Olympic Sponsors Fail to Win the Gold

The Olympics have become my new obsession this summer and I’m not alone. People around the world have tuned in to watch these super human athletes compete for the chance of a lifetime; winning the gold. Americans sit at the edge of their seats as we all gasp, cheer, and hold our breathes hoping for the impossible. It is so difficult to watch both the heartbreak and drama that unfolds, especially realizing most of these athletes have prepared for four years, the time it takes most people our age to get a high school or college degree. 

The perseverance and drive of these individuals becomes an inspiration that Olympic sponsors have tried to capitalize on. Commercials are filled with our favorite current stars such as Michael Phelps, RyanLochte, Jordyn Weiber, and Rebecca Soni. The overwhelmingly emotional and patriotic themes help our country feel unified and we suddenly remember why we are proud to be Americans, associating these positive messages with the commercials we see.

But the important question is: can you even identify the names of these Olympic sponsors? If you can’t, don’t worry you aren’t alone. 

Team USA Olympic Sponsors

In a recent online survey, many participants incorrectly identified Pepsi, Burger King, and Nike as official Olympic sponsors. Considering that their rivals (Coca Cola, McDonalds, and Adidas) pay hundreds of millions of dollars for their sponsorship, this is a major problem. Olympic sponsors get the sole right to associate their brand with the games and use Olympic trademarks on advertisements and packaging. Furthermore the Olympic committee has restricted athletes by only allowing official sponsor endorsements for social media sites and commercials during the games. It would appear that rival companies should be the underdog in this battle for advertising gold, but so far Olympic sponsors are failing to achieve a victory.

The Life of a Summer Intern at: RTC

Today is the first Monday in two months that I’ve been able to sleep past 6 am, and I’m a little sad about it.  My internship with RTC, a marketing agency in Washington, DC, just ended and I am already having some serious FOMO (fear of missing out). A relationship marketing agency with a wide range of clients and an awesome group of people, I learned so much and made so many connections in the short time I was there. I had heard of RTC my freshman year when our adviser, Professor Harms, put me in contact with their HR person, however I decided not to pursue an internship that summer. Then, RTC came back onto my radar when they presented at an AMA meeting last semester (See, those meetings are better for more than free food) and I was blown away by how great it sounded. I then got back in touch with their HR person and when I went in to interview with my soon-to-be boss, I felt so much more comfortable, because by hearing her speak, I knew so much more about the company and we had plenty to talk about.  I was part of the Insights and Innovation team, which evaluates and plans marketing strategies for clients. I worked on a wide range of projects, from client-specific consumer research, to compiling a creative competitive analysis, to creating infographics about applying new technologies to marketing to serve as education tools. From all this, I learned so much. Here are just a few things:

Write, write, write!
As a marketer, you need to be able to write. In marketing, and especially in an agency, you need to learn how to communicate your point of view in the most succinct way possible and sell your idea before you lose people’s attention. This is something I plan to work on this year by writing as much as possible, whether that be in a daily journal or blog, or offering to do the writing sections in group projects. In a lot of business schools’ curriculum, there isn’t much focus placed on writing, but if you get good at it now, it will save you a lot of hassle and red pen when you get a real job.

Speak up
If you have a special skill that could add additional value to your work, speak up and let your boss know! I was placed on a project to do research about mobile strategy with another intern. We were initially supposed to just create an outline, and then send it up to the creative team to make it into an infographic, but I asked if I could give it a shot instead, and I was able to use my graphic design skills to pull the create a much more visually pleasing way to present the information. Had I not let my boss know, I would have gotten the opportunity to use multiple skills and have a better deliverable in the end.

Get out of your cubicle
One of the things that made my internship the most fun was the people that I worked with. Although you want to be a dedicated worker, you also want to make sure to connect with the people around you. Make small talk with the people in the kitchen and take the time to get to know them. I was so excited to be around such experienced marketers and wanted to know how they got to where they are now. Most people are very interested in giving you career advice or just sharing their own stories with you if you take the time to ask questions. I learned a lot from the people above me and feel like I made some great connections that will benefit me in the future.


