens there are always upsets, and this tournament was no different. After the upsets occur the “Cinderella Story” comparisons start to fly around. Marketers and advertisers beg to ask who will wear the glass slipper this year.

    For some reason our country loves the underdog story. We love to see Rocky make a courageous comeback and win the fight in the last round after getting beat the entire time. The NCAA Tournament has its fair share of underdog stories this year with Virginia Commonwealth, Richmond, and Butler. Butler is the most ironic of the “Cinderella Stories” because they reached the NCAA Final last year and came narrowly close to beating National Champion Duke. So why do we love to see Butler as the underdog? Reporters continue to ask Butler Head Basketball Coach Brad Stevens about the Cinderella story and he simply responds with “the Cinderella story worked well for us last year so I love to hear it.” The problem is that we are much too quick to forget about Cinderella teams. Marketers and advertisers use these schools and teams to market their underdog story and then after the tournament we quickly forget about them. We don’t hear a word about the universities or their basketball teams until they become the underdog story then marketers pump money to inflate their story. The Butler Bulldogs were not talked about much this regular season yet they find themselves in the Sweet Sixteen again. No matter how successful they were last season Butler will continue to be branded as a Cinderella team because they are a small school that lacks a deep, rich basketball tradition. Teams like Kansas and North Carolina will never be mentioned as an underdog or a Cinderella no matter how much better the opposing team is. These branding techniques seem to always be used during March Madness.

    There is a special story for two of the three Cinderella teams previously named. If Richmond and VCU both win it will be the first time in NCAA Tournament history that two teams from the same city or town will have played each other. Let’s hope that both win so we can celebrate two great teams from Richmond making it to the Elite Eight. More importantly, we can cheer for our fellow Colonial Athletic Association partners the VCU Rams. I’m sure CBS and advertisers will hype up the battle of the underdogs and ask whether the glass slipper fits Richmond or VCU. At this point we might be getting ahead of ourselves, but we can all dream. Hey, it worked for Cinderella.

  • Academy Awards Entertain in More Ways Than One

    The Academy Awards is one of the most glamorous nights on television.  This year at the 2011 Academy Awards there were more than just the fabulous fashions and celebrities that walked the red carpet, or as Justin Timberlake described it in his interview with Tim Gunn, the “fuschia” carpet because it looked more pink than red.  Other than Melissa Leo being the first winner in Oscar history to drop the F-bomb in her speech and the all the British nominees racking up numerous wins with The King’s Speech, aspects of marketing were apparent throughout the night.

    Now we all know that the Academy Awards isn’t the Super Bowl, that’s a given.  However, they do have something in common.  Advertisements.  During the commercial breaks there were plenty of new advertisements for ABC network shows such as The Bachelor, Dancing With The Stars, and Good Morning America.  ABC revealed that the new cast for this season of Dancing With The Stars would be announced the following night during an episode of The Bachelor.  ABC also showed that Britney Spears had a big announcement that she was going to make on Monday’s airing of Good Morning America.  The network even incorporated the Academy Awards into a commercial for its series Modern Family, having the characters playing a game of Charades acting out the well-known films.  ABC markets how each series of shows, whether it be reality or drama, are integrated with one another as an actual “network”.  Every show has a way of incorporating another.  This may be a way ABC attempts to gain viewers because they are hoping people are interested in finding out the newest DWTS cast and what big news Britney Spears has to share.

    Aspects of marketing did not only show up during the commercial breaks.  One example unexpectedly came to attention during Christian Bale’s acceptance speech when he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as boxer Dicky Eklund in The Fighter.  The real-life Dicky Eklund was present at the award show and Christian Bale made sure that everyone knew it.  Bale thanked Eklund in his speech and told him how excited he was to watch the next chapter of his life and that everyone else should too if they want to be a true champion.  He told everyone to check out dickeklund.com for more information on boxing lessons with Eklund.  This got a large laugh from the audience.  Was this a way for Bale to return the favor to Eklund since he won an Oscar for his portrayal?  Maybe, maybe not, but it sure was good publicity.  If you visit the website, one of the first pictures on the site is of Bale and Eklund at the Academy Awards.

    -Danielle Dorantich

  • “I want to be an event planner!”

    Contrary to popular belief, event planning isn’t all white dresses and fancy cakes.  In the realm of IMC, events are everywhere. From trade shows to music festivals, it takes knowledge of budgeting, marketing, advertising, organizational planning, and more to carry out a successful event. Our education in Communication Studies gives us a head start on other event planning hopefuls by providing opportunities through the classroom, internships, and extracurricular activities.

    Dress for Success Fashion Show Logo
    2010 "Dress for Success" Fashion Show Logo

    At UNCW, students have the opportunity to assist in the planning of fashion shows, academic conferences and meetings, concerts, multiple charity functions, and fundraisers. These opportunities give us valuable insight into all the necessary components of event planning. We come to understand that it takes hard work and long hours, excellent writing and public speaking skills…the list goes on and on! At the end of the day, an IMC student evaluates the outcome of his or her efforts not by how happy Bridezilla was, but by how it changed the behaviors of the client. For example, the success of a charity event might be measured by an increase in donations, not by how much people enjoyed the show.

    UNCW Communication Studies Society raised over $5,000 for breast cancer research in October 2010!

    When searching through the thousands of job listings, there are a variety of titles to consider: conference coordinator, special event coordinator, and meeting manager to name a few. Dependent upon the more specific interests of the applicant, these titles can start you on your way to a career in event planning!

    -Tiffany Evans, Deji Adeleke, Anna Kate Babnik, Katie Eagle, Carissa Niederkorn

  • Facebook vs. Twitter

    Social media has become such an important aspect of our culture and now provides businesses the chance to market to their potential and current consumers. It is interesting to notice whether having, for example, a Twitter or Facebook account will make a difference for your company.

    To keep with the theme of competition going for our IMC-Hawks blog, we’ll ask,
    Which is a better social network to market a business: Facebook or Twitter?

    Facebook: We all know the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his genius creation of Facebook in 2004. Facebook has now grown to have over 500 million active users and about 70% of those million are from outside the U.S.

    What makes Facebook appealing to businesses? It’s community based. Facebook allows you to know who is interested in your product and allows you find out what specific target market to aim for, as well as updating the users of any new information. Facebook gives the business an opportunity to upload multi-media information and gives users the chance to speak their minds about the specific product or service.

    Twitter: Twitter has 175 million registered users and about 95 million tweets go out a day. I like to think of Twitter as basically a site for multiple Facebook status’ (if you want to put it that way).

    So why choose Twitter for your business? The 140 character limit allows you to keep the message short while containing the most important information you want to deliver. Twitter is all about messaging at a fast pace. If you want to get something out fast, Tweet it! You also can see who is following you and what consumers are saying about your product (a similarity to Facebook). However, most tweets for businesses usually contain a link that drive the reader, if interested, to a specific site or article.

    Twitter offers a link for businesses on their website: http://business.twitter.com/

    If you weigh the comparison out, it seems that both Twitter and Facebook offer important social media marketing tools. It all comes down to what will be more appealing for your company or what will be more effective.  In my opinion, as a consumer, Twitter and Facebook work together in a positive way. You can tweet out a link to your Facebook page and you can connect your Facebook page to your Twitter account. Nowadays, having both Twitter and Facebook isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Involving your company one way or another on a social networking site is crucial for your company, especially on the customer satisfaction side. It is appealing when the company is involved and connects on a more personal level.

    Which one do you think is more successful in connecting with customers? Facebook or Twitter?

    -Micaela Fouhy