Better Late than Never

Well, as our class comes to a close and we're getting our final projects in and blog posts, I realized that I never wrote my second blog! I was almost certain that I did, and searched all files on my computer for it, as well as the PR Writing Blog because it was not on my own. I guess it was never written and got forgotten around midterms. Since that seems to be the case, I'm adding my second blog now so hopefully all you PR bloggers will get to read it!

Since Christmas is right around the corner, I thought it would be interesting to look at x-mas advertising. I've seen the same 2 Target Christmas commercials just about every day multiple times a day and it's really starting to annoy me. But this got me thinking, are their ads even working? A recent article on Ad Age says they're not. According to the article, a survey found that half of consumers say they're not inspired to shop at the retailer who's holiday TV commercial or online promotion they liked best. That's bad news for these huge retailers like Walmart and Target who are spending millions on their holiday advertising.

The article goes on to say that because of this, retailers should spend more money and time focusing their advertising efforts to consumers who are their target markets rather than the general public. They should also spend more money on in-store promotions through direct mail.

I find this interesting. It seems like a huge waste of money for no benefit at all. These big companies should take a hint from smaller ones. Maybe they should spend more time on Google AdWords, figuring out what consumers are really looking for. They should think before they spend.

Holidays: family, food, and learning how to spend wisely

The holidays are approaching which means family time, lots of food and presents!!! But the economy is still struggling and this got me thinking, how are people going to balance needs and wants, and will there actually be any presents under the tree? A recent article in Advertising Age comments on this, and the chaos of Black Friday, which is just around the corner.

According to the article, consumers are starting their shopping early. Google research has shown that Black Friday searches have started two weeks earlier than last year, and terms such as "early Black Friday sales" are popular. This suggests that consumers are shopping around for the best deals before making big purchase decisions.

According to the article, research released last week shows that 39% of consumers are planning on spending less during the holidays than last year. Retail stores need to get creative in finding ways for consumers to spend spend spend! Their response: layaway. Check out the Sears website and you’ll see and option for layway. Best Buy and Kmart are doing it too. According to the article, Walmart’s missing out because it got rid of layaway two years ago. I think these large corporations are smart in providing this option. It can be hard to make a decision knowing that a big chunk of money will be gone and will take a lot of working hours to get back.

Overall, consumers are being smarter this year. They’re using lists, which means no more impulse buying. By researching ahead of time, they are finding the best deals. They’re paying with cash and using layaway. They’re being cautious in their spending habits. It may not be the best thing for the economy right now, but I think it’s safe to say that these are some life skills that some consumers never had before, but benefit from now. So maybe an economic crisis isn’t too bad after all if some of us really learned the value of a dollar.

Balloon Boy and Social Media, a match made in heaven.

It is official--we are crazy. By we, I mean the U.S. and by crazy, I mean we will do ANYTHING to be noticed. As if celebrities like Kanye West at the VMA's or those guys on youtube that made a beach video to the Miley Cirus song weren't ridiculous enough, last Thursday we get the worst of the worst--Balloon Boy and his family.

I was working out at the gym on campus. Forgetting my I-pod, I had to plug my headphones into the treadmill to watch TV. I tuned to BREAKING NEWS ON CNN about a young boy who disappeared and was thought to have been floating around in a home made hot air balloon over Colorado! I was at the gym for an entire hour while CNN talked about poor little Flacon, the boy who got in his father's hot air balloon. However, soon enough, the balloon landed and was found empty!! Where was Falcon?! Search and rescue teams swarmed the area and almost every other channel's daily news covered the story. So many times CNN announcers said, "Lets just hope that he's hiding in his house somewhere, and is afraid to come out and be punished" and what do you know...that's what DID happen! Or, kind of. I got back from the gym and turned my TV on at home.

Details of the Heene family started to surface during the search. They family had appeared on the reality show Wife Swap before, and the father was a professional storm chaser with a website. The Heene's were known for "living life on the wild side".

