News Releases, is Traditional Always Better?

News releases are pretty set in stone when it comes to the standard layout. However Tourism Whistler has found a bit of unique approach to take when it comes to their news releases, each one is delivered in a kind of picaresque sales pitch kind of way. They are the epitome of a classic statement that would proceed the phrase "picture this..." Most news releases are a bit more factual driven and concise. They tend to be short and sweet, straight to the point, simple but Tourism Whistler is very wordy, long-winded, descriptive, there are many adjectives used that would more or less be avoided in a typical news release.

To be perfectly honest though, I appreciate this new style that Tourism Whistler has decided to use. I mean I get the idea behind the traditional factual driven news release, it is designed to get all the key information out to the consumers with being too overwhelming and causing the reader to lose interest before they have read what you need them to see. However by setting it up as almost a time-share sales pitch, it allows the reader to envision themselves within that particular scenario. They can visualize the memories they would be making. They see their kids and grandkids there with them. They picture themselves playing golf on the incredible heaven-like golf course described or celebrating the end of the winter season by partying it up in style with their college buddies at the World Ski & Snowboard Festival.

By giving the reader the opportunity to picture their life within that setting, by creating an environment they can see themselves being inserted into, it becomes that much easier to accomplish the sale. Because the individual believes that said product is already a part of their life making, I mean they have already made memories in their head, so all that's left is making those memories a reality and that's when the checkbooks open. Brilliant! Bravo Tourism Whistler! This is truly an ingenious way to release a news release and more companies and journalists would probably benefit from taking the same approach.

"Target" Audience

Target has recently been pushing the new release of the game Mario Kart Deluxe 8 on Nintendo Switch. The advertising has targeted to main groups of people, kids and their parents, and this is an incredibly smart strategy by marketers at Target and here's why:

With the release of the first version of Mario Kart on Nintendo in August of 1992 in Japan and September of 1992 in the US, the era of Mario began. An era that has spanned a total of 24 years thus far and has continued through 8 updated released versions, all just as popular as the last. Target was smart when deciding how to market the release of version 8 for Nintendo Switch because the company used the game's nostalgic effects to their benefit as evident by the #FlashBackFriday popping up throughout their Twitter feed.

The two target audience members that the company clearly created for their marketing buyer personas for this particular product were a younger child, probably below the age of 13 or 14, who just loves to play video games with their friend after school. And their parent who remembers the days when they were younger and used to love to come home from school to play Mario Kart on their Nintendo or Nintendo 64. Thus creating a duo that's destine to lead to a sure fire sale.

Hats off to you Target, that was quite the marketing strategy.

Sexuality, It's Not Just About Being Sexy

In this day and age podcasts are all the rage. Everyone is listening to them, everyone is suggesting them, everyone is making them, therefore more than likely we each know someone personally who has started a podcast. For me, I know a guy who I once performed in an improv show with who started a podcast called Not So Sexy where they talk about "all of the things your parents didn't" in reference to sex. And the beautiful thing about this podcast is that it seriously comes across like really close friends hanging out talking about their experiences with their sexual lifestyles in a non-provocative type of way.

Plus the topics that are covered are ones that most everyone ponders the answers to internally but are never willing to actually ask the questions for. Alex has done an amazing job creating a podcast that not only makes people feel comfortable talking about a topic that is uncomfortable but has also managed to create a show that makes people feel like they are not a weirdo or alone the thoughts and questions and concerns they have when it comes to sex. And that is difficult and impressive task, which is probably what I appreciate the most about this podcast. 

One of my favorite episodes was actually one of the first episodes done on the podcast called Body Shame. It's all about their experience with their sexuality and the way others view them based on their sexual lifestyle choices. Plus, of course based on the name, the conversation also touches on how each of the individuals view their bodies sexually and how they believe others do too. It's very interesting and very personal as all the episodes are but in a relaxed and comfortable type of tone as I think only an enclosed small studio type space can provide which is why the podcast works. 

There is a new episode every week to two weeks and the hosts Alex & Kit always encourage questions and topic suggestions. So if there is something on your mind that you would like to hear them discuss, then shoot them a message and if you are worried about people knowing that you asked about that specific topic, don't worry because the have private messaging so that everything can be left anonymous.

https://twitter.com/ErickaEaton/status/856372254405537792

COM 3370

Week 12

IAMS Indirect Yet Effective Advertising

IAMS is a pet food and supply company that specializes in creating dog and cat food. But that is not all the company tries to sell people on. IAMS is a company that is clearly just all around interested in the well-being of animals and educating people on how to create the best environment possible for them to thrive in. 

