Social media does matter

It's mazing how something as small as social media can make a huge difference in the world we live in. It seems that nowadays everyone wants to amp up their use of social media, but many companies don't have the time. Social media to most seems more like a hobby than a communication tactic. I am sure many people take social media for granted, and I was one of them until today.

I had a scheduled meeting today/interview with Winnipeg innovative branding and advertising firm, Cocoon Branding Inc. At the interview, Kyle Romaniuk, owner of Cocoon and I discussed a possible internship within the company for a three week period in April, as part of my curriculum for the graduating year in Creative Communications at Red River College.

The interview was different than any other interviewing experience I have had before. I was asked to bring in samples and present them. The funny thing is that in our advertising class at Red River College, we were asked to bring in three portfolio samples on Monday. That being said, what I brought in to Cocoon wasn't exactly a portfolio. Still, I presented each sample and gave a few descriptions. I was surprised that the most well received piece was the mock-up of an ad I cut and glued for Lush in last year's magazine project. I was given some interesting insights to the concept during the meeting today and will continue to keep this "handmade" ad as a portfolio piece.

Lush ad - second image

We spent an hour discussing my work, Cocoon's work and my future goals. I showed him a top favourite Super Bowl ad, discussed the Knorr Sidekick's "Salty" capaign ( a favourite of mine) and discussed the MALA campaign I am currently working on. MALA, the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects has asked the PR and advertising majors in Creative Communications to come up with an awareness campaign for their organization. I discussed our "big idea" with Kyle and he gave me positive feedback.  I appreciate all of the advice Kyle has given me and plan to implement what I can.

I am pleased to say that I will be interning at Cocoon in April, a goal of mine for quite some time. I appreciate the opportunity to learn at a higher level and experience new ways of advertising, marketing and branding. I think Cocoon and I are on the same page. I just wrote an electronic publication to be designed as a downloadable app for the iPad, and Cocoon just did a similar app-like campaign for Grant's scotch whiskey.

In addition to the internship, I may have something extra to offer them. As part of our curriculum in the Creative Communications program, we have to maintain a Twitter account, a LinkedIn and a blog. Funny, you wouldn't think that your school would want you to use social media in class. I never thought this skill would benefit me in my future career. However, I was asked today to come up with ideas to help drive a following on Cocoon's Twitter. I find this to be an interesting task and have already thought of other ways to drive people to connect with Cocoon.

Looking forward to April!

~Jenn

Favourite car Super Bowl ad of 2011

Nope, it's not the Volkswagen Darth Vader one ( although it did make me laugh). This year, the Chrysler ad is my pick of the year. Maybe my infatuation with Mad Men has gotten to me, but I have always enjoyed old Hollywood-style anything. This ad, reminds us of how driving a car used to be. It's classic.

Back at school

This is the beginning of week two of my last semester in Creative Communications. I have to say that I am super stoked to begin my career in something that I'm uber pumped, passionate and have wanted to do for a while. My career goal is advertising. And lately, I have been leading towards a Media Buyer/Coordinator position.

Currently, the ad and pr majors are working on our last integrated marketing campaign for MALA, the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects. I got assigned to be a Project Manager which is pretty neat. I feel like I have my chance to shine and take on the leadership role, something that I enjoy when it comes to advertising. I used to dream of being a Creative Director which I must say is pretty ambitious. Along with the assigned task of being a Project Manager, I am in charge of our media buy plan yet again. This is the third time that I have gotten to do a media buy plan in a group project and I'm learning to enjoy the role more and more. Like come on, you get to spend money! Fun! Of course, I understand it isn't all glamorous. You have to take a lot into consideration, like the budget and which mediums are most likely to succeed based on our goals and desired outcomes. Still, I really enjoy it.

Also in the full swing of things, my Independent Professional Project, a documentary on the paranormal is  in the midst of editing. Everything else is done, I am so thrilled. I know that I have done a lot of work on it, but still a part of me feels that I didn't. Maybe it was just that I enjoyed it too much? I really do enjoy media production. I had a hard time deciding on my major, which is why I thought that doing a video IPP and taking TV documentary would satisfy my hunger for videography.  So graduating with as an advertising major and two video docs, I think that suits me just fine.  Next up, maybe a career involving both passions? A girl could only hope!

~Jenn

Advertising in a whole new light

Today, I got the luxury of going to an Advertising Association of Winnipeg luncheon on the topic of copyright laws. I call this a luxury because I have always wanted to join AAW since my first month in CreComm last year. It costs like $100 something to join. For that reason I never did.

I found out during my first week of work placement as a copywriter at CHUM Radio Winnipeg that I would be going. So today was the day. One of the main topics was, if you write or produce something for a future client in spec (as in a pitch to get their business) what rights do you, the creator have and what rights do they have since they haven't purchased your idea. Is your idea safe? We were told today in a seminar that using an idea doesn't count as infringement, but using expressions of that idea does.