Eventually, Falcon was found hiding in his attic. Soon after, interviews with the Heene family surfaced and something funny happened. The entire event was ruled a hoax! It turns out that Falcon's parents told him to hide in the attic and when he was interviewed by CNN later, Flacon gave up the secret. When asked why he didn't come out of the attic when he heard his father calling him he said, "Um you guys (his mom and dad) said we did this for the show."Leave it to a young child to tell the truth.

Here's the actual CNN interview with the Heene family when Falcon spilled the beans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI6UONWCq7A&feature=player_embedded

But the Heene family are not the only ones to be blamed in this situation. The media plays a large role. First it was breaking news and all over the media. Then, as the story was ruled a hoax, even more coverage was given. Try searching "Ballon Boy" on Twitter. After your first result, guaranteed within 2 seconds 60 more posts will surface and you'll have to refresh. The story spread through social media like a wild fire. Everyone was talking about it, and it ended up getting more attention than it deserved. America could just not get enough of the sick and twisted hoax the Heene's pulled.

The whole situation escalated into something that makes me sick to even think about. Have we really gotten to the point in our society where the best way to get attention, is to fake a missing child? Not only that, but it seems as though social media is just a freak show! We as American's love these kind of stories, and we eat them up. But this has to stop. Instead of blogging out a hoax, lets blog about more important things. There are plenty of educational blogs out there, whether political, international, environmental, etc. If we paid more attention to the stories that matter, I think our country would slowly fade from the reputation we have earned. It's no wonder the Heene's were chosen to be on Wife Swap in the first place. When we have families that are willing to waste the selfless efforts of search and rescue teams, police officers, and more because they knew that the media would easily grab the story, we've really got a problem on our hands. The Heene's should be ashamed of themselves, but I have a feeling they're not. They got the publicity they wanted, and even though it's not good publicity, they're infamous. Does this seem right to you?

By the way, the Heene's are going to court:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8315042.stm

Twitter, not too shabby

So the Twitter project is over and while I’m still not the biggest fan of Twitter, I see it’s relevance. Before class, I refused to get a twitter. I rarely update my facebook status and knew twitter would be the same. Who cares what I have to say in 140 characters? No one is going to read it, or reply to it. I soon realized though, that Twitter is not so much about me sharing my day as it is about sharing mass quantities of information.

At first it was confusing. What does # mean? Why do I have to put an @ sign in front of people I want to talk to? What is RT? How do I follow people, and what does it mean when people follow me? I felt like Twitter was a whole new language that I would never understand.

After using it every day for class, I started to get the hang of it. Not only did I slowly start to understand the lingo, but I realized I could follow whoever and whatever I wanted. One of the first sources I followed was CNN and the Journal Sentinel. I like reading the paper but as a college student, I don’t have time anymore. Following news sources on Twitter game me the latest headlines at my fingertips. I didn’t have to search for anything. Next I started to follow important people at Marquette and organizations that I’m interested in working for some day. While following Sheena Carey, I was able to gain access to information about internships I may not have found out about on my own. I also started following certain celebrities, just for fun, like Stephen Colbert. His tweets are always good for a laugh.

I guess Twitter isn’t too bad. Now that the project’s over, I doubt I’ll update my status as much, but I’ll still use Twitter. I can learn more about multiple topics in just a few minutes, than if I spent hours surfing the web. That in itself is reason enough to keep logging on.

What Writing Means to Me

It's kind of hard to write about writing. I use it every day and usually don't even think about it. I use it for myself, and I use it to communicate with the ones I love. Writing is more than a skill used in class or in the working world. To me, writing is therapeutic and keeps me balanced. I’d be lost without it.

I’m a writer, not a fighter. When something good or bad happens to me, I write about it. I keep my thoughts and feelings in a journal to help me sort through them. Writing is therapeutic for me this sense. I can vent my frustrations, or relish on my accomplishments and read them over and over again.

We all know that college is a stressful time, and a busy time. It’s hard to find the hours in a day to catch up with all the ones you love. That’s where email and Facebook messaging come in. I keep in touch with my best friends through messaging on Facebook. Without writing, my relationships would not be as strong as they are with these people.

