A New Approach to Advertisement

In the past week I have shown or told at least eight people about West Jet's Christmas advertisement approach. In study hall, during gym class, walking in the halls; and I wasn't even the one who discovered it. It was someone else who showed it to me first and I'm almost positive that she too was telling other people about it. I have been one of WestJet's advertisers without even knowing it and I hadn't even heard of this airline until now! In November, West Jet airlines took a new approach to advertisement.

As passengers on flights to Calgary Canada arrived at their gates, there were huge wrapped blue boxes with none other then dear Santa Claus waiting to ask what they wanted for Christmas this year. While passengers told Santa what they wanted, employees of West Jet were taking notes and preparing for a hectic few hours. While the passengers were in the air, the employees went on a "mad dash of shopping". When the passengers arrived to the baggage claim, with their luggage were the things that they asked for all wrapped up and tied with a bow. The video that was created from the event now has over 26 million views.

I think that this ad is much more affective for many reasons. The first is that it really catches my attention; when I first heard about it on the radio I was compelled to look up the video and find out more. Another reason is that since it spreads through casual conversation, more people will take notice of it. Statistics say that 84% of people will take action on recommendations from people they know. 22% less people said they take action from a TV ad. By spreading the story of what West Jet did, it is more affective than the commercials on TV.

In addition to being more affective, Richard Bartmen (WestJet's vice president of communications) says that it cost a "mere fraction" of the costs of a TV commercial. Commercials can cost up to 4.2 billion dollars so while buying their passengers flat screen TV's, tablets, and socks may seem to add up, it doesn't come near to the amount spent on commercials. 

In a Forbes article, Andrew Bender says "If the unbridled emotion of 250 unsuspecting passengers receiving their Christmas wishes doesn’t warm your heart, you may want to consider a Scrooge-ectomy." I couldn't believe this to be more true. The video is truly heartwarming and a top notch form of advertisement. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/12/12/the-real-christmas-miracle-of-westjets-viral-video-millions-in-free-advertising/

http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/television/data-dive-us-tv-ad-spend-and-influence-22524/

PreChecking Profiling

              With the holidays approaching, there are more people flying to see their families and friends. As the airports get busier and busier, the new TSA pre check policy is speeding up the long security lines. When I traveled to Washington DC for Thanksgiving break, I qualified for this prechecking. I did not have to remove my coat, shoes, or computer from my bag. While I waited at the other side, the majority of the other people had to go through the normal security procedures. I did not notice what other types of people were waved through aside from another white girl around my age.

              On the American Airlines website, they say that the people eligible are "a select group of known travelers." I found this to be very vague and suitable to whoever the selectors want to select. The TSA website says it is frequent flyers, members of the armed forces and members of groups such as NEXUS, SENTRI, trusted traveler program and others. To join these programs, a fee of $50 or more, time spent filling out applications and sometimes an in person interview is required. I did none of this; they simply waved me through. I think that as a 17 year old white girl from the north shore, they would assume me to pose any threat therefor, I qualify. The problem with this is that the TSA workers and airlines are profiling people.
          While I was on the TSA website, one of the photos presented with the one to the left. I found it very interesting for many reasons. First was the obvious race factor. There are two white men and the TSA worker is a black woman. I found this interesting because the african american woman is the one working in the lower paying job. I do not know this for a fact but considering one of the men is wearing a suit and the other is wearing a sweater and khakis, and they are traveling, they seem to be  business men. This was interesting to me because the african american portrayed in the picture is still the one in the lower class. Also, these two men seem to represent a big group of who qualifies for the PreCheck policy. White business men.
             I found this TSA PreChecking policy to add on to the inequality of race and a part of the new Jim Crow. It would be very interesting to see statistics of what type of people are being prechecked.

Thanksgiving Day Shopping Results

            The results from the Thanksgiving day shopping are in. It turns out that opening stores before black friday did not generate any more sales, it just spread out the shopping over the course of the week. Opening stores the day of thanksgiving did not end up helping stores; Nordstrom and Von Maur made the right decision in staying closed. Many stores are also spreading out there sales more and more. Taking into consideration that there are five days less in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, sales are going well past cyber monday.

