Dear reader,
The posts below were all written over the course of the last academic year (2014-2015). They chronicle my journey in the marketing/advertising field through the Independent Study & Mentorship program and they showcase the culmination of an entire year's work. If you would like to see last year's blog in its entirety, which I highly advise, please click here.
This year, I will complete the program once again. Using the insight, experience, and knowledge I gained through the program and my mentorship last year, I aim to achieve an even deeper perspective in the marketing field. I am shifting my focus: last year, I had the chance to experience Slingshot LLC (an ad agency) behind-the-scenes with my mentor Scott Eagle, an account supervisor. This year, I hope to round out my education by learning from professionals who are more client-side. I will still maintain a focus on learning about marketing strategy and branding, but from a new point of view.
The rest of this website is the continuation of my story. Thank you for letting me share it with you.
Regards,
Eileen Bau
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
5/11 Weekly Update #32: Almost there
Dear reader,
There is no fun fact for this week. This is because I want to convey just how unique this post is. This post is possibly my final post about my ISM journey this year. I have complete my final product and I am ready for Final Presentation Night. Looking back, it's been a lot of sweat, blood, and the occasional tear. I have grown not just professionally, but also personally. Being able to see how an actual workplace operates has been an eye-opening insight for me. I think that my Final Product has been one of the greatest things I've done.
I will update this post after Final Presentation Night with my Final Product. I can't wait to share it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 5/26/2015:
Final Presentation Night was more of a success than I could have hoped for. Being able to show my family, friends, teachers, and the community what I had been doing over the past year was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. I cannot thank my mentor, Scott Eagle, enough for his guidance throughout this year. Without him, it would have been impossible to create my final product (which you can view here!!!!). I am immensely proud of what I have created, and I can't wait to do it all again next year. My ISM 2015-2016 journey is only a summer away. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you soon.
Regards,
Eileen Bau
There is no fun fact for this week. This is because I want to convey just how unique this post is. This post is possibly my final post about my ISM journey this year. I have complete my final product and I am ready for Final Presentation Night. Looking back, it's been a lot of sweat, blood, and the occasional tear. I have grown not just professionally, but also personally. Being able to see how an actual workplace operates has been an eye-opening insight for me. I think that my Final Product has been one of the greatest things I've done.
I will update this post after Final Presentation Night with my Final Product. I can't wait to share it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 5/26/2015:
Final Presentation Night was more of a success than I could have hoped for. Being able to show my family, friends, teachers, and the community what I had been doing over the past year was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. I cannot thank my mentor, Scott Eagle, enough for his guidance throughout this year. Without him, it would have been impossible to create my final product (which you can view here!!!!). I am immensely proud of what I have created, and I can't wait to do it all again next year. My ISM 2015-2016 journey is only a summer away. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you soon.
Regards,
Eileen Bau
5/4 Weekly Update #31: Andromeda
Dear reader,
Did you know that Messier object M31 is another name for the Andromeda constellation? In Greek mythology, Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster, but rescued by the hero Perseus. The reason she was chained to the rock was because her mother boasted she was prettier than some of Poseidon's (god of the ocean) daughters. Poseidon demanded Andromeda as sacrifice for her parents' ignorance.
This past week, I have alternately played the role of both Andromeda and Perseus, the savior and the saved. Final Presentation Night is May 15th, and my Final Product is so close to being finished that I can taste it. I have been the savior, because I had the foresight to start on my final product early to allow time for it to develop into something great. I have been the saved because my ISM family has been supporting me through every step of the stressful process of preparing for Final Presentation Night. I will not only present a 30 minute speech over my ISM journey this year, but I also will be basically showing my parents, teachers, mentor, friends, and the general public what I've done this year, and I want to make them see just how much I've accomplished. I went knowing nearly nothing about real-life marketing to completing an advertising campaign of my own. I hope to do my progress justice.
