Altyrian Interns

It’s been great working beside Erin during this summer. I agree with her completely that this internship experience was more than what you learned, but the people and environment you learned from. I wish her the best of luck in her senior year and for her future. As for me, the last week was my final days as an “Altyrian intern,” and today is my first day as an “Altyrian.” I’m excited to see what the my future at Altyris holds. I’m confident that I’ll continue to have great experiences here at Altyris.

It’s finally happening - my last day as an Altyrian intern. Although I’ve only been here for one short summer and have been working a mere two days a week, it seems as though it has been longer; maybe because so much learning took place while I’ve been here. From writing press releases to learning about how television networks sell ad time to agencies I got to experience a lot of things that would not have come with my college degree. I can say with certainty that I never would have written a blog post or edited a podcast had I not interned at Altyris this summer.

My experience at Altyris has been more than just the things I’ve learned. I have been fortunate to have had a position where the people were as great as those here.  Eunhee and I have never been treated differently than anyone else because of our intern status which, in my opinion, says a lot about the atmosphere here. I really believe that an internship at a larger company may not have been as beneficial because I may not have gotten as much individual guidance and because I would not have the luxury of the small agency environment that I loved about Altyris.

As my internship at Altyris is quickly coming to an end and my senior year at Wake Forest approaches, I have been getting more and more nervous about finding a job and entering the real world in less than a year. That being said, I have definitely learned a lot in recent weeks and while I worry about what is to come, I think that my internship with Altyris has given me more confidence in my qualifications for securing a position next year. I only have two working days left as an Altyrian intern and I am sure that I will receive much more than two more days worth of knowledge and experience before I leave here.

I was reading through John’s blog post on Political Candidates and Social Media and it reminded me of an article I read in Fast Company, The Brand Called Obama.  The article describes how Obama and his campaign is changing how future campaigns will run, win or lose.

I agree with John that Edwards was smart to use social media in his campaign and not so smart to discard it when he dropped out of the race.  According to the article I read, Obama is on top of social media and is up-to-date on how younger generations communicate and what they want.  How does he know what they want?  Visit his site and there’s not only a blog but a place to sign up for an Obama social network where you can talk about issues and even send policy recommendations directly to the campaign.  His site also offers constantly updated BarackTV, widgets, ringtones, downloads and other media to attract the tech-savvy young voters.  The campaign is led by 24-year old Chris Hughes, who helped launch Facebook with then roommates and co-founders of the social networking site.  Obama is being very smart to appeal to the younger crowd as more and more young people are voting and wanted to get involved.  His approach definitely sets him apart from other candidates who are more traditional in their approaches.

Today’s my birthday…22nd.  To the kids I teach at tae kwon do, I’m old.  To the people at Altyris, I’m very young.  I suppose it’s always a matter of perspective.  I’m grateful for all the birthday wishes I received from everyone here.  It came with an awesome chocolate cake, a card signed by everyone, and a very funny birthday song (at least it was funny to me).  It really is the people who make or break what a great workplace should be and the people here make it great.  And I’ll try my best to not eat too much leftover cake…

I have talked to a large number of my male friends lately who have taken notice of Canadian Club Whiskey’s new “Damn Right your Dad Drank It” ad campaign. The billboards and magazine ads have done a great job of grabbing the attention of my friends (in their early-to-mid twenties) partially, I believe because of their unexpectedly blunt tag lines and partially because they promote a hyper masculinity that is attractive to a high percentage of young men

The ads feature headlines such as “Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First”, “Your Dad Was Not A Metrosexual”, “Your Dad Had Groupies” and “Your Dad Never Got A Pedicure” accompanied by 60’s and 70’s style images of men surrounded by women, engaging in masculine activities such as fishing and playing guitar on-stage. The ads can be found at Canadian Club Whiskey’s website, which also allows visitors to insert their own dads’ pictures in the advertisements and offers merchandise such as t-shirts and posters featuring images from the “Damn Right” campaign for sale.

After spending much of my day researching how companies are adjusting in order to market to the rising Generation Y, I have come to several conclusions as to why these ads are striking such a chord with young consumers. Most notable is the no-fuss language used in the ads. The headlines are definitely blunt but the ads also feature short phrases that reinforce the simple idea that real men drink whiskey.

He went out. He got two numbers in the same night. He drank cocktails. But they were whiskey cocktails. Made with Canadian Club. Served in a rocks glass. They tasted good. They were effortless.