With sales going on over the course of a week, there is no need to extend hours onto the holiday. The day is for thanks and family, work should not be taking a toll on that time. Now that stores have already begun to open on the day, will they go back to waiting until black friday to open? I don't think that they, like almost anyone else in a situation,  will admit that they were wrong and that they did not get any more sales by opening.

In addition, the most noticeable increase was from online sales. It broke the billion-dollar mark and went up %18 since last year. If the online shopping sales are increasing so drastically, why do stores feel the need to be open as well?


Chicago Tribune Business article "Black Friday sales slimmer because of Thanksgiving rush" by Tiffany Hsu and Paresh Dave

Department Store Shopping on Thanksgiving Day

With black Friday hours pushing further and further back, stores race to be the place to go to shop for sales. With the exception of a few stores staying loyal to the thanksgiving tradition and family time, the vast majority are giving in to the competitive pressures. The employees of these stores are going to work sometimes at even earlier hours than a normal work day.  I imagine that as an employee of a department store, all I would be able to think about would be getting home to spend the holiday with my family.

As some stores are opening up, the debate between the importance of family time versus sales comes into play. In the long run, staying closed on Thanksgiving day will improve the store’s community. The president of the Von Maur department store says that opening on Thanksgiving day “will hurt employee morale.” By enforcing Thanksgiving as a work day, stores are embedding that work is more important than family. It saddens me to imagine an empty chair at my Thanksgiving table because of work. I don’t think that it is fair to even present the option (if it is an option) of working on Thanksgiving. With bonus’ often available for working holiday hours, some employees may not be able to turn the opportunity down. Employees are being paid to choose work and money over family.

Department stores aren’t the only ones opening on Thanksgiving day. The local Winnetka Starbucks too is opened until 4 pm on Thanksgiving. Maybe the baristas and cashiers will have time to race home and get ready for a Thanksgiving dinner but they are truly missing out on what the day is about. Why does Starbucks need to be open on this day when it is already so successful? For the other people waking up early who need coffee to prepare their meal? Thanksgiving is a day for all classes, not just the customers of Starbucks. It’s a holiday for the baristas, the customers, the cashiers, the shoe department guy, the salesman—everyone.

With the morning and afternoon full of preparation of the thanksgiving meal, and the rest of the day spent eating and being with family, who really has the time to go out shopping? The retail world is intruding on the day where people are giving thanks. Going out to buy more from the material world in my mind, isn’t being thankful for what you already have.  While Jim Fisher, a marketing professor at St. Louis university says that it is a great opportunity for most retailers, I don’t think that it is worth it.

Would opening department stores on Thanksgiving be beneficial to the community? Is it worth it?

Chicago Tribune Article “Open Thursday? No, thanks.” By Kavita Kumar

All-American Beauty

           While scrolling through flipboard for potential blog topics I couldn't help but notice the amount of car articles, pictures, or advertisements coming up. In particular, the All-Alluminum Beauty caught my attention, especially the title that they chose to give it. I immediately read All-Alluminum as All-American and couldn't help but think that the writer consciously made this choice. In a car obsessed culture, a top notch American car is what many people are looking for. It turns out that Jaguar cars are manufactured in the UK, and created by the best automakers in Germany. The All-Alluminum beauty is really just All-Alluminum, not All-American. 
           As I read more of the article I was amazed by how much there is to say about the features of a car. The new F-type Coupe has "features a gently sloping, delicate roofline" that is "far more seductive" then the roadster's notchback. Who knew a car could be seductive? Cars seem to be one of America's most prized possessions. One of the things that I remember most of my old neighbors was to never touch the porsche. My friend would make everyone walk at least three feet away from it to make sure that no one even thought about touching it. The day that her dad let us wash it sticks out so clearly in my mind. He supervised us as we used special clothes to clean until his all-american black beauty shimmered. 
         
            While my neighbor's obsession seemed a bit extreme, this article seemed to match right up with him. The car is made out to be such a fragile and important thing that "the company was fearful of customers dragging luggage over the car’s sumptuous shoulders." From the way that the writer is phrasing this, it sounds like the company is protective over each individual car as if it were their child. The words chosen to describe the car are clearly very carefully picked and present the car as a treasure. Where does this car obsession come from? Are other cultures as obsessed as the American culture? 
           

