OwenBloggers: Jared - MBA 2009

What do you think of Starbucks new ad campaign?

While most people are waking up to the specter of another Thanksgiving with the family, I am hiding out with the second of my two assignments for my Qualitative Marketing Research class. This time, at least, I get to pick the subject.

My task is to analyze blog chatter to determine the market and consumer reactions to a product debut or an ad campaign. As you can imagine, for a blogger, this is a dream come true. In fact, to add onto my elation, Starbucks recently launched it's first national TV ad campaign to drum up sales for existing store sales.

All I have to say is; SCORE!!!

So far, I've dissected articles from both Starbucks Gossup and Brand Autopsy but I need one more. Though most people would go for a more reputable source, I am tempted to go with the following:

Ill Will Press Presents: CAFFIENE CONSPIRACY
HARMLESS COFFEE... OR SUPER-ADDICTING MARKETING PLOY?

Do me a favor; go there, watch it and then, if you feel like it, leave your comments on this post. I want to know what you guys think of how on-point Foamey is.

Even better, watch it then watch a sample of Starbucks new ads and leave your comments on that as well. Thanks guys and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This post will be cross-posted on marketingdiner.com...

Technorati Tags: ad campaign, advertizing, starbucks

Thanks Ethan!

On behalf of the Fashion Police (aka Sharran and myself), I want to extend a huge round of applause to Ethan for this inspiring post in today's ODN:

Casual Wednesdays
posted by Ethan

It's great that everyone got to celebrate "Casual Wednesday" yesterday, but let's start stepping our sartorial game up around here. Let's get all of the frayed jeans, worn t-shirts, and Teva sandals out of our systems over break, then come back looking SHARP and rock the place.

Professional dress, people. Learn It, Live it, Love it!

Ways to cope with a "Create On Demand" MOD

Even before b-school school I did a lot of writing. In fact, it was my job.

As a copywriter, I created everything from ad copy to viral e-books and everything in between. Now, thanks to business school, the term "create on demand" has a whole new meaning. "Create on demand" is the term traditionally given to define any type of creative content (writing, graphic artwork, etc.) that you do at the whim of someone else. In that sense, MOD II is definitely a "create on demand" environment.

The challenge with "create on demand" writing is that you are given very narrow parameters to come up with sometimes very innovative solutions.

Sometimes this is a good thing. Sometimes you need those guideposts in order to spur constructive thought process. The problem we keep on running into is that we become tempted to reign in that creativity to the detriment of coming up with some really interesting insights. If we aren't careful we might just miss the entire point of being in b-school.

Though some professors definitely just want the facts, others will tell you that there is nothing more painful than reading 40 case write-ups with the EXACT same observations. It really depends on what the professor is looking for but just in case you are feeling a bit of a drag because of the "create on demand" atmosphere of this MOD - there are ways to cope.

Yes, this does mean I have advice and yes, it is in the form of another blog posting. This time, the advice comes from Todd Henry of Accidental Creative. I've been a big fan of his podcast for a while but one of his most relevant posts for b-school students actually comes from his kids:

"I have four and two year old boys (and an eleven-month-old daughter)....

They ask questions incessantly. I spent a full half-hour the other evening answering their questions about a small "boo-boo" on my leg (a relic from a week-old paintball injury.) Their insight and concern was mind-blowing."

Click here to read the full post.

Keep on smiling guys, we're almost done....with half of this MOD's cases.

Technorati Tags: surviving business school, MOD, create on demand

When stressed, actions speak louder than words

Shaking off the wear of another weekend laden with case write-ups, it’s almost hard to believe that a year ago many of us were just putting the finishing touches on our admissions applications.

It’s a strange thing, being 14 weeks into our graduate business education. For one, there is a very definite feeling that we may just make it. On the other hand, however, I think you can start to see that the stress is taking its toll.

Perhaps it’s a very good thing that Thanksgiving is around the corner. It will give us a chance to decompress and get ready for the home stretch before the resume drop and interview season gets into full swing.