Until next week,
Eileen Bau
Did you know that Messier object M31 is another name for the Andromeda constellation? In Greek mythology, Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster, but rescued by the hero Perseus. The reason she was chained to the rock was because her mother boasted she was prettier than some of Poseidon's (god of the ocean) daughters. Poseidon demanded Andromeda as sacrifice for her parents' ignorance.
This past week, I have alternately played the role of both Andromeda and Perseus, the savior and the saved. Final Presentation Night is May 15th, and my Final Product is so close to being finished that I can taste it. I have been the savior, because I had the foresight to start on my final product early to allow time for it to develop into something great. I have been the saved because my ISM family has been supporting me through every step of the stressful process of preparing for Final Presentation Night. I will not only present a 30 minute speech over my ISM journey this year, but I also will be basically showing my parents, teachers, mentor, friends, and the general public what I've done this year, and I want to make them see just how much I've accomplished. I went knowing nearly nothing about real-life marketing to completing an advertising campaign of my own. I hope to do my progress justice.
Until next week,
Eileen Bau
4/27 Weekly Update #30: Senator Amidala
Dear reader,
30 is the minimum age required for a senator in the United States. Clearly, this is a grave mistake, since Senator Padme Amidala from Star Wars was only a teeanger when she became a senator after serving her full term as the Queen of Naboo.
This past week, I have been channeling my inner Padme to motivate myself. Writing this creative brief has had me thinking in circles and running into walls. Thankfully, I had some help along the way from my mentor and several other kind souls at the ad agency. Here's the finished brief:
Until next week,
Eileen Bau
30 is the minimum age required for a senator in the United States. Clearly, this is a grave mistake, since Senator Padme Amidala from Star Wars was only a teeanger when she became a senator after serving her full term as the Queen of Naboo.
This past week, I have been channeling my inner Padme to motivate myself. Writing this creative brief has had me thinking in circles and running into walls. Thankfully, I had some help along the way from my mentor and several other kind souls at the ad agency. Here's the finished brief:
Eileen Bau
4/20 Weekly Update #29: Pizza
Dear reader,
It is possible to cut a pizza into a maximum of 29 pieces in seven straight cuts through. The pizza pieces end up looking pretty funky, though. This is kind of how marketing works. You could try to reach many slices of the market, but some of your strategy would probably end up looking kind of funny. It's impossible to hit every target market, and the narrower and more specific a target market is, the easier it is to develop a solid strategy for it.
This past week, I have been continuing to develop my Final Product. I have started drafting my creative brief. Basically, a creative brief is a one-page piece of paper that is supposed to encapsulate the campaign's marketing strategy and inspire the creative team by giving them a good perspective of just what the client wants. Writing the creative brief is a crucial step in the advertising campaign, and I've never done anything like it before. The best way to start is to just take a crack at it. I'll be writing and revising it in the week between my mentor visits, and then revise it again with my mentor.
Until next week,
Eileen Bau
It is possible to cut a pizza into a maximum of 29 pieces in seven straight cuts through. The pizza pieces end up looking pretty funky, though. This is kind of how marketing works. You could try to reach many slices of the market, but some of your strategy would probably end up looking kind of funny. It's impossible to hit every target market, and the narrower and more specific a target market is, the easier it is to develop a solid strategy for it.
This past week, I have been continuing to develop my Final Product. I have started drafting my creative brief. Basically, a creative brief is a one-page piece of paper that is supposed to encapsulate the campaign's marketing strategy and inspire the creative team by giving them a good perspective of just what the client wants. Writing the creative brief is a crucial step in the advertising campaign, and I've never done anything like it before. The best way to start is to just take a crack at it. I'll be writing and revising it in the week between my mentor visits, and then revise it again with my mentor.
Until next week,
Eileen Bau
4/7 Weekly Update #27: Hand
Dear reader,
There are 27 bones in the human hand. That's a lot of bones for such a small area, but it's why our hands are so versatile.
