In the United States it seems that any time you are watching cable and the commercials come on there is an add for some pharmaceutical product. Well, Super Bowl LII may not have pharmaceutical ads according to an article by PR Week. According to the article for a 30 second ad in the Super Bowl it will cost $5 million. The price tag may not be the only thing that is keeping the pharmaceutical companies form the Super Bowl. Due to the demeanor of most Super Bowl ads where the public is watching with the expectation of entertainment, an ad about a serious illness does not really fit the mood of the Super Bowl.
The price tag is a big factor for the pharmaceutical ads as a good portion of their ads is dedicated to informing the consumer of the potential side effects of whatever drug they are promoting. If the company can only afford a 30 second slot for an ad in the Super Bowl, they have a greatly limited amount of time for the rest of the actual ad. If they want to solve the time limit problem they could pay another couple million dollars for a few more seconds in their ad slot. The article also points out that the ad that company produces needs to have the right tone. An ad designed to entertain the public may come off as insensitive to the people that suffer from that illness.
The nature of many Super Bowl ads is that of entertainment which is often in the form of comedy. Putting an ad about a serious disease can really kill the mood of the Super Bowl ads and leave the audience with a sour taste in their mouth about that product. Many pharmaceutical companies have an audience targeted toward a very specific group of people. Therefore, most of the money that they spend on ads is spent in areas where those demographics are predominately present. An ad in the Super Bowl is to a much wider demographic, which would therefore dilute the effectiveness of the ad for a much larger price.
For some companies, an ad to a large audience like the Super Bowl may be beneficial. For companies that have a product for the mass population, such as ibuprofen, an ad in the Super Bowl would be very beneficial for name recognition as long as they can handle the price tag and the short time slot.
When the Super Bowl airs it will be interesting to see if any pharmaceutical companies decide to air an ad, or if they will save their money and focus on more specific demographics during other television programs.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Monday, January 29, 2018
Getting the most out of Social Media
Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick's book "The Art of Social Media" gives readers useful tips for making the most out of your social media profiles. Some of the topics in the book seem fairly obvious. An example of this is when they discuss how to get more followers and one of the tips is to share good content. It seems fairly obvious that to get more followers you share good content, but to some spewing out lots of content may seem like a better way to get more followers, the more information that is out there for people to read then there will be more people that will find it.
Once you have more followers you may be interested in holding a social event on social media. As the authors mention multiple times throughout the book using a short and simple hashtag for your event is the best way to go. With a short hashtag people will be more likely to remember it and it will be much easier to search for the hashtag. For your event use that hashtag for everything, that way you can leave a trail of all of the things that happened during the event so that people who are searching for it can see everything that has happened. The authors also point out that during the event someone should be designated to run the social media outlets. If everyone at the event is supposed to help run social media it is likely that it will be neglected because there are many other things that will be pulling the staff in all different directions.
If you are not holding an event in person you can still do it online, the authors give tips on how to use Google+ and the hangouts app to stream a meeting on air. There are some important notes for streaming anything on the internet where the visual focus is on you speaking. The equipment that you use will have a big effect on your presentation. It doesn't matter if what you have to talk about is extremely interesting, people will not want to watch your stream if it looks and sounds terrible. I found this tip interesting while I was reading the book and that is to wear solid colors, wearing stripes can cause unwanted visual effects. Finally some good advice for any presentation is to rehearse before you go on air.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Quick Tips for a Faster Triathlon
I have been doing triathlons since I was six years old and I have raced in hundreds of triathlons throughout my life. So, I have put together some tips and tricks to being faster without having to do any more workouts than are already required for top performance in triathlons.