Does this mean that our ideas aren't protected? Can anyone steal them? I have now learned the importance of having a written agreement/contract even for work that isn't purchased. Before we present anything under the possibility of any kind of transaction for that creation, we should always protect ourselves and our work. Good faith doesn't go far in this business, without written agreement nothing is safe.

I also learned that taking the work you did say while on an internship at a local radio station for a client and presenting that in a portfolio to take to another company in hopes of a job can also get you in trouble, unless you have a license to that work or a written agreement from the company.

I had no idea of any of this. At least I know now. And I thank CHUM Radio for allowing me this professional experience. I have learned so much in my week and a half with them. I feel like my copywriting has completely changed or at least the idea of it has.

I am learning how to write for clients by the top copywriters in the city. And although they critique everything I write over and over, they are challenging me to succeed and write something that will not only sell, but create emotion in our audience.

To create a memorable ad is the most challenging thing and I thank them for helping me create ads that have been approved not only by the client, but by the best in the industry.

I think of the world of advertising in a whole new way. A good ad takes time. What is it they say "Rome wasn't built in a day." Ha ha, what a cliche.

~Jenn

Miracles do happen

I'm not sure if I've ever believed in miracles, whether they existed or not. But this Christmas I do believe that we got one. This year we had the worst struggle to date. We could barely afford groceries let alone pay our bills and our rent. Due to one major unfortunate unexpected circumstance we were at a standstill financially. With neither of us working, we had no idea how we would pull through. As soon as the break hit, my boss even forgot to schedule me. Here I was, the only one working a legit job and I was supposed to be using my Christmas break to catch up on sleep, work on my IPP and spend time with my family.

I was fortunate to get almost full-time work during this week that my boss had carelessly forgotten to schedule me. My co-working all started handing over their shifts. I think of myself to be extremely lucky. I managed to throw my first ever Christmas dinner and invited my parents over. We even managed to have a whack load of gifts for our son, mind you their were small, but still I am very grateful for that.

The reason I consider our Christmas to be some sort of miracle this year is because everything that was worrying us just started to fall place and just in time. I think we were extremely fortunate this holiday season and if it wasn't for our loved ones we might be out on
the street right now. But I can't help but think that this year we got our Christmas miracle. And I will never think of Christmas the same way again.

Jenn

Update!

I just watched the footage with the advice used from our great techs here at RRC. The audio is perfect, so the problem must have been with the camera mic. The lighting is superb! And overall, I'm happy that this footage can be used because I was sad to have lost it.

Documentary this far

Main floor, this iron stove is a supposed hot spot for paranormal activity.

I have been lagging on the production of the Manitoba Hauntings documentary. Third semester is coming to a close and with it, the endless array of assignments we had to produce kept me away from my project. However, earlier this week I started production at the third haunted Manitoba location mentioned in the film, the St. Boniface Museum.

I met with museum directer Philippe Mailhot Phd. after hours while the museum was closed to start filming and do an interview. We had decided on a great place to set up the interview, in the main entrance where the tour begins. This area is a tribute to Louis Riel and many of his artifacts are found right here at the museum including one of his coffins, this one in which was burnt.  We had decided to film in the dark and use my equipment lighting as the main source of light for this interview. In preparation, the famous Louis Riel Heritage video turned on, like it is known to do from time to time reported by museum staff.



This didn't alert me, I was for warned that this happens from time to time. We continued to film, and it was odd that the lighting as bright as they are required that I use more than one. The interview turned out perfectly, I couldn't have written the script better myself, Dr. Mailhot is a terrific speaker.

After we finished the interview, we went through the museum, filming locations reported to be active by museum staff. All of this was filmed in the dark, that is with all of the museum lights off  and using the equipment lights to add a eerily haunting hue around what I was filming. Everything was going well. We were filming in the chapel, I was focused on the Virgin Mary statues when BOOM! A light knocked over and broke. Neither I or Dr. Mailhot were near this light. We connected the disturbance to possible the cord getting knocked over somehow.

So with one light, we ventured upstairs to film the famous rocking chair. I admit that the mannequins spooked me. We then went down to the basement, where the biggest activity presence has said to have taken place. All in all I was extremely pleased with the footage as I played it back through the camera. Everything looked spectacular and creepy. However, the audio is horribly distorted as it shouldn't be. I didn't have the levels on the mic or the camera up high at all. In fact the audio levels were set the medium on the dial and this somehow has caused distortion even  through the wind and other ambient sounds that were filmed outdoors.

I had made only one attempt to film here so far, so the fact that I have to re-record an interview and ambient sound is not an issue. I have a few more interviews to shoot as well. The one thing that does disappoint me, is the fact that my tape seems to be corrupt. I watched everything on the camera, but I can't get the tape to work in an edit suite using Final Cut Pro. The tape plays a black image and keeps rewinding itself.

I can only hope, that my instructor or the techs at school can help me with this problem. That is to say, if it is a technical problem.

~Jenn