Monthly Archives: July 2015

Bank Point Assignment: No media and technology for 24 hours!

On Monday July 13th, I decided to attempt the feat of no media for 24 hours straight! For kids of my generation this is an insanely difficult task. I love my iPhone to death as well as my laptop and TV. For this day, I told myself no Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or ESPN. I love all of these Social Medias and it was quite the endeavor to avoid them for 24 hours. I also had to keep from reading the newspaper. I didn’t read the newspaper often at home, but the readership program here at Penn State is very useful, and allows me to catch up on all the current local and national news. I was never really big on watching the news on TV, mostly due to the fact that unfortunately, it is really depressing. Another great thing about the newspaper is it offers a few Sudoku puzzles. I love solving these in my free time as it helps me keep my mind sharp. Also this means no reading my new Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football magazine or listening to my iPhone/radio. I thought that going without music might be even harder than avoiding social media because I listen to music 24/7. I am huge on rock and roll and love to listen to The Beatles or The Rolling Stones while working on schoolwork or walking around. All of these things had to be put on hold for 24 hours so I could experience what it is like to live without media.

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It now came time for the hard part; actually getting through the day without these luxuries. At 12:00 midnight I turned off my phone and placed it across from me in my room. I went to bed not knowing at all what was in store for me in my media/technology free day. I very rarely use my phone as an alarm clock. I picked this leap specifically because I am interested in media and communications, but also because the time of the class allows me to sleep as long as I want. My first class doesn’t start until 12:45. On a typical day, I usually wake up when my roommate Andrew gets up or when I am awoken by the trash truck/thunderstorm. This is very rare and usually I just sleep until my stomach starts growling and it wakes me up or until I have slept as much as I can. Normally, I wake up around 11-11:30 ish. This gives me about an hour to get ready to go to class. I don’t normally go to breakfast so seeing the TV’s in the dining hall was not an issue. I took my time showering, getting dressed and walking to class. My Mass Media class was no issue because cell phones and laptops aren’t allowed in class. In my English 15 class however, we are allowed to use laptops/cell phones and most of the class does. I didn’t even bring my phone or computer because I knew how tempted I would be to check on my Philadelphia Phillies. As much as I wanted to see if Jonathan Papelbon or Cole Hamels got traded, I would have to wait until midnight. After class was another very tempting time to go back to my dorm and get on my phone or laptop. I went back to my room and picked up my camera case, as it was the day after Arts Fest. I walked back to return it to the ROTC building, and then went to The Mix to pick up a sandwich. I sat at my desk and red over my already written and printed out essay for my English class. I was very limited what I could work on because I couldn’t use my laptop. To accommodate for not being able to do much school work on Monday, I worked ahead during the weekend prior. As annoying and not fun it was to do a lot of work on the Sunday of Arts Fest weekend, I knew I had to work ahead because I really couldn’t do anything on Monday night. After that I decided to walk up to the Intramural building and play basketball. This is one of my favorite things to do on campus. I have met a bunch of friends that go as well, and we play basketball together. I played basketball for about 2 and a half hours. Exhausted, I walked back to my dorm. I ate the little food I had left in my dorm and then decided to shower. After my shower, I was exhausted from the gym and decided to go to bed “early”. Most people don’t really consider 11:00pm early, but I do. There wasn’t a heck of a lot of things to do so I decided to go to bed. I might as well catch up on my sleep because I was exhausted from a really fun weekend at Arts Fest. I woke up the next morning, probably the earliest I have all year (besides the 9:30 classes for guest speakers) and felt refreshed and accomplished. I had made it 24 hours (technically closer to 30) without using any kind of media/technology device!

