Filed under: Uncategorized
I recently visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. Upon entering I received an identification card that tells the story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust. This is what mine said:
Name: Nina Szuster
DOB: May 18, 1929
Place of Birth: Rokitnoye, Poland
Nina was born to a Jewish family. Her father built ovens. Nina’s family was very diverse: her father was an Orthodox Jew, her brother was a militant Zionist, and her mother leaned towards communism. Nina attended a Jewish school in her town.
In September 1939 the Soviet Union invaded the eastern half of Poland. All businesses were quickly nationalized and property was seized. The Soviets distributed most of the town’s wealth to the poor in the area. Nina’s mother taught a class about the Soviet constitution in her home. The Soviets closed their Jewish school and opened a Ukrainian one. They began learning about their new Soviet rulers.
In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Nina’s town. The German authorities immediately gathered the local Jews into a few houses and circled the area with barbed wire. One night, the Germans suddenly began dragging people out of their house. Nina tried to get some clothes but a German grabbed her and yelled, “Quick or I’ll kill you!” She tore herself away and ran to the kitchen. Then she heard a shot: her uncle was dead. She saw an open window and jumped out. Fortunately, it was foggy, so now one saw her slip through the barbed wire.
After her escape, Nina joined Ukrainian partisans. Befriended by her commander, she was sent to Moscow to study until the end of the war. In 1947 she emigrated to America.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Today I was in Target searching for a birthday card for my Aunt, and came across a card with a caveman on the front. It looked like an uglier version (if that’s possible) of the Geico Cavemen, so I picked it up. On the inside it said, “Getting older….So easy a Caveman could do it.” The card was lame and I would never buy it, but it made me mentally congratulate The Martin Agency for creating an icon that has seeped deep into the American culture…so deep they are making bad birthday cards with it.
Filed under: society
Experiencing New York City is like one big social experiment. There are so many situations to observe and people to watch.
Yesterday, I got to see how an entire city reacts when public transportation is almost completely shut down. There was a huge storm the night/morning before, which resulted in no subways running and an overwhelming demand for buses and taxis. I ended up walking from 96th St. all the way down Lexington to 34th St. On my walk I saw people yelling at others on buses because they couldn’t get on, people teaming up and sharing taxis to similar locations, people stressed out and power walking to get where they needed, and others just relaxing and accepting the siutation at hand.
Another situation that was interesting to observe involved a rather stinky homeless man with a huge cart of dirty stuff sitting on a subway. The second I got on the train I smelled his stench, but luckily there was a free seat far enough away from him. As we continued on and stopped to pick up passengers the train became more crowded. Some people would get on the train, look at him and act like he wasn’t there. Others would board, sit down, and stare at him. And one lady even got on, saw him, and yelled “Oh hell NO!” She then spun around, bumping into all the people behind her, and ran off the train into a different car.
Yet another situation that made me think, was when a huge explosion occurred in the middle of midtown Manhattan. The news of the explosion spread quickly, but no one really knew what caused it. I heard people on the street questioning whether it was terrorism. I even heard one lady say to her friend, “Are we going to die?” (a bit dramatic) While walking through Times Square, I noticed people bonding over the situation. Strangers were talking to other strangers while standing around watching the news on a huge screen on 42nd St. It seems that in times of crisis people are drawn together.
With 3 days left in New York City, I’m waiting to see how many more interesting social situations I can experience.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Some interesting tid bits that I’ve learned over the summer…
-Philips invented the DVD and earns money off of every DVD made
-New television series/seasons begin in the fall because that’s when new cars for the upcoming year come out
-YouTube has three times the reach as MTV
-Carat Fusion (digital) is Google’s largest agency client in the world
-Marriott Hotels & Resorts is owned by Mormons and won’t place any ads next to controversial editorial material – like sex, drugs, or politics
-Media Planning was ‘invented’ in 1966 by a French guy who is now very very rich
-David Verklin (the CEO of Carat, and an ex-Adcenter board member) loves his job and “has never looked at the clock in 30 years.” He has a Facebook account (created by a fellow intern) and has gotten frustrated from time-to-time because he’s “competing against the same sons of bitches everyday.”