I could go on for way longer about all the great experiences I had at RTC and I really am sad to be leaving because I feel like there is so much more for me to learn. Plus, I'll really miss the Pad Thai from the place across the street...
Hopefully I'll return to RTC in the future to take advantage of those opportunities!

The Life of a Summer Intern at: Unilever

Two years ago I got a call that I never expected. It was a Friday morning, and in addition to frustrations of pulling an all-nighter, I was anxious about the verdict from my last interview two days before. Halfway through brushing my teeth, my phone rang and flashed a number that I knew could only have been from one possible person: the Unilever HR rep. Nervous, and with a toothbrush still in my hand, I answered - and 50 short seconds later, I was pleasantly surprised by an internship offer.

So much has happened during my summers with Unilever since then, and I’ve had an amazing experience! Last year, I was working close to the Walmart headquarters in Arkansas – a pleasantly surprising state by the way – in Customer Development. I was asked to build a digitized tool to help us track “incremental retail,” essentially any sales above and beyond what we expected to make. The problem? I’d had ZERO programming experience before. So initially, I was worried, but Unilever enrolled me in a Microsoft Access class (way more beneficial than BMGT301) that really took my project forward, and that’s one of the best things about working for this company: they believe in making investments in their employees. In retrospect, it was just what I needed out of an internship – the opportunity to get completely out of my comfort zone and use both critical thinking and technical skills to create something meaningful. My only issue? I wish I’d been 21 and had a car – it’s hard to do anything in Rogers, Arkansas otherwise…

When I got an offer to come back, I hesitated; CD had been interesting, but I honestly just wanted to be in marketing. Nervous as I was about their reaction, I asked Unilever to transfer me – and they did. That was a huge learning experience: in my opinion, so long as you have a good reason for asking something of your company, absolutely do it, because you may regret it if you don’t. Now, I’m working in Brand Development (in marketing) for a really exciting product: Suave Kids! Essentially, I have to develop a long-term strategy to help us gain market share. Since my other internship and class experiences have always focused on short-term deliverables, this is still out of my comfort zone, but it’s exciting nonetheless. I’ve gotten a chance to work on everything from licensing to product innovation to sustainability, and along the road, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Ogilvy, conduct my own focus group, and plan an event for all of the interns. At a company as large as Unilever, you’ll obviously have to be patient with all of the intricate processes involved in decision-making, but if you create work for yourself even when it isn’t mandatory, people will notice it and appreciate it.

             As this is my last “internable” (word?) summer, I’m definitely hoping for a full-time offer with Unilever, ideally in marketing. Hope it works out! Feel free to email me at manas.kulkarni.91@gmail.com if you have any questions about it – I’d be happy to answer! 

Communicate with Impact

“It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

Every business professional has heard these words of wisdom at some point in his or her career. We all remember that one professor or friend who seems to drone on and on about one topic or another, but no one can ever remember what that person actually said. To avoid being “that guy”, it's important to remember that impactful communication is about so much more than words.

Whether we notice it or not, the majority of our perception of a message comes from non-verbal communication of the speaker. According to studies on interpersonal communication, researchers have found that the overall understanding of a message is broken down as follows:

Verbal = 7%

Vocal  = 38%

Visual  = 55%

This means that over 90% of our communication is transmitted not by our words, but through our body language, tone of voice, pace of speech, appearance, eye contact, etc. Impactful communication requires clear and specific speaking, the use of visual aids, knowing the audience, and varying tone of voice to stress main points.

Also, one must remember that impactful communication is two-way: it involves both good speaking and good listening. Good listeners keep their focus solely on the person speaking, let the speaker speak without interruption, and ask questions about what is unclear. The best part of being a good listener is that it becomes incredibly easy to learn about the world around you.

From recently entering the working world, I have found that impactful communication is an essential tool for each and every aspiring professional. I constantly communicate with co-workers and supervisors on everything from my opinion on how one of our company's processes to an update on my progress on a project or task. With so much work to do and only a short workday (you’d be surprised how fast a day at work can go), it is actually good business to communicate well. In fact, it can be very costly to communicate poorly. In one case, miscommunication from legislative budget writers cost the state of New Jersey more than $200 million.

After all, wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could all just understand each other?

