Ew, I'm Growing Up...Gross.

So I found a job from the free career search website we were given in class, and as I found it's actually right in Illinois!

Decatur, Illinois actually. About right smack dab in the middle of it. Or as Jill referred to it, "the armpit of Illinois".
That's not very attractive, Jill.



The Job

WAND-TV is looking for an Internet content producer who has about a 1-2 year experience. I instantly thought that the job description could be something I would be happy with.
The main idea of the job is to hire someone with experience in using PhotoShop and Fireworks, and a basic program language (working with HTML codes).

Ew...I'm Growing Up

The idea of growing up and getting a job is honestly, kind of depressing to me. One of my favorite movies is Peter Pan, and the whole "growing up" concept always seems like the gray cloud that's following shortly behind me; catching up more than I would like it to.

BUT! This job seems more like a career I would like to do, since I have to eventually grow up.
I love playing with PhotoShop and I know that I could learn more. Honestly, I didn't even know there was a program called Fireworks before last night at a business meeting for APO. I'm excited at the idea of learning this, though.

The second that Jill mentioned there were careers out there that are developing for social networking and blogs, I really instantly thought "Where can I sign up?", so I really believe I could excell at something like this.

What Can I Do Now?

I could definitely use my knowledge from my previous classes such as this one and Media Literacy. I also am taking Writing for Electronic Media next year (I'm only a Sophomore) and Fundamentals of the Internet.
Working in the TV Station could also benefit me because then I could have a general idea about what the news staff represents and what they're looking for in an Internet content producer.
Keeping my grades up couldn't hurt either, I suppose.

I hope everyone else in class found something they are just as equally excited about!

The Best Way to Market to Gen Y is to STOP Marketing.

Sounds confusing, doesn't it? The title, I mean.

But when I searched the phrase "Marketing to Gen Y" the first website I came across was all about telling companies to STOP marketing to us.

How do they go about ceasing marketing you might ask? Well, they don't actually stop making advertisements or give up trying to make us loyal customers to their products, but they do one thing before they start trying to pull us into their product.

They have to ask us 'What do YOU want?'. They need to listen to us first.

This website I first read made me come to a very strong realization about Gen Y and myself. According to the article, Tough Customers: How to Reach Gen Y, they say that people born in between approximately the late 70s to late 90s, possibly 2000 are considered main Gen Y.
That puts me smack dab in the middle just about, being a child born at the beginning of 1989.

In our first class discussion about being a part of Gen Y, I almost felt ashamed to be considered one born and classified with a group that is seen to the older generations as selfish, self-centered, and lazy.

The more I've read and written about Gen Y, the more I'm proud to be a part of this generation that is making marketers see that they need to listen to us. That we've been told from a young age to do what makes us happy first and that we can be anything we want to be.
This is becoming a challenge for marketers, because they can't tell us what we SHOULD like anymore.

And here's a list of Gen Y Charicteristics I've found. I rather enjoy knowing I'm part of this list:



Another thing that the first website I visited discussed was about how we need four things from a product.

1. Cheap cost
2. Good quality
3. Fast service
4. "An experience"

I couldn't agree more with all of this. I can't help but think that these are things generations before us wish they could've had at their time of controlling the workforce and finances.
Oh, and there's one other thing we need to see in a product...

Authenticity. I think this word scares a lot of companies because it means they need to stand out from every other group.
But it's true.
Our generation craves things to be real for us, we need reality. We can't be bullshitted, to say it very bluntly.

I think our parents and grandparents have shown us how much companies and the government has pulled the wool over their eyes that we're so determined now to get nothing but the truth and the reality of everything.

And it needs to be original on top of it.

But we've established what we need out of companies.
They should just think of this as a challenge for them.
Rise to the occasion. Apple has. 99 cent downloads?! Ha. Okay so I don't download songs legally, but maybe I should start. And Apple would of course be the first place I'd go to for it. Not just because they have good prices for songs and I can get the songs out of the comfort of my home, but because I have an Ipod and it only seems right.

The first website also mentioned that marketing tattoo parlors would be good because 36 percent of "Gen Yers" have at least one tattoo. Piercings should count too! I found this picture and thought it was pretty hilarious.

That's It! No More Classes Starting After 9 A.M. From Now On!

I'm sure we've all done things we're not proud of. When we were little our mothers or grandparents or teachers taught us that lying wasn't good and stealing was even worse.

But we were also taught that "sharing is caring".

So, when it comes to pirating movies and music...should we feel that guilty?
I guess it's not a matter of feeling guilty, because it's against the law.

I Know Pirating Is Bad, But I Do It Anyway
I think a lot of people are guilty of at some point either downloading songs illegally or downloading a movie and watching from the comfort of their own computer.

But it's easily accessible. We have programs such as LimeWire, BitTorrent, BearShare, and many more that we can find to download for FREE.
It costs nothing from the start. Granted, these programs come with certain features that you can't get with the free version, but I tend to stick with the free download.

I know that I'm a broke college student and paying for my music is far from my mind.


For about four years, I have never thought downloading music to be so bad. I thought 'people are sharing music, I don't have to pay for the cd, and it's all okay'.

Apparently not, after reading this article I really see that the government is really starting to have a lock down on finding people who illegally download music.
Fines of up to 150,000 dollars?!
I don't even have 200 dollars in my account.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is not kidding when they mean to catch people illegally downloading music.
College kids seem to be the top stories for when I searched Google.

