The Post-Digital Musician...What's Next?

I have always been a big fan of musical video games like Guitar Hero, RockBand, and even Karaoke Revolution – at one point in my most intense “fanhood,” I was playing almost perfectly on the Expert Levels with those fake electronic guitars in my hands. But shredding Classic Rock songs always just seemed like a game to me. I had seen the six-year-old Guitar Hero prodigies on Oprah as they played even the hardest songs completely flawlessly in front of a live audience, but even that just seemed like a trendy, yet strangely-acquired, skill to have. I had never once considered that maybe there could be a real marketable opportunity here (in the realm of fake instruments) within the rock music industry, until last weekend.         

I am a huge fan of people-watching…I would admit that it is probably one of my favorite things to do, if that wasn’t such a creepy thing to say. But in all honesty, let me tell you about one of the coolest people-watching experiences I’ve encountered in a while. I was sitting in the Atlanta airport (absolutely prime people-watching opportunity), waiting for my connecting flight, when I all of a sudden heard a piano. It was soft at first, and then it started to get a little louder. I started looking around, trying not to be too obnoxious about it, but with no luck of finding a giant 500 pound musical instrument. So I looked back down and continued playing a game on my phone… It was then, with my head down, that I spotted out of the corner of my eye a teenage boy playing the piano through an App on his iPhone. His fingers glided fast enough to be texting at least fifty words per minute, and the sound was phenomenal. I’m not super musically talented, but I love and appreciate music to its core, so I started watching and listening as he began to draw a crowd.

It gets better. It was like the people-watching-gods were looking out for me, because out of nowhere, a second piano tune chimed in. Everyone turned and watched this newcomer, a 20-something young man with equally impressive piano-iPhone skills, walk over and sit down across from the original musician. What ensued from there was part battle, part duet… basically a jam session over a couple of iPhones. I was going crazy watching this impromptu concert. I had never experienced anything like it.

Fast-forward now to a few days ago, when I came across something equally amazing on the internet. A Brooklyn band, Atomic Tom, held an entire mini-concert on a New York City subway, performing with nothing but a few iPhones. The footage, also filmed using an iPhone, is incredible (definitely take a few minutes and check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAllFWSl998). Not only did they play an entire band’s worth of music over iPhone Apps, but they rocked. The subway audience is caught on camera tapping their feet and nodding their heads while four iPhones take the place of a microphone, electric guitar, bass, and drums. If this stunt doesn’t earn the band a gig somewhere in New York City, it will be appalling. If anything, I fully support the YouTube comments stating that the band should be highlighted in the next iPhone commercial.

I don’t know where the future lies with these types of musicians… when thinking back to Guitar Hero, part of the fun of the concept was that anyone could be a rock star. Would a band like Atomic Tom make it in the face of the rock legends out there now? Probably not, but for now the concept is so new and exciting that I really think there’s a potential market and fan base out there. I know from witnessing the piano-jam in the airport that it's almost unreal to watch and listen as a series of quick taps (on a device that makes phone calls!) produces real harmony. These boys and iPhone musician all-stars should run with it while they can -- especially while the Atomic Tom video has racked up over 1.8 million views since it was posted merely 5 days ago. Who knows, they could be opening us up to a whole new generation and style of Rock-n-Roll. As for me, I'm hitting up the New York City Subway the next chance I get...I don't want to miss out on their next big show!    

Jackie Swoyer is a Junior Business and Enterprise Management Major, Concentrating in Marketing and Minoring in Economics.

Oh How I Love Fried Chicken

I am from the South, so as you can imagine I have a genetic obligation to love fried foods, and I do a pretty awesome job of fulfilling that obligation. I love fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried green beans, fried squash, and pretty much anything else you can figure out a way to stick in the deep fryer. But one of my favorites is the greatest of all fried foods - fried chicken. The best fried chicken can be found in home style restaurants, but some fast food restaurants have some pretty good fried chicken, and one of those is Chick-fil-A.

I am from Shelby, which is a pretty small town in North Carolina, and until a few years ago we didn't have many choices of fast food restaurants. We had an Arbys, McDonalds, Burger King, and Chick-fil-A. My family was never a big fan of any of these restaurants except Chick-fil-A; something about those chicken finger fry things from Burger King just freaked us out. At Chick-fil-A, I was always a nuggets girl; the package of 8 nuggets and the wonderful french fries were always my go to meal until I received one of their coupons for a free chicken sandwich with the purchase of something else. So one day I went to Chick-fil-A with my friends, purchased my traditional meal, and handed in my coupon to get my free sandwich. I had entirely too much food, but I was hungry, so I figured it would be a good day to try out the amazing chicken sandwich. It was wonderful. Something about the pickles and the toasted bun made it the best chicken sandwich I had ever had, and I have had some good ones.

