This co-op term, I’m working for Winners Merchants International in the Systems department. The company is participating in the Heart&Stroke Big Bike and my department has made a team and I have decided to participate! They even gave me my own donation page for me to share.
The Heart&Stroke Big Bike is a team event geared towards community organizations, companies and groups. Teams made up of 29 enthusiastic riders (and one driver provided by the Foundation) pedal through their community in support of heart disease and stroke research. Last year, over 40,000 riders, in over 200 communities, helped raise over $7 million for research!
Running charities must be hard. The marketing team must constantly be thinking of new and innovative ways to raise money. It’s completely different from trying to market a product or service. I think the Heart and Stroke Foundation have the right idea. This Big Bike event incorporates teamwork, social networking, and an event of a lifetime (riders get to ride a 29-person bike!). This event also promotes healthy living which is also another goal of the charity.
I’ve also participated in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine in the past. It seems a lot of these charities know how to think of great ideas! I hope I will participate in more of these events in the future. It may even be a future career option! Being part of the marketing team for a charity could be a really interesting job!
The Acura Display at the CIAS 2012
I attended the 2012 Canadian International AutoShow in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and what I witnessed was marketing madness. Sponsors, social media, advertisements, free swag, contests, test drives, extravagant displays, posters, and employees that breathed the brand were there.
By the looks of the displays, some of those car manufacturers really put a lot of time and effort into making their presence at this auto show a success. I wonder how long they’ve planned for this event, and I’m wondering when they’ll start planning for the next auto show.
I initially did not consider going to the show since it had a whopping $20 entrance fee but the price was only $15 for those who paid with a valid TD credit card. I must admit that this small discount made me a little more loyal to TD. TD Canada Trust was one of the sponsors and they had a few booths throughout the show.
It was well worth the money though. There were over 1000 of cars to see spread across 600,000 square feet of space. I’m generally not a “car person” but I still enjoyed my time and I was glad to have attended the largest consumer show in Canada.
How many advertisements are we exposed to in a day? This question has been asked countless times and there is no way to found out for sure but a quick search reveals some guesses:
“The average American is exposed to 247 commercial messages each day.”
Consumer Reports Website
“The average American adult is exposed to over 600 advertising
messages in a single 24-hour period. — Managing Business to Business
“Marketing Communications, De Bonis and Peterson.”
“A conservative estimate has the average American consumer exposed to
more than 850 commercial messages a day.”
Texas A&M University Digital Library
Walker-Smith says we’ve gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970′s to as many as 5,000 a day today.
Some of these “statistics” are quite dated and I didn’t quite trust the reliability of these statements. I didn’t think that we were exposed to more than 100 messages in a day, so I decided to try to experiment myself. Needless to say, this is also a very inaccurate study as I am a sample size of 1, but I just wanted to convince myself. I grabbed a notepad and decided to go through a normal day while purposely taking notice of marketing messages. I counted marketing messages as anything that a business/association purposely put out (logos, posters, advertisements, etc.) It was absolutely overwhelming. I guess I did not realize how much I actually block out but I found myself in a situation where I could barely put down my pen.
I ended up with 388 data points and 319 of them were unique. I definitely missed a lot of messages due to life getting in the way but I’m sure my subconscious captured it. I tried to visualize it in the form of an infographic in the best way I could.
I feel as though 500+ messages would be accurate but I am still very skeptical to believe that we receive over 5000 messages. I wonder if someone out there has figured out a way to accurately collect this (updated) data. I would be very interested to find out.
A new site called Take This Lollipop is just in time for Halloween. It starts off as a seemingly innocent page that dares you to take the lollipop by clicking the familiar “Connect with Facebook” button. After you have given it permission to access your information, it shows you a customized video that depicts a creepy man stalking you through your Facebook. He goes through your Facebook profile with crazed eyes, and goes through some of your Facebook photos (the photos change if you do it multiple times). He then proceeds to look up your location on Google Maps. He is then seen driving to track you and a photo of you can be seen on his truck’s dashboard. After the short video, a countdown begins.
I thought this was implemented extremely well. It went viral over this week and there was a lot of speculation over whether or not this was an advertising campaign. It turns out that this was a neat little project that director Jason Zada decided to do for fun.
It served as a good reminder to think twice about the information you share. The “Connect to Facebook” button is sometimes clicked mindlessly without a second thought about what you are actually sharing. It’s also a great way to get in the Halloween mood!
On September 1, 2010, I decided I wanted to try and do a photo project. I ended up choosing to do a “Project 365″ where you take a photo every day for an entire year. I am proud to say that on August 31, 2011, I completed it! There were days where the conditions were not ideal but I still persevered.
