A Selfie is Worth a Thousand Comments: How Kim Kardashian Turned Herself into a Media Mogul.

February 16, 2017 at 2:34 pm (Advertising, communication, Kim Kardashian, Marketing, Social Media in the workplace, Social Media/Technology, Uncategorized)

Whether you love the Kardashians, or love to hate the Kardashians, chances are you know the famous family’s name. The family first came into the public eye in 1995 when the late Robert Kardashian Sr. was apart of O.J. Simpson’s  defense team representing O.J. in the People v O.J. trial. The family resurfaced again in 2007 when the hit reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians” first aired, giving a glimpse into the lives of the Kardashian-Jenner family. Ten years later the show is still running and has turned the family into pop culture icons.

The most well known and fiscally successful Kardashian is Kim,with an astonishing 89 million Instagram followers and 49 million Twitter followers. Kim’s personal brand, that keeps her social media followers satisfied, is her actual image. Everyday people, magazines, and talk shows are fascinated by Kim’s ability to accentuate her famous features, through posting controversial selfies, promoting her husband’s clothing line, or snap chatting her beauty routine. Kim created this image by living by the mantra: there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Kim turned a sex tape “leak” into a playboy cover, from there the controversy continued and so did her magazine appearances, along with a growing following from the public.

Today a key part of Kim’s marketing strategy is communication with her audiences. Kim can instantly share what products she loves (Kardashian can see profits up to $300,000 for products she endorses online), give her followers glimpses into her elaborate vacations, and post an endless stream of selfies. Why this constant communication is a key to her success is because she has forged a platform and a following to share what she’s doing or what she endorses.

Key business lessons that are components of Kim Kardashians continued success are her ability to turn scandals into positive publicity opportunities, allow constant communication with her supporters, and utilize social media. Objectively speaking, Kim’s ability to capitalize on basic marketing techniques to become one of the most recognizable figures, makes her nothing short of admirable. To see what scandal Kim will capitalize on next, we’ll just have to Keep up with Kim, which is exactly what she wants.

 

Author: Nicole Bodi- Student at IUPUC

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Sports Illustrated’s Target Audience

February 16, 2017 at 11:38 am (Effective Communication, Marketing)
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Have you ever paid attention to the ads in your favorite magazine? What are the products one would see? Majority of the advertisements in magazines or other publications relate to their target audiences. Sports Illustrated, the profound sports magazine, follows suit. SI’s advertisements seem to have a direct audience of mostly men, with money to afford brand name products, and who like sports.

These generalizations would be hard without understanding or knowing what ads are placed in SI’s magazines. Going through SI’s issues for December 2016, and January 2017 they both contain similar ads. The two issues’ promotions include men’s grooming products for razor blades and shaving cream. One issue’s ad had a two page spread on how baby boomers chances of having Hepatitis C is one in 30. Flipping through a couple pages, there is a heart burn pill ad, then a couple of retirement companies. Some promote liquor brands and the first has a middle-aged man in his back yard with his dog sipping on America’s finest vodka. The next sells a tequila that ages in bourbon barrels. Continuing on, the next few spreads are for the latest in men’s apparel, footwear and accessories. One particular ad features two gents in the new and improved flannels that are perfect to be worn untucked.

With understanding the material being promoted to readers, there are generalization to be made.The first observation that I notice is, that SI’s advertisers know their target audience is mostly older men. I would say this due to the liquor and retirement ads. Secondly, one could acknowledge that these ads are aiming for men who have the finances to buy these products. With the brand name products, the price will increase as well.  Next, these endorsements are for men whom enjoy sports and keep up to date with professional leagues. This generalization is pretty self-explanatory with the magazine being all about sports and the world’s top athletes. These three are the observations that first came across my mind about SI’s ad selection.

By reviewing all of the ads in SI’s December and January issues, one can understand the generalizations being made.  The company knows its target audience is men, thus promotes mostly men’s items, to men whom will have the money and are willing to spend it, and lastly  are fans of sports.

