Blog on the Corner

So I am suppose to blog about what I learnt in Comm 299 this year, and after doing some reflecting this is what I’ve come up with.  From the first half of the course I learnt that public speaking is all about confidence.  I use to be terrified when I stood up their in front of a group of people, but after continuous practice it became easier and easier and now I feel very comfortable with public speaking.  The second portion of Comm 299 was a lot more practical and I enjoyed it in the sense that It helped me in boosting my resume for the future.  After taking this course I feel like I have a better understanding on what my employers are seeking and what sort of information is relevant for a resume.  Things like CAR statements were really useful tools to learn because it gave a guideline in how we were suppose to present ourselves in an interview and on the resume.

If I had to critique Comm 299 I would say that the course is too long for only a 1 credit course.  Because I knew that it was only a 1 credit course it made me feel less motivated to do well in Comm 299.  Perhaps in future years they can make it an actual 3 credit course or even 6 credit course as it does go for the whole year.  I also think that instead of separating it into two halves, have them both going at the same time because then you get the hands on practice of public speaking along with the practicality of resume building.

In class on tuesday we talked about product placement and if it was effective or not.  Some of my peers felt very negatively about product placement, even going as far as saying it ruins the entire entertainment experience, however I totally disagree.  In class we do twitter questions, where we are asked to tweet our responses.  I noticed that some of my fellow classmates felt the same way as I did.  Some of the tweets that I noticed said that product placement adds to the authenticity of a movie and connects with the audience by addressing social trends.  For example even though we see Iphones in virtually every movie and television show I don’t immediately reach for my barf bag and tune out, instead I think, its true everyone does have Iphones.  In fact I barely ever notice the product placement in movies.  Today I watched a clip of all the famous product placements in movies and the majority of them I didn’t notice until they were pointed out by this video I believe that you really can’t have a solid opinion on something unless you are educated in the matter.  That is why I plan on going to see Morgan Spurlock’s new movie “POM Wonderful Presents : The Greatest Movie Ever Sold“.  The movie is a documentary about product placement, which is also entirely funded by product placement.  Perhaps after I see the movie and learn more about product placement I will feel differently, but I doubt it.

My good friend Felix Huang is in the other Marketing class at UBC and he also has to do these blogs for his class.  For his first blog he talked about how BC Salmon Farmers Association were putting advertisements before you watched any video on NBA.com.  The video depicts two men who are, in the nicest way possible, gullible and dumb.  The video takes aim at the fact that many people believe any misconception about BC farmed salmon as if it were a true fact, when really it is not.  The reason I am bringing this article up is because after discussing it with my friend we have come to different opinions.  I always believed that just like google and Facebook, NBA was taking advantage by tracing my geographical location and showing me the advertisement assigned to my region.  In my opinion it does not make sense for BC Salmon Farmers Association to spend big bucks on an ad that many people may not understand because they are not aware of the negative connotations associated with BC farmed salmon.  It makes much more sense if the BC Salmon Farmers Association only paid for the local rights to these videos.  One thing that we do agree on is that they took a very interesting approach in trying to dispel the negative info.  Felix suggested that because many people grill salmon and usually men doing the grilling, that is why they went to the NBA to advertise.  At first I wasn’t sure about this but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.  So in the end, whether the ads where regional or not, they got their message to their target audience.

Good morning world, in case you’ve been under a rock heres an update, TV IS OBSOLETE.  The internet has taken over and is the one stop shop for everything.  In marketing we talk about brand awareness, which is whether or not your target segment knows your product or company exists.  For a long time I don’t think many people knew what SmartWater was.  Until they made this viral video    Well the argument use to be that the internet is only for the young and tech savy, tell that to my 69 year old family friends who wanted to know if they could tag me on Facebook.  Today everyone is online and unless companies want to be left in the dust they should step up their online marketing.  The people at SmartWater must have smartened up because what was once a boring ad campaign became very interesting after the video did in fact go viral, becoming the 2nd most viewed video this month (entertainment).  Now I am not 100% sure what SmartWater’s target market is but I do know that just by getting their name out their and doing a youtube video millions of people are now aware of their product.  I for one went to go buy one at my local supermarket and found that not only was it one of the cheaper waters but it actually did taste different (better).  So in summary, flick off your T.V. and pick up your mouse, because the internet is “winning“

For those of you who watched The Social Network, or the “facebook movie”, you must have thought that was the last time Facebook and cinematography would collide.  Well guess what, Facebook and Warner Bros are now teaming up to offer movies on Facebook.  For 30 credits which is also equivalent to $3 you can now rent movies for 48 hours on your Facebook.  In class we talked about companies expanding their product lines, and clearly Facebook is expanding their “breadth”.  Now you may be wondering “will this work?” Well it almost seems to me that everything Facebook touches turns to gold and this is no different.  When the deal was announced Netflix (online movie rental company) dropped almost 6% which really shows the power of the Facebook effect.

Dark Knight as seen on Facebook

Personally I think this is a great move for Facebook, by teaming with Warner Bros they are increasing the time we spend on the Social Networking site.  What Facebook wants is for us to have them as their one shop stop for everything, and this is definitely a step in the right direction.  But for now this service is only available in the U.S. and I am sure once it sees some success it will expand to more countries.  Furthermore Facebook has virtually nothing to lose by doing this.  If the idea fails it won’t stop people coming to their virtual homes.  All in all this is a great idea from a innovative corporation.