My Project 365 can be viewed here
I was curious about how many websites I had accounts on and I ended up making a spreadsheet document to track my accounts. It turns out, I have signed up for an account for over 30 websites. It’s probably closer to 40 or 50 because I made more accounts that I have forgotten about. I have about 5 usernames that I use between all those sites.
Some of the websites I signed up for are fairly standard. I have a Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, Google+, Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr account. I frequent those sites often and I always try to keep in mind that once something is posted, it is exposed to the world and I may not be able to undo my actions.
There are other accounts that I wish I had not made. I used to really like forums and signed up for many accounts. I have forgotten which ones I signed up for and now I know there are some accounts of mine that are just floating on the web. I wish I had been more careful in the past. Nowadays, almost everything is cached so it’s hard to ensure that something is completely off the web unless it was never there in the first place.
Next time, I’ll think twice before signing up for yet another account and ask myself if I really do need to extend my internet identity.
I recently read an open letter to Google from Dylan, a user that had 7 years of his digital life deleted. Dylan was an avid user of Google Products and used Google for almost every aspect of his online experience. He had approximately 7 years of correspondence, over 4,800 photographs and videos, his Google Voice messages, over 500 articles saved to his Google Reader account, his Blogger account, and all his bookmarks deleted. He is not sure as to why his account was disabled, and has tried various methods to try and figure out why his account was disabled.
I hope he can figure out what happened to his account. I will use this as a warning to back up my files. I use Google for many of my online activities but I think it’s probably good to not put all my eggs in one basket. I’m glad I have read this as this is a reminder that my online presence is not completely controlled by me. This is really unfortunate that Dylan had to face this situation, but he has had overwhelming support from other users and hopefully his questions will be answered.
I’ve recently been invited to start a Google+ account and I happily obliged. I’m still trying to get used to layout and I’m sure I haven’t discovered all the features yet but it seems pretty neat. I’m not sure how fond I am about the whole “circles” idea. I found it sort of difficult to categorize the people I know. I understand the practicality but at the same time I didn’t like asking myself whether a person was a friend or simply an acquaintance.
Google+ is very similar to Facebook as many have noted but have some particular features such as the circles, sparks and hangouts. I still haven’t had the chance to play around with these features yet but I’m very curious to see how this will all turn out. Only time will tell if Google+ will be a success.
Sean Aiken was a keynote speaker at a staff conference I attended on April 7. He has a really neat story. He graduated from Capilano College with a degree in Business Administration in 2005 and was at the top of his class. He had the same question many graduates have, “What now?” He decided to do the One Week Job Project.
Here’s how it worked: Anyone, anywhere, could offer Sean a job for one week. Any money he earned for the work, he asked the employer to donate towards the ONE / Make Poverty History campaign. Total earned = $20,401.60
I’m very fascinated by his journey. It might not be where I’m headed but I thought I would share anyways.
I attended the Organizational & Human Development’s (OHD) Fourth Annual Staff Conference at the University of Waterloo on April 6 & 7. They had some great keynote speakers including Dr. Peter Jensin, Stuart Knight, Sean Aiken and Marc Kielburger. I found the conference really enriching and inspiring with messages such as, “follow your passion” and “don’t be afraid to take a risk” but it made me feel a bit empty for a while.
Marc Kielburger, CM, OMC (born 1977) is a Canadian author, humanitarian and activist for children’s rights. He is the co-founder of Free The Children, an international development and youth empowerment organization. (Wikipedia)
He gave a very powerful speech and informed us all about child labour and shared some of his personal experiences. I know it was meant to be motivating and inspiring, but I could not help but question myself. What am I doing? How can I I live my life and turn a blind eye to the issues that are facing our world? Why do I buy things I do not need? How can I find happiness in a new camera lens, electronics and clothes when others are suffering?
I asked myself many questions, but the one that really had me thinking was, “What am I doing?” I thought about where I saw myself ten years from now. Would I be promoting a service or product that I did not believe in? Is marketing the right path for me? I was thinking so much that I actually was feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I did what I thought was the logical thing: I napped.
I think I came to the conclusion that for now, I’ll finish my education while looking for opportunities to do what I can. I must also not settle for a position where I will promote something I do not believe in. I must try to do what I can to make the world a better place, even if it’s a small difference. Marc shared a quote from Mother Teresa and I thought it was inspiring.
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
— Mother Teresa
I am a little bit groggy right now because of my nap. I do not think I am as coherent as I’d like to be but I am blogging to remind myself that I have a responsibility to the world. I am putting this in writing because I want to look back at this and remember to give back.