The IAMS company youtube channel has several videos on how to train your dog or cat to be house pets, as well as diaries or "a day in the life" type videos for different featured animals. Not to mention there are obviously videos giving facts about and promoting their different products. But one video in particular that caught my eye was the facts vs. myths video about adopting a shelter animal. With over 32,000 views, the video has reached and hopefully persuaded people about the positives of adopting a shelter pet.

As a firm believer and owner of 3 rescue pets myself, this video spoke to me in particular and makes me want to become a supporter of IAMS because they have publicly vocalized being a supporter of something I believe. And I am clearly not the only one, many of the comments for this video were based around the topic of adoption support and in favor of IAMS choice for making this type of video. Therefore without trying to actually sell me on a particular product they make, IAMS has still managed to sell me on the brand overall. Good marketing strategy by IAMS, good marketing strategy.

https://twitter.com/ErickaEaton/status/851296576874176512

Is Content Really Important??

Find a website you consider to be content-rich and write about it's elements. If there's something you would change or improve, be sure to note it.

Kraft Gets Healthier

In April of 2015, Kraft announced that in January of 2016 they would be removing all synthetic colors, preservatives, and even artificial flavors from their Macaroni and Cheese recipes throughout all of the United States and Canada. Instead of artificial ingredients, Kraft has decided to try and replace the synthesized components with more natural ingredients such as paprika, turmeric, and annatto spices.

This isn't the first time that Kraft has changed up their recipe for in an effort to produce healthier products for their consumers. In 2014 Kraft launched a new manufactured line of Mac & Cheese that included 6 grams of whole grains per serving. This lowered the fat content by 25% and the sodium by 100mg per serving, while still continuing to contain 9 grams of protein and 10% of an individual's daily calcium needs per serving.

As the largest North American packaged food and beverage company, Kraft strives to try and bring the highest quality and most nutritional packaged food it can provide, showing they really care about their consumer's health and loyal to their customers.


https://twitter.com/ErickaEaton/status/843686982698045440

Zippy's ZipFactor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3/12/17

For more information contact:
John Ricter
(636) 952-6734
jricter@zippyshoe.com

ZipFactor!! They're Better for Your Knees!!
Reduces 25% of impact from running

SAINT LOUIS, MO (3/12/17) -- Love running but hate how it makes your knees ache?? Well Zippy Shoe Company just created a new line of shoes called the ZipFactors that are made to reduce the natural impact on your knees from running by up to 25%!! And you can now find the ZipFactor shoes on the shelves at any Zippy Shoe Company store and also at any of the other following retail stores, Macys, Payless, Famous Footwear, and Target. 

The shoe was designed with a very porous yet lightweight microfiber in the internal sole that easily shrinks with every step and expands back to its original form once the foot is lifted back off the ground. This allows for more shock absorption in the shoe and less in your knees and ankles. And since the microfiber is so porous, it holds shape longer, meaning the normal wear and tear on the shoe takes longer to break it down. Thus, the ZipFactor is designed to last longer than most other running shoes, so you don't have to buy a new pair as often.

Jamie Madison, President of Zippy Shoe Company's Design Division, shared her reasoning for the new shoe. "I am a frequent outdoor runner and though I enjoy the cardio and the scenery during my workout, I hate how sore more knees are after a long 5 mile run through town. And I know as a member of a local running club that I am not the only one. This was the inspiration behind creating a new line of shoe designed specifically for distance runners and their knees in mind." You can find the ZipFactor at any Zippy Shoe Company store and also at any of the other following retail stores, Macys, Payless, Famous Footwear, and Target. 

Boilerplate

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https://twitter.com/ErickaEaton/status/841148181245239296 
https://twitter.com/ErickaEaton/status/841147578729263105 

Zippy's New Shoes

Do you love running? If yes, then we definitely have something in common. I love running and listening to music, especially on a nice warm breezy day. But I hate running on pavement because of the way it makes my knees ache and feel. And its exhausting to have to drive to a trail or grassy location or a track when I could just be stepping right outside my front door and just running down my street. That's part of the reason why I just love Zippy Shoe Company's new line of running shoes, the ZipFactor!!! The have been formulated and manufactured to reduce the harsh impact on your knees from running by 25% compared to the average running shoe.

They are so incredibly comfortable AND they are incredibly stylish too. I have a pair I use for running and I just bought another pair just to have as work shoes. I spend all day at work up on my feet walking around and the ZipFactor shoes have been perfect for that type of high impact long-term standing. My knees no longer hurt by the end of the day, which is seriously so great. I no longer feel like I just need to go home and lie down because if I take another step my leg might fall off. These shoes are seriously so amazing!! They come in so many different colors and styles, so you can wear them with pretty much anything. And did I mention they are SO comfortable! There truly is a ZipFactor shoe for everyone.