I’m fortunate that I belong to the category of people who enjoy writing. It not only comes in handy when I express myself in papers or written tests, but I also benefit from my writing skills when I communicate with professionals. When it came time to apply for internships at the end of last year, I’m positive that not only my resume, but my cover letters and emails got me all my interviews. I’m also fortunate that I’m putting my writing skills to use with a career in Public Relations.

Some facts about me

ADPR 4600 About Me

What’s your full name? Maureen Murray

Were you named after anyone? No

Do you have a nickname? If yes, what is it? Mo

What’s your astrological sign? Aquarius

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night Owl

Do you wish on stars? Not anymore

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No, I'm all about slipping them on and off

Do you have tattoos ? I have one tattoo of a seahorse that I got on a road trip to Florida with my best friend. It was right after we graduated high school and we got matching seahorses.

What do you do most often when you are bored? If it's nice outside, I'll go for a bike ride or a run. If not, I'll watch TV.

Donkey or Elephant or Neither? Donkey

What makes you angry? Group projects when group members don't do anything

What did you do last night? I had my RA class from 4-6 and then an RA staff meeting from 8:45-11. Then I did homework. Pretty lame.

What frightens you? Finding a job after college

How many keys are on your key ring? 4. Room key and a bunch of RA keys

What do you do to relax? Watch TV, read, listen to music, talk on the phone.

Do you believe in superstitions? No.

Have you attended a church or religious event outside of your own? No.

Name a foreign language that you know.I know only a little Spanish.

Name three things most people don’t know about you. I have 7 half siblings, I'm afraid of tomatoes, my great great great grandfather found Father Marquette's bones on his farm in Michigan.

Family, Pets, & Friends

Do you have any siblings? Yes, a younger brother Joe, he's 19.

Who is your best friend in high school? Hollie.

Do/did you have any pets? Yes, a dog Lola.

Cat person or dog person? Dog for sure. I hate cats, they're so sneaky and unfriendly.

Who is the last person you talked to on the phone? My boyfriend John.

Travel

What states have you been to? California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, Texas, South Dakota, Nevada, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and a few more but I can't think of them right now.

What countries have you been to? England, Canada, Mexico.

In how many states have you lived? 2, I'm from Illinois and I go to school in Wisconsin.

When is the last time did you take a train? Over the summer I took the train into Chicago

Food

What do you like to eat for breakfast? Cereal, coffee and banana

What is your favorite food? I love salmon and bacon...but not together.

What foods do you dislike? TOMATOES! I hate them

What ethnic food do you like and dislike? I like Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean, Greek, Italian, German and I'm starting to like some Turkish.

What is your favorite chip flavor? I love cool ranch Doritos.

What is your favorite sandwich? Turkey with some bacon on it!

What is your favorite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper or Green Tea

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Mint Chocolate Chip or Coffee Heath Bar Crunch

What’s your favorite salad dressing? Balsamic vinaigrette

Plain, buttered or salted popcorn? Buttered and salted!

What’s your favorite pie? My mom's home made apple pie

What’s your favorite fast food place? Wendy's!!!!!

Media

Which Harry Potter characters are you? I don't read or like Harry Potter, so I guess none.

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Inglourious Basterds

What is your favorite TV show? Even Stevens, it's an old Disney Channel show

Last book you read.Water for Elephants.

What picture is on your computer wallpaper? Some artsy looking rocks

What is your ring tone? Some stupid one that came with my cell phone but my best friends and I all had the same one on our phone so we all set it. So when we're together and one of us gets a phone call, we all check our phones. It's pretty hilarious.

What are three favorite songs on your iPod? Lionel Richie- Easy Like Sunday Morning, Dionne Warwick- Walk on By, Simon and Garfunkel- Feelin' Groovy

Do you have a Facebook page? yes

Do you have a Twitter account? I do now, I just made one for this class.

Do you have a blog? Just this one.

Wishes

Where would you retire to? Someplace in Europe.

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Greece

Would you ever bungee jump? Skydive? No, I like to think I'm daring but not that daring.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Lime Green