For now though, I wanted to point out an observation. This past week, I caught myself and several other people beginning to lapse back into a mode where the importance of getting something done overtook the importance of respecting the relationships that could help get us there. Later on that day in fact, I heard someone else say, “I am in a very bad mood. Can you just hurry? I have stuff to get done today.”

People, business school is stressful; no one is going to deny that. The point of going to a school like Owen however is that you have support network that is there to help carry the load.

Call it a “up with people” moment but it made me remember that we are all here to be more than just hard working MBA students. Next time you feel like getting stressed, don’t just complain – do something about it. It’s what we’re here for.

Technorati Tags: MBA, stress

The rising tide of online dis-content: A Froebian aproach

Somewhere in Los Angeles, a Writers Guild of America member is returning to the picket line. They are tired of the inequity that has been created by the ways in which we, the consumer, consume the content they create.

You see, as the world of online and digital content has evolved, more of their work has been shifted to medium like DVD's and viewed more often through network websites. The problem associated with this shift is that their compensation has not evolved with the ways in which networks profit from that content. In fact, most of their compensation still depends on network on-air viewership which, as the illustrious Luke Froeb has pointed out in a related piece on newspapers, is an example of a dying medium

So what do we do about this?

If we continue in Professor Froeb's headspace, we are left with three questions that should help us out: 1) Who is making this decision? 2) Do they have enough information to make the right decision? 3) Are the incentives aligned correctly?

The first question is a no-brainer; it's the producers of the shows that are making the decisions on how writers are paid. The second is also pretty easy being that the producers usually know where their revenue is coming from and where it's going. That leaves us with the question of incentives.

The producers want to maximize their revenues and minimize their costs (duh!). They are probably paid on the net revenue they bring into the network and while on-air advertising is declining, that means shifting the content to where the eyeballs are. Does this still mean the producers are doing their jobs by shafting the writers?

I know I am going to shoot myself after this post but the answer is probably yes. In a testament to how much economics has warped my liberal mind; I think that even though the writers are deserving of a new compensation structure, they should be worried about a lot more than getting a piece of the online network revenue.

So long as the internet exists, people like me will continue to produce free content that will compete with traditional advertising-based revenue. Think about it; in the time you took to read this post, you could have been reading NewsWeek. Soon enough, there may be more reasons for consumers to turn to free, online content than to the stuff traditional media is putting out. Then what will the writers do?

The only choice I see here is for both the traditional writers and the online writers to ratchet up their games and let the battle begin.

For an interesting, related commentary, see this rant from prominent web comic writer, Ryan Sohmer.

Objective Evangelism – Owen & Net Impact

Today, I got the chance to interview Carol Cone, Chairman of a consulting firm specializing in socially and environmentally responsible brand marketing. Carol was a trip to talk to and I have to admit that, because my curiosity got the best of me, I never got to a single question I originally intended to ask her.


Instead, I dove into the guts of what it means to be socially and environmentally responsible in business. She talked a lot about authenticity and how it’s probably the single most important factor in winning over the current 20-something generation.

At Owen, we tend to rely on that same kind of authenticity in order to differentiate ourselves in the MBA marketplace. For instance; we not only have an honor code, we practice it each day at places like the 8:10 Café where the cash register is open and you are relied upon to make your own change. We also have OwenBloggers.com, a student-run web site that evangelizes the virtues of attending Owen while still maintaining our right to disagree when we feel its right.

What Carol talked about and what I’ve seen in just over three months here at Owen syncs together, perfectly. It’s the same side of the same coin no matter how many times you toss it.

The reason I bring this up now is that walking around Owen as an insider during Net Impact, you can’t help but imagine a spunky, short-legged dog bounding around with a humongous bone proudly clenched in its teeth.

In case you didn’t know, we are the smallest school to ever pull off Net Impact and the fact that its being done so in full view of the largest crowd in attendance for this event is astounding. Perhaps it was a case of “biting of more than you could” at the time but I can’t help but see people like the design team and think; “where else but Owen?”

For those of you who may be visiting “our Tennessee home” and will depart in a couple of days to go back to your own MBA programs, think about what you saw, read and learned here.

The last thing I have to say is that Carol was right, you can’t fake authenticity. Also, thanks for visiting Owen and being a part of our story.