Last semester, I did a personality profile on Joe Elder, an University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who recently celebrated his 50th teaching anniversary with the UW. Below is a magazine layout I did for my final story.
It was an absolute joy to interview and to get to know Joe Elder. He truly is a fantastic individual and he has amazing stories to tell. I would highly encourage anyone who finds themselves in the Sociology building to stop by his office: he always welcomes a good conversation. Students seem to really respond to his teaching style and his invitation for discussion, which can be evidenced by the long line of students waiting to meet with him during his office hours.
Here are two examples of my press release-writing talents. Both were created for (and used by) Madison Magazine, where I am currently interning. Madison Magazine has been an awesome experience and I’ve been really fortunate: they’ve really given me a lot of freedom to practice writing, to hone my organizational skills and to have a real input in the magazine.
First, here’s a press release for the upcoming Madison Magazine Spa and Salon Week, which takes place April 23-27:
The second was for Madison Magazine‘s Top Shelf Whiskey Taste event, for which I was the project manager. This event was my baby for the past few months and it was an awesome time!
How adorable is this McDonalds commercial? I saw it earlier today and I couldn’t help but smile. McDonalds usually goes for the emotional appeal- family time, little kids, etc. etc. But this one is pure gold.
While this commercial is great, McDonalds hasn’t had a lot of lucky lately.. especially in the emerging social media market. When McDonalds encouraged their followers to share their experience at the chain with the Twitter hashtag #McDStories, they just got a whole bunch of horror stories… yikes, talk about not thinking ahead. For every person that loves McDonalds, there’s another person that hates it… and it’s completely trend to bash on the brand.
Luckily, McDonald’s is learning from their mistakes. They introduced a new twitter campaign, with the new hashtag #Shamrocking. Costumers are encouraged to tweet pictures of themselves with the Shamrock shake. This gives people a little less opportunity to openly bash the brand, and it gives a visual of normal people enjoying their McDonalds experience.
Here’s a link to an article on McDonalds’ recent social media: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120316/NEWS07/120319809/mcdonalds-tries-another-meme-shamrocking
I love Pinterest. It’s so easy to start looking at a board or category only to find yourself still scrolling after half an hour. It’s a great way to find and to share information and inspiration. Here’s my “Pinterest Inspiration” board in less than a minute.
Image stills and credits can be found at: http://pinterest.com/abigailcardi/inspiration/
As my college days come to a close, I am beginning to think more and more about where I should go when it’s all over. (To be totally honest, I’ve been freaking out about finding a post-graduation job since stepping foot on the UW campus) As such, I decided that I really needed to take a good, hard look at my weaknesses in case a potential employer asks me about them. Well, here goes nothing….
In my recent history class, entitled “Gender Through Mad Men” (Yes, Madmen the show. Yes, it is awesome. Yes, it’s a dream come true for an advertising/history/tv geek like myself), we talked about the evolution of the VW Beetle. VW has been featured on this blog before, and for good reason: They keep coming back for more. VW might just be the brand that never dies. A true underdog. They went from Nazi car to love bug, to super safe family-friendly vehicle. I absolutely love it. Take this quote from George Lois, who was assigned the Volkswagen account at DDB Advertising:
“It was hard to forget that Hitler himself was directly involved in designing the Volkswagen. Even though the Fuehrer was helped along by the Austrian car engineer… the cute Volkswagen in 1959 reminded lots of people about the ovens. Julian [Koenig, who wrote the first round of copy for the campaign] was Jewish and wouldn’t forget it.”*
So how did VW shake this bad rep? By advertising, of course! I think the VW advertisements are one of the most iconic sets of adverts of all time. Seriously. Not only do they not take themselves too seriously, but they also play on each other. The first round of advertisements look like this:
How awesome are these? This is why DDB can’t be forgotten. They completely ditched the advertising patterns of the 1950s, and did the exact opposite. And it worked. People forgot the connection with the Nazis, and instead associated the VW with those funny little ads.