Recently, Chick-fil-A came out with the Spicy Chicken Sandwich (they must have been feeling a little competition with Wendy's) which I of course had to try since the original chicken sandwich was so good. I tried it last week for the first time and just as I had expected - it was delicious.

Chick-fil-A has great food, but it also has wonderful, hospitable, welcoming, and kind employees. My dad has always said that the reason he chooses Chick-fil-A over other fast food restaurants is because of the employees. He also recently tried the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and loved it as much as I did. He tried it for different reasons though. I tried it because Chick-fil-A has upheld their reputation for me in serving delicious fried chicken. My dad tried it because one of the employees politely encouraged him to try their new delicious sandwich. My dad is kind of like me; he was a nuggets boy, and nothing was ever going to change that. He is also a business man and understands that it is important to try different options that someone presents to you. So when he was so politely asked if he had tried the sandwich or wanted to try it, he said yes.

Chick-fil-A has great marketing tactics.  They appealed to both me and my dad and we have both become loyal customers. They have upheld their reputation of serving delicious food, and I am always welcomed by their employees with a "Hi! My name is so and so, and I would be delighted to serve you today. How can I help you?" They also utilized coupons by giving me the free chicken sandwich when I purchased something else which is always a great way to get consumers to try different products and keep coming back for more. They also have great commercials with the cows that distinguish them from other fast food restaurants. They are primarily a chicken selling restaurant, and the commercials deliver that message effectively and in a humorous way. Chick-fil-A has it together in my opinion; they have great food with great service, and it is relatively healthy fried food.

But you really should try the spicy chicken sandwich if you haven't had a chance to; it's great! And I hear there is talk of a spicy chicken biscuit coming soon for breakfast, so I can't wait to try that!

- Anne Davis

What happened to the mini-van?

It’s hard to look back to 15 years ago, to the time when we were all in elementary school. A lot has changed since I learned how to “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” and since I was told that Y is (supposedly) only sometimes a vowel. Being a native of Winston-Salem, I have the privilege of being able to revisit the old stomping grounds from time to time and I was not surprised when my mom told me she drove past my elementary school one day to find it completely demolished. My childhood memories had been reduced to a pile of red bricks and cinder blocks

While I do retain a vivid flashback of breaking my arm playing basketball, there seems to be a plethora of other things that have been erased from my memory: Time outs, accidentally killing the class gold fish, and mini-vans.

There was a time when every family I knew owned a mini-van. My family used our teal blue Plymouth Voyager for hauling kids to soccer practice and hauling furniture to my grandmother’s house. Today, these versatile vehicles are almost obsolete.

I can understand how something becomes outdated when a more improved and functional model comes along, but the truth is, mini-vans can be considered superior vehicles on many different levels. For example, the Chevrolet Traverse (a crossover SUV) is slightly larger in length, width, and height than the Toyota Sienna (a mini-van). However, the Sienna has 43.6 cubic feet of space behind the third row of seats, compared to the Traverse’s 24.4 cubic feet. And although it may be cumbersome to deal with, the Sienna has a removable second row of seats, which significantly increases the amount of cargo room available. The Traverse’s second and third rows merely fold down. Not to mention, mini-vans consistently get better gas mileage than SUVs, which makes them better for the environment. In addition, mini-vans lack the stature and weight of an SUV, but they are less likely to roll over when making sharp turns.

So if the mini-van is the more economical and practical choice, how come there seems to be none on the roads these days?

I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point during my adolescent years, the mini-van not only became outdated, but it also became uncool. They became synonymous with the soccer mom stereotype. The mom who wears her bath robe to in the mornings while making rounds for the carpool and the one who wears her sweat pants to PTA meetings because she didn’t have enough time to change between walking to dog and returning those overdue VHS tapes to Blockbuster. On the flip side, these new age SUV moms seem to have it together. There is a certain persona and aura that surrounds the middle-age female suburbanite who drives an SUV. And it seems to be the exact opposite of the mini-van soccer mom.

When it comes time for me to buy a car so I can haul my 2.5 kids to school and soccer, I’m not sure whether or not the mini-van will be back in fashion, but I’m guessing that these commercials might have some influence on bringing back its swagger.

Swagger Wagon
Make It Rain

-Sarah Shelness, future soccer mom

Social Networking: A Growing Obsession

Social media sites have been growing exponentially in the past few years. With the development of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Friendster, etc. more and more users are logging on to keep in touch through these social media platforms. But who are those users? Most people think that Generation Y dominates the social media sites; however, that is not fully true. Of those aged 18-29 about 86 percent use a social media site, but the number of users is not growing as fast as other age segments. Users between 35 - 54 are among the highest percentage of users, 34 percent for the age range, on social media sites. But social media users over the age of fifty nearly doubled in the past year and users over the age of 65 grew 100 percent.  Those aged 50 and older are the fastest growing demographic of social media users.

I have found these statistics to be true within my own life. Recently, my grandmother and aunt created their own Facebook accounts. When I first heard this from my cousin, Natalie, I thought surely they wouldn’t add me. But in a matter of days I had the daunting friend request from both.  I let them sit there for a few days contemplating whether or not I wanted to be their Facebook friend. Now this may not sound very nice, but would you want your aunt and grandmother seeing your pictures, statuses, and wall posts at their convenience and be able to keep up with aspects of your life? Well in the end I accepted their friend requests and this is where the article rings true.

My aunt rarely pops up on my news feed which gives me hope that she is not on much but just wanted to see what social media is all about.  However, my grandmother has become obsessed with Facebook.  She has reconnected with old friends and family from who knows when, which is great for her. However, she insists on checking up on my Facebook fairly often.  If I was unaware she was checking then maybe I wouldn’t mind… but I know she checks because I get phone calls from my mother saying that my grandmother  said she saw I was tagged in pictures or saw that I went out or what not.  It becomes comical to see how long it takes for my mother to find out things through my grandmother. 

So you might remember that not too long ago a hurricane was approaching the North Carolina coast (not Forsyth County or anywhere near Wake Forest) and I received a notice that my grandmother had written on my wall.  The post went something like this… “CHRISSY, PREPARE FOR THE HURRICANE. BE SAFE!” As sweet as this is of her to want me to be safe, a phone call could have done the job. Also, I recently had a status update for Breast Cancer month that did not sound so appropriate but was for a good cause.  Needless to say, my grandmother was visiting my parents for the weekend and my mother was told I had an inappropriate status up. It took less than an hour for the news to travel. Maybe I’m just not used to the used to the idea of those over 65 using social media sites but reality has hit me. They do.

P.S. Happy Birthday Grandma! Keep up the social networking J

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/08/users-over-50-are-fastest-growing-social-media-demographic.html

Chrissy Morerya is a senior BEM major and marketing concentration at Wake Forest University. 

The Sky’s the Limit for Product Placement

I recently saw Wall Street 2 in theaters.  Great movie, but I couldn’t help but get distracted by the number of products infiltrating the big screen.  I’m assuming I only did this because I’m a student of marketing, but I was practically playing “Where’s Waldo?” with the product placements during the movie.  In the movie, Gordon Gekko hosts a book signing at Borders, employees casually sipped Dunkin Donuts coffee on the trading floor, and Toyotas were the car of choice for Long Islanders. 

So, was I bothered by the product placement? Absolutely not.  I couldn’t help but think how true it was to Wall Street fashion: make money where there’s money to be made.  While there were a lot of products featured in the movie, some more obviously than others, it definitely did not take away from the plot of the movie.  The products fit with the situations, and since we live in a culture where brands are discussed and referenced all of the time, it did not seem too out of the ordinary for there to be so much talk and placement of brands.

In total, 42 brands were featured in Wall Street.  This got me thinking: when will enough be enough? 

At the rate we are going, I’m not sure product placement will ever subside.  I think this is in part because consumers are more aware they are being targeted by marketers than ever.  More and more brands are acknowledging the fact that they can’t act like they aren’t trying to sell something, because everyone knows they are.  Many brands are being honest with themselves and make it clear to their customers that they know they are marketing in an over-the-top manner.  Fortunately for marketers, consumers see this as comedic, not annoying.  Consumers like that they are “in” on the joke. For example, take Snapple in 30 Rock.   The overt product placement fits with Snapple’s not-so-serious persona.

Another example: Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video.  In the video, she makes sandwiches in a jail with Mayo, blatantly talks on a Virgin Mobile phone, and uses her Polaroid camera. In total, she had 10 products clearly displayed in her video.  Why did she do it?  Because she could. 

 

Gaining customer awareness will never get easier.  Consumers are filtering their e-mails better, zipping through commercials easier, and driving by billboards faster than ever.  I don’t foresee the product placement trend declining anytime soon. The one way I think product placement will change is how brands will be placed.  While the blatant placement is the trend for now, I am not sure if it will always resonate as funny with audiences.  I don’t think it will be long until all marketers will trend toward paradoxically stealthy, yet obvious placement strategies.  As long as movie producers get millions of dollars from selling time in movies, filmmakers and marketers will work to fit in as many products as possible.

Alison Henley is a senior Business & Enterprise Management major with a minor in Sociology.

Look for Mayhem

As I sit in the movie theatre with l10 other football players watching previews, a commercial takes the screen. Dean Winters appears standing on a tree saying “I am a random windstorm…shaky shaky” just as the tree limb collapses onto a car below.  The guys erupt in laughter and immediately Allstate has gripped its hold in the minds of these 110 young men.  Over the course of the next week, "shaky shaky" can be heard throughout the locker room as guys re-enact the commercial.  Allstate began these advertisements using Dean Winters as the dark ominous character of Mayhem who causes destruction in various ways.  In his commercials Dean assumes the role of young adults, storms, animals, and inanimate objects that cause damage in different ways. 

The hilarious Allstate Mayhem commercials have swept across the nation receiving great reviews from all I’ve spoken with.  Allstate is already well-known for their “good hands” slogan, but have searched for a way to reach younger crowds.  Allstate intelligently decided to shed the commercials where despair and gravity overcome the viewer.  No one wants to see grief and will quickly try to erase the depressing commercial from its memory.  Younger consumers especially do not like to be faced with doom and gloom. With the new array of funny Mayhem commercials it seems they have finally found the attention of the youth.   Teens and young adults generally are under the protective insurance of their parents where the decision lies solely in the hands of the parents.  Eventually the young adults are “cut off” from their parents and forced to live autonomously.  Allstate seeks to benefit from the ousting of the young adults by instilling their brand name through its advertising.  What better way to reach this target market than with humorous commercials depicting people in their age group.

When Allstate signs a young customer, they have the potential to bank revenue off of the customer for the remainder of his/her life, creating a continuous revenue stream through brand loyalty.  The Mayhem commercials call attention to the ridiculous behaviors of the millennial generation.  Our generation doesn’t take offense to the blatant mocking, but rather embraces it for its honesty and humor.  Over the past week I have seen several Allstate Mayhem commercials that point directly to my age group or those just below it.  Teenagers are hormonal and sex-crazed, often thinking irrationally because of the opposite sex.  Allstate exploits the well-known fact with its Mayhem these Mayhem commercials:

These television commercials clearly attack the illogical things young adults do when they should be focusing on driving.  Allstate creates Mayhem as the villain, but depicts themselves as the hero in the end that saves you from your foolish mistakes.  It leaves the viewer feeling that although I may do dumb things, Allstate will be there for me.  As a young person, we know we will make questionable choices, having the support of someone to face the aftermath of those decisions is a powerful tool of attraction.

            Whether you are actively searching for a new insurance provider or someone who has never had a single thought about insurance, the Allstate Mayhem commercials will remain in your memory when the question of who to choose for insurance arises.  

Words by Shane Popham.  Shane is a redshirt junior BEM major, whose favorite season is autumn because of football, apple fritters, cooler weather, and the changing colors of the leaves.

Oh, Muggles.

The first of the final Harry Potter movies will be released on November 19, 2010.  It is over a month away, and it is already creating a huge buzz at Wake Forest.  “Harry Potter and the Golden Pumpkin” has been chosen as the theme of this year’s Project Pumpkin.  Harry Potter is also one of the new courses that is being taught in the Experimental College.  I have already been approached by friends who want to order tickets to the movie’s midnight premier.  I was on Skype the other day with a friend that is studying abroad in London, and she complained that she could not find Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.  Student Union’s weekly Trivia Night brought in a record number of participants for tonight’s Harry Potter edition.  I actually waited in line for over thirty minutes to be seated in Shorty’s to participate.  I even had to convince my freshmen residents that it would not be a good idea to dress up for this event. 

My trivia team suffered a terrible loss.  I thought I was a dedicated fan because I have read all of the books, but I felt like an amateur when I met the competition.  A guy on the second place team has read every book and listened to all seven tapes at least 13 times.  The t-shirt he wore to trivia night said, “Your mother is a muggle.”  Two other girls were dueling on their iPhones while they waited to be seated.  I also overheard a few fans excitedly chatting about the new Harry Potter amusement park at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. 

What is it about Harry Potter that excites so many people?  Someone told me not long ago, “Harry and I grew up together.  We started snogging around the same time.”  I tried not to laugh, but I realized that it was true.  I read my first Harry Potter book in the fourth grade.  I am now a senior in college, and I am still getting excited to go see the new movie premier.  Still, why did we start reading Harry Potter?  I think it is about escapism.  Harry Potter offers an escape and fantasy world that cannot be rivaled by the Lord of the Rings or The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Lord of the Rings was targeted too heavily to an older generation.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (a classic movie and novel that, in my opinion, will never be outdated) were too reflective of the Great Depression.  Harry Potter on the other hand, has transcended generational gaps.  I can talk Harry Potter with my parent’s friends, my older sister’s friends, and the children I babysit.  The Harry Potter series has also survived some of the greatest economic fluctuations the global economy has ever seen.  When I was younger, it was about the fantasy of living in a magical world.  Now that I am looking for a job in a downtrodden economy it is more about the escape.  Debi Andrus, a marketing professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business completed a study about Harry Potter and remarked that, “Escapism is what all children and adults are looking for.  They want good to triumph over evil.”

New Harry Potter Movie

Nikiforuk, A. (2003). The real power of Harry and Frodo. Canadian Business, 76(2), 16. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.


-Leigh Vogedes