When you show up on race day, after collecting all your things from race registration like your numbers, you will be setting up your transition area. In most triathlons this is located in one place, however I have done a couple where there were two different transition areas, one for the swim to bike and the other for the bike to run transition. For this post we will assume that the triathlon has only one transition area. The way that you set up your transition space can potentially save a few minutes on the time that is spent in the transition area, which means more time making progress toward the finish line. If you have shoes that clip into your bike pedals I would clip them into the pedals before the race begins and use rubber bands attached to the shoes and part of your bike to hold the shoes in a horizontal position. Using the rubber bands will make it easier to put your feet in the shoes once you start riding your bike. Putting your shoes on while riding, if you start with your shoes clipped in, is a skill that you will have to practice a few times so don't show up to race day and do this if you have not practiced. If you do not have shoes that clip in than place the shoes that you will be using for the race at the edge of the towel closest to the direction that you will be running in from the swim. With all of the shoes that you will be using for the race open them up so that it will be easy to slide your foot in, applying Vaseline to the edges of the shoe where your foot will be entering will also make it easier to get into and help prevent blisters. A tip that I always remember when I am running through transition is "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". Working slowly means that every movement is calculated, which means it will not be jerky and will help you not forget anything in transition. Being smooth is fast because it only takes one try to do everything. Often times when we are rushing to try and do something we will mess up and have to start over which is just extra time.
I have different shoes for biking and running so my biking shoes will be clipped into the bike and my running shoes will be on the ground. I use a race belt to hold my number because I wear a tri-jersey (similar to a bike jersey but designed to fit tighter to the body) and tri-shorts (like bike shorts but they have less padding in them so that you can run in them) throughout the entire race including the swim, so if I would have to pin it onto a jersey and put that on once I got out of the water. Using a race belt and triathlon specific clothing can greatly reduce the amount of time you spend in transition. I place the race belt stretched out on top of my running shoes so that it is easy to grab and clip on when I am ready to put it on.
The swim will be the first portion of the race, for many triathlons it is an open water swim, so if you are not a strong swimmer I would advise using a wet-suit if the race allows. The wet-suit will help you stay on top of the water because it gives you some extra buoyancy which can give an ease of mind and a little bit of extra speed through the water. I am a stronger swimmer so unless the water is extremely cold I prefer not to wear a wet-suit because it takes to long for me to get it off in transition that it would negate any benefit gained during the swim.
For the bike portion of the race there are some small skills that may help you through it, but to be honest purchasing better gear, although extremely expensive, will give you a much larger advantage in the speed and efficiency areas of the bike. Learning how to use your gears to adjust for hills or wind is important and will help you be a more efficient biker, maximizing speed and efficiency.
The run portion is a difficult part of the triathlon, you just got off of your bike and now your legs feel like jello. Starting off the running with a shorter stride and a quicker tempo can help you flush out the jello feeling in your legs faster, allowing you to slowly open up your stride through the first mile. Properly fueling while you are on the bike is also crucial for the run portion, if you stay hydrated and fueled on the bike you will have a much faster run and it will be a lot less miserable. Running while dehydrated and low on fuel is an awful feeling and can be very dangerous if it is hot outside.
The best tip I can give you is to have fun. Your attitude toward the race can actually have an effect on your performance, and what is the point of doing it if you are not going to enjoy it.
When you show up on race day, after collecting all your things from race registration like your numbers, you will be setting up your transition area. In most triathlons this is located in one place, however I have done a couple where there were two different transition areas, one for the swim to bike and the other for the bike to run transition. For this post we will assume that the triathlon has only one transition area. The way that you set up your transition space can potentially save a few minutes on the time that is spent in the transition area, which means more time making progress toward the finish line. If you have shoes that clip into your bike pedals I would clip them into the pedals before the race begins and use rubber bands attached to the shoes and part of your bike to hold the shoes in a horizontal position. Using the rubber bands will make it easier to put your feet in the shoes once you start riding your bike. Putting your shoes on while riding, if you start with your shoes clipped in, is a skill that you will have to practice a few times so don't show up to race day and do this if you have not practiced. If you do not have shoes that clip in than place the shoes that you will be using for the race at the edge of the towel closest to the direction that you will be running in from the swim. With all of the shoes that you will be using for the race open them up so that it will be easy to slide your foot in, applying Vaseline to the edges of the shoe where your foot will be entering will also make it easier to get into and help prevent blisters. A tip that I always remember when I am running through transition is "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". Working slowly means that every movement is calculated, which means it will not be jerky and will help you not forget anything in transition. Being smooth is fast because it only takes one try to do everything. Often times when we are rushing to try and do something we will mess up and have to start over which is just extra time.