Best Cities for Employment

With our current economy, we all know how hard and competitive it is to score a job out of college. But, according to Forbes, there is hope for marketing majors wishing to become employed.

The secret? Look for positions in major metro areas…location matters!

Forbes and Indeed.Com have complied a list of the top 15 cities with the highest number of available marketing positions. Unsurprisingly, New York City proves to be your best bet in finding a job. Time Warner, NBC, New York Times, Grey Group, the list of companies in the Big Apple is seemingly endless. There are over 2,000 versatile marketing positions New York employers are trying to fill!

 If you want to have a look into some of the top marketing agencies in NYC, our very own terpAMA goes on the annual SUSA trip to New York every fall! This past year, students in the marketing track got to visit and get an inside scoop on Grey Group, Omnicom Media Group, and Digitas.

Paul Forster, CEO and co founder of Indeed.Com, explains, “ New York is a major hub for the media and advertising industries, which have experienced an explosion of marketing opportunities in emerging media and digital marketing…marketers who possess the new skills employers demand will have greater opportunities.”

If you are hoping to stay local, Washington, D.C. also makes the top 15 list. Some great marketing agencies around here include The Borenstein Group, RTCRM, Fixation Marketing, & Redhead Advertising.

While job searching in whatever city, just remember to stay persistent and never give up! Soon enough, you will land that dream job of yours.  

The Avengers Strikes Gold...and so does Acura: Does Product Placement Work?

In case you have been living under a rock, hit movie The Avengers struck gold last weekend. It broke tons of box office records as fans ran to see the witty genius of Iron Man team up with demi-god Thor and the monstrous yet lovable Hulk, among other super heroes. Like many other box offices hits before it, the film featured tons of action, computer generated images, fight scenes, and classic character foil. What else did it include? Lots and lots of product placement. Brands from Oracle to Farmer's Insurance made appearances, according to Brand Channel's count. The most successful placement: Acura (do I have to include a spoiler's warning for saying that?) Anyway, an Acura SUV was featured right in the middle of a dramatic and energized action scene. The question is: does product placement work?

Marketers and fans have become familiar with product placement; so much in fact, that they have began to poke fun at it. However, according to Martin Lindstrom, author of several critically acclaimed marketing books including Buyology, product placement only works if it is prevalent and critical to the plot of the movie. What candy was used in the movie E.T.? What car does James Bond drive? What kind of car is Bumble Bee in Transformers? Chances are, you can name at least of few of these brands because you remember them playing a significant role in the movie. The results? Lindstrom proved that sales do significantly increase. [academic plug: the book overall is a very catchy and interesting read for all marketing majors] Other less important product placement has been proven less effective.

So, keep this in mind all of you aspiring Hollywood directors and future marketers. Can you think of other famous product placement that you remember?

Taco Bell's Sales Go LOCOS

Some of you may recall the bad rep Taco Bell received after a  lawsuit arose, accusing the Fast Food company of not having enough meat in their meat sauce to call it meat sauce (gross). This negative publicity had adverse effects on their sales numbers. As competitive as the fast food industry is, a company cannot afford losses if they hope to sit on the throne- or atop the golden arches.

After spending a year losing sales, Taco Bell knew it had to make some changes. Many of you have surely noticed Taco Bell's newest item, the Doritos Locos Taco. As for their marketing of the product, they started by selling it at limited locations for the first year. This spawned the creation of their current advertisement: Taco Bell Roadtrip. The taco has even gone viral, with a 12 tacos in under 15 minute challenge taking over the web. My personal opinion- worth a try (but probably late at night when you're under the influence of anything). The new product release was coupled with the release of their new tagline: "Live Mas" (Tanslation: Live More).

So how'd they do? They're Back in Black! According to reports, Yum, the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut (and receives 60% of their revenue from Taco Bell) achieved 7% growth in sales for the first time in a year. Yum's CFO Rick Carucci even predicts growth in the high single to low double digit for upcoming sales figures.

What does this mean?

In the fast food industry, new products and aggressive marketing is a good way to increase sales. This is no secret, which is why Burger King- after selling 29% stake in its company to an investment entity- is completely revamping their look and menu. As for their marketing strategy, it's out with the King, in with the..... beautiful.

So no more of this:

 

And expect more of this: