Dear reader,
We call coins quarters because 25/100 = 1/4. However, the word quarter has many meanings. The verb quarter also means to basically slice someone to death (this expression belongs a series of three: hanged, drawn, and quartered), and another noun form of quarter means living space. In a similar fashion, marketing has multiple definitions. In fact, it's difficult to even define marketing because a) it's such a broad field, b)it's forever changing, and c)everyone has different opinions on what the term means.
However, I believe that even though we have universally agreed to disagree on what exactly marketing is, we have universally agreed that it is difficult. I've written earlier on that marketing isn't something that can be learned in a textbook (to a certain extent), but that marketing (of any kind) takes experience in the real world. I am lucky enough to have a mentor that gives me plenty of these opportunities. This past week, I went on another mentor visit, in which I sat in on a client meeting. Besides learning more about how my mentor and his team have been developing a specific ad, I learned more about how to communicate with clients.
Whenever my mentor speaks with his clients, he is assertive but not aggressive, firm but not demanding. It's important to find the right way to approach clients and talk to them. Establishing camaraderie or using humor can also help greatly. Being able to work effectively with a client entails being able to listen to what they are saying, but it also entails being able to tell them (in the correct fashion) when their views don't line up with yours. In the end, the client is in control, but as someone who is responsible for advising them on marketing/strategic decisions, you are entitled to provide them with the knowledge and information to make their decisions.
As I continue sitting in on these meetings and seeing ads progress from being an idea to a reality, I come to appreciate more and more the work that goes into every facet of an advertisement. Additionally, as I continue working on my final product, I come to appreciate more and more the thought that goes into every facet of branding. Though I've got less than a quarter of the year left, being able to live these experiences has helped me quarter my way through the mystery surrounding marketing and create my own quarters in this field.
Until next week,
Eileen Bau
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
3/16 Weekly Update #24: Ribcage
Dear Reader,
The average human has twenty four ribs in their ribcage, twelve per side, as even as day and night, which also have twenty four hours in them. The ribcage, as I'm sure you know, is especially important because it protects the heart. It's kind of weird, isn't it? Who decided a bone cage was the best way to protect one of the most important parts of the body?
Ribs were meant to take hits. It's kind of unavoidable really - everyone's bound to take some sort of damage to their torso sometime over the course of their lives, whether it's because they're a boxer or because they're clumsy. In a way, what I'm doing right now with ISM is kind of life constructing myself a ribcage - except to protect not just my heart, but myself. Even though I've definitely chosen Marketing as my career field, you never know. Things change, and people change, and that's scary. Hopefully, by gaining real-world experience through ISM into the marketing/advertising field, I'll be able to protect myself from whatever uncertainty the future holds, because I'll already be a step ahead of everyone else in the game.
This past week was Spring Break (yay!). Because I didn't have to go to school, my mentor visit this week was especially long. I had the privilege of staying at the ad agency for 6-ish hours. During these 6 hours, I got to see what a "typical" day looked like for my mentor (although he assures me that there isn't really such a thing in the advertising field), and I made lots of headway on my Final Product. My mentor provided me with access to Iconoculture, which is like a database on current consumer trends, with reports written by marketing researchers on what the general populace is up to. I found this fascinating, because not only is it another possible job option, it's also a great place to get ideas from. I learned about new trends in the consumer market that allowed me to brainstorm possible new marketing strategies for my advertising campaign.
This next week, I'll be focusing on getting back in the swing of things and possibly revamping my display board from Research Showcase to use on Final Presentation Night.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
The average human has twenty four ribs in their ribcage, twelve per side, as even as day and night, which also have twenty four hours in them. The ribcage, as I'm sure you know, is especially important because it protects the heart. It's kind of weird, isn't it? Who decided a bone cage was the best way to protect one of the most important parts of the body?
Ribs were meant to take hits. It's kind of unavoidable really - everyone's bound to take some sort of damage to their torso sometime over the course of their lives, whether it's because they're a boxer or because they're clumsy. In a way, what I'm doing right now with ISM is kind of life constructing myself a ribcage - except to protect not just my heart, but myself. Even though I've definitely chosen Marketing as my career field, you never know. Things change, and people change, and that's scary. Hopefully, by gaining real-world experience through ISM into the marketing/advertising field, I'll be able to protect myself from whatever uncertainty the future holds, because I'll already be a step ahead of everyone else in the game.
This past week was Spring Break (yay!). Because I didn't have to go to school, my mentor visit this week was especially long. I had the privilege of staying at the ad agency for 6-ish hours. During these 6 hours, I got to see what a "typical" day looked like for my mentor (although he assures me that there isn't really such a thing in the advertising field), and I made lots of headway on my Final Product. My mentor provided me with access to Iconoculture, which is like a database on current consumer trends, with reports written by marketing researchers on what the general populace is up to. I found this fascinating, because not only is it another possible job option, it's also a great place to get ideas from. I learned about new trends in the consumer market that allowed me to brainstorm possible new marketing strategies for my advertising campaign.
This next week, I'll be focusing on getting back in the swing of things and possibly revamping my display board from Research Showcase to use on Final Presentation Night.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
3/2 Weekly Update #23: Et tu, Brute?
Dear reader,
Julius Caesar was (allegedly) stabbed 23 times by his friends at the time of his death. Not to be especially macabre, but I figure that a couple stabs is sufficient. 23 seems to be overkill - or compensation, perhaps, to those who killed him. It's kind of like this other funny quote I've recently read, which goes something like this: "If he writes a couple sonnets about her, he loves her. If he writes three hundred sonnets about her, he loves sonnets." If they stabbed Caesar a couple times, they wanted him dead, but if they stabbed him twenty three times, they probably wanted his entire system of government and legacy dead.
So what does this have to do with my ISM journey? Well, I figure that if I spend a couple hours poking into the Marketing field, I'm looking out for a potential career field, but if I spend hundreds of hours in the Marketing field, I'm definitely looking into Marketing as my future. ISM is a lot of work, which is at the same time hard but satisfying. It's hard, because true work isn't ever easy, but it's satisfying because I know that if I'm willing to put this much effort into it, I'm definitely in the right place.
This past week, I had the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes for a TV shoot that Slingshot was doing. It was amazing to see how much preparation went into a few seconds of footage. The ad agency was responsible for planning out everything, but seeing it in action is vastly different from writing it out on paper. There was one item being shot, but there were at least 20-30 people on set, ranging from camera crew to directors to clients relations to the actual client.
The reason this particular post is being updated so late is because I have been on spring break, which was a much-welcomed rest. I'm now ready to get back in the game and ramp up my efforts to complete my Final Product and get ready for Final Presentation Night.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
Julius Caesar was (allegedly) stabbed 23 times by his friends at the time of his death. Not to be especially macabre, but I figure that a couple stabs is sufficient. 23 seems to be overkill - or compensation, perhaps, to those who killed him. It's kind of like this other funny quote I've recently read, which goes something like this: "If he writes a couple sonnets about her, he loves her. If he writes three hundred sonnets about her, he loves sonnets." If they stabbed Caesar a couple times, they wanted him dead, but if they stabbed him twenty three times, they probably wanted his entire system of government and legacy dead.
So what does this have to do with my ISM journey? Well, I figure that if I spend a couple hours poking into the Marketing field, I'm looking out for a potential career field, but if I spend hundreds of hours in the Marketing field, I'm definitely looking into Marketing as my future. ISM is a lot of work, which is at the same time hard but satisfying. It's hard, because true work isn't ever easy, but it's satisfying because I know that if I'm willing to put this much effort into it, I'm definitely in the right place.
This past week, I had the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes for a TV shoot that Slingshot was doing. It was amazing to see how much preparation went into a few seconds of footage. The ad agency was responsible for planning out everything, but seeing it in action is vastly different from writing it out on paper. There was one item being shot, but there were at least 20-30 people on set, ranging from camera crew to directors to clients relations to the actual client.
The reason this particular post is being updated so late is because I have been on spring break, which was a much-welcomed rest. I'm now ready to get back in the game and ramp up my efforts to complete my Final Product and get ready for Final Presentation Night.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
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