Pick a market, any market

This class I have on Tuesdays is called "Dynamics of Media and Mass Communications". We apparently are going to learn how to appeal to consumers by using different programs such as TV, radio, magazines and what not to integrate a brand campaign.

Uh-huh.

Well anyway, my first assignment was to analyze some YouTube videos, specifically the last Super Bowl commercials. The rubric we had to follow included choosing a best and worst ad, supporting our point of views with facts and examples about the target audience and the product and also being able to use proper grammar in our memo form paper.

Here is mine, tell me what you think:

Week Two Homework: Super Bowl Critique

            An assignment to watch YouTube videos sounded exciting at first, but to get into the head of the target audience was challenging to me, in fact, figuring out who was the target audience was challenging to me as well. It’s a good thing I like a challenge.

            In watching the commercials for the 2014 Super Bowl, I felt the best was Bud Light’s “Up for whatever” series of ads that tied everything together with the whole commercial showing at the conclusion of the game. At first we are shown a number of 30 second spots which somehow appeals to and yet seems to slightly pique the interest of young men ages 21 to about 31 by showing celebrities like Don Cheadle with a llama and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a ping pong outfit. So, throughout the whole sporting event, when a piece of the ad is shown, viewers are wondering, “What the heck?” At the end when all the segments are put together after Ian, a young, single guy and a prime example of Bud Lights target audience, is offered a Bud Light then led in a genius unscripted romp through the night, the message is clear: If you drink our beer, cool stuff like this could happen to you. The execution is unorthodox and memorable, just like an unexpected night of partying might become and that definitely strikes a chord with the target.

            The worst for me was Maserati in their “Now we strike” ad. While most Maserati vehicles cost well over one hundred thousand dollars, the car advertised here is their more “affordable” model. Still, the product appeals to those who can afford it or aspire to one day obtain one: the young and rich and I do not feel this commercial hit the mark at all.  First of all, the ad starts out as if we should all be saving the Earth from something, but blathers on like we’re coming upon an apocalypse, then a revved up engine precedes Maserati’s new offering and the tag line is “Now we strike.” Huh? I think the young and rich audience are left wondering “Strike what? Who’s striking? What are they striking?” The whole ordeal is fluff and only memorable in the way of waiting to get to work the next day so you can ask

co-workers, “What the hell was that all about?”

            

All day Mondays

I'm excited about my Philosophical Perspectives class because the focus is on food: the history and how it affects our society. 
There are 3 graphic design students (including me), 1 film student, 1 photography student and the rest of the class (about 15 others) are all culinary students. I've had this teacher before, Mrs. Uhlmeyer, for Art History, so I'm familiar with what she expects.
My friend Crystal is in the class and never had the pleasure of this teacher's tutelage, and she appeared a little frightened with all the verbiage being thrown about, so I patted her hand and said, "Don't worry, I help you."
The lectures seem to serve as a point of inspiration to spark ideas for our papers and projects we'll have due. Of course I like listening to history lectures anyway. I could watch the History channel all day.

Now, in my only design class I have this quarter, Corporate Identity, I'm nervous about redesigning a company's identity.  This website, Rebrand.com has some really good examples of what we'll be doing. We had to pick a company from a list given to us. I chose Aldo Shoes.
I know nothing about fashion or being fashion forward, so I'm definitely not a customer. But we have our assignment, questions to answer, a process to go through in order to be able to come up with ideas for our redesign. So far, I've realized that their current logo, which is just type based, is outdated. So I'm going to try to come up with a symbol based logo. My teacher thinks this is a good idea, too. I have had this teacher before, Mr. Abraham, and he's pretty good at assisting in ideas and design.
I'm still worried that I won't be able to either come up with a good idea or that I still don't possess the skills necessary to make my idea come to fruition.

On a fun note, I got a kiss on the cheek today from a boy I like and I think another guy I like gave me a flirtatious compliment. I sat at a table where he was, and a bunch of other people were at the next table looking at something on a laptop. So when I sat, I realized I might be in his way, so I turned and said, "oops,  am I in your line of sight" and he said, "Nah, and even if you were, it's ok." *Blush*

It started on a Thursday...

My summer break started with a huge bang on a Thursday.
First, I had my final class and presented my Happy Hippy Market designs. Class was over before our usual 8:00 break, so I went home to chill until everyone else got out of their classes. About 10pm I got a call to say "hey we're all over here at Sherlocks Pub!" So off I went to enjoy some beers, tunes and laughs with some classmates. We cheered about classes being over because we were all pretty exhausted about the whole thing.
About 2am, we got asked to leave, I guess the bar was closing, and nobody was ready to stop partying yet. In the parking lot, one girl said, "hey, I've got 3 bottles of wine in my car, oh, but I don't have a corkscrew." Since we were in the same class where we designed the wine labels, I also had 3 bottles of wine in my car and announced that to everyone, then included the fact that I did have a corkscrew! So someone said, "Let's go to Vicki's house!" and I said, "Yeah, let's go to Vicki's house!"
Now, it's about 2:30 in the morning and I got about 4 cars following me into my apartment complex parking lot. Everyone parks, gets out, starts talking really loud, laughing, one guy is peeing on the brick wall, then everyone stumbles into my apartment. Within no time, someone has put on music from my computer, we've opened 2 bottles and started spreading the joy of drinking some more. Before I know it, some people are making out in my bathroom, someone has passed out in my bed and Michael Jackson's Thriller is playing it's 5am and I feel woozy myself.
I lay down in my bed, not minding the guy who is already there and quietly slip into a black silence. A little later, a stream of sunlight is burning through my eyelid because apparently sometime during the 4 hours I've passed out fully clothed, someone moved my curtain to get to a blanket on the floor. There's an arm around me and I lay there for a second or two while everything starts coming back into focus and I start to remember who is in my bed. It's cool though, I know him and he's ok, but I roll over and look at him and say, "Dude, where are your pants?" "Oh yeah," he laughs. "I took them off so I could sleep." I assure you nothing happened with us since we both passed out with our clothes on, and anyway I know his girlfriend and I wouldn't do that to her, even in my condition.
We find the energy to get out of bed and I lurch my way into the bathroom and grab the ibuprofen in an attempt to quell the pounding in my head. I go to the kitchen and drink a whole glass of water with my pills, then look around and notice all the bodies draped around my living room. They all start coming to life, grabbing their heads, rubbing their eyes, looking around and wondering what happened. I set the bottle of pills on the table in an attempt to offer them as "breakfast".
The place was a mess: bottles and glasses everywhere, feathers from my boas, clothes, potato chips on the floor and various other empty snack packages. But, no wine was spilled!
Everyone left with their own hangovers and I drove to work with mine. Luckily I only worked 5 hours and was able to retreat back home and sleep…alone this time.
And so, that is how my summer break started.