I have different shoes for biking and running so my biking shoes will be clipped into the bike and my running shoes will be on the ground. I use a race belt to hold my number because I wear a tri-jersey (similar to a bike jersey but designed to fit tighter to the body) and tri-shorts (like bike shorts but they have less padding in them so that you can run in them) throughout the entire race including the swim, so if I would have to pin it onto a jersey and put that on once I got out of the water. Using a race belt and triathlon specific clothing can greatly reduce the amount of time you spend in transition. I place the race belt stretched out on top of my running shoes so that it is easy to grab and clip on when I am ready to put it on.
The swim will be the first portion of the race, for many triathlons it is an open water swim, so if you are not a strong swimmer I would advise using a wet-suit if the race allows. The wet-suit will help you stay on top of the water because it gives you some extra buoyancy which can give an ease of mind and a little bit of extra speed through the water. I am a stronger swimmer so unless the water is extremely cold I prefer not to wear a wet-suit because it takes to long for me to get it off in transition that it would negate any benefit gained during the swim.
For the bike portion of the race there are some small skills that may help you through it, but to be honest purchasing better gear, although extremely expensive, will give you a much larger advantage in the speed and efficiency areas of the bike. Learning how to use your gears to adjust for hills or wind is important and will help you be a more efficient biker, maximizing speed and efficiency.
The run portion is a difficult part of the triathlon, you just got off of your bike and now your legs feel like jello. Starting off the running with a shorter stride and a quicker tempo can help you flush out the jello feeling in your legs faster, allowing you to slowly open up your stride through the first mile. Properly fueling while you are on the bike is also crucial for the run portion, if you stay hydrated and fueled on the bike you will have a much faster run and it will be a lot less miserable. Running while dehydrated and low on fuel is an awful feeling and can be very dangerous if it is hot outside.
The best tip I can give you is to have fun. Your attitude toward the race can actually have an effect on your performance, and what is the point of doing it if you are not going to enjoy it.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Interesting Points on Building your Social Media Profile
As we begin this semester, and the reading of "The Art of Social Media" by Guy Kawasaki he talks about the best ways to build your profile and create content that people want to read. The first thing to do when starting any social media is to build your profile. An interesting point that was made is to have continuity between your different social media applications. This helps your viewers know that it is you and creates a sense of professionalism. He also talks about creating a vanity URL so that your blog is easier to find. I feel that with the age of technology that we are in if people are trying to get to something and they don't know the exact URL they can start typing what they know and with search history it will probably come up below the address bar on the web browser. If you are going to take the time to remember a web URL you may as well just save the site as a bookmark which will probably take less time. If you are a corporation or a business I can understand using the vanity URL as name recognition.
The next section discusses how to find and create content. I found it interesting that the author pointed out that content curation is a more useful tool to get people to look at your content as opposed to creating your own content. This section also helped me discover Klout, which allows you to pick topics that you like and will bring you tons of information from across the internet that relate with the things that you like. If you are looking for a site to help you start generating ideas on what to post Klout would be a good place to start. I also had a bit of a change in perspective reading this section, Kawasaki encourages you to share what is currently popular and trending. Initially I thought that it would just be repetitive, but if that is what people are searching for than you are going to be more likely to have people find your content.
