Facebook and Wikipedia: Cut from the same Cloth

Welcome back to another week of Let’s Talk IMC. This week is all about why, like Wikipedia, you should always confirm some of the things you see on Facebook with a more reliable source. If you don’t it may come back to haunt you in the future.

This week in my Writing for Marketing Communications is a perfect example of why this is an important thing to do. Our teacher for the course, Frank Armstrong, has been expecting his wife to go into labor for the past week and had informed students that classes could be canceled at any moment and that students could expect an email or a post on Blackboard for confirmation on when they would be cancelled.

So when Tuesday’s 12:30 class rolled around there were only three students and Frank present wondering where everyone was. The answer came while I was looking at the class Facebook page and noticed that there was a post saying class was cancelled. I quickly jumped into action by posting that class was not cancelled and class was about to start. The few lucky students that caught the post on time managed to make it to class almost on time.

This is a great example on the effect Facebook has on society. With a few keystrokes we can affect millions of people. One incorrect post can lead an entire class into believing a class to be cancelled. On a more substantial scale it could lead to an entire community believing a innocent man committed a crime he never committed like in the case of Triz Jefferies.

The lesson here is very similar to the one that your teachers tell you about Wikipedia. Anyone can go in and post something, but it doesn’t make it true. Beware of what might be false information and if you are unsure just check with a source that is reliable. Whether it is by accident or intentional, it effects people’s lives. Until next week everyone. Happy Halloween.   

Warning. This Post May Cause EXTREME AMUSEMENT

Welcome back everyone to another session of Lets Talk IMC. This week has been a doozy folks let me tell you. I had a test on Monday, and three major assignments due Thursday. I have been non-stop all week, but it won’t stop me from telling you about one of my lessons this week.

This week I’m going to take you on a journey through the teachings of my Integrated Marketing Communication professor Kathy Patterson. In this week’s class Kathy taught us about envelope teasers. This is the writing or image on the outside of the envelope that makes you want to open it and read what’s inside. When an advertiser uses direct mailing as a way to reach their target, this skill is one that could make or break them.

The keys to a successful envelope teaser is to peak their interest with out lying or stretching the truth. You don’t want to have the envelope say “Open for a $1,000,000” and then it turns out to be an ad for some silly nick knack. The customer no longer trusts you and you lose their business; possibly for life.

This for me is probably on of the most effective forms of advertising. You know the saying that curiosity killed the cat? Well if you do this right that’s essentially what you are doing to your customer if you are successful in creating a great envelope teaser (not actually killing them, but you get were I'm going with it). There could be anything inside that envelope, but if you do your job right you can guarantee that it’s going to get opened.


Here are some examples of envelope teasers.

You can also visit Pro Copy Tips to lean ten steps to great envelope teasers and watch the video below for three tips for great direct mail envelope design.          

          

                                                                                Well that wraps up another week of Lets Talk IMC. See you all next week, and remember if the envelope says “Explosive discounts inside” proceed with caution. They might be serious. 

All Points Addressed

Welcome again everyone and here is another session of Lets Talk IMC. This week I will be conveying the teachings from my writing for marketing communications course. Once again this class has shown me my lack of knowledge when it comes to the rules of writing.

This week in my writing course, we went through the ins and outs of APA (American Psychological Association) formatting and how to properly use APA formatting to cite others work in your own. Just as in most of my writing classes, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of how to cite other work when I use it in my own. But ten minutes into the lesson I soon realized that I once again counted my chickens before they hatched.

There are many forms of citing work and an abundance of rules for where, when and how to cite work. I could be here for several hours and still not give you full and accurate explanation of APA formatting. So, in the interest of time and accuracy, here are a few web sites that give you a full explanation of APA formatting. These are just a few of the many sites and sources you can use to understand APA.

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/reingold/courses/resources/handouts_apa/QuickStudy1.pdf

http://www.library.ubc.ca/pubs/apastyle.pdf

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Now for my most memorable moment of the week. This weeks, actually, happened a few weeks ago in my integrated marketing communications course but I was reminded about it this week and it ties in to my last week post. It’s a video of why you should use… well just watch and see for yourself.

I laugh every time I watch that video. That’s all for this week. This is James Loveys signing off. Check back next week for more of my insights into IMC here at St. Lawrence College. Thanks.  

It's Jake.... From StateFarm

Hello again everyone. I hope that my first blog post last week got those of you who have read it interested in not only the IMC program but also my insights into the program as a student. I know that I had a fun time writing it and I hope that everyone had an even better time reading it and learned a few things.

This week in my integrated marketing communications class we had a lesson on the various types of creative strategies to use when you are creating an ad to sell a product. One technique was to us humor to sell the product and the teacher gave use a video example that wasn’t quite what we expected. Check it out bellow.

Now I for one would never have thought that this was an ad for cleaning supplies. I thought it was going to be an ad for some law firm or something similar. Now looking back at it I can see the creative genius behind the ad and why it won ad of the year when it was launched. The emotional beginning grabs the viewer attention, making you feel for the daughter. Then they completely throw you off by showing you that the mother is actually cleaning her bathtub and is not in prison.  It is unlike any cleaning product commercial I have ever seen.

This reminded me of another commercial that starts you of thinking that it’s something that its not. Check it out bellow.

This lesson was also my memorable moment of the week. Thinking back to all the ads I saw makes me smile every time. Have a happy thanksgiving weekend everyone and I hope you check in next week to talk some more IMC.