This past week, I have started to develop a brand compass for my Final Product. The brand compass is a marketing model unique to Slingshot LLC, and it's helped me a great deal in sorting out my thoughts to have a clearer strategy. Basically, it looks like this:
I'm not going to go through and explain each facet (because I could go on forever), but the gist of it is that each company has some defining, core characteristic that its entire existence is based off of. Find that, and you'll find your way to successful strategy, because you now know what angle the company is going for, what their brand stands for, and what they want to express themselves as.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
(Update 5/11/2015: Here's what my final brand compass ended up looking like, after many rounds of revision and some adjustment to the original model):
There are 27 bones in the human hand. That's a lot of bones for such a small area, but it's why our hands are so versatile.
This past week, I have started to develop a brand compass for my Final Product. The brand compass is a marketing model unique to Slingshot LLC, and it's helped me a great deal in sorting out my thoughts to have a clearer strategy. Basically, it looks like this:
I'm not going to go through and explain each facet (because I could go on forever), but the gist of it is that each company has some defining, core characteristic that its entire existence is based off of. Find that, and you'll find your way to successful strategy, because you now know what angle the company is going for, what their brand stands for, and what they want to express themselves as.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
(Update 5/11/2015: Here's what my final brand compass ended up looking like, after many rounds of revision and some adjustment to the original model):
3/30 Weekly Update #26: Rubik's cube
Dear reader,
Apparently, a Rubik's cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less. Considering that I have yet to actually solve a Rubik's cube, that seems daunting to me. Can you imagine what sort of power you would have if you could solve a Rubik's cube in 26 moves or less? Amazing.
Weirdly enough, the same daunting feeling that I get when I look at a Rubik's cube was the same feeling I had at the beginning of this year. Theoretically, I knew that many before me had successfully made it through the ISM program. However, in practice, it was more difficult than it seemed before hand. This past week, I have been continuing to work on my Final Product. My mentor and I have drawn a sort of roadmap that details what steps I'll need to take to complete this project. Basically, it's divided into three large chunks: marketing research, marketing strategy, and creative execution. I'll be focusing mainly on the first two, since my field is strategic marketing and not graphic design. Currently, I've finished the research stage and am working on developing marketing strategy for a small business that I'm familiar with, my martial arts school. This is the most difficult part of the entire project.
There are procedures that I follow when conducting marketing research, and performing the research itself has not been particularly difficult. However, analyzing the results of said research and forming strategy from it is the real challenge. I have to be careful to draw useful conclusions and integrate them in a meaningful manner into my strategy. Additionally, strategy isn't something that you can get from a machine, or from manipulating a physical object. It's literally all in my head. Sometimes thinking and strategizing can get tiring just from sheer mental exertion.
Although I can't solve a Rubik's cube, I know that after I finish my final product I will have solved a real-world business problem.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
Apparently, a Rubik's cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less. Considering that I have yet to actually solve a Rubik's cube, that seems daunting to me. Can you imagine what sort of power you would have if you could solve a Rubik's cube in 26 moves or less? Amazing.
Weirdly enough, the same daunting feeling that I get when I look at a Rubik's cube was the same feeling I had at the beginning of this year. Theoretically, I knew that many before me had successfully made it through the ISM program. However, in practice, it was more difficult than it seemed before hand. This past week, I have been continuing to work on my Final Product. My mentor and I have drawn a sort of roadmap that details what steps I'll need to take to complete this project. Basically, it's divided into three large chunks: marketing research, marketing strategy, and creative execution. I'll be focusing mainly on the first two, since my field is strategic marketing and not graphic design. Currently, I've finished the research stage and am working on developing marketing strategy for a small business that I'm familiar with, my martial arts school. This is the most difficult part of the entire project.
There are procedures that I follow when conducting marketing research, and performing the research itself has not been particularly difficult. However, analyzing the results of said research and forming strategy from it is the real challenge. I have to be careful to draw useful conclusions and integrate them in a meaningful manner into my strategy. Additionally, strategy isn't something that you can get from a machine, or from manipulating a physical object. It's literally all in my head. Sometimes thinking and strategizing can get tiring just from sheer mental exertion.
Although I can't solve a Rubik's cube, I know that after I finish my final product I will have solved a real-world business problem.
Until next time,
Eileen Bau
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)