Week 11 Blog

Week 11 Blog

Thank the lord for viral videos — at least some of them. 

Some videos get overplayed so much that I want to bang my head against a wall. On the other hand, some videos that go viral are legitimately hilarious. Sometimes so hilarious that I will watch them on repeat for a week.

One video that went viral within the last two months that, at one point, I particularly liked, was the "Legally Blind" YouTube video. In this video, a woman is suspected of committing some sort of crime revolving around a car. The ensuing events in the video are what made it go viral. 

The lady says she didn't drive the car because she is "legally blind" and is then asked, "so can you see?" She then replies with, "barely."
Here's a picture of her.
Picture

In the events after she sings about her "momma" and "pop."

I think the reason I liked the video so much was because of the irregularity about the entire scene. The lady acts so strange and says such unexpected things that I couldn't help but laugh. 

Videos can go viral for many reasons. One of those reasons is obviously humor. To me, this video had plenty of humor. One other reason this video went viral was because it got really popular on Vine. People made their own videos and had the "barely" line in their Vines. As the reading states, some of the main components to viral videos are blogs/websites and YouTube itself. This used those components. 

Here's another article describing how a video goes viral.

Make Your Video Go Viral

This article makes some very good points. The "Legally Blind" video is definitely upbeat. And it's not longer than two minutes, so it has some characteristics of being short and sweet.

Videos go viral for so many reasons. It's always interesting see why they did. In this case, it was mostly humor.

Week 10 Blog

Super Bowl Blog 

The Super Bowl is the mecca of advertising and branding. We're all used to see numerous Budweiser, Dorito and GoDaddy commercials during the game. That's because these brands have made it a staple to spend big money and get their name out there.
Super Bowl commercials are the most watched commercials out there, which is why they are so expensive. It's pretty astounding how high the price has reached. Reports came out this summer that 2015 Super Bowl commercials will cost north of $4 million.
Cost of SB commercials
With the rise of social media, it wouldn't be surprising to see something new and creative be designed through social media during the Super Bowl. Twitter took center stage during the blackout in 2013 and you can definitely expect ads on Facebook and Twitter to ramp during that time of the year.
One area that can be done with social media is integrating apps with commercials. It wouldn't be surprising to see a company get you interested during the commercial and then to learn more you have to download a new app. Another area with social media that I could see companies steer towards is going heavy on hashtags for new campaigns. It wouldn't be surprising to see hashtags involved at the end of commercials with the intent of getting it trending on Twitter.
And lastly, one other area companies will probably attack during the time of the Super Bowl is fan-related commercials. We've seen some of this in the past and it has seemed to be highly successful. Fans of a company send in self-made commercials in hopes of theres being chosen. It could be even more involved with social media if it's involved with Twitter or potentially even a combination of multiple Vines. It gets lots of easy fan interaction. Last year Doritos offered the winner $1 million.
Here's a picture of one that got second place.
Homemade Doritos Commercial
Companies know the Super Bowl is a time they can go hard after new campaigns or really just try to get their name out there. It's always an fun time for viewers and that should only enhance with the continued involvement of social media.

Week 09 Blog

Campaign 

Campaigns for companies are always happening. Companies want to continue coming up with new ideas to continue the buzz for their product. 

Social media has just enhanced campaigns for companies. Reaching out to the age demographic of 15-30 has never been easier. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, etc. has made campaigns for companies much larger. 

One of my favorite social media campaigns has been the #ItsMillerTime campaign for Miller Lite. The campaign asked followers and fans to share pictures of them with the new bottle through social media. Miller Lite brought back their old-fashioned white Bottle and something that simple has generated extra revenue for the company. 

This article explains the new campaign.

#ItsMillerTime

As the article says, the campaign is and has been successful because it is all user generated. Having Miller Lite fans tweet pictures of themselves with the beer is branding within itself. Quite genius. Miller Lite knows by having a campaign like this, hundreds of thousands of Twitter users will tweet pictures of themselves with Miller Lite bottles. 

The more pictures tweeted, the more timelines fill with free advertising. And the motivation? It's simple. If Miller Lite stays consistent with retweeting and responding to enough people, the tweets will continue coming. 

My Belief

My Biggest Belief

In life, one thing is clear to me, and that is FOE.

FOE, or "Family Over Everything" is something i stand by and always will. Family is something that will always have my back and it's the people I trust most. Whenever I have a question, I can easily pick up the phone and call my mom. 

My mom is the person most responsible for instilling all the values that I believe in. If I misbehaved, she got after me. She may have been crazy at times, but if was for the better. My mom is without a doubt, the person most responsible for shaping me into the person I am today.

As for my dad, he's nearly as responsible. He may be the second most knowledgable person I know about sports, behind me (of course...)

I only have one sibling and that would be my sister. We talk every once in awhile. But now she's a freshman in college and the talking has only grown. That has made me very happy, because as you know, it's family over everything. 

My reasoning for having this belief isn'y much different than others. I realize how important everyone close to me is. And that doesn't just mean my immediate family members. 

My mom has had both of her parents pass away. Her mom passed away when my mom was just 18 years old. My mom mentions all the time how badly she wishes we got to meet her. 

So it's real simple. Family can be precious. It's important to cherish the time you have. 

FOE. Family over everything.