-Sometimes media buyers make up costs
-MTV has one of the worst viewer retention rates during commercials – they lose about 20% of their viewers, which just shows the growing ADD-ness of today’s consumer
-For the first time, commercials – not just the TV show – will receive ratings
-Nielson has never really had a competitor – until now. TiVo can now measure viewership in Seconds, as compared to Nielson’s measurement in Minutes.
-ABC, NBC, and CBS all passed on American Idol, which is how it ended up on FOX
-Radio reaches 94% of all Adults 18+ every week
-1 and 2 second TV ads are now being sold, called “blinks”
-If a company wants to advertise its product in Good House Keeping, the product must be sent to the ‘Good House Keeping Institute’ to be thoroughly tested before the magazine will even consider advertising it
Filed under: brands
I have loved Nike as a company and as a brand for as long as I can remember. This summer has renewed and stregnthened my love for Nike. Since moving to New York, I have been running with the Niketown running group one or two times a week. I knew it would be a cool experience, but what I found far outweighed my expectations. Nike has once again done an excellent job promoting its brand around all aspects of the experience. This is what is so great about the Niketown running group:
-free Nike shoe trials – try out any new Nike running shoes during your run and see why they are better than your current shoes
-coaches who encourage and inspire – experienced coaches and pacers go with you on the runs to direct you and help you along the way
-stretching before and after – the coaches lead stretches to make sure you don’t pull anything; they are knowledgable and really care about your safety
-incentives – Nike keeps track of the miles you’ve run/sessions you’ve attended and provide incentives for those who have done the most (like entry into the NYC Marathon)
-free fruit, bagels, muffins, and water after the runs – what could be better than that?
-”elevated runs” – these are special event running sessions that occur every 2 weeks; they are held at special locations around the city, and afterwards there’s a big PARTY with free food, drinks, and an awesome DJ…and really cool t-shirts
Here’s some info for other cities: http://niketown.nike.com/niketown/info/event_locator.jsp
Filed under: ads
I saw this ad in the subway coming home from work one day. I studied it so intensely that other people started looking at it to see what it was. I even took a picture of it with my phone. The ad shows “The Affluencers”, a packaged guy and girl who are the perfect ‘frontrunner’ segment. The bottom of the ad says, “Most affluent + most influential + most engaged viewers = THE AFFLUENCERS” which is followed by the tagline, “Watch what happens when you buy Bravo.” At first, I thought – how cool, they’re advertising to me, a media planner! I have never seen an ad targeting media buyers and planners. But as I continued to think about it, I began to wonder how effective this would really be. Would this ad be enough to convince a media maven to buy on Bravo’s network? Then, I started to wonder whether Bravo was trying to kill two birds with one stone. Are they targeting both media planners and television viewers? Maybe the ad will make up-and-coming ‘affluencers’ think, “Hmm…I want to be that girl in the barbie-style packaging…maybe I should be watching Bravo.” I never really decided how I felt about the ad. By the time my train came I left confused and unaware of Bravo’s intention. What do you think?
Filed under: Uncategorized
I have been interning at Carat, a media agency, as a communication planner since June 4th. So far, I’ve met a bunch of people, learned a lot, and have been working on some interesting projects. Some of the accounts I am lucky enough to work on include: Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Ernst & Young, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Tous Jewelry. I’ve also been doing a group project (not skipping any beats from the Adcenter). My group, including 3 other interns, has been researching, assessing, and gaining insight on flat screen TVs, as we are developing a Communications Plan for Philips Flat Screen Televisions. At the end of the internship we will present our plan to some Carat communications strategists, and possibly even the CEO and the Philips client. I can’t wait to show off my newly polished Adcenter presentation skills!
Filed under: Uncategorized
With 4 weeks left in my summer internship, I’ve decided to finally get down to it and start a blog. I will share thoughts, experiences, opinions, and any other randomness. I’m sure a good amount of adcenter-ness will be added as my 2nd year in Grad school progresses. I hope you enjoy!
As for the title of my blog, “buaidh no bas”, it has to do with my last name – MacDougall. I’ll let you figure it out.
