Awaken from Digital Death

On December 1, 2010, the Keep a Child Alive organization initiated a "digital death" social media campaign. The organization's goal was to raise $1,000,000 for children orphaned by aids in Africa. To reach audiences all across the web, various celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Justin Timberlake sacrificed their "digital lives" to buy life in Africa. That means there were to be no more Facebook posts or Twitter updates until fans brought their favorite stars back by donating to the charity.

It started off a little bit slow, and Usher even broke his digital hiatus early. However, by December 6, 2010, the organization had raised more than their $1,000,000 goal. I was disappointed to find out that there was one very generous donator which ultimately ended the campaign, but it is still a huge success story. It's inspiring to see how a brilliant idea evolved into a take-over of the digital space. I'm willing to bet this will be a widely-used case study for future pitches.

For more information on the organization or the campaign itself, visit www.buylife.org.

MAIP v SWFAIP

A few weeks ago, I posted the above picture on my Facebook wall, which was an inside joke between a few friends and myself. In case you've never heard of MAIP, it stands for Multicultural Advertising Internship Program. I was lucky enough to participate in this program this past summer, and I of course told all my friends about it. Unfortunately, many of my friends are not eligible for MAIP because they're not minorities. So, as a joke, my friend wrote this (picture above) on the white board. SWFAIP stands for Strictly White Folk Advertising Internship Program. 

Now, as I said, it was just supposed to be a laugh. That was not the case. I received more than 40 comments (long ones, might I add) battling out this apparent controversy. Many people think that it's unfair that most internship opportunities and AAF scholarships are only available to minorities. As a Hispanic, I could not be more grateful for all the opportunities I have received because of my ethnicity. But, do I think it's fair? Well, to be quite honest, I have not heard of many advertising programs/scholarships that are open to everyone. There are a great number of students I know that deserve to be rewarded for their outstanding talents, but how can they? I'm not saying that these programs for minorities should not exist, I just think that there should be more options out there.

What are your thoughts? 

Bittersweet

For months, the FSU Arrowhead Advertising Team has been building a campaign for the 2010 NSAC client, State Farm Insurance. There's been tears, sweat, relationship break-ups, sleep deprivation and laughs. This has been one of the most stressful and challenging moments of my college career, but it has also been the best. Everyone on the team is so talented and passionate about advertising--they've all inspired me to push the limit and do more than I ever expected of myself. Each and every person on this team has been such a privilege to work with and I will truly miss them. 

On Friday, April 30th, Arrowhead drove to Tampa to compete in the annual NSAC competition. University of Miami definitely brought it to the table, making it that much more nerve-wracking. Luckily for FSU, our never-ending nights in the Ad Lab paid off! I am proud to announce that FSU won the following awards:

+ 1st Place at Districts

+ Best Research

+ Best Strategy

+ Best Creative

+ Best Q & A

I'd like to recognize and congratulate all of the Arrowhead members for being such amazing people. We will miss our seniors so much (in bold)! You've meant more to this team then you realize. A special thanks to:

+ Jonny Arcila

+ Emily Asqueri

+ Nicole Brooker

+ Arielle Calderon

+ Courtney Connell

+ Maria Correa

+ Jesse Damiani

+ Danielle Delph

+ Michela Fleury

+ Alysse Goodwiller

+ Courtney Griffin

+ Christina Morgan

+ Gala Pazos

+ Sydney Perlman

+ Alexis Perricone

+ Jordan Rich

I love you all so much and I look forward to hearing about your future successes! 

Facebook is changing. AGAIN.

You've all been there to witness the unexpected and confusing changes Facebook loves to make. The interface has been changed several times which leaves users frustrated and upset by the sudden remodel. Once again Facebook is switching things up, but this time it may affect advertisers. 


Facebook recently released confidential emails to ad agencies among the country (so of course the info gets leaked on the internet--we're advertisers...do you honestly trust us?) in which they have stated that advertising will be changing among the most popular social media platform. The company has claimed that this will help marketers gain more fans and build engagement, but I see this is a HUGE disaster.


Here's the deal. You know all of those fan pages for both small and large brands? As of right now, if you are a "fan" of the page, then you visit the page and click "Become a Fan." From now on, instead of "Becoming a Fan," you will "Like" the page. Why is this so different? Let's say a Facebook Ad shows up on the right hand side of the page that says "Jet Blue." You click the like button because you think Jet Blue is a pretty cool airline. A few hours later, Jet Blue's status updates blow up your news feed. Well...what if I "like" Jet Blue, but I don't necessarily want to be a fan? Facebook claims that users are twice as likely to click the "Like" button than the "Become a Fan" button. The thing is, Facebook isn't going to release this news publicly. So users are going to like these brands and then be bombarded by their feed. An equivalent move, theoretically, would be "Liking" somebody in order to become their friend, rather than literally requesting to become their friend. In my opinion, there are not going to be many happy campers out there. 


On top of that, if your friend "Likes" a page, let's say Lady Gaga, and you "Like" the activity...guess what? You are officially a fan. Hopefully this will have a more positive outcome, but as a user myself, I HATE this idea. Expect this change within a month or so. 


I'm going to start a new social media platform that blows Facebook out of the water and then make millions of dollars! Anyone want to join me? ;)

Did you know?

This is a video I stumbled upon a while ago and I forgot just how incredible it is. There are an influx of facts that are both surprising and downright ridiculous. It puts a lot of things into perspective and it's a little reminder that the world has changed dramatically and will continue to do so. Enjoy!

Tabletop Technology...WOW.

I'm sure you've all heard of the insanely innovative emerging technology over the past couple of years. First it was the ipod, then smartphones, and now this; the tabletop that is sure to keep guests coming back to your home over and over. If you have not seen this video, I suggest you do. This video was actually released about 3-4 years ago, meaning that this should be hitting the market soon. This revolutionizes the way we obtain information and go about our daily activities. It's incredible to see how drastically the world has changed since 50 years ago. What most of our parents probably believed to be impossible is now apart of our daily routines. We are so consumed by the new technology that we almost forget what our lives would be without phones and the internet.

Now the real question here is, who will release this first? Microsoft or Apple?

Are you in on the fun?

If you've been keeping up with new trends, then chances are that you've heard of foursquare. Some of you might be thinking "Why is there another social media tool? We have enough." Though you might be thinking that society is on social media overload, for advertisers, new doors are opening quick. We can now interact in real space while facilitated online. The beauty of mobile applications is that we have the opportunity to do things online without having to actually sit in front of the computer. 

So what is foursquare you ask? This new mobile app is based on geo-location in which you can explore your city with friends in a brand new way. You can rack up points and earn virtual badges for checking-in to different venues. As you can see from the picture above, I am currently the Mayor of 10 places in Tallahassee! Yes, this might seem crazy. But let's face it, I'm competitive and I think it's pretty awesome that I can call myself the "Mayor of University Center Club." If you're ever bored, feel free to join in the game and fight for the mayorships!

In addition to engaging users with a bit of fun, this app also encourages people to continue coming back to these venues they've checked into. This is great for marketers because now companies can reward their customers for checking in. Some restaurants offer free drinks to the mayor of the company. Some hotels offer a 25% off discount if you check into the hotel multiple times. These are incentives for people to continue using foursquare and to visit specific places. Foursquare reached over 300,000 check-ins last week, which proves that they are an exceedingly growing company. If I were you, I'd keep my eye on this new mobile app--it's going to be a huge marketing tool.