DR4WARD

Can We Afford Not To Use New Media to Learn, Share, and Work Together?

I have been working with my Ferris State University students to use new media to engage them and help them find significance with their education beyond just getting a grade.

The old model of teaching has trained students to ask "What's on the Test?" or "What do I need to know or do to get a good grade?" The learning usually stops there and the students forget the answers the next day or week.

As Michael Wesch points out, the vast majority of information today is available online and all around us all the time. Today the most important learning skills are how to harness this information and share it, discuss it, critique it, and make something new out of it.

A little background information is required before we look at a few of the new media tools that we are using in the Marketing and Advertising classes I am teaching at Ferris State University. New tools like Twitter, Google Reader, RSS Feeds, Google Docs and Blog Comments will be shared and explained in a future post.  

I would like to acknowledge and thank Michael Wesch, Howard Rheingold and Robert French for helping accelerate my learning and thinking on teaching and using new media in the classroom.

In the "Web 2.0 - The Machine is U/sing Us" video, Michael Wesch looks at how everything about the way we find, create, critique, and share information has changed. Some people claim there is no Web 2.0. Do you agree? What does Web 2.0 mean to you?

In the "Information R/evolution" Michael Wesch further explores the changes in the way we find, create, critique, and share information. 

In "Did You Know III ?" Howie DiBlasi shares the rapidly changing, highly competitive global world that students enter after graduating today and how the acceleration of change is ever increasing.

Students report that they like to learn but as this video of a "Vision of Students Today" demonstrates the old ways of learning are not working and students are not engaged. Does this video accurately reflect your learning experience?

The new media can be used to bring students together and teach them to work together in new ways. Students need to learn how to explore and use new media and to use these tools to learn about whatever the subject is that they are learning about. Michael Wesch gives specific examples of how he is using new media in his classroom.

Robert French's PROpenMic and his thinking on incorporating social networks and Blogging and Managing Your Personal Brand are also examples of how to use new media for learning and sharing.
What do you like about these examples of using new media for learning and sharing? Do you see any challenges with doing this with your classes?

Blogging & Managing your Personal Brand

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: commenting identity)

Are you managing your Personal Brand online? How?

I look 4WARD to your feedback.

Keep Digging For Worms!

DR4WARD NEW BULLDOG TEACHING MARKETING AND ADVERTISING AT FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY

I have been told that I have the tenacity of a Bulldog. I have also been known to snore.
Now I am proud to say that I am officially a Bulldog. The Bulldog is the official mascot of Ferris State University where I will be teaching Marketing and Advertising in the College of Business as an Assistant Professor of Marketing.

One of the great things about Ferris is that unlike most universities, Ferris offers Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations, and Graphic Design in the College of Business, an innovative interdisciplinary approach supported by industry leaders.

Most universities have Archaic Academic Silos that house different majors in separate Academic divisions. For example - Advertising and Public Relations are in Schools of Communications, Graphic Design in the Art & Design Schools, and Marketing in the College of Business.

The original idea behind Academic Silos was an attempt to encourage a deeper understanding of a specialized subject. The actual result is that most university graduates have never been in a class with students from the other Academic Silos and are not prepared for interdisciplinary collaboration. For example: At too many universities, an Advertising student has never studied Marketing or been in a class with an Art student and vice-versa.

The fast-paced, competitive and rapidly changing world of Integrated Marketing Communications and 360 Degree Branding requires interdisciplinary collaboration.  Web 2.0 technologies that harness interactive application tools, new forms of content creation / distribution, and continuous conversations through Social Networking are creating new models and fueling innovations that make Academic Silos obsolete.

I look forward to being part of the Bulldog family and the innovative interdisciplinary approach of the College of Business at Ferris State University.

I look 4Ward to your feedback.

Keep Digging For Worms!

Looking Back - How Cannes Lions Changed My Life

It's been one day since I left beautiful Cannes and looking back I realized how much I learned. From the seminars about great storytelling to the workshops focusing on a interactive digital experience - Cannes Lions is the place where the creative world comes together to learn from one another. I learned about Ambient advertising, which I never thought of as one of the most effective strategies used by many agencies. Recent strategies like Creative Technology, examples such as Adaptive Media by Real Time Content or the Nike iD campaign by RGA/Nike, are quickly changing how companies create personal relationships with their consumers.