But if you are still skeptical, just check out what others are saying about the ZipFactor shoes are on Zippy Shoe Company's Facebook or Twitter pages. You can even search #ZippyZipFactor to see personal posts people are making about their new shoes. And be sure to follow @ZippyShoeCompany on Instagram to catch the deals and promotions they will be running for the new ZipFactor shoes throughout the whole month of March, in celebration of the ZipFactor's official release on March 31st.

Hair of the Dog Party

What sounds more relaxing than hanging out with some friends on a Sunday afternoon having some drinks? Doing it on the patio and bringing your dogs along. And that is exactly what Bark Happy did when they teamed up with Rock & Brews St. Louis in Chesterfield, MO to host their Hair of the Dog Party. 

The event took place on Rock & Brews St. Louis's newly refurbished indoor patio on Sunday, February 26th from 2-4pm and 50% of the proceeds went to Stray Rescue of St. Louis, MO. 

People in the community were able to buy tickets to the event which included a take-home goodie bag with an assortment of treats, prizes, and coupons. Tickets for the event were only $15 and came with about $80 worth of free gifts, so it was quite a deal. Plus if the person purchasing the ticket had the BarkHappy app installed on their phone then they got an additional 10% off the ticket price. 

The benefit consisted of several fun events such as an fastest dog treat eating contest for dogs and a raffle that included many goodies donated from places like Three Dogs Bakery in Chesterfield, MO. And if attendees could show their proof of BarkHappy app use, they received extra raffle tickets for free. Overall, the event went really well with many very satisfied customers. Bark Happy is known for such events as this, as they are a company centered around socializing dogs. For more information on any upcoming events or how their app works, contact their website at https://barkhappy.com/about/ or look them up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Barkhappy/. 

T-Mobile, Killin' The Social Media Game??

In today's modern society social media is the way to get the news, to keep informed, to research topics or brands and T-Mobile is doing it right!

The company is known for being one of the best when it comes to audience interaction on social media. They answer over 85% of their customer inquiries on Facebook, not to mention the content they put out on top of it. But it's not just Facebook, T-Mobile promotes on many different social media sites, the company has a Twitter account, a Snapchat, an Instagram page, and they even put videos out on Youtube. There is even a "Press" selection on the company website that directs you to the "T-Mobile Newsroom" where consumers can view the company's media relations, blogs, news, and social media postings all in one place.

However, I will say this, the Twitter account featured on the page is that of John Legere, the CEO of T-Mobile. Therefore most of the posts of the social media portion of the "Press" page of T-Mobile's website, are just daily posts from his personal life such as his travels, dinners, and extracurricular activities. Personally I am not sure if I was looking for T-Mobile social media, that I would want to be constantly bombarded with what the CEO was having for dinner that night or what pants he wore on his plane ride that day. If that was the kind of information I wanted, I would make an effort to follow him personally.

And just to be clear, it is not like the actual company does not have it's own Twitter page, because there it does. There is an official T-Mobile Twitter page that is used to just as frequently (at least once a day) to promote the company, the products, the deals, the packages, the benefits of doing business with them, etc. So why there is a need to run the CEO's Twitter as one of the featured on the company's social media portion of the website is beyond me. Quite frankly, I believe Mr. John Legere's Twitter account needs to be taken off the site, it's distracting and taking away from the promotional posts from the company. But everyone has their own opinion and I would love to hear some others. I will post a link to the website press room below, let me know what your thoughts are. Am I over reacting to much? Do you think the CEO's Twitter should stay linked up? Do you think it is beneficial?

There is one other thing that I personally do not agree with about T-Mobile's use of social media however, was the start of the #DontGetVerizoned. I just think for one company to directly name and attack another is so tacky and unprofessional. And it makes it seem as if the company can't just let their product or service stand on it's own, but instead can only thrive by slandering others and making other companies look bad to try and lift their own. I would rather that T-Mobile did a generalization technique like many other companies do when they say "our competitors" in their advertisements and use a generalized image with it. The advertisement is much more tasteful that way and even though competitors are mentioned as a means of comparison, the are no direct companies named because focusing on their poor performance is the point of your company's ad anyway, the focus is your company's excellent performance. What do you think? Is it alright for one company to directly call out the performance of another or should names be left out of it?

Overall though, I would say that T-Mobile has really got the hang of this social media thing. There is constant content released on all channels and not just the same stuff either, it's all original, upbeat, and intriguing, thus drawing in viewership and in turn business. Nicely done T-Mobile!


