Graduating!!!!! or Oh crap I'm graduating

Literally graduating in 3 weeks. Holy balls what am I going to do? That's all I've got.

Susan Boyle...

All I can say is that if I was one of those people in the British Idol crowd rolling my eyes at Susan Boyle, before she sang, I would hate my life right now. Goes to show you that you ALWAYS need to be careful because this world we live in is so transparent. At any point in the day you could be filmed and be put on youtube for millions to see. 

With that said, I think there is OBVIOUSLY a great lesson to be learned here. What has your mother always told you? "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover!" Let this be a reminder to all.

Product Placement Advertising

Okay so I have been watching 90210 for 20 minutes and have already seen a Dr.Pepper can 3 times, have heard the name Dr.Pepper twice, and have seen the logo twice. Also commercials spots are flooded with Dr.Pepper Cherry. There is such a thing as over-doing it! Dr. Pepper is dangerous close to alienating their consumers ..... this is coming from a die hard diet dr. pepper drinker too!!!

Show me that "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name...." commercial and I jump for joy! I love that commercial. Stay with that advertising campaign and get away from product placement that is so darn obvious!

I still love you Dr. Pepper :)

Web and Advertising 2.0

Advertising and Web 2.0 is a thing of the past...... That is what an interactive guest speaker from Fallon spoke to my class about today and she had some great points. The first thing and most distressing part about web 2.0 is that it is UGLY! Look at it, you will be shocked! Compared to the beautiful advertising layouts we create for television and magazines it is shocking how ugly the internet can be.

Web 2.0 was designed to bring people together and share thoughts and ideas. It definitely has done that. We are more connected now than ever before. Shall we call the future Web and Advertising 3.0 ..... ? Well this is where the advertisers are going to step-in and make everything beautiful. Fallon has just recently launched a site that they hope will jump start this 3.0. The site is called Skimmer. It ties all your Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, fickr, ect together into one site. It is also pretty! 

I for one am happy about this new future of the internet!

Confessions of a ....

I just finished reading Confessions of a Shopaholic, a little late I know.... Anyways, it got me thinking about what else I am a _aholic of. Shopping, yes but I am working on it being that the probability of getting a job after a graduate is slim to none! I still wonder the Galleria and 50th and France shops religiously though. I think about just using my credit card, but where would that leave me a month from now? 

What else am I an _aholic of? Well I am definitely a diet coke-aholic and a House Hunters-aholic. What about you?

What is the deal with every television commercial, radio spot, and news story mentioning 'this terrible down spinning economy'? It is depressing! The goal right now is to jump start the economy with consumers purchasing 'american' products right? Well when all the media outlets are talking about how bad the economy is and how it is not getting any better the last thing I want to do is go out and spend more money. What an interesting experiment this would be....If all the media outlets stopped covering the depressing economy for just one week would spending go up? I bet it would! The media is so powerful, it could help get us out of this crisis. 

Therefore, we need to stop using phrases like 'these tough times'. This article talks about this concept ..... http://tiny.cc/5xDoL

Balancing Life...

I consider myself a fairly well-rounded individual with a good head on my shoulders. Lately I have been feeling a bit out of the loop though. In high school I was always out with friends doing things I hope to god my kids never do! I had a blast in high school! I also met my best friend. Unfortunately I cannot say that I am still close with her. She went off to school in a different state and we rarely speak, and when I say speak I mean a quick facebook message. Needless to say, we had some crazy times..... The times I will remember for the rest of my life. Songs still come on the radio that remind me of some crazy night with her. Whether we were out with friends or staying in watching shark week drinking tea we were always laughing and having the best time. 

I can guarantee that a number of my friends, if asked, would say that their favorite time in their life would be their four years at college. I also enjoyed college very much, but I never found those special people. I joined a sorority my freshman year and loved every minute of it. There was always something going on and the girls were all amazing in their own ways. There always seems to be that one girl that just ruins it though. She was the girl that everyone wished was not there but had to pretend to like because she was entertaining and funny...the life of the party. By college I was sick of all the drinking and partying. I had been there and done that, but a number of my friends had not. They were overwhelmed by the craziness and did not know their own tolerance levels. I would go out to protect them and make sure everyone made it home okay. My sophomore and junior year were the best. We went out and had fun. By this point people knew how much was too much. Unfortunately by my senior year I was over it. I no longer cared to participate in sorority functions. It was constant drama and I was over it. I have been spending every waking minute with my boyfriend this year. It has been great, but of course I miss my girl time. I do not miss college life though. I want my high school best friend back. What do you do when you realize you made a wrong choice? 