It's amazing to know that as technology evolves, so do the agencies. This whole experience has been incredibly surreal for me. Because of this experience, I am considering applying to VCU Brandcenter for a MBA in Creative Brand Management or Communications Strategy. The advertising world is evolving so rapidly that not taking advantage of the Cannes Lions student package is completely unacceptable. Rick Boyko's Master Class said it best, "The Industry is placing the burden of educating on academia." I strongly feel Universities would be completely disregarding education if they refuse to take part in an amazing experience such as the Cannes Lions. I have learned so much from this experience and I now aspire to become a multidisciplinary. I am now planning on attending the 2009 Cannes Lions because learning plays such an important role in my life. The Cannes Lions has given me a platform to start off on and continue to grow as an aspiring advertiser and marketer.

Until Cannes Lions '09,

It's been a pleasure...Cheers!

Irving Escobar

Reinventing the Art of Story Telling - Cannes Lions

Day 5

Tatil Design (Workshop)
The first workshop I attended today was hosted by Frederico Gelli of Tatil Design. The workshop was titled "Designing Naturally." The workshop focused on one of the fastest growing trends this decade, being environmentally aware. Gelli spoke of the influence the environment has had on the projects Tatil takes on. One of the more important taken from the workshop was that "...Nature is the best place to find stimulation and perfect ideas for low impact solutions that maintain high sensorial [sic] impact." Tatil focused it's projects on creating  products that gave consumers a positive outlook on the future, such as products that were eco-friendly. In order to create these products, Tatil evaluated them on a variety of different levels (Optimum, Cycles, and Interdependence) to create the perfect solution for their clients.  They [Tatil] understand that optimizing the environment develops a strong relationship between consumers and clients that want to do good and reduce their carbon footprint.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky (Seminar)
The first seminar I attended today was hosted by Chuck Porter and Joe Pytka of Crispin Porter+Bogusky and Ajaz Ahmed of AQKA. The seminar was titled "All That Really Matters Is The Power of The Story. If You Are Focused on Anything Else - You Are Wasting Your Time and Resources." The main idea of the presentation focused around the core philosophy that technology is NOT the powerhouse behind effective advertising campaigns, in reality, it is the story that drives the campaign. The purpose of communications is to tell a compelling story. Several ideas that drive stories have been - "Ordinary People Who Become Heroes Make Good Stories," "A Little Shock Value Makes a Good Story," and "Practical Jokes Make Good Stories." One specific example that was shown to the audience was a fan favorite during the 2007 Superbowl. Click here for the video. As Pytka went on to say, "There is no learning without emotion," just as there is no brand recognition without efficient communications. And to the dismay of marketers, "No focus group in the history of the world has ever written a good story," as Pytka stated. Although the digital age has increased the means of how we [Advertisers] deliver our messages, it is not only about going digital - it's about telling great stories that'll leave lasting impressions.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Irving Escobar

Memories and Inspirations - Cannes Lions

So my trip to the festival has ended. I spent alot of money but i gained alot of experience and knowledge. I attended many workshops, seminars, and master classes. I have a few chances to get dolled up just to attend award ceromonies that feel like the grammies. But I must say that overall the trip was a success.

i didnt know what to expect when i arrived in cannes, exspaecially after have a 5 hour delay at JFK due to weather problems. But, I must say that the weather was great,and the people were for the most part very friendly. The cars were small and so were the roads. But the ldeas and creative work that I got to see were out of this world. I was inspired and amazed everyday that i showed up to the festival. The people that you meet here I would have never known existed unless I would have had this opportunity.

The addition of the young lions area and activities to the festival this year was a wonderful Idea, I just wish that there were more opportunies for others to be able to network. I would recommend that many other students or young professionalss take this opportunity to attend the festival in the future. The experenice is like no other.

Also if you think that you shouldnt go because you don't speak french, I would tell you thats a lame excuse- most of everyone in and around the festival understand some to alot of english and if you learn some basic simple phrases you'll be just fine. It was also a great idea to bring business cards, besause the people that you want to meet up close don't always have alot of time so it's alot easier to just drop them your card or even pick theirs up. The main point of this whole blog- of this whole trip really came down to networking. Everyone in this industry wants to to work witht he best of the best. So if you have a great idea don't be afraid to tell the world. If it is really great then people will really come to you.

