Promotional Publications

September 24, 2015 at 5:49 pm (Advertising, Effective Communication, Marketing)
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As I flip through various issues of the widely recognized publication, Sports Illustrated, certain components of the magazine stand out to me. Most prominent of course is the reasonably consistent pages that appeal to a reader. In today’s day and age, marketing and advertising is crucial to a company’s growth and development. That being said, businesses and publications alike are strategically placing ads that appeal to a reader in their magazines that will generate a response.

After I learned I would be writing this blog, I gathered all of the Sports Illustrated issues laying around my house and also made a trip to the local high school library at which I work on occasion. Between the two, I was able to accumulate a hefty stack of issues sufficient enough to satisfy a Doctor’s office for a few months. I began to dissect the magazines page by page and quickly saw my expectations were accurate: Sports Illustrated directs its ads to young adults and athletes.

After close scrutiny, a reader could generalize that the ads in Sports Illustrated are directed towards the younger generations of our society. Empirically speaking, the ads typically appeal to readers who want to be “hip, stylish and trendy” while also maintaining an athletic appearance. In terms of gender, the ads are most certainly geared towards young to middle aged men. With repeated occurrences of ads from companies like Viagra, Gatorade and Nike, I believe it is safe to say that our target market is quite apparent.

In conclusion, Sports Illustrated is able to provide an interesting publication while also providing applicable ads that a reader can relate to. That being said, it can be concluded that the ads in Sports Illustrated are directed towards, but not limited to, young to middle age males that have an interest in sports and also directed towards an athlete of any age.

By: Josh Davidson, Business Major, IUPUC

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What can we learn from Apple Inc. ?

September 23, 2015 at 10:38 pm (Business Ethics, consumer electronics, Social Media/Technology)
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Apple Inc. is one of the most successful businesses in the US to date. To say the least, Apple has made a name for itself in the American culture. According to an article written by John Kell in the Fortune 500 online magazine, Apple was number one on the list of the top 10 most successful companies in the US. Apple earned $35.9 billion dollars last year. With the unveiling of the iPhone 6, 6plus and the Apple Watch, Apple has made it self a leader in the computer gadget industry.

Being an Apple consumer, I have noticed that Apple’s image is to make technology beautiful. With all of its products that become thinner and sleeker, they have accomplished to make their products attractive to nearly anyone. With curves instead of sharp edges they appeal to look softer and more friendly.

Apple holds on to the image of their beautiful products by always coming up with a new and improved product just about every year, sometimes twice a year. It’s always either smaller, thinner, more colors, bigger screen, lighter, or better quality. By coming out with a better product so often, it keeps your customer base involved. The customer wants the next coolest piece of hardware so that they can have the status that comes with being ahead of the game.

Apple has developed a culture around their products that keep their customer base growing. They do not just specialize in hardware they also have created various programs that keep their particular customers involved in the company everyday. Applications such as Apple Music, iTunes, AppleTV, Siri, iMessage, and the list can go on of the different ways that apple has diversified its potential.

A huge lesson to be learned from Apple is to be diverse in what we can offer and make it flawless. The reason why Apple can bring in so much cash flow is because they can dip into many different markets and appeal to all kinds of people. Their products are more user-friendly so that even children under the age of 5 can use them. America has definitely benefited from Apple products and I don’t see Apple doing anything else but continuing to grow.

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Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results. (2014, October 11). In Apple. com.

Kell, J. (2015, June 11). Fortune 500’s Most Profitable Companies. Fortune.

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Hillary Clinton For President: 2016

September 10, 2015 at 5:21 pm (Uncategorized)
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As most people know, Hillary Clinton is now running for the second time to be the President of The United States of America. Mrs. Clinton is the spouse of Mr. Bill Clinton who was previously a President of our great nation. Well, based off what has been said so far, here is some news that may shock you to say the least. Or, it may not surprise you at all. Hillary Clinton used her personal email for work and personal use when she was in office as the Secretary of State. Not only was it just her personal email, it was a whole email server dedicated to Mrs. Clinton. Yes, it was allowed by the government for her to do that as long as she turned in her government issued emails to the office when her work day was over. Mrs. Clinton had not given those emails up until about twenty-one months of being out of office. In August of 2014, the FBI opened an investigation regarding the confidentiality of the emails that Mrs. Clinton  was receiving from other government officials. She claimed that everyone had known that she was using a personal email except for the one person who really should’ve known. President Barack Obama claims he was not aware of Mrs. Clinton’s use of a personal email server for government use. In March of this year, she was asked to turn over her private email server but when asked, she declared her server to remain private. Just recently has Mrs. Clinton been acknowledging her mistake in using a private email server, as well as apologizing, Each time she apologizes, she has a different response claiming she wasn’t in the wrong for using a private server, she was just wrong for not establishing it with everyone she was sending and receiving emails. From a business perspective, there should be an email server dedicated to the business specifically and in order to share information about the business, employees should only be referred to the work email for use.

By Spencer Darringer, Sports Marketing and Management Major- IUPUC

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x204project

September 10, 2015 at 2:39 pm (Uncategorized)

There are many communication styles in the workplace. Likewise, there are many barriers to communication that occur in the workplace. I will be discussing some common types of communication issues that I have encountered in the past for previous employers. One of the major communication issues that I have come across is misinformation or incomplete disclosure of information needed to complete certain tasks that have been assigned. When I say this I am referring to having a task delegated but not being given sufficient information in order to do the task as efficiently as possible. This can happen when multiple departments need to come together for a common purpose. It may happen because it is assumed everybody involved is aware of the information or it can happen because it is not information that is seen as a necessary part to disclose initially. Another form of a communication breakdown can happen when it is not understood which employee handles certain tasks. A large amount of time can be wasted when trying to hunt down where a certain document should go or who fields a certain request.

By Rikki Holmes, Psychology Major- IUPUC

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