Reflections [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 6]
Course Reflection
Innovation is a simple word. A simple word that propelled Apple from a hipster computer manufacturer to the number 2 tech giant in the world. It’s also a word that governs the value proposition of 21st century communities, corporations, and educational institutions.
Merriam Webster denotes “innovation” as “the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, inarticulated needs, or existing market needs.”
It is a good definition that sums up our generation and our needs, most of which are inarticulated in our everyday lives. For students, much of our learning has been constructed based on pre-existing notions of 20th generation intelligence, and is currently evolving to adapt to the malleability of the millennials.
Marketing, in its purest form, is the living embodiment of capturing ideas and adding value to inarticulated needs. It is a canvas that links the innovation of the few to the needs of the many. And what better way is there to educate people on innovation, but to let them innovate?
Group Project Reflection
The group project was a very concise and well executed term-long expedition that set clear goals and expectations. To me, it was a simple and characteristic way of learning and measuring marketing. Utilizing a combination of research, planning, brainstorming, and creation, the project displayed the underlying beauty and concept of the marketing process for all of us who are being exposed to it for the first time. It is innovative in the sense that it has rarely been seen before in University, yet it provides so much possibility for growth and creativity. As technology develops, the projects will undoubtedly become more creative and amazing as time goes on. The course has offered a place for great minds to collide and innovate together in a fearless and inspirational setting.
The early stages of the project was a good opportunity to learn about the various concepts of marketing and really connect them with corporations you see in real life. Before choosing the company, it offered an amazing inside look to some fantastic marketing campaigns and corporate strategies that we may have never considered before. Subconsciously when we pick our companies as a group, we are analyzing the greatness and failures of each and every company through our individual interactions with each brand and product, barely realizing its true effect on our mind. It allows me to realize how impactful marketing can really be on our lives.
As the project progressed, we were able to successfully incorporate what we learned from the textbook and lectures into our project, which few courses are able to do. We generated ideas based on real-concepts we see and observe from lectures and real life, and successfully translate the images and sounds that we’re familiar with since birth, onto paper. Taken from the analysis we made earlier, it’s easy to see how certain campaigns and strategies are adopted and utilized.
The video project is the final step in which we take what we had on paper and present it in an interactive method. The good thing about this is that it allows you to think outside the box, which is what successful marketers must do in order to be successful. One recommendation I have for future projects of this type is to reduce the amount of content that needed to be covered via text/speech in the video itself. Perhaps one way to combat this is to create an ad for just the ‘revised’ marketing campaign after the recommendations have been made, as opposed to making the ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenes. This video can be a shorter, 3-5 minute video that outlines why your recommendations and target audiences are appropriately chosen, and why your plan works. In support of that, we can have a full report on the details of the plan that can be submitted, this way we also have a paper copy to refer off of when we create our video.