To me, there’s one aspect of the 1960s ads that tops them all: I KNOW IT.
I’m a Generation Y kid. A Millennial Baby. Yet, I know these ads. These ads are so funny, so iconic, so against the grain, that even I, a 21 year-old college student knows them.
That’s amazing.
In the 90’s, they did the same thing. One advert read “”If you sold your soul in the ’80s, here’s your chance to buy it back.”
Awesome. Remind people of that camping trip they took in the VW bus in the 60s, when Dad came home with the funny-looking German car. In the 90s, VW took great advantage of their target consumer: Generation X. They grew up with the bug. They might have forgotten it, but remind them!
And finally, we come to the present time. This is my favorite:
They do nostalgia: It’s the exact same thing they did in the 90s, but in a different way.
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I love this commercial and everything it represents.
* Frank, Thomas. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. Page 67.
Wisconsin and I have a love/hate relationship. Let’s be real. I love the people, I hate the snow. I really enjoy a deep-fried cheese curd, but I could do without the humid summers. Beer is okay… but Wisconsin sports have my heart.
Similarly, my hometown of MKE, WI has a few things I can’t live without…. as well as a few things I could leave behind.
So, when prompted to create a video about why I love Milwaukee, this is what I came up with. Enjoy!
Here’s an advertisement I made for a Journalism Class: It’s for the Tipsy Cow, a local restaurant and a favorite Madison hotspot of mine.
Tipsy just opened a little while back: right on the square, it’s perfect for the young professional crowd in and around the capitol. They also have an amazing soup: creamy tomato with Wisconsin Cheese curds in it!
I think it’s safe to say facebook is taking over. Social Media is everywhere. The biggest question is: is that a good thing or a bad thing? Am I pleased or annoyed? In some ways, it doesn’t matter what I think. I could delete my facebook, twitter, and blog tomorrow and the only one that would honestly be hurt by that would be….ME. (harsh, but true). Without social media, young people lose a lot of connections: to their friends, their families, old friends, old host families, etc. Social media is a tool we all use everyday to keep in touch with one another.
Now, Volkswagen decided to do somthing that I think is pretty unique. In their new ad campaign, they decided to incorporate two things: the oldness of their classic designs and the newness of social media. Resulting in: the Fanwagen. It’s literally the old-school VW van, but equiped with social media features. Interesting.
This promotional van could appeal to two entirely different sets of people: the older generation who view the old VW van as a nostolgic representation of their past, and the younger generation, who is addicted to social media. Will this combination work to bring old and new together? Or will both sets of consumers simply be confused?
To be honest, I was a little confused when I saw it. Is it for real? But indeed, it is. Only time will tell what kind of responses VW gets for this promotion. In the meantime, listen to a catchy tune and ponder why in the world you would want printed copies of your newsfeed:
I am loving this recently discovered website: http://rookiemag.com/2011/11/02/
It honestly has everything I wish I had in high school. The blog has an interesting (and I think effective) timeline- they post three times during the day. Right after school, at dinner time and right before you go to bed. This website, which is aimed at high school girls, is amazing. It presents the information every high school girl wants to know (okay, maybe just me), but it presents it in a real way. I especially enjoy the advice columns. They are real questions with real answers. The responses are as quirky, honest, and hilarious as I imagine the readers to be.
If you have a few minutes, check it out. Look around and stay a while. It has a girl-power attitude that I can’t resist. Going to an all-girls’ high school in Milwaukee was honestly the best present my parents could have ever given it; not only did it make me a more confident and capable woman (qualities of a DSHA graduate!), but it also gave me a sense of self-respect that all girls deserve. Although my time sitting in the halls before class or sitting in the journalism reading instead of going to class did have some pretty rough moments, the school made me a better person. The majority of girls there weren’t afraid of being themselves, speaking up, and calling bs when they saw it.
This blog, to me, is a pretty good representation of the attitude I saw at DSHA. and I’m diggin’ it.
ajcard 