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Wow, what an experience it was to go 24 hours without media. It was very much so a drastic change from what I do in my normal day. It is kind of scary how much my generation (myself included) is addicted to our phones and technology. We become dependent and always need something in our hands to occupy us. It is crazy to think that even when my parents were growing up, the cell phone didn’t exist and neither did the laptop. Looking even farther back, my grandparents really only grew up with a radio, and maybe one single TV in the house as they reached my age. I wonder what it was like for them to entertain themselves on an average day. They probably look at us “Generation Y” and think we are missing out on important lessons and activities. Yes we do go outside but, they spent almost all day outside exploring. They also spent more family time then we do. I really hope that the future holds a decline in media dependence. Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening. Going a day without media showed me that it is the way we should all try to live our lives. I’m not saying we need to get rid of technology for good, because that will never happen with teenagers and people in general. I think we need to spend more time interacting with people face to face, instead of over a text message or snapchat. You can build better relationships that way and can explore much more. When we don’t constantly spend all the time on our phones we can break our “personal bubble” and branch out. I enjoyed for once, not having the urge to grab it and go on a social media. When you really think about it, the things we do really serve no purpose. Teens love this new app called Snapchat. All it does is it allows us to take a picture of ourselves and send to our friends with short messages. Instead of taking pictures we could go and actually hang out with them. Instead of just seeing them on a little plastic screen, we can see them face to face. After successfully completing this exercise/challenge, I would encourage others to try it. It seems a lot more difficult and taunting then it really is. You learn a lot about yourself doing this and really see a whole different perspective on life. It gives you a more natural feeling and you don’t feel so tied down to technology. I hope I have showed you why this is a good idea and even hopefully convinced you to put the phone down and see what it is like without media and technology!

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MMS #5: Vacation to carry on the series name!

Yesterday, Vacation hit movie theaters across the country. It is the seventh installment of the National Lampoon’s Vacation series. Warner Brothers created the movie and are in charge of continuing on a famous and prominent movie series. The two main characters are Clark and Ellen Griswold. Most movies include their entire family from their kids Rusty, and Audrey to Eddie and Catherine Johnson. Clark and Ellen are played by Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. These two have been in the entire series, which few have done in this series. Other famous actors in this movie are Ed Helms (Rusty), Chris Hemsworth, Keegan – Michael Key, and Christina Applegate. It is interesting to see this cast. It is chopped full of famous actors and actresses. Chris Hemsworth is famous for playing Thor in the Marvel films. Ed Helms is famous for his role in the Hangover series. Keegan-Michael Key is famous for his role in the TV show Key & Peele. Lastly, Christina Applegate is famous for her role staring alongside Will Ferrell in the Anchorman movies. That is quite a cast to go along with the living legend Chevy Chase. Chevy is getting up there in age, but is still just as funny.

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The plot of the movie entails Rusty and his wife taking their family to the famous Walley World. This is the same place that Rusty and Audrey went with their parents in one of the first films. The Griswold family makes a lot of stops as they travel out to California. The plot is basically the same as one of the first movies, except the main charter in this movie is Rusty instead of Clark. Rusty is grown up in this movie as he was quite young in the first films. The first film in the series was made in 1983. The reviews for this movie have not been very good so far. A lot of people think they are making too many of these movies. I think it will be very funny. Ed Helms is hilarious and the fact that this is a Rated R movie means they can use more crude humor. Sometimes that makes the movies funnier. Also, Chevy Chase is in this movie. Despite the fact that he is 71, his humor is still sharp and on point. I am probably not going to see this movie in theaters, but I look forward to watching in when it comes out on DVD.

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Link: http://variety.com/2015/film/features/vacation-jonathan-goldstein-john-francis-daley-1201550271/

 

 

Case Study: Decode Jay Z

For our case study, we learned about a campaign that was launched in 2010 entitled: “Decode Jay Z.” Through our research, we found out that massive ad campaigns like this one can have an enormous effect on consumers, businesses, and every party involved in the process.

In 2009, Bing.com was created by Microsoft to compete with the most popular search engines on the web such as Google and Yahoo. Most users preferred Google over any alternative search engine, and in order for competition to become more intense, Bing had to be promoted through a large scale campaign. Droga5, Bing’s advertising agency, needed a unique way to prove to consumers that Bing was a superior option. While searching for a partnership, Droga5 found opportunity in one of the biggest hip hop artists in the world: Jay Z. At the time, Jay Z was in the process of releasing his memoir entitled “Decoded.” In order to promote their new client, Droga5 combined the newly developed Bing with Jay Z’s upcoming book release to launch a worldwide campaign.