The above is featured under the “Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First” headline. What makes this type of language so effective is the fact that members of Generation Y appreciate advertising that is no-fuss and direct to-the-point. Many experts point out the belief that ‘Gen Yers’ respond much better to advertisers that simply state their points than those who they feel are making too much of an effort to push products upon them. Gen Yers appreciate authenticity which is exactly what they are getting from the “Damn Right” ads, many of which even feature personal pictures submitted by the company’s employees.

According to Campus Advantage, members of Generation Y have “been over saturated with marketing and advertising.” For this reason, they along with others who have studied the new group of young adults believe that companies must “deliver a consistent brand message in surprising ways with creativity.” Canadian Club’s new ads have hit the mark right on the head with the clear yet somewhat shocking and new approach to advertising an old product.

I spent most of this afternoon contacting colleges and universities in the area to create listings for a fall internship at Altyris. It is hard to believe that we are that close to the end! I do, however, look forward to receiving and reviewing submissions. I feel that having done the job ourselves, Eunhee and I will be a big help to John when it comes to selecting the next intern(s).

In response to Eunhee’s much talked about post regarding the FCC, I agree with her main point that the organization often tries to take censorship a bit too far. That being said, I don’t agree with Eunhee’s statement that fast food chains should not be allowed to aim their marketing towards children. While I don’t necessarily support businesses such as fast food chains targeting children, I think that many Americans place too much blame on the corporations and refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. Your children do not make the money that buys their kids’ meals or operate the vehicle that brings them through the drive-through. It is time for people to stop blaming corporate America for their consumption of products that are known to be harmful to their health and to start demonstrating some will power.

I recently read an article about the court’s decision on FCC’s charge on CBS for “indecent exposure” during Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance during the 2004 Super Bowl. The court overruled 2-to-1 the fines and charges made by the FCC on the basis that Jackson and Timberlake are not CBS employees but independent contractors and certain “fleeting” incidents are hard to prevent no matter what measures are taken, especially on live programming like the Super Bowl. And while I believe that the FCC has good intentions and several of their regulations are beneficial, I have to agree with the court and side with the broadcasters. Couple reasons for this:

1) Some things can’t be controlled. Let’s be real. CBS could have done everything within their powers to prevent incidents, but in a live program where they don’t have authority over the people on air, Janet’s exposure couldn’t be censored.

2) If the FCC won the case and starts charging broadcasters for “fleeting” incidents, who knows what they’ll try to control next. Again, I agree with some of their regulations like disallowing targeting tobacco products to minors and no underage persons on alcohol advertisments. I even agree with regulations against targeting very young children (fast-food companies shouldn’t lure toddlers in with toys. Childhood obesity in America is a growing problem and if I had children, I wouldn’t want them watching Elmo or Pokemon trying to sell them a 1,000-calorie kid’s meal). But what if eventually a beach vacation ad isn’t allowed to show a family in swimsuits (which if you really think about it, swimsuits are like quick-drying underwear) because young audiences don’t need to see “half-naked” people on ads? Hanes, Jockee, Fruit of the Loom and any other underwear manufacturer will have to find new strategies for promoting their “intimate apparel.” What if you couldn’t find out about Wendy’s dollar menu because companies aren’t allowed to promote anything that doesn’t follow the food pyramid? Admittedly, this is a bit of a stretch, but the point is that censorship has its limits.

We wouldn’t be America without freedom of speech (though I suppose we wouldn’t be America without people wanting to regulate and challenge our freedoms either). Television broadcasters don’t put up programs that people don’t want to watch; they put up programs that people do. And while I don’t think children should be exposed to vulgar languages and images on television or anywhere else, I believe it’s up to parents to regulate what their children watch.

Today was different from Tuesday in that it was a bit slower but i think that i still was able to learn a lot.  I got to do some more press release work and was also able to sit in on Gwen’s meeting with a representative from two of the television networks in the area.  I like getting to sit in on those meetings because it gives me the opportunity to learn about something that I knew absolutely nothing about prior to starting my internship with Altyris.  In addition, it helps me to understand the purpose of all those hours I spend working on the media reports.

The press kit for the account I was given is just about ready.  All the press releases, media advisory and story tips for the media are done and just need a final look over before submission.  The kit should be submitted soon, which marks the completion of a big task in the account.  It’s great to look back at everything we’ve done so far and see how everything is falling into place.