I would like to sum up this by speaking breifly on the some of things that stood out to me. All of the world changing projects. These campigns range from as large as "Tap water" to the "ACT" posters and even the "Bondage for Freedom"- this was a real favor of mne, were all very powerful to me. It was a great feeling to know that there were others in this world that are taking a stand aginst unjust powers of the world. That knowledge led me to know that my own aspirations to help and save others in the world will not go in vain. I plan to take my new knowledge and put it to good use.

Thanks to all that helped me get to Cannes I promise that this trip was a life changing experience.

signing off

Stephanie Hankins

From flowers to storytelling - Cannes Lions

Friday June 20, 2008 the morning was wonderful. With a short tweet before heading to the festival I was excited to get the day started. I attended a morning workshop- designing from nature_ or something like that. In this workshop I was exposed to a new way of designing by using nature as a source of inspiration and influence. The duel partnership of the presenters complemented their ideals- a female biologist and a designer, these two discussed their design backgrounds and link it to what they are trying to do now. By using nature as our teacher they feel that designers can learn alot about creating that projects their work with the world not against it. They used many examples of how insects pollunating flowers is a very smart and strategic method. As designers in a world that loves to waste I found their solutions to design probelms very functional, effective and helpful to the current waste problem.

After I stepped out to grab a quick bite to eat I attended the Unicef seminar and it was the most inspiring info session I have been too this whole festival.  Joining up with droga 5 the Tap project is one for the books. If you dont know about this project then you need to find out, it is the simpliest way for anyone to make a bigg impact in another persons life. By donating a dollar 40 children in a thrid world country will be able to drink clean water for one more day. One billion people in the world do not have clean drinking water,  1 in 5 children do not have access to drinking water and 80% of children die because of water related dieases. Tap is saving lifes. I want and need to be apart of companies and organizations that believe in projects like this.

Stephanie Hankins

Nature's Lesson on Design

Day 5, Friday and my last day here at the Cannes Advertising Festival. I started off the day with yet another great workshop. This workshop was called designing naturally and was presented by Frederico Gelli of Tatil Design.

"As design makes its debut in Cannes, this seminar takes advantage of the new ground to discuss the role of simple, clean, intelligent design in the industry. In this context, nature is the best place to find stimulation and perfect ideas for low impact solutions that maintain high sensorial impact. Why not observe how the atmosphere packages the earth, or how the rind of fruits protects their insides, in order to create more clever packaging solutions?"

This workshop was really interesting. Frederico discussed natures strategic design and how it must inspire projects in the future. As designers we have the ability to integrate design and nature. We need to start thinking like nature and create solutions out of the problems.

He discussed natures way of packaging. These are things that i had not thought of, like the way a woman's body packages a baby in the womb, the way a peel protects the fruit of an orange.

As designers we need to take the problems and develop solutions out of them.

Lessons from nature
• Optimum-conserve the most amount of energy.
• Cycles—everything that goes in must come out (waves)
• Interdependence (birds living on other animals)

Federico also showed photography by Peter Menzel
Peter photographed families with all their belongings outside of their houses. Americans, on average have 10,000 items in their homes.

a couple other artists were also discussed.
Justin Gignac , Justin sells garbage in air tight containers.
Brian Jungen , Brian creates art out of everday material, such as white plastic chairs.

The engineering of flowers was then brought up. I never had thought of how complex and important flowers were to our being. Architecture is now becoming heavily based on the principles of flowers. There structure and strength provide a great amount of information on how to build. Using shape, texture and color to ignite all senses and alluse the consumer. An example of this is the design of an apple store on fifth ave.

Attached our my notes from the day. Hope they are informative!!

Download cannes_friday.htm

also...please check out Tap Project

until next time...

Kayla

A Day of excitement! - Cannes Lions

The day began like no other. Breakfast, and then I ran to the festival- just to arrive early. As the doors open Dr.Ward ran towards them like fish to water.  Seeing how early we were, the group and myself decided to go update our twitter.

