Buy-ology

I found this particular presentation to be very interesting. I have read Lindstrom's book and thoroughly enjoyed the results he found in his neuro-marketing research. His findings especially on anti-smoking campaigns I found to be most interesting. Millions of dollars have been spent to try and stop people from smoking only to now realize that their efforts have the opposite effect. Anti-smoking ads actually spark a craving in smokers' brains to actually want to light up a cigarette.
Also, product placements on TV have no effect. The images and placements are so limited and are not apparent for a long enough time to make a lasting impression on viewers. The study's findings I think would be pertinent to any marketing looking to spend thousands or millions of dollars on an ad campaign. It's important to know what messages really work and which go unnoticed.

Buying In

This book is a great tool for a future marketer. Most marketers try to think of ways to get people to buy but never actually think about why people buy.This book looks beyond advertisements and discovers what Walker referred to as a "desire code". This desire code, including symbols and individuality describe how symbols matter and are meaningful to people. Not only that but consumers crave individuality. Being able to create a product and message that satisfies a consumers need for individuality will definitely set an advertisement or a marketer apart from their competitors. Not only that, but symbols go a long way. Symbols create an air and feeling of authenticity and status. Understanding consumer needs, not in terms of product or service, but in terms of fulfilling desires and cravings will help in the creation of an advertisement or marketing campaign.

Organizational Communication Presentation - Linda Putnum

The concept of different messages for different publics applies to many aspects of communications, especially advertising. A great part of advertising includes market research which looks at the target audience's demographics and psychographics. This is done so persuasive messages can be designed to have a positive effect on that target audience. The same goes for understanding differences in cultures. Knowledge of target audience, how they respond to messages, what messages elicit positive responses, and how to get a message across will differ between cultures and publics.

Necessary Illusions

In his book,Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies, Noam Chomsky brings to light a very serious issue in news media today. He highlights the elite's control over the media and how their world views are presented to all that watch and listen. Even those media channels that are not owned or controlled by the elite feel the need to fall in line with the messages fed through the elite-controlled channels.
This issue is extremely relevant today especially with the state our country is in. It also has an even greater impact in times of war. War is an extremely sensitive topic to most and people all over the world have their own opinions yet they are never heard because they do not have the power or resources to have their opinions heard.
However, new technologies have made voicing opinions much easier and more accessible. The Internet houses millions of blogs and social media networks that are filled with opinions. Although what is broadcast may still be under elite-control, I feel new technologies will soon make it difficult for this trend to continue much further in the future.

Creativity

The ideas put forth by Michael Michalko I found could be very helpful in the workplace. Often times I struggle trying to think outside of the box and I believe that the ideas he suggested in his book would help me to let go and think more freely and confidently.
Michalko's book, Cracking Creativity, provides techniques and concepts to being creative and thoughtful. Especially in the competitive world of advertising, it's important to be able to think and see what others do not. In the world of public relations, it is helpful to know problem solving skills as well. Michalko's book and ideas seem to reinforce these and more, which is why I found this presentation to be the most useful to me.

e-Market Paper

CJN - 771

e-Market Paper

Lacey Mikoluk 12/9/2008

When it comes to the Internet, teen age girls have a high interest in social sites, search, gossip, portals and shopping, according to e-Marketer’s November 19, 2008 newsletter. While teenage boys have similar interests with the exception of shopping, teenage girls form more attachments to sites early on than do boys. Furthermore, in an article written for Pew Internet & American Life Project, it was found that teenage girls interact online more so than boys by posting blogs and photos online.

In researching popular Web sites for this target market, I found Web sites catered to teenage girls to be quite interesting. Focusing my research on two sites, www.beinggirl.com and www.gurl.com, I found they greatly cater to the wants and desires of teenage girls.

Beinggirl.com and Gurl.com fully accommodate the wants and needs of teenage girls. They touch upon topics that girls are interested in and deal with on a daily basis. They both discuss going through puberty and having periods, they talk about fashion and boys and relationships. One site however, Gurl.com, discusses more openly issues about sex while at the same time educating on safe sex and answering questions on the topic. Beinggirl.com does talk about sex however not as blatantly as Gurl.com. In regards to this difference, Gurl.com caters to older teen girls, ages 15-18 while Beinggirl.com caters to younger teen girls, ages 13-16.

Not only that, but Gurl.com offers articles and education on difficult issues in their section Fast Facts. Here girls can find information on anything from STD’s, sex, abortion, sexuality, depression, psychological disorders, plastic surgery, voting, human trafficking and much more. Beinggirl.com steers clear of such topics and keeps the atmosphere light with articles about beauty and style, health, relationships, boys, and body image and issues. These are issues younger teen girls seek out to read online.

Beinggirl.com, developed by Proctor & Gamble (P&G) to promote feminine care products, Tampax and Always, touches upon a very sensitive issue for young teenage girls: their period. P&G created this site with the intent to provide a community and safe place for young teens to talk openly and learn about their periods and puberty. By offering advice and question and answer services from an expert doctor gives Beinggirl.com a leg up on the competition against Gurl.com.

Beinggirl.com has its own expert doctor, Dr. Iris Pragar, to answer any questions girls might have. Gurl.com only has an older girl to answer questions, not an expert. Having an expert doctor with a specialty in menstrual periods and puberty answering questions and giving advice to teenage girls provides Beinggirl.com with more credibility than its competitor. Referring to Quantcast traffic statistics, this may be the reason Beinggirl.com has many more visitors per day than Gurl.com. In September of 2008, Beinggirl.com reported roughly 50,000 visitors per day compared to Gurl.com with only 18,000 visitors (www.quantcast.com). However, Gurl.com is a relatively new site that was launched earlier this year while Beinggirl.com has been on the Internet since 2006.

