One Stop... Prom Shop

We are have a new project in class, the One Stop Prom Shop.  My groups project is to learn a dance dressed up as morphs.  It's a secret what dance or dances so noone else can know.  We have been practing every day for the past week and have to practice over break.  The assembly is in February so we have plenty of time and it will end up perfect.  Sorry for being short, but I can not say much about it. You can know more in February.

New Business Experience

Recently we have all found local businesses to work with.  I found Window Imaginations by Cheryl.  She wants me to design a business card for her 260 are property in Pennsylvania.  She wants a picture of her land as the background, and her information on the card.  The rest was kind of open to me and my own creativity.  I have designed about 30 cards so far, sent them all to her, and recieved feedback.  She picked the first one and had me make a couple adjustments to it. Right now I am awaiting her response to what she thinks, hopefully it is good feedback...

Yearbook Covers

Our main project this week consisted of making covers for the Cuyahoga Falls yearbook.  Most people based their covers around tigers, as we are the black tigers.  I got the ideas for my first cover, using a fierce looking tiger to signify our fierceness and want to win.  The Cuyahogan is spelled out with the letters made of tiger stripes.  I also played around with a few filters to give it a darker, bolder looking effect.  I did close to the same thing with my second design.  The main difference was that instead of a full tiger body, I just used the tiger head peering through the bushes.  The main colors for both are black and gold, for our school colors, and white, to stick out a little.  The two covers are listed below.

 

Black Friday

This Friday is the Black Friday, and a lot is going on with it already.  I will be shopping that morning but stores open on Thanksgiving.  This is causing a lot of debate.  I hope to find a lot of deals sound systems and hopefully some fish stuff before they are all sold out.  The name Black Friday came from the red zone and black zone term.  Stores are normally in the red zone which is where they have spent more than they have sold.  The black zone is where they have sold more than they have bought.  Black Friday is generally when most stores move from the red zone to the black zone.  Last year's Black Friday gave three main focuses of the stores to help the consumers. First, consumers like to be able to buy online and in stores.  Stores this year are putting a lot of deals online and even more in store.  Second, consumers like to be able to buy from home.  Stores are having huge sales and giving out coupons online for in store sales.  Lastly, consumers like a good experience.  They will  buy more if they have a better experience.  Stores are now opening as early as 8 pm on Thanksgiving in order to make shopping easier for their customers and give them more time to.  Now people who have to work on Black Friday can shop on Thanksgiving. Overall, stores have changed for the better for consumers, and made it harder on their workers.

Letter Head

        Our latest project involved making a letter head and writing a letter to send out to local businesses.  We each pick ten businesses, send the letter out with a price list of our services, then hope they are interested.  I used my logo and a supporting graphic of one of my sharks to make the letter head.  I hope it sticks out, but also looks professional.  I enjoyed doing this project a lot and hope this gives me a better insight into working with others and perfecting my business skills.  This project has also taught me to send out a mass letter, which could come in handy in the future.

Thank You Letter

       A couple weeks ago we created a thank you letter to send out to companies we do business with.  I did not have much difficulty creating mine because I went with the theme of my business card, a relaxed, laid back picture with blue and black font.  I used a tropical island in the middle of the ocean.  It seems very relaxed and as if you do not have much to worry about.  This is how I want the people I work for to feel, as if they do not have to worry. 

Logo Designing

The other day we designed logos for ourselves.  After redoing my own  countless times, I finally decided on one I like and feel represents me.  I picked the three colors blue black and white.  They look great together and the black and white are flat solid colors, while the blue adds color to it.  I picked the blue because it is the color of the ocean, which is very calm and relaxing to most people.  My initials, J and S, interlock to form a modern design that a lot of major companies are using today.  The off center box adds a sort of originality to the whole logo it self.  My sub images are sharks with the three main colors.  I like fish alot and sharks are the kings of the sea in my opinion.  Overall I feel this was a good project to add to our experience and force us to use creativity to inspire something we would use all year.