I was hosting this past week and a table randomly asked me if I could go back and change one thing in my life what would it be? I knew hands down that I would have gone away for college and kept in touch with my best friend. 

Social Media

This article touches on something I think we all knew but it is still interesting to read the facts. The next few years are going to be an interesting time for media outlets with the popularity of social networking sites. Constant Contact may be out of business.... Here is the article, its interesting. 

http://mashable.com/2009/03/09/social-networking-more-popular-than-email/

It is safe to say that new advertising and marketing plans will need to be made, but my question is, Are business plans going to change? Are existing businesses going to have to change business plans in order to survive?

Twitter ...

Social Media is becoming one of the most important avenues for marketing and public relations. I have been  using facebook and YouTube for years, but I just recently joined Twitter. A few weeks ago I was at am information session at Beehive PR. This is a great agency by the way! I asked a question about Twitter and how public relations professionals have been using it since I had yet to find the importance or significance of it. Our host gave me a fantastic answer and I joined Twitter right away! I also just recently read this post about Twitter and thought it was interesting insight into the marketing work behind Twitter.

http://www.beehivepr.biz/thebuzz/2009/03/26/making-the-jump-to-twitter/

Enjoy!

VYPE!

VYPE High School Magazine is the best website to find up to date scores and sports news in Minnesota. It covers high schools all across the Twin Cities attending games, interviewing parents, coaches, players, and the fans. This magazine brings athletics in Minnesota together and supports athletic programs any way they can. The reporters and photographers would love to hear your ideas for a great story in your community! If your school or company wants to work with VYPE contact Carrie Gill at carrie.gill@vype.com.

Rain Rain .... Come Back! I'm Prepared Now!

I bought my first pair of rain boots today! I held off buying them last year, but secretly wish I hadn't. How gross it is to be walking around the University of Minnesota with wet jeans and water soaking through your shoes. It did rain today and I got to wear them! They worked like a charm :) My mom thinks they are just hideous, but aren't they supposed to be? Mine are bright yellow with navy blue Scottie dogs all over them. I think they are great and hope it we have lots of April showers this year!

HUGE Banner Ads!

These new 'jumbo' size banner advertisements are intense! They are definitely eye-catching though. I caught my first glimpse of one on YouTube this past week. I am still not convinced of the success of banner advertisements. I think we all need to move more towards interactive advertising. We are living in the time of the 'seeker' generation. We are on the prowl looking for the new 'big' thing, and we will find it. We are media savvy individuals that are surfing the web for hours each day. I heard about the big banner ads and went searching for them. I think the first few ads will have significant effects for the product, but as with all advertising, as more and more companies do this kind of advertising, it will get old, boring, and obnoxious to the consumers. It will slowly fall into the clutter until it is not even noticed any more. Similar to the i-phone applications, this two will being overdone and too hard to keep track of everything. What are we to do as public relations practitioners and advertisers. We must continue to be on the look out for new ways to get the attention of our audiences.

Where's My Fifteen Minutes?

Where's My Fifteen Minutes by Howard Bragman should be read by anyone and everyone! I don't care if you have been in PR your entire life or if you are a student just begnning to learn to ropes, this book could be helpful to anyone. Where's My Fifteen Minutes goes into the basic first steps one should take to get the attention they desearve. He uses examples from his own life, the good and the bad. He speaks the truth, telling us what works and what does not. It is a quick and richly entertaining read.

What is the scariest thing for me and my friends right now? It is not the grade that I got on my last midterm or my dad's reaction when he sees my latest credit card bill, though those are both scary things. The scariest thing for us is the daunting task of finding a job in this awful economy. So what are the options? The thought of staying in school has crossed my mind. Graduate School? Law School? Those are both great suggestions but I think the most important thing when looking for a job is experience. I have learned more from my internship experiences than any class I every took.
So what should my 22 year old friends I do? We begin the hunting process. We join organizations that can build our networks. Currently I am a member of MIMA and ISES. Both have helped create some great contacts for me. We market ourselves online. Twitter (which I am still getting used to), FaceBook, LinkedIn, and your own personal blog. We just do something. We find internships, volunteer opportunities, and if we are lucky jobs in a field somewhat close to what we want to end up doing. We ride this out. Companies will be looking for people ... soon .... until then we do something, anything.