The past week and a half, I have been traveling a lot. In reality, I have been traveling a lot this past month! No, it isn't really an excuse for why I have not posted a blog recently. And, no, I'm not trying to make my life sound all glorious because I have been driving and flying around the U.S. In reality, although I have been experiencing a lot, I have become anti-social while doing it.
Think about the last time you got in an elevator. You stand impatiently outside the doors with the button illuminated and the shaft creaking to a stop at your floor. You peer up from your phone screen just as the doors slide open to see a few other folks awaiting your entrance in the small square.
You take a few quick steps in, turn your back to the others inside and watch the doors merge toward the middle. Mere seconds after those doors close, your eyes divert back to your phone screen. You might have shared a brief smile and second of eye contact with your fellow elevator riders, but that did not make much difference.
Why not? Did you say "hello" or hold nice conversation with the people around you? Did you give an "elevator speech" (pun intended) about what you do or why you are in the area? Nope. You were looking at your Instagram feed or reading the latest Buzzfeed post. It's a shame.
What is the purpose of social media? To stay connected with all your friends, relatives, peers, coworkers, professors, animals and long-lost Abominable snowman, right? It is nice to have the minute-to-minute updates from all the people and news sources in our lives. But sometimes, I think it is down right obnoxious, annoying and tiring.
There are many times I just want to disconnect for a while. It is refreshing to take a break from the hullabaloo of social media that can wear us down. Whenever I go home for a weekend or break, I try my best to keep my iPhone away so I can embrace the present people around me. And you know what? It is less stressful that way!
Time: it rules our lives. We plan time for meetings, set time for classes and homework, spend time with friends and family, and are always looking to save time or wish it by faster. Why then, do we always make the excuse that we don't have time? Is it that we truly are lacking time to go meet up with colleagues or take one hour of your day to work out?
When you go to the grocery store or a restaurant, you have a certain level of expectations for your eating experience. Unfortunately, one company has not lived up to their brand standards.
IKEA is an international furniture company that also has restaurants within their stores. One of the products that is most desired in these restaurants is the Swedish meatballs. These meatballs are said to be made with pork and beef. However, the company has recently been exposed for not following through with their product labeling.
In many news outlets, IKEA has been said to have used horse meat in their meatball recipe in Europe. The traces were found after a recent incident with the large European food company, Nestles. This has caused an increase in monitoring meat production throughout the region. IKEA was one of the most recent reports of using horse meat. Please note, there have been no traces of horse meat in the U.S. IKEA restaurants. (Wall Street Journal)
After this release, the company attempted to conduct damage control with a short press release found here. However, that did not stop the flow of social media disgust. Many people on Twitter shared their thoughts and distaste of the company because of this scandal.
I do not think IKEA has taken the proper risk management to overcome this obstacle. From a food company standpoint, they took the products off of the market. However, they did not reach out to the media sources as well as they could have. I also think this could bring up an interesting discussion about the use of different meat products in food products.
What are your thoughts on this current event? How do you feel IKEA handled or should have handled this situation?
Also, do you think this increased use of horse meat in the United Kingdom will have any effect on the U.S.?
You always hear "you are what you eat". However, it can be even more fun to tweet what you eat!
Each week, the AgChat Foundation hosts a tweet chat on Twitter to connect producers and consumers about topics concerning food and farming. These conversations are focused on specific topics brought up by followers each week and then posted as 'questions' to entice discussion.
On the third Tuesday of each month, #foodchat is conducted from 8-10 p.m. These events are steered toward health and wellness and bring in a more diverse crowd of consumers. I participated in one of these discussions this past Tuesday. The discussion topic this past week was focused on heart health and had a variety of topic questions from specific types of food that people consider heart healthy and good recipes to ways to relieve stress on the farm and how producers should better promote how these food options are healthy.
Not only was I engaged in the conversation because of the agricultural discussion, but because I enjoyed discussing different topics relating to health and wellness.