Picasso for $5?

         I recently read an article in the wall street journal about the appeal of liberal arts colleges and their quirks. For Margaret Ritten, the appeal of Oberlin was that they allow their students to rent famous paintings for $5. Students have these paintings in their dorms or hanging on their walls. Personally, when I think of paintings by artists as famous as Picasso, I would expect them to be hanging in an enclosed frame in a museum. Definitely not in a college student's dorm. While Picasso created around 13,500 paintings, it still surprises me that the Allen Memorial Art Museum trusts these students so much to let them have possession of the works. 
        While not one of these paintings have been destroyed, and all have been returned; I start to question the amount of responsibility that the students are taking on. I think that showing so much trust is really appealing to students and kids applying to colleges and for the most part I think that they are responsible enough. There is always that one kid that messes things up. Whether you're in kindergarten, high school, or college. It may be on accident or not their fault but what happens if one of these works gets ruined? Is the trust for all the student body ruined?
        I also started to wonder to what extent should students be trusted? As students reach college, they near adulthood where they should be taking on more responsibility but what is too much? Is placing these priceless works in the hands of students for $5 placing too much responsibility in their hands?

Disney Star to Pop Star

          I recently came across Miley Cyrus' backyard sessions which caught my attention. She sings "Lilac Wine", "Look What They've Done to My Song" and "Jolene"; all of which are incredible. When I was listening to each of these, they made the disney star grow up in my mind. She becomes much more mature and appealing for not only middle schoolers. Miley recorded all of these sessions back before she cut her hair off and before she seemed to really change. It confuses me as to why she would take this other route of songs about drugs and sex rather than continuing with work similar to the backyards sessions. It seems clear that she has a much broader audience with this then her new hair and album "Bangerz." 
         While reading NY times article, "Get Back, and Just Let Miley Cyrus Grow Up", the writer takes a different stance on Miley. He calls her choices creative, her results great, and her singing striking. In particular, he talks about the transition that she is making from disney star to pop star. Miley disagrees with this as a transition though, she says “This is all thought out in my mind. It’s not a transition. I’m the same human, I’ve got the same heart I did five years ago.” This seems pretty hard to believe from the stark contrast of her now, and her 5 years ago. Although all of it is a part of Miley growing up, she seems to be becoming more immature then she was before. The songs about drugs and sex are reaching a different audience; not the more grown up one she seems to be going for. 
         While she isn't growing up the way that I would have expected, she is leaving her mark and creating her own character. She is surprising everyone and pushing limits in the pop world. In some cases she may have even broke those limits. She is threatening the image of the young female performer while she's making headlines. Miley is grabbing attention world wide and while maybe some of this is negative attention, its more then she would have got staying in line. After reading how she has this all planned out, and it is all strategic, I started really wondering what she's thinking. What's her goal with all of this? Is singing songs about drugs and sex what she wants to be singing or is she doing it for a certain audience? If she really does have the same heart as she did five years ago, then why is she acting so differently?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/arts/music/get-back-and-just-let-miley-cyrus-grow-up.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOwblaKmyVw

Villains

Thursday afternoon, a women turned her car into a weapon and drove full force through the barriers to the white house on capitol hill. She stopped at nothing, not even with the possibility of killing someone. A police officer got in her way to try and stop her but she just kept going. “After she ran him down, she gunned it, and she just went screaming down Pennsylvania Avenue,” says Mr. Campbell in New York Times article "Car Chase, White House to Capitol, Has Fatal End". This women identified as Miriam Carey was a dental hygienest with a toddler. Simpily looking at her life, she seems like the last person to do such a thing. Honestly, when I first heard about the chase this morning on the radio, I was very surprised that it was a women. When thinking about why I was surprised it was for multiple reasons. One being that when tragedies like this occur, they are most often committed by men. I think of tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombing, or 9/11. Both were committed by men. I also realized that I was so surprised because she is a mother. Mom's always seem to be nurturing and gentle. Not one to ram their car with their child into the white house barriers. Although this may be a generalization, it was the reasoning for my shock.