After all the updating, I attended the morning films for best use of music. There were a few that stood out to me like the coca-cola where a young man began singing in front of a store window camera. His "lola" song was instantly uploaded to the internet and communicated to the massed. As soon as the young man turned the corner- it was to his surpirse that his song and video that he thoght no body would see was posted on the side of a building in full screen format. I was eager to attend the morning master class so I left the screenings early. The first master class was hosted by the CMO of P&G Jim Stengel. He conducted a really informal decusision about who he was and what he stood for, then he open up the floor to q&a. He had a few questions for the audience and I answered a question correctly-so i recieved a free t-shirt. On the back of the shirt was a link to a web site :Thank ...for you help...It was a real highight of my day. Then I left to attend what was left of the Mircosoft Advertising  seminar. The dialoge that happen was amazing. I learned alot about the difference bewteen channel and contents infulnece on the media. Shortly after that was over I was able to grab a great set for the Tony Bennett speech. He is an amazing painter as well as business man. He really knows the music industry and what works and what doesn't. I admire him so very much. Then I steped out to have a quick lunch at a French MacDonalds. It was a very interestng experience.

Once back in the festival I attended R/GA and Nike :three ideas. At this speach Stephan Olander decussed three Nike campigns that have been very sucesssful: Nike ID, Ballers Network and the Human Race 10k. Each one of these campigns were very interesting because they truly gave pure benifits to the consumers eveyday problems. Nike has some very large ambitions- theit latest campaign is to get one million people to run on Aug 31, 2008 all at the same time. Wow. Well there were alot of exciting activities that I took part in today, but I must say that the awards that were recieved tonight were for some of the best work that I have seen all week.

Until next time Stephanie "nie" cannes lion 2008

Cannes Lions - Embracing Change in the 21st Century

Day 1 (Note - Due to a technical problem the hyperlinks do not appear in this post) The day started off with our attendance at the More Mobile Relations workshop. The workshop focused entirely on the emergence of mobile marketing as an effective tool for marketers. As put by Tom Lindberg, CEO of More, "Attitudes [toward mobile] are changing." This is primarily based on much more useful and convenient information being made available to consumers. Futhermore, mobile technology in Scandanavian countries is viewed as less intrusive than TV, radio and direct mail marketing. A survey showed 20% of Swedes found mobile to be intrusive compared to 60% for Television, 50% for Radio, and 40% for Direct Mail. In retrospect, mobile marketing is transforming the ease and early adoption of how consumer receive information about companies. The second event attended was the Master Class hosted by Rick Boyko, Dean of VCU Brandcenter. Boyko's presentation discussed about the way marketing is changing in the 21st Century. Boyko emphasized how "change"is affecting the way everyone from Clients to Agencies have evolved. His focused primarily on the lack of collaborative work between business intellectuals and creatives and the resistance of change. He went on to show a video which further emphasized change. All in all, Boyko's discussion ignited my interest in VCU's Creative Technology MBA program and forum of discussion that could be brought up at Alfred University. The third event was a Master Class hosted by Nick Law, CCO of R/GA. This class combined several elements of the previous two events. "Technology is driving the way information is marketed to consumers through storytelling." He presented a short case study on the evolution of Nike Dunks and the signifance the Dunks had on consumers throughout the years. Law went on to discuss an updated marketing model in place of the now aged Linear model. The model focused on a synergistic effort in creating a campaign that provided emcompassed Information, Utility, and Communication to reach the consumer. As seen with his next Case Study - Nike Sparq Training the campaign aimed to inspire individuals to create effective workout routines with the assistance of a virtual coach. The individuals could then utilize custom blogs to share routines and ask questions, all while still being able to purchase Nike merchandise on the website. This event further sparked my interest in Creative Technology. I learned a lot today about what drives the industry in these changing times. I will embrace these changes with open arms and open brain. Until next time, Ciao. Irving Escobar

ALFRED UNIVERSITY WINS AWARDS AT AMA COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE IN NEW ORLEANS

I am catching up after an exciting weekend at the 2008 American Marketing Association Collegiate Conference in New Orleans and wanted to share the experience with you. I attended the 30th Annual AMA Collegiate Conference with ten students from the Alfred University Collegiate Chapter of the AMA. I have had the privilege to be the Marketing Faculty Advisor for the past two years and have watched the students and the AU AMA chapter grow. The opportunity to be a mentor and help students gain real-world marketing experience and leadership has been a wonderful experience.

The AMA Collegiate Conference in New Orleans had record attendance with over 1,300 students and over 120 of the leading collegiate chapters from around the country competing, networking and gaining professional experience. The conference was particularly rewarding as the AU AMA chapter was recognized as a "Revitalized Chapter of the Year - 2007/2008" and I received the "Hugh G. Wales Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award - 2007/2008." 

Why is the AMA important to students?