I think the most important part of the third section of the reading was in the very first section. That is asking what you are trying to say and how you are going to do it. I think it is also important to have some sort of passion about what you are writing about, otherwise it will come off as bland and may be off putting because it isn't your best work. To me it feels like the author is only focused on getting everyone in the world to read it, that is great and all if that is what you want. However, for a lot of people, or maybe just myself, I want people to read what I have put out there because they are interested in the things that interest me. I think doing that you can start to build a community and for me that would be a much better experience on social media.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
A Reflection on my Last Home Swim Meet
Saturday January 20th, 2018, I had my last home swim meet ever. I will be honest as I was going through the meet it just felt like another meet, the only special thing that happened was a short senior recognition at the beginning of the meet. I only swam three races, the 400 medley relay on which I swam the butterfly leg, the 100 freestyle, and the 400 freestyle relay. My first 2 events went by like normal I didn't feel anything different about them. However, when I got up on the block for my last swim I realized that it was the last time I would be diving in to my home pool to race. It was a bit surreal, I wasn't sad or very emotional about it, however it was more of a realization that this sport that I had dedicated so much time and energy to throughout my college career was coming to a close.
After endless morning practices and two-a-days, all the time that I had spent in the water or in the weight room, and all the time spent preparing to race was going to finished in just a few short weeks.
I started swimming competitively my freshman year of high school. I came in as a fairly strong swimmer as up until that point in my life triathlons were my main sport. I was actually more of a runner throughout high school and up until my junior year if you had asked me what sport I was going to do in college it was probably going to be running. However, my junior year of high school at the beginning of cross country season in the fall I developed a stress fracture in my femur and I did not get it diagnosed until I could hardly walk. That put an end to that cross country season and I never truly got back to the running form that I was in before I got the stress fracture. I had a lot of fun my freshman year of swimming and even made the varsity team. My sophomore year I tied the last spot in the 100 yard butterfly to qualify for state however I was not able to compete because the person that I had tied with was a junior at the time so they took him instead. I still swam on the 200 medley relay at state that year. During the fall of my junior year at the time that I would have been in cross country I started going to the pool and pulling (swimming without kicking) in order to keep me in shape and to help stop me from going crazy because I couldn't do anything.
My junior year of swimming I had one of my best years ever in terms of improvement. I qualified for state in the 100 butterfly and swam on all three relays at state. My following track season when I could finally start to run was okay but I was not hitting the times that I had previously run. With my running career seeming to be falling off a bit and the building focus on deciding where I wanted to go to college I made the decision that I wanted to swim in college. If you would have asked anyone of my friends or family if I would be swimming in college they probably would have laughed because I had other sports that I had always been more focused on. But, because of my high school swimming career and the fun that I had doing it I fell in love with the sport and couldn't give it up.
Now that I am about to finishing up my competitive swimming career I am extremely thankful for all the things in life that lead me to get to wear I am today. Although I may no longer be competitively swimming after this year, swimming will always be a part of my life and hold a very special place in my heart. In fact, after I graduate I am doing an Ironman, so I am still going to have to keep on swimming.
After endless morning practices and two-a-days, all the time that I had spent in the water or in the weight room, and all the time spent preparing to race was going to finished in just a few short weeks.
I started swimming competitively my freshman year of high school. I came in as a fairly strong swimmer as up until that point in my life triathlons were my main sport. I was actually more of a runner throughout high school and up until my junior year if you had asked me what sport I was going to do in college it was probably going to be running. However, my junior year of high school at the beginning of cross country season in the fall I developed a stress fracture in my femur and I did not get it diagnosed until I could hardly walk. That put an end to that cross country season and I never truly got back to the running form that I was in before I got the stress fracture. I had a lot of fun my freshman year of swimming and even made the varsity team. My sophomore year I tied the last spot in the 100 yard butterfly to qualify for state however I was not able to compete because the person that I had tied with was a junior at the time so they took him instead. I still swam on the 200 medley relay at state that year. During the fall of my junior year at the time that I would have been in cross country I started going to the pool and pulling (swimming without kicking) in order to keep me in shape and to help stop me from going crazy because I couldn't do anything.
My junior year of swimming I had one of my best years ever in terms of improvement. I qualified for state in the 100 butterfly and swam on all three relays at state. My following track season when I could finally start to run was okay but I was not hitting the times that I had previously run. With my running career seeming to be falling off a bit and the building focus on deciding where I wanted to go to college I made the decision that I wanted to swim in college. If you would have asked anyone of my friends or family if I would be swimming in college they probably would have laughed because I had other sports that I had always been more focused on. But, because of my high school swimming career and the fun that I had doing it I fell in love with the sport and couldn't give it up.