Links
T-Mobile Press: https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/social-media/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TMobile
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TMobile
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tmobile/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TMobile/custom

The Importance of Social Media in Times of Crisis

Social media is used for many different reasons both positive and negative. People use social media to sell products, share important information, advertise a company, and even reflect and show respect in times of sadness and suffering. Regardless of what the reason is, one thing is for sure, social media is one of the first places to go to find out information on anything nowadays. Even if it is not the full story, social media is the main place that keeps people informed. 

So if people choose not to respond to a crisis or don't put out a statement or are just plain not quick enough when it comes to responding to a crisis on social media, then people of this modern day society tend to lash out pretty quickly. Take the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson for example. The police department took way too long to release anything and by keeping everyone in the dark like that about their decisions or even just plan moving forward, the tension in the community thickened. The outrage and anxiousness grew.

I am certainly not saying that by releasing information about the incident sooner and their plans with how the police were going to handle it would have made the situation any better because it certainly probably wouldn’t have. However I do feel like by keeping the community more informed from the beginning, keeping the lines of communication more open, the violence that followed, the destruction of the community may not have been as bad. #Ferguson may not have started trending like it did. But that is a fine example of how social media is used in times of crisis to get a point across.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/19/us/ferguson-social-media-injustice/

Social Media Savvy Brands

Good evening everyone!! 

So this week my COMM 3370 class assignment is to identify three brands that I think do a good job of delivering their message via social media. One of the first ones that actually comes to my mind believe it or not is the cosmetic line Kylie by Kylie Jenner. The line has grown major popularity from being showcased on a daily basis on Kylie Jenner's personal snapchat. She is her brand's own major endorsement and she does it right. The line cosmetic company started with just some lip glosses a little over a year ago and has now grown to a full cosmetic line and has even started selling clothes and phone accessories. 

Clearly a huge part of the success behind the Kylie brand is largely due to the fact that the creator is Kylie Jenner and she is such a global star. However, Kylie also does a great job of keeping her fans and customers informed about what is going on with the brand. She is constantly giving sneak peaks and reminding people of drop dates and just doing everything she can to keep her products at the forefront of people's minds, and it is working because when a line from KylieCosmetics is released it tends to also sellout within that same hour. 

The next brand that really makes a statement in my mind is Airbnb. If you have ever seen their Instagram page, is it filled with nothing but relaxing destinations that it is safe to say we ALL want to spend time at. I mean whoever is currently running their Instagram page is doing it right because every picture is the definition os picturesque. Airbnb's Instagram page alone would be a hot seller when it comes to booking customers and increasing overall business. 

And finally the third and probably most impactful brand I see on social media is again featured heavily through snapchat and that is DJ Khaled and his brand We The Best. This man is the king of utilizing social media to his benefit. His career was made thanks to his daily snapchats. He became such a staple in the snapchat industry that people started coining phrases he would say on his snapchats and turn them into sellable merchandise, such as "major key" "don't mess with THEY" "don't THEY hold you back".

DJ Khaled became so popular and so well know for his references to "major key" and "major key alert" that snapchat actually assigned the key emoji to his name on snapchat. And then he started making merchandise with all of his sayings and logos and such and selling them through his developed brand We The Best. A prime example of how well DJ Khaled uses social media, is that I could not tell you what a single one of his actual songs are, but I know who he is, what his brand name is, his coined phrases, that he opened for Beyonce's latest tour, and the fact he just had a son not to long ago all because of his frequent use of snapchat. The man would not even be on the map if it wasn't for his snapchat and now he is the center of that map.

Well there are my three brand choices. What three brands would you choose? 

Until next time!! 

~Ericka 

Introduction

Hello, my name is Ericka Eaton and I am currently a student at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. I am enrolled in COMM 3370 and one of the aspects of the class is blogging. I tried blogging in the past (as one can see from the few posts I have done prior to this one), however it was never something I could seem to stick with. I am hoping that this course will teach me the proper way to communicate through social media outlets like blogging and how to make successful, interesting, and well-formed posts that I can continue long after the class is over.

A few things about myself...well as I stated I am a student at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, I am finishing up my second bachelors degree in Media Studies. I already received my first degree in Communications about a year ago. This COMM 3370 class is actually the last one I have to take for my Public Relations Certificate.

I have two dogs, Holly and Bartok, and one cat, Odie. I two roommates which is exhausting and awesome all at the same time, I am sure most of you can relate to that. I enjoy traveling and pretty much any type of outdoor activity especially trap-shooting.

I think that is probably a decent introduction. Talk to you all soon!!

~Ericka