However, having an advertising agency as the site’s creator, the information and content on Beinggirl.com could be seen as biased. It is quite noticeable in the responses from Dr. Iris that she is promoting the use of Tampax and Always. Gurl.com does not seem to have this bias in discussions on its advice page.

In another comparison, the layout and tone of Gurl.com is darker as well. With a black background and dark, vibrant color tables and boxes, this Web site is much more mature-looking than Beinggirl.com’s pastel and floral layout reinforcing Gurl.com’s draw to older teen girls. Gurl.com also uses animation and rough sketches a bit more than Beinggirl.com proving it is a very interactive site which appeals to teen girls who are looking to be a part of a community. Here, girls can create a “room” which is similar to a profile and personalize the content they have a high interest in. Beinggirl.com offers a similar interactivity but they label members’ personal profiles as “lockers”.

This type of interactivity teen girls find most appealing in a Web site as Lenhart, Madden and Smith reported on Pew Internet & American Life Project’s article: Teens and Social Media: The use of social media gains a greater foothold in teen life as they embrace the conversational nature of interactive online media. They found that 35% of all teen girls blog and 54% post photos online. The article goes on to say it’s not just about creative output, but “about participating in conversations fueled by that content”.

Both Web sites provide many opportunities to interact with online quizzes, polls, and message boards. Gurl.com also has a section for poetry and comics written by its members in the section Show Off. This offers teenage girls the freedom to express themselves without being judged.

Teens and Social Media continues on noting that teen girls are very aware of safety on the Internet. Both Web sites make it clear to its members to not give out any personal information over the Internet. Beinggirl.com also offers services from their TeenAngels, members who were taught Internet safety, who advocate Internet safety throughout the site. Gurl.com also follows the rules put forth by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) which restricts the amount of personal information a Web site can collect from individuals under the age of thirteen.

Lenhart, Madden, and Smith also found that although studies show more boys participate in gaming online, girls do as well only on a smaller scale. Both Beinggirl.com and Gurl.com offer online games where members can participate in friendly competition with other members. Gurl.com allows for the creation of games again catering to a teenage girl’s desire to be interactive while online.

Referring back to Quantcast’s traffic results, Beinggirl.com may have more visitors to its site due to the fact that they are more easily searchable. In viewing the source codes for each site I found that Gurl.com does not list any keywords while Beinggirl.com has many. To test this, I searched many different words and terms on Google related to teenage girls and their interests. With each search term Beinggirl.com appeared as one of the top Web sites while Gurl.com was no where to be found. Although Gurl.com has much more to offer in the way of interactivity and discussion topics, the only way this site is surviving now is through word-of-mouth; it needs to take advantage of search engine optimization and marketing.

Another fascinating fact according to QuantCast’s traffic results: Gurl.com has more regular visitors at 32% than Beinggirl.com with only 20% regular visitors. Also, most Gurl.com visitors have an affinity for similar sites like Myjellybean.com, which offers similar services as Gurl.com, and also Cosmogirl.com, a magazine for teenage girls. Alternatively, Beinggirl.com’s visitors have an affinity for sites such as Playtexgentleglide.com, Carefreeliners.com, and Flow-alert.com (QuantCast Lifestyle Summary). Once again there is bias in Beinggirl.com’s Web site as being created by an advertising agency seeking to promote their feminine care products.

Both sites are up to par with their layouts and updated content. Their layout and theme is consistent throughout the entire site on each page. Not only that but neither Web sites require plug-ins and load very quickly. There is no need for horizontal scrolling and both sites are free to join making their community much more appealing than others that require a membership fee.

Overall both Web sites, Beinggirl.com and Gurl.com, supply teenage girls with pertinent, relevant issues that gratify their need for interactivity. Teenage girls search for community forums where they can express themselves, share stories, and obtain good advice on hot topics like growing up and relationships. These sites offer teenage girls just that and much more.

References

Beinggirl.com - For Girls, By Girls. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2008, from http://www.beinggirl.com.

College Student and Teen Web Tastes - eMarketer. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2008, from http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006736.

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., & Smith, A. (n.d.). Pew Internet: Teens and Social Media. Retrieved December 8, 2008, from http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/230/report_display.asp.

gURL.com a teen site and community for teenage girls. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2008, from http://www.gurl.com.

My Pages

As discussed in my last post, my website will be focusing on health care on the internet. Mainly I'll be looking at health provider sites and health care sites but I will also be taking a look at medical journal sites and possibly health club sites such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and others alike.

My first page will obviously be my homepage basically outlining what I have just described above.
My second page will be the Health Providers Page. I will go into detail on how people can log into their providers website and check on their medical history, email their physician, speak to a pharmacist, etc.
My third page with be the Health Care Sites Page. I will discuss the new trend of websites like WebMD and IntelliHealth. These pages have much to offer so I will include a few sub-pages to touch upon each aspect of the sites. Such aspects as symptom checker, articles, news, ask the expert, message boards and so on.
My fourth page will be the Medical Journals Page. Here I will discuss how effective these sites are to doctors and medical students.
My last page will be the Health Club Page. I will look at online weight-loss clubs and reasearch a little bit more into other sites similar to these.

I think that would just about cover it all. Of course as I am making this website there will be some additions and possibly reductions to this current layout but I will most likely follow this outline as much as I can.