Now that I am about to finishing up my competitive swimming career I am extremely thankful for all the things in life that lead me to get to wear I am today. Although I may no longer be competitively swimming after this year, swimming will always be a part of my life and hold a very special place in my heart. In fact, after I graduate I am doing an Ironman, so I am still going to have to keep on swimming.
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Handling Bad PR
A few months ago around November of 2017, Netflix had to handle some bad PR as one of their main actors for their hit show House of Cards was faced with accusations of unwanted sexual advances. An online article from Entrepreneur looked at the way that Netflix handled the situation to limit the amount of bad press surrounding the story.
The response of Netflix to the situation was to discontinue production of House of Cards immediately. At first glance, stopping the production of one of your most popular shows may not appear to be your best option. However, as the article points out, there are a lot of lessons on how to handle bad PR that can be taken from Netflix's response.
The first lesson that the article points out is about knowing your own morals and values. I thought that this was an interesting point, some might feel that larger companies would just be looking for the dollars so Netflix discontinuing production may not seem like the right move. However, the actions taken by Netflix showed the public that they will not stand for anything that goes against their values and it does not matter who you are or what show you work on. Netflix may lose revenue by suspending production but they maintain a good standing with their customers and the rest of the public for standing up for their beliefs. This action may have helped them keep customers instead of losing them only because they no longer get to see House of Cards. Netflix has many other shows that it can fall back on and it can continue to develop new shows as well. So, when it comes to damage control and maintaining your values Netflix made the right move.
The next two main lessons that the article brings up essentially have the same effect. They are working to distance the company from the event to minimize the association of that event with that company. The first of these lessons is that you should not admit that you have done anything wrong. In the case of Netflix there was no reason for them to apologize because what happened was independent of Netflix and they were unaware of anything that was happening. If you have not done anything wrong then there is no need to apologize, apologizing is essential a statement saying that it was you that performed the incorrect action. The final lesson is to acknowledge what happened and move on. Dwelling on a mistake only increases the amount of time that you are associated with the mistake. Acknowledge the mistake, correct it in the future and keep moving on with your business.
Do you think that Netflix made the right move by suspending production of House of Cards, or can you think of a better way that Netflix could have handled the situation?
The response of Netflix to the situation was to discontinue production of House of Cards immediately. At first glance, stopping the production of one of your most popular shows may not appear to be your best option. However, as the article points out, there are a lot of lessons on how to handle bad PR that can be taken from Netflix's response.
The first lesson that the article points out is about knowing your own morals and values. I thought that this was an interesting point, some might feel that larger companies would just be looking for the dollars so Netflix discontinuing production may not seem like the right move. However, the actions taken by Netflix showed the public that they will not stand for anything that goes against their values and it does not matter who you are or what show you work on. Netflix may lose revenue by suspending production but they maintain a good standing with their customers and the rest of the public for standing up for their beliefs. This action may have helped them keep customers instead of losing them only because they no longer get to see House of Cards. Netflix has many other shows that it can fall back on and it can continue to develop new shows as well. So, when it comes to damage control and maintaining your values Netflix made the right move.
The next two main lessons that the article brings up essentially have the same effect. They are working to distance the company from the event to minimize the association of that event with that company. The first of these lessons is that you should not admit that you have done anything wrong. In the case of Netflix there was no reason for them to apologize because what happened was independent of Netflix and they were unaware of anything that was happening. If you have not done anything wrong then there is no need to apologize, apologizing is essential a statement saying that it was you that performed the incorrect action. The final lesson is to acknowledge what happened and move on. Dwelling on a mistake only increases the amount of time that you are associated with the mistake. Acknowledge the mistake, correct it in the future and keep moving on with your business.
Do you think that Netflix made the right move by suspending production of House of Cards, or can you think of a better way that Netflix could have handled the situation?
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