Week 2 @FUSEmg! What have I learned? 2/6

Week two already, I feel like time is just flying and I dread the end of April! From client meetings, internal brainstorming, blog work and helping anyone who needs it my days are anything but boring. I was even able to show off my people skills this week while doing sampling on the street! The weather may be gloomy but my spirits are not.

I, of course, cannot disclose any client information but I have to say sitting in and listening to real clients is eye opening! Sitting in class listening to the teachers explaining how a client meeting will be does not prepare you. I am so glad that the last two years at St. Lawrence College we didn’t just receive lessons and lectures but were able to work on real campaigns and dip our toes in to the reality that is pitching to the client and adapting to their needs and desires. 

Lesson 1: The client knows their company better than you, as an advertiser, ever will, or should. The client should be an expert about their company and products; you need to be the expert on how to talk to and inform their target market and how they will respond to positioning and branding. As the marketer (from what I have seen so far) you need to be the channel, strategy and consumer expert, let the client tell you about their brand. Go in with facts and knowledge of the brand and leave all biased behind so that you can create a clear picture on how the client sees their own brand and how they want their customers to see it. 

Life at the Agency: The community and atmosphere of agency life (this agency) is so warm, even in a bad mood and completely stressed out and fighting to meet a deadline everyone here is supportive, understanding and friendly, it’s like a large family with strong communication skills. I’m only on my second week and I am greeted by everyone who walks by my desk, I am invited to lunches and meetings and I don’t think my brain has ever been so buzzing with information! The day is done at 5, and I am reflecting on what I’ve done, experienced and learned until I finally fall asleep at night (and I may even be dreaming it, who knows.)

Wish me good luck for my 3^rd week at FUSE Marketing Group and the halfway point of the best experience of my life! (Yup I’m sucking up :P)

@mandamwright

P.S. Cut down my coffee intake from 2  a day to 1 a week! 

What did you do on your Vacation?

Dead Island was about to break the Zombie-Gaming Genre mold, and they needed to start that off before anyone had even purchased the game. Dead Island wasn’t like your typical Zombie-Killing Game, it was going to be a narrative, a story-driven game. As we have seen in recent months, Zombies are like the new Vampires, since Twilight destroyed all hope of Vampires staying a positive horror image a new monster needed to step up to the plate.

The Walking Dead, an AMC television show (and prior to that Graphic Novel) paved the way for Zombies to enter the consumers eye in a new light, Dead Island wasn’t going to let this oppourtunity pass it by. The Official Announcement Trailer for Dead Island is long for a video game trailer, but also very effective. It uses music with no dialogue, an emotional appeal created by the sad story of the vacationing family and it’s graphically appealing. Don’t take my word for it; turn up the volume, sit back and watch the majesty of this trailer.

Even as a very infrequent gamer I loved this, and reviews for the game show that for an innovator that could have potentially been before its time, it was a dead ringer for what the gaming community needed. Did you get pulled in by the tragic end to this innocent vacationing couple?

Skip This Ad Now

Is this the future of Video advertising? When is the last time you saw a commercial on Television? Well you are probably not quite like me so my guess is last night or this morning depending on when you are reading this blog post. My answer; the last time I saw an advertisement on Television…well the movies doesn’t count, I watch that show online, and … well it must have been a holiday…yes, I think when I was at my parents home for Xmas I watched some television and there must have been an advertisement on then.

You see I don’t pay for Cable or Satellite, I am not made of money, but I do have Netflix and most of my favourite shows air online on the company website so Television advertising almost never reaches me, but online video does. I can’t go more than a few days without winding up back on Youtube, infact I was about to watch a video as research for class and this advertisement came up, yes I can skip it, but it grabbed my attention right away, so I would grade that as effective.

Do you see online videos becoming the new norm for video advertising or it is where we also put commercials and trailers when we have finished with our Television Media Buying?

Second thought, have you ever chosen NOT to “Skip this ad now”?

Superbowl Sunday: Foot Ball or Ads?

Superbowl Advertising and the let down that all Canadians get when they realize we don’t see the amazing and much anticipated commercials of those lucky Americans. But why do we anticipate that which we so happily avoid in our everyday lives? Don’t most people normally use the commercial break to get up from the couch, take a much needed bathroom break, or even channel flip to that other show that you just can’t miss? Instead on Superbowl Sunday you cling to that screen and beg the giant brands to spoon-feed you that advertising you normally avoid.

It’s a little shocking, but as a Canadian perhaps I am just not aware of the wonders that I am missing. Superbowl ads are expensive, they are kept secret for months leading up to the grand unveiling and then they are gone again, well unless you have the internet. I watched most of the Superbowl advertisements online for the first time, infact for the only times as I don’t have cable or satellite any longer, and I have to say some of the advertisements are a giant let down. I mean, so many people have waited and longed for these ads, and they were no different from the ads I would normally see on television, except for a select few that really differentiated themselves from the crowd!

I have or will be looking at a few of these superb advertisements on this blog and am going to be watching the 2012 Superbowl this Sunday and let you know if I am still disappointed by the hype.

And incase you were wondering, yes I will be using the game for my much needed bathroom breaks and socializing, cause really…football!

Enjoy your Superbowl and let me know what you think of the ads! Now, who is playing?