While thinking about it more on my drive to school, I started to think about whether women are less likely to commit to such actions compared to men. With so many other qualities being engraved into our minds at such a young age, I thought that this one would go along with it. From all the stories we read and movies we see, the majority of the time the bad guy seems to be a man. As I started to look into it more, I realized that this actually is not true. There are many villains that are women especially in children's stories. For example, Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians, The Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, and The White Witch from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. The ratio of women villains to men I found was pretty even. So that ruined my theory as to why I was so surprised it was a women who drove through the White House barricades and left me wondering where the surprise came from. Are men more likely to commit crime than women? How are different behaviors and values engraved into us as kids? 

The Beginning of the End

In the article, "How to be a Creative Writer" Kurt Vonnegut says "The arts are no way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow." The arts used to be a way that many people made a living, and some still do today. The past Saturday, the New York City Opera most likely had its final show before officially closing down. With only a quarter of their fundraising goals met, hope was low. After 70 years of miraculous performances, this final show brought tears to many peoples eyes. Though, it was not unexpected. The New York City Opera "drastically cut back on the number of operas it gave each season — from 115 performances a year a decade ago, to 16 last year." With nearly 100 less shows each year, funding became impossible and they had to file for bankruptcy.

The New York City Opera is not the first example of the arts falling; it is also not the last. Orchestras. theatre companies, musicians, actors, other operas have been going bankrupt all over. Reason being that people have stopped attending the performances. It is astonishing to me that things that used to be so valued by society are struggling to stay in business. It also led me to think about what people are doing instead of going to these shows in their free time. Movies, too busy with work, parties? But weren't most of those things still existent when these shows were so popular? It's not that people have all together stopped going but rather they go once every couple of years, or even once a decade. Some not at all.

When talking with some of my teachers and other older musicians, they are pretty consistent in what they tell me. "If you really want to help the arts, then go in to business. What the arts really need are good managers to get them going again." I think that this statement to some extent is true. I also think that they need to remember that it's the people and community that funds the arts. The attendance of each performances goes to the salary of the performers. Its impossible for me to think that the arts will just disappear all together, but then again the New York City opera never would have expected to go bankrupt so soon. Maybe one day theatre will only be seen over a screen, and music will only be heard through speakers. If people are choosing other things over going to performances now, then what will make them change their minds? What sort of affect would the loss of the arts have on society?


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/arts/music/city-opera-takes-what-is-expected-to-be-a-final-bow.html?src=me&_r=0

Block Party

               Growing up, block parties were the place to be at. Everyone would bring a dish for dinner or a plate full of desserts to share, there'd be a bonfire, games with water balloons and scavenger hunts, and of course a thrilling game of cops and robbers. Block parties were always something to look forward to. I remember how neighborly everyone was and how they brought everyone together. As schedules changed and the kids that were participants in the nightly games went of to high school and college, the block party moved away from our block. But to me, in just stopped happening all together. With the younger kids, the block parties have just started.

               The bass of "Blurred Lines" soars through my open window from four blocks away. After hearing my parents talking about it I decided to walk over. To my surprise, it was nothing like the games and bonfires we had. Instead, I was shocked to see a DJ, a dunk tank, a Spider Man jumpy house, and three food trucks: Coffee & Donuts, Salsa, and Jamaican Jerky. The whole thing felt so strange at not at all what a block party is. The feeling of community was different, and more focused on buying the "necessities" to make it a fun evening. One would expect that these attractions would get more people to come but rather, it took away the neighborly feeling. 

Food Trucks

             The intent of a block party is to bring the community closer together. The feeling of togetherness was so much apparent with our traditional block parties. All the things that parents payed for now to get it all together brings more of a divide with in the community. Talking with my mom, she reminisced about the times when all the parents would find little toys around their homes and use them in the scavenger hunt. Even the planning of the block parties brought the neighbors all together. But now, if you can just  order everything and pay for it in the end, why would you waste the time planning it out as a community? I find it very disappointing that not only are people taking such short cuts, but that they find these new attractions necessary for their kids to have fun.  