Movies Get A Different Look When Being Downloaded.
There are many places where you can download movies legally. It's the file sharing websites everyone should be wary of.
As far as downloading movies legally though, there's a cost to it and piracy might eventually lead to a raise in prices of downloading movies legally.

I found it rather annoying in my search as well when I type in "downloading music/movies illegally", and there are websites dedicated to telling someone how to not get caught when commiting piracy.

GenY Wants Everything NOW.
This is exactly WHY I believe illegal downloads are becoming so popular...besides not having to even pay for the media entertainment.

We are so used now to the Internet giving us exactly what we're searching for and music and movies shouldn't be any different...right?

Here's an article I found written by a man who believes there's a different way to address our pirating issue.
I fully agree with Robert's ideas on pirating and how the government can try to hunt down all the people who are downloading illegally, but it can be pretty much guarunteed that they will not be able to find EVERYONE.
He also has some terrific insight on possible different ways to fix the pirating issue.

This is a man who should be helping the RIAA figure out solutions, instead of trying to tackle a problem that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon.

I mean, c'mon, I've downloaded music illegally for years.

But I am grateful that Lindenwood has their internet system set up to where we have to make sure all of our illegal downloading programs are gone before we can have the internet on our laptops. It definitely takes away from temptation and I find myself doing more valuable things with my time than downloading music that probably can't even all fit on my iPod.
After all, it's only 4 gigs.

Photo-Retouching

As our keyword search was photo retouching, I decided to find one of the more extreme examples as posted above. Now, I'm sure that no magazines do this much extreme retouching, but it can happen.
Magazines retouch photos everyday for their advertising pages and interviews to give celebrities or models the look and idea that they are "perfect". Perfect skin, eyes, teeth, complexion. If you can think of things "wrong" with you, then the editors for retouching can certain help you out.
And it's right at our fingertips.
When I searched photo retouching, I found a lot of tutorials on how to retouch photos from your very own computer.

Photoshop Makes Retouching Pictures Easy
Anyone have Photoshop? I know I have the "free" Photoshop package on my computer, which limits my editing possibilities, but hey, I can make my hair go from frizzie to "frizz-free". If anyone has never experienced using Photoshop, it is a downloadable editing tool that gives you those capabilities of adding extra elements or taking away unwanted elements (like that unflattering zit you got right before Prom night).

Wait...You Didn't Look Like That on Your Facebook Picture
Photo retouching has made it easy for a lot of people to go from looking like they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, to making it look like they're models.

Plain out and simple, photo retouching could be very misleading. Especially for people who always retouch their photos and post that as their social networking profile pics.

Anyone seen a photo of a celebrity before it was retouched?

Say hello to the camera, Brittney Murphy!

Art
It is very artistic and more jobs are being created. Which can't make photo retouching all bad, I think though that because it's exposed so widely to Gen Y, that there are going to be a lot of people out there who consider themselves artists to an extent because of it.
My friend and I have messed with making pictures look better, but sometimes retouching a photo is just a bad idea. Some people just shouldn't tamper with pictures.

Overall
Photo retouching can benefit in the number of jobs and even make a person feel better about themselves, but we can't really run from who we really are.
So I think GenY has to take that into consideration.

For now, here's an interesting YouTube video that shows photo retouching.

"I Think That Possibly Maybe I'm Falling For You"

Love.



Everyone wants this feeling. Out of all of our emotions, love and hate are the strongest ones. The biggest difference between love and hate is that love makes us feel good.
Marketing executives know this.

And they want to create this feeling when you're watching a commercial.

The article, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" addresses the fact that they want customers to think about what products they buy. Are they number one? Do they make you feel good? Are you in "love" with whatever product you buy, even if it isn't number one?

It's Programmed In Us, Even When We're Little.
Thinking about when I was younger, I always wanted my mom to come home with the "best" product. Especially when it came to food. I wanted the "authentic" Doritos, not the knock-off generic brand. It just didn't taste as good. Yea, they were basically the same thing, but it wasn't the same to me.

When we're purchasing clothing, what makes you feel good? Or better yet, what's the best? Because we want to be cool, happy, successful just like the girls in their commercials. A lot of girls go for Hollister, Ambercrombie & Fitch, Ruehl, and other expensive stores.
Marketers and advertisers for these brands all knew what they were doing when they created their logo or commercial.

All companies want you to fall in love with THEIR brands because once they've got you hooked, it's hard for the consumer to even look at anything else.

A Great Example of This: I love Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi and regular Diet Pepsi. When I go out to buy pop (yes, it's pop, not soda...) I look directly for Pepsi products. Not Coke. It's not the same. I don't love Coke. It's the original cola, yes, but I grew up loving Pepsi. So it is number one to me.

I instantly thought of Kay Jewelers when I was reading this article because marketing strageties are focusing on pulling at your heart strings, making you feel some degree of love.

"Every kiss begins with Kay"

It sticks in your head and instantly know when the phrase is said what they're selling and who's selling it. They also want you to fall in love with their company and products, so by showing commercials that have a happy woman and man in them, you instantly want that feeling and it gives you the idea that "Hey, if they can be that happy, why can't I be that happy after I buy my wife a diamond necklace?"

And generally, after someone takes a chance on a new brand and it works for them, they stay dedicated. Just like falling in love. You don't want to look at any other products similar to it, because yours "is the best because it's never let you down".

I must say, it does make an awful lot of sense; to use love as a strategy.