Jay Z was the perfect icon to be represented in this campaign because of two main reasons: His celebrity status and musical popularity. With already established success, Jay Z appealed to a broad demographic and a younger generation of consumers. “Decoded” was more than just a simple autobiography for Jay Z; it was a chance for him to explain the truth of his transition from poverty into building a multi-million dollar empire. From a time span of a couple of months, all before Decoded’s release, different pages from from Jay Z’s memoir were displayed in a variety of locations. The content that was displayed on the pages were directly coincided with the location Jay Z was referring to in his book. For example, if Jay Z was talking about growing up in the projects, specific pages from that chapter were displayed in the Marcy Projects, where he grew up. Bing released a page a day for a month on various objects. Some of these included billboards, plates, pizza boxes, pool tables, cars, and swimming pools. After a few months, Bing tied all of the pages together in a online game. Clues to the locations of each page were given on facebook, twitter, and the radio to attract a widespread population.

Planning this process was not an easy task for Droga5. By trying to kill two birds with one stone, they faced the challenge of trying to advertise a book as well as promoting the usage of ing. Bing’s map feature was the central grounding point element in the marketing campaign, and as people discovered new content on the streets, they could then take their information to the site. The target audience for this campaign was an 18-24 year old demographic, also known as the ‘Y’ generation. The overall goal of the campaign was to create buzz about Jay Z’s book, while at the same time increasing Bing’s applicability.

The result of this campaign was a massive success, exceeding expectations for all parties involved in the process. Bing received over 1.1 billion global impressions and saw an 11.7% increase in site visits. This effect still marks as Bing’s most successful marketing campaign to date. They became a top ten most visited site for the first time since their initial launch, and gained millions of users for their mapping software. In Jay Z’s case, he gained millions of followers on Facebook, and Decoded stayed on the best seller’s list for nineteen straight weeks. Additionally, Droga5 was highly praised for their campaign and were rewarded with multiple advertising industry awards. As we got further into our research, we discovered that Bing is a client of the ad agency Droga5, and how most of the campaigning was directed to expose the use of its search engine. By targeting a specific audience, Bing was able to use their unique idea to engage people in new technologies of our greater generation. This campaign proves that advertising, in general, can have a large impact on not only a consumer, but also on a business’s’ future. “Decode Jay Z” catapulted Bing into worldwide prominence, and temporarily solidified their status as a leading search engine.

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FYE #5: The overflowing pile of laundry!

One of the biggest things that incoming freshman fear when beginning college is having to do their own laundry. No more just having your mom do it. Most teenagers don’t take part in helping their parents doing laundry, so college is a whole new experience. I started doing my own laundry mid-way threw my junior year of high school so I could have some clue what to do when it came time for college. I’m glad my mom pushed for this as I’m now very comfortable with doing it. This however, doesn’t mean I like doing it. As most freshen typically do, we put off doing laundry as long as possible. I have already done laundry twice while on campus for summer session, but I started to get lazy. My mountain of dirty laundry has been growing and growing in my hamper for quite a few weeks. Eventually, after multiple attempts to smush it down to make more room, it has overflowed. I decided that meant it was a good time to do laundry. With my arms so full of dirty clothes that I couldn’t see where I was walking, I headed down to the basement to do laundry. Little did I know Sunday night is the most popular time to laundry. I have never seen so many people crowded into the small laundry room. Luckily I got there just in time. I took the last 4 washers available. They filled up an entire side of the room! I filled all of the washers with detergent and started them. As I was leaving people were getting down to the basement and turning around upset that there were no washers left. I’m quite lucky I got there when I did!

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Other happenings in week #5 are like explained in my previous blog, my grandparents came to visit me on Saturday. They live in Dallastown, PA which is roughly two hours away from State College. They got to campus around noon and we met at McLanahan’s. We went to Ye Olde College Diner for breakfast/brunch. Then we went to a few shops downtown. They then wanted to see the Hub. They were amazed by how big it was. I showed them my dorm room. All they could say was how organized I was and how impressed they were. They could only last about 15 minutes as the temperature in my dorm room is close to 90 degrees haha. Then we stopped at the Creamery. They love the ice cream and took some home for friends. Lastly, we went to eat dinner at the Corner room downtown. They told me stories about how they remember Joe Pa eating there all the time. They said they saw him at the bookstore when my dad was starting his summer session and how my dad was so afraid of going up to him and asking for an autograph. I wish I had the chance to do that but unfortunately things ended up the way they did. I did get to meet Jay Paterno this past May though!  Here is to another great week in Happy Valley!

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