Jumpy House

          Even further back when my mom was a child, she would spend her time with her friends playing "kick the can" or other simple games. Even when I was younger the whole block would play different games outside; those were some of the best times for everyone. Now, kids rely on video games and technology to have fun. Although we are advancing in technology and the new inventions are very useful and interesting, I think that the simpler games and activities were more rewarding and generally better. This new version of a block party is foreign to me and I think that while we should keep advancing as a society, some things are better left as they are. Not everything has to change as generations pass. Is it possible to in some way, ignore the new technology that is continuously coming out? Should younger generations be introduced to these things (i.e. iPads) so early on? Is there even a purpose in trying to keep these old traditions and games alive?

DJ

Just Another Shooting

After the recent Navy Yard shooting, gun control has come back to being a central issue. If you have not heard or read of this then see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/us/shooting-reported-at-washington-navy-yard.html?pagewanted=all . It is evident that gun violence has been an ongoing problem for our country and a very controversial topic among citizens and officials. After the scarring affects of the Newton school massacre, you would think that congress would come to some sort of definite conclusion on the matter yet we see little progress. Shortly after the Newton massacre, the families involved formed the Newton Action Alliance. The alliance has been pushing for gun control ever since the shooting occurred but with things such as Syria and the floods in Colorado, it was put on the back burner. With the news of the Navy Yard shooting, the Newton School massacre is again in the top article titles. Titles such as "Navy Yard Shooting Revives Ghosts for Newton Families"are popping up everywhere. The Navy Yard shooting has revived the Newton Action Alliance and brought the attention back to this central issue. 

I find it very upsetting that the Newton school massacre wasn't enough for the country to take official action on the issue. Action should have been taken back when the shooting at Columbine occurred. It keeps going further back to more and more shootings. Yet we have not taken actions that have proved to stop these from happening again. The fact that we needed another shooting, more lives lost, to get our attention back on the issue is no. While it is understood that other issues such as Syria, and flooding came into play, gun control should've stayed as an issue of priority. The question that comes into play is how many times must a mistake be made, until we truly learn from it? I don't believe that we have learned what we needed to from prior shootings because if we had, wouldn't something have been done? I think that we need to take additional action because clearly, the laws that are currently in place have not been satisfactory. Will it take yet another shooting for the right precautions to be taken?

College: Key to Success?

               As my siblings both went off to college this past week, it was all that my parents were talking about. Comparing tuitions, apartment or greek life, majors-it just didn't stop. It has always seemed to be that college was something to strive for. Something that successful people did, before they became successful. As times and tuition have changed, the question that comes into play is whether college is really worth it. When thinking about this, everything has to be taken into consideration. "It's whether you finish, where you go, what you major in it, and what you do" said Isabel Sawhill from the Chicago Tribune article, Is College Worth It?. To me this can is sums up to the effort that one puts in. College gives off a new essence then it used to. College is freedom, drinking, and parties to many people now. With the Top Party School articles so up to date, some kids have decided to take the fun route instead of focusing on their futures. I think that this is where the statistics presented in the article show up. The "60 percent of students who do not finish their degrees within six years", might be the kids who were too distracted by everything around them to focus. To be successful one must be driven. 14% of kids that graduated from high school end up making as much as those who went on to get bachelor degrees. That 14% would have to be either very lucky, or very driven.
               In addition to whether one is driven or just at college to party, whether you are successful or not highly depends on the major you choose. This is all based on what the country needs and when it needs it. Right now, the arts are struggling. With little attendance to shows and concerts, the performer's salaries have gone done immensely. In a NY times headline I saw that the New York Lyric Opera may even have to shut down for the 2014/2015 season. In tight fields such as the arts, it is so difficult to make a living. And if you want to make a living with it, you have to be the absolute best. The absolute best most of the time are the most driven people. In the end, the people that are most successful are the people that work the hardest. This means that if one used college as much to their advantage as possible, then it would be worth it. But this doesn't mean that college is the key to success. Truly, the key to success is being driven. 
What leads to a successful life? Is college a necessity?


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-08/news/sns-rt-us-usa-education-college-worthbre94711p-20130508_1_college-degree-harvey-mudd-college-30-year-net-return