By Kyle Behymer. Communications Major – IUPUC

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Advocate for your Health Care

February 14, 2017 at 2:40 pm (communication, Uncategorized)
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I explained the ongoing list of symptoms to the fourth doctor I had visited in a year. My mother had fired the previous one because she was frustrated with the lack of progress in obtaining a diagnosis. I observed the doctor’s eyebrows raise, and sensed her quick judgement. I knew what she was thinking as she listened to me describe the nonsensical symptoms of high blood pressure, weight loss, high resting heart rate, inability to focus, fatigue, blurry vision, bone pain, etc. I could sense her judgment. Her assumptions were overwhelming and she had not even verbally expressed them yet. Much like all the other doctors, she had spent five minutes asking the typical hormone and stress-related questions before incorrectly diagnosing me. I looked healthy on the outside. I was sleeping a lot, but keeping up with schoolwork. She had zero interest in really engaging and taking me seriously. The previous week, my cure was supposed to come from more rest and this week it was a migraine pill. Although my mother expressed firmly that I never had headaches, and the only real headaches occurred when I ended up in the local emergency room in a hypertensive crisis state, the doctor was firm and insisted migraines were the cause of all my symptoms. I sat quietly and just stared at my mom in disbelief. I felt too ashamed and feared I would be labeled as crazy if I argued. Was the doctor right?

The average doctor spends 13-16 minutes with a patient before presenting a medical diagnosis (Here’s). Patients often view themselves as inferior to physicians and many leave their appointments unsatisfied with the results. I had approximately 15 doctors’ visits within six months. Every time I left with a pit in my stomach. I began experiencing extreme self-doubt. Was all of this in my head?

As of November of 2016, it had been almost a year of struggling with my health issues. After the advice of a yet another new doctor, I was taken to IU Methodist where I was hospitalized for three days. I received more care and attention in three days than I had received in a year from my local doctor’s office and hospital. Methodist doctors found a nodule on my thyroid that looked “hot”, a term that means active and potentially cancerous. After a needle biopsy, the nodule was determined as non-cancerous, eventually I was diagnosed with abnormal thyroid levels. In three days, I had made more progress in getting answers than I had in nearly a year and a half with my local physicians. All it took was for a doctor to slow down, listen, and decide to start running tests until something was found. He saw the symptoms and said to me, “This is not right. You are 19 years old and something is obviously wrong.”

Doctors are not perfect. In fact, I have learned they are far from it. It is a serious issue to feel undermined or insecure because of the attitude of your health-care provider. It is important to remember that doctors work for you. I have learned to never be the girl who sits in a doctor’s office feeling embarrassed for physical symptoms that impact my emotional well being and for expressing to doctors what I need from them. You live in your body every day. Be aware of abnormalities and push for results until your health care needs are met. Sick people can look healthy. The term woman should not be synonymous with over-emotional, hormonal, and unable to cope with stress. Young is not synonymous for healthy and doctor is not synonymous for right.

Works Cited

Erin Brodwin.Here’s how many minutes the average doctor actually spends with each patient.Business Insider.2016.Web.

Author- Hannah Graham

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This isn’t your fathers country music

February 9, 2017 at 10:56 am (communication, Uncategorized)
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The evolution of country music is one of the little hot button topics friends like to debate while drinking a cold beer on a Friday night. There are typically three sides of this particular triangle. Side A is ingrained in what is considered old school country with the likes of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and so on. Side A would rather drink their beer after letting it sit in the fire for 10 minutes than listen to anything from the last fifteen years. Side B is a little more erratic in thinking, but usually enjoys both the old and the new, and has the right playlist for any occasion. Side C is the “Busch Light” class, if you will. They couldn’t tell you who George Strait is if he walked in the room, picked up his guitar and starting singing Carried Away. The most hotly contested topic between these camps is this: what is real country? Where are all the real country artists today? My theory is that it’s not the music that has changed, it’s the audience.

So often we tie country music artists to the popular songs we hear on the radio. It isn’t Luke Bryan playing his songs every two hours on the radio, and it’s not his fault we can’t listen to Country Girl Shake It for me ever again. So the question becomes: whose fault is it? That answer can be found by looking in the mirror. Radio stations have two customers: the first is the endless array of sponsors you hear shamelessly plugged before every commercial break; and the second is the audience. Since it isn’t the sponsors demanding to hear Dirt Road Anthem every thirty minutes, the demand must be coming from the audience. Take a walk with me down memory lane. Remember the 1940’s country music scene, with love songs like Bouquet of Roses and Lovesick Blues. Gospel music ruled the airwaves in a domesticated country trying to forget about a violent war. The 1950’s brought Elvis and Johnny Cash, and the U.S. raged into the 1960’s with the youth becoming more politically inclined and passionate that their views be heard. The 1980’s brought the end of the Cold War, and a thought of peace as artists like George Strait and Randy Travis sprang onto the scene. The Millennials were born and as they came of age, they brought the likes of Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean with them. They brought a generation of music that doesn’t give a damn if you like it or not, because they’re going to sing about tan legs and tan lines, guns and booze, girls and trucks, because that is what their generation wants to hear. They want a song they can turn up in their truck with the windows down and dream of the weekend as they drive away from Monday into Tuesday. This generation doesn’t want to Walk the Line or think about how He Stopped Loving Her Today, or sit enjoy the view from their Ocean Front Property. They want to Cruise down a backroad and sing their Dirt Road Anthem while thinking about a Drink In My Hand.

