Life has been a trip, the last several years... The things I've done, sights I've seen. Life changes.
Creative Communications student, you'll occasionally see assignment related posts.
First and Second semesters are coming to a halt. Classes are done,
save a couple of assignments, and the stress levels are coming down.
The Creative Communications Media Awards were last night with some fabulous examples of work from our program. It's full of industry folk and it doubles as a grad night for those finishing the program.
I've certainly talked about school a lot here this year, but it's really been
the only major thing in my life for the last 8 months. I've never really
done well at school, in fact I dropped out of high school two credits
short, but I realized a few valuable lessons this year:
I
clearly have ADHD and I finally recognize the symptoms. It feels so
clear to me now that I'm surprised nobody said anything. Having
recognized it, I am able to recognize my issues and deal with them.
It took accepting nothing but success through adversity for me to realize it, and I did.
Summer's just three short assignments away, and the weight already feels like it's being lifted.
I have no plans yet for the summer, but rekindling friendships, at least one trip and some camping are on the horizon: becoming a normal human being.
We looked at this comic in our creative writing class. I plan on reading it this summer.
The last week of school is coming up and videos seem to be the theme.
A Big Rock Eddies video submission, a media production video montage, and an example of a video project for my independent professional project.
I love it; by far video shooting and editing is my most passionate part of this program. I can sit for hours engrossed in video editing.
Back to the grind for several video reshoots.
For my first video interview, I spoke with J. Williamez last night about his experiences as a comedic musician in Winnipeg and about him touring small towns in Manitoba and Ontario.
You have a shinny, flashy, hip new app for your business, and you even remembered to budget for its promotion.
Last week, in our public relations class we prototyped an app. This week, we'll be looking at marketing it.
But first... check out this video of an dude driving the wrong way in front of school during rush hour.
The app is for the King's Head Pub and Eatery in Winnipeg. They have no knowledge of this app, nor have they given permission for the prototype.
The app's purpose is to have a high rate of repeat business and increase revenue during off-peak times.
Let's take a peak at the PR side of marketing this app.
The PR's 4 principles of persuasion:
identification
action
clarity
familiarity and trust principles
The identification principle—What's in it for me?
Why should I download it?
What's the benefit for the end user?
Make it clear to them that they can save money by using the app. Tell them what the app does.
The idea with this app is to let users know of food and drink deals, the schedule of bands playing and an all-in-one place for everything King's Head, with an addictive game you can play while waiting for the bus.
The action principle—Make it easy for them
Make the app simple. Make it easy to use. A one-click-download from the website makes it easy for them.
Train the staff to install the app for the clientele and show them how it works.
Be active on social media: promote the app and answer questions they may have. Show them it's easy.
The clarity principle—Make it clear and easy to use.
Great, so they downloaded the app. Now what?
If it's not easy to use, or doesn't make sense, there's really no point.
Cut the fat from the app. Don't make them signup, but leave it as an option.
Make it an option for push notification. Let them know about these deals, but don't be annoying.
Show screen shots of the app, or make a short promotional video showing how easy it is to use.
There are screens attached to faucets in the washroom; Why not use them to show the screenshots or the promo video?
The principle of familiarity and trust—Oh, does Ace Burpee use it?
Why not get an opinion leader to review it for you?
Do you know a local celebrity? Ask them to check it out and let their followers know.
Send pitch emails to news media, radio personalities, and local bloggers and celebrities. They will have more sway than advertising, and it's cheaper. A review in the Free Press vs. repeat ads in the Free Press, one's free(they don't accept complimentary items) and one costs money.
Don't just expect to throw money at an issue, more than likely it won't be effective.Just remember as a business owner, or Joe Q. Public, it's always better to work smart, not hard.
What do you think about an app for your business? How much do you have to spend on one? Do you feel you would benefit?
Free Beer is coming out tomorrow at the Creative
Communications magazine trade fair. Between noon and 4 pm the Red River College
Exchange District Campus will transform into a fun atmosphere with the magazine
booths all vying for your attention. In past years there has been bowling,
video games, social spreads and the not quite legal bales of hay.
Coming down will earn you a ton of snacks, beverages and
entertainment.
The Free Beer magazine booth will offer beer-pairing advice,
snacks, root beer sampling and kicking it old school with your favourite video
game from childhood.
Bring a friend, bring your children or just bring yourself.
As school is slowly winding down into summer vacation,
there are a lot of fun things coming up.
The magazine trade fair is this
week. The magazines showcase of all the first year student's skills in electronic layout, writing, photography, ad development and group work.
Two video montages: one for the Big Rock Eddies and one for our media production class.
Both montage assignments are wide open for our decisions on content, theme and style.
Here's Lindsey Dorie's video montage from last year.
Here's a submission from last year's Eddies contest.
February 14 was a special day—for some. It was the 10 year anniversary of YouTube.
TVs are a thing of the past and along with it TV advertising.
A borrowed subscription to Netflix, the occasional YouTube video, the annoying auto-playing Facebook videos and the even more annoying auto-playing videos, with sound, on some 'news' websites.
Once pseudo-addicted to television, aside from the news, I haven't really watched TV in about 5 years.
The rise of how we consume media has changed vastly over the last 10 years.
I feel as though we have a certain level of control of what we consume—as long we don't blindly follow suggested videos.
I scored some ridiculously high mark on my entrance general knowledge test to this program. In my interview the panel asked how I consumed my news. My answer: Facebook.
Its also seen the rise of clickbait and the eventual immunity of the victims.
It also has the ability to shoot users like PSY into internet superstardom and beyond with his Gangnam Style music video.
It's also saw the rise of OK GO. Billy Corgan's accused it of using its videos as a gimmick.
Just the other day, The Winnipeg Free Press, a still profitable daily print, announced they will be starting to charge for its online content, as it feels that subsidizing online content through subscribers is wrong.
Do you think OK Go's videos are gimmicky? What'd you think about paying for news?
Tell me what you think! Write a comment below.
Gimmick or not, I like the artsy videos.
End Love
The latest video I won't let you down.
And the giant Rube Goldberg machine, funded by State Farm, that is This Too Shall Pass.
Watching hockey, drinking tequila, the sugar shack and being semi-secluded, I was out of town for a couple days for a school travel assignment.
I managed to get a private tour of a teaching-convent-turned-museum in St Pierre-Jolys. The nuns originally taught Grade 1 to 10 to girls around St. Pierre. They were taught in this second floor classroom and some lived on the third floor in the dormitory.
On the same property is the Sugar Shack.
The 25 annual St. Malo Family Tournament also was held this weekend.
For another assignment, I wound up in a dairy barn shooting b-roll for our submission to the Big Rock Eddies due on May 4. This is just a sampling of what I shot. I threw in a reading by David Duchovny.
