Thursday, October 28, 2010

Passion

     Writing has always been a passion of mine. I remember sitting under my desk lamp writing short stories in my room, running to have my mother proof read them after each new paragraph. I was proud of the talent I had discovered at such a young age. I was like a faucet, flowing with creative ideas, plots, and adjectives. Yet, I soon witnessed an athletic talent emerge, and writing took a tumble down the passion scale when I began participating in softball.
     Softball instilled a burning passion in me; a passion that I have actively displayed for the past fifteen years of my life. I home an extremely competitive nature and an infinite amount of pressure for success. I have been on a roller coaster of defining moments with the sport: from moments that I let softball define me, to moments when I defined softball. Reminiscing, I can confidently say that softball played the role of a love/hate relationship my melodramatic life.
     Softball has ultimately landed me here, at the fine institution of South Dakota State University. After rounding out the final year of my competitive career I have discovered two very important things: One, I miss softball very much now that it is over, and two, I have innate creative and writing abilities. With that being said, I have come full circle in my life and return to my initial passion for writing.
     I have one remaining year at SDSU to finish my Bachelor’s degree and I am looking forward to taking this time to become involved in the many opportunities I had to pass up previously. My life is now missing something that it has not lived without since I have been seven years old. I often find myself feeling lost, empty, and incomplete; yet, I am confident that my zeal for writing will allow it to climb to the top of the passion podium and take me further than my athletic talent ever could.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

My Resume

Here is my resume. I think I have spent all day trying to upload it to linkedin.com but it never worked. I got the PDF file compressed and everything, still no go. So for now I am posting it on my blog and linking potential viewers to my page.

Resume

Monday, October 25, 2010

Smartwater Ads

An assignments in my portfolio design class was to create a campaign for Smartwater. I do not consider myself much of a graphic designer but LOVE copywriting. After trying my best to create a campaign relying on graphics, I went ahead and did away with them. A crappy graphic did no justice to my strong copy. I can appreciate these ads much more because they are much more "me." 

 

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Lazy Sundays Call For Productive Online Exploration

I love lazy Sundays when you do not have one single thing on the "to do" list but hang out in a pair of sweats and watch marathon television shows all day long. However, I decided that today I would do a little online exploring. Social media is booming and I am always hearing about the newest, latest, and greatest it has to offer the world of faithful updaters. It has taken me awhile to pursue social media relationships with anything other than Facebook, considering Facebook has a way of turning any productive notion I may have into a black hole of procrastination. None the less, I figured it was time to start tinkering with other outlets considering social media is becoming a staple in the advertising world. I recently joined Foursquare and Google Buzz, both of which I have very few friends following so far. It is mindblowing to think about all of the online sharing of information through these social media vehicles. In all reality, for one to stay on top of their updating game, they need one trusty smartphone (it's a good thing I finally got one in August!). I cannot wait to get into these sites and learn more about how to actually use them efficiently. I have just recently gotten the hang of Twitter and I am more than loving its capabilities. I am hoping that engaging in these social media sites will not only give me a better understanding of what is going on in that crazy, up to date world, but also give me an edge. I have a long way to go before I can say I am an "expert," but I refuse to watch these innovations pass me by. So, I have climbed the social media ladder and am bouncing on the edge of the diving board as I type. The pool is huge, but there is no better time than now to dive in!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Rays Giving 20,000 Free Tickets to Last Regular Season Game

           The St. Petersburg Times reported on September 28 that the Tampa Bay Rays’ President Matt Silverman plans to give 20,000 free tickets to their game on Wednesday, September 29 at Tropicana Field. They will be given away on a first-come, first-serve basis in an attempt to pack the house in preparation for a possible play-off berth.
            This public relations tactic was put in place after Monday night’s game only attracted a crowd of 12,466 people. The Rays are one win away from clinching a post-season position in the play-offs. Many of the players responded to reporters and posted on their Twitter accounts how “disheartening” and “embarrassing” the low attendance numbers was for Monday night’s game.
            The situation that Silverman finds himself in is a rare one, considering it is extremely unusually for a professional sports team to deliver such a generous offer. He stated, “Two years ago when we clinched against Minnesota the players celebrated with the fans, it was a packed house, and it's that type of celebration of this season that we're looking for. You see it in the record - the players really respond to the energy and the noise and the excitement when the fans are in this place, and we're looking to do that tomorrow with these free tickets.''
            The goal of this public relations event is to generate an excitement at Tropicana Field to help cheer on the Devil Rays as they secure their opportunity for a post-season.  Silverman stated that they plan to have all 20,000 tickets redeemed and are hoping for a packed house for Wednesday’s game. He also expressed that encouraging fans to attend has been a challenge in the past, and knows that even this free offer is no guarantee that the stands will be full.
            The publics involved in this event are mostly nontraditional, but may also affect some of their traditional publics. This is the case because traditional publics in this situation are going to be their season-ticket holders and their die-hard fans that will never miss a game. Therefore, they are encouraging their nontraditional publics to attend the game courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays in hopes to spark an interest in this group to attend future games. Other publics involved are the latent and aware groups. They are less likely to be targeting the active group because they are counting on their attendance already; considering, after all, they still have approximately 12,000 fans they are counting on in addition to the 20,000 they hope to attract. However, a member of the active group can still gain from their promotional offer.
            The message of this event is actually quite complex. There has been much talk about the player’s reaction to the empty stadium seats, including pitcher David Price’s Twitter comment that has produced negative feedback. In one aspect of this event there is a sense of crisis communication, but for two different reasons. On one hand Silverman is attempting to please his disgruntled employees, the players, by promoting attendance to the game. On the other hand it appears that this move is an attempt to create a positive buzz about the attendance rather than the negative talk bouncing around after the Twitter post. Overall, the message comes down to one core significance: the Rays want fans in the seats.
            The issue of the poor crowd turn out was a highly discussed topic on ESPN on September 28. The promotional offer was announced on ESPN as well as on the Tampa Bay Rays’ website, and many media outlets including their social media pages. The issue of poor attendance at MLB baseball is not only a problem for the Rays, but for many other programs across the nation. Therefore, the Rays’ promotional event has picked up numerous news coverage opportunities with this rising concern among Major League Baseball.
            The Tampa Bay franchise obviously values their employees, and realizes the importance of competing in front of a large home crowd. The franchise also values the fans, and empathizes with their economic situations and lack of disposable income. The values of the publics is being fiscally responsible and understanding that when money is tight, purchasing entertainment is not going to be possible. These two values meet with this promotional offer, which has the potential to satisfy all parties.
           
Sources:
Tampa Bay Rays Facebook Site- http://www.facebook.com/Rays?ref=ts

Droid X-tremely Irritating Me

I am not a die-hard Apple fan, willing to go to any length or jump through any hoop to have the newest and latest Apple product. However, I love my MacBook and am convinced that I will never own anything else. I enjoyed my iTouch when I was one of the first few people I knew to own one. Unfortunatly, my cell phone provider does not carry the iPhone and AT&T does not have the greatest sirvice in the middle of Iowa, let alone po-dunk South Dakota where I go to college. So, I went for what I felt would be the next best thing and purchased the Droid X. Since August I have been a big fan of the device, other than the fact that it is about the size of a check book. However, I eagerly upgraded my software on my phone and was introduced to a crappy outcome: my Market applicaiton does not exist any longer. It is no where to be found on my phone and no one seems to have the answers of how to retrieve it. Awesome. I dropped $300 on the phone to have an issue no one can solve. I am hoping that I can get ahold of someone via Verizon Wireless to assist me. Until then, I am going to be disappointed with my results.