Music hasn’t changed, the artists have simply changed to match their audience. We want to hear something different. We’ve heard that same three chord melody about how she’s leaving and that’s not my truck in the driveway. Artists today are evolving to find how to communicate with the differing generations as country music reaches from coast to coast and generation to generation. As our communication styles evolve so must the artists. As our definition of new and different evolves, so does our music. This brings us artists like Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line, the likes of which Group C adore and Group B can get on board with. But don’t worry Group ; your real country music is still out there. You just have to find it. It might not sound the same, but last I checked, words didn’t have to sound a certain way to mean something. There are more songs on a Brantley Gilbert album than Bottoms Up. Jason Aldean made more songs than Burnin it Down. Instead of saying these artists aren’t real country, we should be asking if we aren’t the ones who are changing, and not the music.

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Words Worth a Billion Dollars

February 8, 2017 at 11:59 pm (communication, Effective Communication)

One of many Donald Trump’s famous quotes is, “My father loaned me a small loan of a million dollars.” To anyone in the middle and lower class this is not a small amount of money. Immediately we can get an idea of his upbringing.

Donald Trump was born June 19th, 1946 in Queen, New York City. He attended The Kew-Forest School and at the age of 13 left and was enrolled in the New York Military Academy in Cornwall, New York. In the NYMA Donald Trump achieved the rank of captain.

Trump is a a Presbyterian and went to Sunday school as a child.

Trump has ties in business, television, and currently in the White House. These type of connections can make someone very powerful. Donald Trump’s reported net worth is $4.5 billion which would make him the 113th richest person in the United States and the 324th richest person in the world.

Donald Trump’s upbringing leads us to believe he did not struggle for money, food, housing, etc. His childhood can be translated to his presidential campaign as well when one hears him speak publicly on a more consistent basis. Being in a military school and attaining the rank of captain means he is a leader. He can influence people and will be followed, which we have seen much through his campaign. With the childhood he had you would believe that he would speak in a business manor (i.e. concise and clear). However, after watching his campaign speeches he can be very vague at times and even stray away from the initial question. A leader with a military background is expected to be direct, concise, and have no room for misinterpretation.

For someone who has as much of a business demeanor as Donald Trump you would think his campaign would have more facts about domestic terrorism and more facts about immigration as opposed to just saying the Hispanic community must send their, “best.” around his claims of fear and ego. His speaking tactics of using fear and ego was the base for most of his campaign. The idea that the Hispanic community is coming in and they are taking our jobs, they aren’t, all Muslims want to kill us and impose Sharia law, they don’t, and we need to take America back, we don’t. The type of narrative this creates is scary, to be frank. There have been multiple assaults on people who are Muslim, there has been vandalism of mosques, and there have been many other cases of verbal assault as well. His presidency has sparked an organization known as, “Alt-Right.” Donald Trump claims to have no ties or a relationship with him. My mom always said you are who you surround yourself with, so it will be interesting to see who Mr. Trump surrounds himself with over the next 4 years. A quote by Emma Lazarus tells of the true America: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled yearning to breathe free, the wretched refused of the teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempted tossed; to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” The words of this sonnet were placed on the Statue of Liberty in 1903. It does not say, “Give me your Christians, give me those who are fortunate enough to have money to come here. I lift my lamp only to those who are the same as those already here.”

What is scary is not what Donald Trump has said, it is how many people agree with him and give him affirmation to continue to do what he has set forth to do. In these times of hardship we can not forget who we truly are as a nation, and that is a welcoming one.

Cameron Brinkers, Bachelor of Science biology major at IUPUC.

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