American Made, Carrots Make a Come Back

     Carrots are trying to make a come back when it comes to their consumption in America.  I read this article today on how the carrot industry took a hit in it's profits and consumption in the United States recently. They are redesigning their whole angle of advertising and are trying to make it considered more of a junk food or snack food.  They saw how the sale of junk food and the packaged food in everybody's kitchen drawers were rising and thought they could do the same.  They looked for the right way to advertise and after plenty of meetings, met Crispin Porter and Bogusky.  They were referred by a rival who thought they would be just right for the job.
     The company, Crispin Porter and Bogusky, went into kitchens of the surrounding area and took notes and did research on the families eating habits.  The first thing kids did when they got home was go for the snack drawer, then look in the fridge in the main open space.  The fridge drawers were avoided because it held the fruit, vegetables, and lunch meats. Even adults seemed to avoid these drawers.  The packages picked the most were in packing with a lot going on.  Since the carrot bags were in boring packaging, the first idea was make them into smaller bags with designs and colors.  This would cost about 25% more in packaging costs but the profit gained from the idea would make up for it  and some.
     The new packaging and branding of the product has created a come back for the carrot business.  Kids are now reaching for the chip like bag of carrots and eating healthier.  Sales went up 10-12% in november from the year before.  They installed vending machines in select schools to see how the product would sell.  The machines sold 80 to 90 snack packs per week.  The new idea has brought them back and their profits are now increasing once again.  The new packaging and making the food more fun not only makes more money, but increases the sale of a healthier snack to kids.
     I think that this new found marketing strategy is a great way to bring back an American business.  We need to stop selling out to other countries and buy more American made, any way we can.  The carrots being sold this way will also increase kids consumption of the product, hopefully lowering child obesity.  It may even increase the amount of adults that eat healthier.  Overall I think this is a great idea with long term benefits in many fields, and no negative effects in sight.

Threats of Social Media

The threats of social media on sponsorships today effect many businesses in both positive and negative ways.  I read this article about brands competing for advertising at the Olympics.  Companies such as Nike can blow up social networks such as twitter with Nike ads on the Olympics and plaster the Internet with them, while other companies pay for sponsorship in the Olympics and don't get as much coverage.  This makes the businesses that do sponsor lose money and not want to invest again, affecting the income of events like the Olympics.  Companies such as Nike do this.  Nike also uses the the halo effect for a lot of their advertising.  This  means that because you liked their product once, you'll buy another one just because it is the same brand, not because it is the better of the products.  It is a loyalty thing, you liked the way their shorts fit, so you bought their cleats for football.  This technique also helps them out when it comes to brand equity.  Basically, because you enjoyed their product once, you will spend more to get that product again, even if the same product from a different brand is cheaper.  In the article it talks about how they are limiting what companies can do to sponsor themselves in the Olympics, so that the companies that pay for sponsorship, are the ones who get it.  Nike uses their #makeitcount campaign to get out there by referencing the Olympics without directly talking about it.  This gives them the advertising with the Olympics but it gets around all their rules for it.  I think it is a good idea to keep out the companies who didn't pay from being sponsored.  They did not contribute so they shouldn't get to get their brand out there using the Olympics, while the ones who paid deserve all the promotions and business gained from the Olympics. 

To read this article yourself:
http://www.prdaily.com/marketing/Articles/12219.aspx

IMDD

 

The Interactive Media Digital Design class, or IMDD, is a course I would recommend to anyone with the opportunity to take.  I was fortunate enough to make it into the program, and only being a few weeks in, have learned a lot.  We explored the uses of Photoshop, its layers, and advertising techniques.  The uses for this program are endless, and the program is one of a kind.  The techniques and skills you will learn in here and use throughout your life make this class more useful than most.  This class shows a lot of promise to helping out my future career goals and if you have the chance, apply for the class.  Hopefully you will be able to broaden your business experience as well.