I think the AgChat Foundation does a good job of advocating for the agricultural industry using social media engagement. However, they must find new ways to draw in different consumer groups and attain their interest for topics that may not directly relate to agriculture. I think from my conversations on food chat, it is easier to connect on common topics like health and wellness initially, then transition into how these relate to agriculture.
Have you ever participated in these Twitter discussions before? What do you think is most effective?
This spring, I am interning with Ohio Farm Bureau in their
public policy department. For this position, I have been able to focus on some event planning projects in the area of agricultural policy.
On Tuesday, we hosted our first event of the year, Ag Day at
the Capital. Ag Day at the Capital is an annual event that focuses on bringing
farm bureau members to Columbus to learn about updates in policy and
regulations that relate to the agricultural industry. These agriculturalists
have the opportunity to meet with legislatures during a luncheon and also
schedule individual meetings with their congressional districts to discuss pertinent policy topics for their local areas.
I assisted with the pre-event planning and logistics and
worked with legislatures and farm bureau employees to help the event come
together. During the day, I had a few minor responsibilities like assisting
with check-in and seating legislatures in the Statehouse atrium for a luncheon. Because I did
not have many ‘big’ tasks, I was able to do one thing I love: tweet.
Twitter has become one of my
main resources of information and favorite ways to communicate with people! Not
only does it allow me to enhance my creativity by stopping me from using over
140 characters, but I can also follow events and people in a timely way.
For Ag Day, Ohio Farm Bureau created a Storify account to piece together all of the details from the event in a fun,
technological way. This helped guests and others who were unable to attend see
some of the event from a unique perspective. To the right is the Storify story that was
created for Ag Day.
You can visit the farm bureau Storify and see more tweets and posts from Ag Day.
I think the use of a Storify was a very innovative action
for farm bureau to take. Not only is it unique, but also it is an easy way to
piece together all of the thoughts and activities that were shared during Ag
Day. If other companies and organizations begin to implement the use of
platforms like Storify, it could help them standout in the
public relations realm.
How do you think farm bureau did in their PR for Ag Day?
What are your thoughts on Storify and other similar technologies?
This weekend, I went on a shopping trip with one of my
friends. I love shopping, but what I love even more is comparing the different
marketing campaigns these companies use in their displays and store layouts.
After taking my graphic design classes, I am better
able to interpret what type of feel and approach these organization are
portraying. One company who I feel excels in their marketing approach is Tacori.
Tacori is a jewelry brand I first saw on QVC while in high
school. Now, all I dream about is filling my jewelry box with their beautiful
gems and statement pieces. When stopping by and browsing their jewelry in the
mall, it is easy to pinpoint the Tacori display – it is all in a royal blue
case. I think their branding is outstanding. Not only do they have consistency
in their design concepts, but they also showcase the quality of their products
in a variety of campaigns.
Most recently, Tacori created a video depicting
a story of love by chance. The video called Par Chance has a variety of Tacori
jewelry worn by the actress while telling her love story. Below is the trailer
of the video, but I highly encourage viewing the full-length film here (it is
only 3:36 long).
Not only do I find this video captivating because I enjoy
romance, but I thought it was creative how Tacori used some of their current
advertising campaigns within the video. One of my favorites they are currently
using for their 18k925 Fine Jewelry Collection is the martini glass ad,
“Pour on the Glamour”.
If you notice within the video, while they are at the
restaurant, she places her necklace into his martini glass and he proceeds to
drink from it anyway.
One of my favorite ads for their engagement rings is the chess
ad, “Checkmate”. I found their approach very unique in symbolizing the journey
to love.
The video also includes a game of chess, where the female
wins the game against her pursuer. This clip also symbolizes how love is a
process and in the video, the actor is given clues to finding this mysterious
woman he is wooing.
Can you find any more similarities between their
current campaigns and the video?
Overall, I found this video very effective and cohesive to
the marketing scheme Tacori has been using for virtual and print media. Even
though it may be a while before I can have my first piece of Tacori jewelry,
their advertising is very enticing and pleasing for me.
What do you think of their campaigns and in particular, the
video they released? Are there any other jewelry brands you feel are effective
in their campaigns with video usage?
