Advertisements in Barcelona

I have spent this past weekend in Barcelona, and I have been shocked by the inappropriate nature of some of their advertising.  There is an extensive use of nudity used to advertise for clubs, beaches, restaurants, tourist companies, etc.  These advertisements range from billboards, to flyers, to pamphlets given out to the public, and conclusively anyone can see these advertisements.  Oftentimes, because of the competition among all these places to get the attention of tourists they have good-looking girls walking around for promotion of their company, wearing close to no clothing.  It’s honestly sad. To what extent should this type of advertising and promotion be used? Children, as well as people who don’t care to see that type of advertising are exposed to it at a higher rate then anywhere I have previously been.  It comes down to the fact that this type of advertising is just so integrated into their society that it is of the norm for companies to take this approach to try and get tourist attention.  

Smaller Newspapers?

For 20p, one can pick up a copy of the "newspaper of the year." Known as "the i: The essential daily briefing." It is a smaller, spin off from The Independent. It is labeled as a concise, quality paper. It was launched in the fall of 2010 and is now available in print or on the iPad. 


So how do you feel about a large, important paper launching a smaller subsidiary? I have never seen this before, but I kind of like it. If it wasn't for the student discout, I know I would not be subscribed to the New York Times. But if I was offered a condensed version of the Times paper, daily, for roughly $0.30, I would be more than willing to pay that. 


I think it is a brilliant marketing scheme. It not only increased circulation, but also is a great way to get more people to pick up a paper. 


If you could pick up a smaller paper, from a quality publisher, that just contained the biggest news, would you? Would you feel more compled to read the news if the stories are shorter? A physical copy of the Times can seem overwhelming, but some simpler packaging could make all the difference. 


I see this as a great way to help save the print newspapers. Possibly have it where you would pay a yearly subscription for a physical paper, but still have access to the full, in depth coverage online.


I know just reading a small paper, you will only get the surface story, but it is better than not being informed at all. 

Olympic Swimming coverage

It has been fun following news reports and Tweets from our first Skype guest speaker of the summer, journalist Vicki Michaelis. We were lucky to have her join us before the Olympics started to get her insights on covering  sports on a national and international level. Now we were able to follow along as she reported the stories of the Olympic games.

  

Vicki  is currently a freelance reporter at the London Olympic Games.  She just recently left a post as the lead Olympics reporter and Denver bureau sports reporter for USA Today which gave her a national and international profile in sports journalism and the sports industry overall.

Here is one of her recent reports from the Olympic swimming events last night:

http://www.teamusa.org/Olympic-Games/2012/Headlines/2012/August/04/Greatest-Olympian-Closes-the-Door-4-August-2012.aspx

Ms. Michaelis is soon to be Professor Michjaelis as she joins us at Grady in the fall as the chairperson and president of the Association for Women in Sports Media.  

Minding the Cultural Gap

Conrad Persons, Director at Mash Strategy Ltd and Director at Askstone Publishing in London, joined the class via Skype this week. He has expertise in brands, trends and futures and is a blogger for the New York Times and an online contributor to The Guardian. He shared his experiences working in advertising and branding internationally in the Japan and the U.K. as well as in the New York. Persons' insights into reaching diverse target audiences as an "expat" were particularly helpful and entertaining. So glad he could join us!

Forward. Full Stop.

I recently read an online article titled, "Punctuation Nerds Stopped by Obama Slogan, 'Forward.'" from the Wall Street Journal. Apparently there is a confusion over the message of the president's newest campaign slogan. As we saw in 2008, Obama is once again narrowing his campaign to a single word. This time, however, his campaign staff have added punctuation to the end of his slogan.
First off, is it really necessary to have punctuation? My first thoughts were that a period was added to present a stronger and more forceful statement, like Forward. BOOM. I feel like campaigns slogans like this are very similar to advertisements. They are simple, easy to remember, and when heard, are often recognized with the person or company. I know after 2008, whenever I heard "change" I pretty much immediately thought of Barack Obama. But now that it's four years later, is this the change America wanted to see? Of those who say yes, his current slogan "Forward." would probably be seen as positive because it suggests that he is moving forward with his change. On the other hand however, for those who disagree with his "change," they would most likely associate "Forward." with the continuance of such change. While my assumptions may not be true, I hope that this year's voters (regardless of their political views) will not place a heavy influence on one.simple.word.
Furthermore, the article suggests that the "Forward." slogan in itself is a contradiction. While it suggests that Obama will forward America's progress (I guess in any sense of the word), it is at the time suggesting that a vote for Mitt Romney will set the nation in reverse. However, the momentum that the slogan is supposed to elicit is abruptly stopped by a period.
Is it grammatically incorrect? Yes. But does it catch your attention? I think so, regardless of your interpretation of its overall message. Interestingly enough, however, the punctuation mark has been dropped in some of his recent ads.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444840104577553020326811222.html?mod=e2fb

"Social Interactions in a Wireless Era"

On Thursday our class discussed the effects of mobile communication and how technological advents such as smartphones have affected our culture and our interpersonal communication skills. One of the supplemental articles we read for our seminar was titled "Cellphones in Public: Social Interactions in a Wireless era." An aspect of the article I found interesting was the researchers’ distinction between people in public who are deemed ‘Singles’ and ‘Withs.’ Obviously a ‘Single’ is somebody in public who is alone, and ‘Withs’ are those who are in groups or two or more. The researchers stated that ‘Singles’ often feel vulnerable and are compelled to establish a sort of purpose for themselves: they read a newspaper, drink coffee, or seem occupied so they avoid appearing as if they don’t belong in the public space. These observations on social behavior are more interesting when put into the context of mobile technology; how many times have you been with a friend or a group of people, aka a ‘With,’ but then are left alone for a few minutes? Don’t you feel a tad self-conscious, or think that others are judging you for being alone in public? It’s ludicrous when we think about it, that we should feel embarrassed at these times—our loneliness is only temporary until our friends return, and even if we are alone in public, so what? That doesn’t mean we’re undesirable people. But most of us still feel awkward, and usually turn to that one thing that insinuates we’re not social pariahs: our smartphones.

How many of you do that? When your friend goes to the bathroom or buys another coffee and leaves you by your lonesome, do you sit there and observe your surroundings? Or do you quickly pick up your iPhone or Android and scroll through your Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr feeds to make it seem like you’re busy? Or maybe you do it to avoid the eyes of others’ who you swear are judging you for being by yourself. I’d like to think that maybe I just use my phone to entertain myself when I’m by myself for a few minutes, but truth is I probably do it because of the previously stated reasons. Which makes me wonder, what did I do before I had a smart phone? Was I content to just sit around and people-watch until my friend(s) returned? Has the rise of social media made it so that we feel we can’t ever be alone?

Tonight at dinner, I was excited to find an example of a restaurant utilizing mobile media to promote their business.  The restaurant printed on their dinner napkins “Check in at Foc on Facebook and get your free Foc shot.”  I thought this was a clever way to promote their restaurant.  It touched on the idea of consumer product promotion that was mentioned on our trip to MediaCom. I love seeing the abstract concepts become concrete in the real world!  I wonder how effective “checking in” at places is at promoting businesses.  I don’t think I personally have ever been swayed to visit a place simply because a Facebook friend had previously “checked in” there.